Butch and femme

It is difficult to abandon what is has defined our very selves. Every image we see, from the moment we are born to the moment before we pass, are what create who us as individuals. This representation, as described in “Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture,” that happens without our conscious acceptance, is what gives us our perception of society and culture and tells us what emotions to apply. Though this social embodiment is hard to shake off, as can be seen in the butch-femme expression dilemma and in stereotyping as a whole, it is important to be at least aware of it. Negating the fact that we are influenced by subconscious messages is problematic as it leads to conformity in the way society is and impedes progress. It is essential to be aware that how we feel about race, class and gender is socially constructed to try and change its composition and improve the issues with our current…

A comparison of the lesbian community from the twentieth century and that which exists today shows almost no resemblance between the two. The traits that marked lesbian culture as ‘distinct’ - namely butch/femme identities - have been replaced by the modern lesbian. The butch/femme lesbian dichotomy of the early twentieth century challenged society’s definition of being female, but the rise of lesbian feminism and the “new lesbian” critiqued this traditional approach as ‘heterosexual roleplay’…

studies that has room for greater exploration. Scholarship on queer parenting is burgeoning, yet, it exists in a silo, as is the current literature on lesbian pop culture representations and butch lesbian identity. The issue with the latter literature, is that much of it is out of date and requires greater analytical details, particularly intersectional analysis. Bridging these fields of study, this unique analysis discursively traces pop culture representations of butch lesbian parents.…

In many ways, Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues does more than explore what it means to be a part of the LGBTQ community. In many ways, Stone Butch Blues is a “how to” book just as much as it is a lifeline for the LGBTQ community. It is a “how to” book in the sense it examines how to be a member of the LGBTQ community, while at the same time revealing the follies of a definitive correct way how. In doing so, Feinberg reveals not only the performative nature of gender, but also how the concept…

this is the life of someone else. This is the life of Jess Goldberg, the stone butch. The novel Stone Butch Blues written by Leslie Feinberg follows the life of stone butch Jess Goldberg. To understand…

you gain insight on what makes each label different from the other. If gay and lesbian studies were taught together, you would not understand the depth of what lesbian women had to go through to be taken seriously. Most history on gay studies are told through a gay man’s perspective. This has led many women to feel like the lesbian experience is frequently presented as a pale version of the male. This, however, is not true. Lesbian women have encountered many struggles that differ from the…

to describe self-representation, feelings and opinions throughout the lifespan, including earlier identity, ‘coming out’, to current identity and possible future self. It can relate to looks, actions, feelings, opinions, and any other way an individual may express himself or herself in any given situation. My wish was to highlight some of these constructed naturalizations and see how lesbians respond to the way lesbians are represented and if it has affected their self-identity as lesbians. …

Turning now to the issue that in what ways does misrecognition affect people’s identification. Misrecognition is a form to identify others, which indicates the processes of how people’s identifications are judged. In effect, a sense of recognition is always based on people’s appearances such as the ways they speak or what they wear (Fraser, 1999). However, misrecognition could happen when someone identifies others merely based on their appearances. For example, Walker (1993) argues that people…

JeeYeun Lee's essay "Why Suzie Wong is Not a Lesbian: Asian and Asian American Lesbian and Bisexual Women and Femme/Butch/Gender Identities" is an insightful take on the discourses surrounding lesbian and bisexual identity for Asian women, the conflicting, multitudinous stereotypes that often go along with them, and the resulting unique experiences of erasure that they face. Lee begins by recognizing the Orientalist image of the "Lotus Blossom Baby", one of many stereotypes of Asian women. It…

Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film, “Pulp Fiction,” is another film that applies classic crime fiction norms to a more believable and realistic world. This movie is a play on its title, which refers to sleazy, gritty, violent fiction that was originally printed on low-quality paper created out of wood pulp. The film features multiple segments focusing on three main characters: Vincent Vega, Butch Coolidge, and Jules Winnfield, who are all connected by a mobster named Marcellus Wallace. This film is…