I know there’s a widespread lack of understanding/context on this, but “butch” and “femme” are not a spectrum with every possible experience falling in between them somewhere. they are not just synonyms for “masculine and feminine”. it’s more than that. butch is not synonymous to “gender nonconforming” and femme is not the same thing as “gender conforming”.
butch and femme are a distinct identity framework that developed around certain forms of expression, presentation and interactions between women who loved and had sex with each other and that remains true now. butch falls within the category of gnc womanhood, but there are things specific to butchness that are not shared by every gnc woman. likewise, femme women may be feminine, but are not gender conforming. there are gender nonconformances that femme women share, culturally indicated behaviors, markers of expression etc that femme women engage in that do not read as gender conforming - which is why I can often (not always but often) tell a femme woman from a straight woman. not to say that one can always read an identity from stereotypes, but indicators/signals are a thing.
the “futch spectrum” post(s) that went ‘high femme, femme, futch, butch, stone butch’ or w/e, was brought up as a lesbian tumblr joke, but ended up confusing a lot of ppl about what butch and femme are. ppl who took that spectrum seriously got this perspective of it as “super girly, girly, in the middle, not girly, really masculine” which is… not at all how butch and femme work as identifiers. if you don’t identify as one or the other you don’t have to pick an awkward spot on a spectrum between them because those things aren’t a spectrum. you’re either butch, femme, or neither and being neither and not identifying with that framework is just fine and not uncommon.
I think in order for ppl to understand more about how “butch” and “femme” came into use (especially in the gay bar scene among other related places in the 60′s), and what those identities entailed, it’s important to read literature, for example, like Stone Butch Blues. that’s only one title and there are others but that’s the first one that pops into my head. feel free to reblog with others. the way butch and femme developed in the time portrayed in that literature are not necessarily reflective of the exact way they are today, but it does give a background context, and introduces the concept that not every gay woman identifies as butch or femme and that’s been true since the start of their use.
summary: the butch/femme framework is a specific cultural dynamic. there’s variety within it, and sub-groups and labels that different femme and butch women use to describe themselves. but even with that variety, not every gnc woman is going to fit within a butch narrative (or want to at all). femme women are gnc to certain degrees. many women are not either. and u just can’t equate “femme” and “butch” with masculine and feminine, or with an all encompassing spectrum that everything falls in, because it doesn’t.
I love this. thank you.
