a combination of individualist queers skimming over the class politics of stone butch blues and the homophobia and transphobia of the straight left means that stone butch blues isn’t widely recognised as a book which is at least 50% about class and labour and unionism and feinberg’s experiences as a factory worker
I mean for god’s sake feinberg’s tumblr header is “leslie feinberg is a communist!”
but it’s super convenient for straight leftists to mentally categorise it as “identity politics” and strike it off the reading list in favour of more althusser or whatever
and it’s super convenient for young university queers to forget the class politics of the backlash against (traditionally working-class) butch-femme dynamics — it was a lot to do with university-educated lesbian feminists looking askance at the ~unenlightened~ lesbian plebs
plus gender presentation in stone butch blues is not considered in a simple or individualist way, it’s shown as deeply personal and sincerely felt but also as tied to professional requirements and one’s place in the world — like, a lot of butches in the book end up doing factory work, a lot of the femmes do sex work, a lot of people’s gender presentation is really tied to what they’re looking for in a partner, etc
it’s not a perfect book but I think it deserves a more careful and thoughtful reading and a wider readership than it tends to get
important commentary.
re bolded - a lot of that still happens.
I think these days it’s also taking a slightly different turn in the idea all butch and femme - but ESPECIALLY femme - MUST be absolutely performative, conscious, aware, calculated - even slightly ironic. otherwise you’re just a suckered-in slave to the patriarchy.
a valuable lesson that was learned at creating change from other bois is that even when masculine of center folks are supporting each other in unpacking misogyny and femmephobia, we are often still unpacking that on the bodies of femme folks. we need to remember that - how much more vulnerable femmes are than bois who are unpacking.
omg thank you for this! like you dont even understand how much thank you and how relevant to the things Ive been talking about and going through lately. and ppl unpacking their issues across the board period so often falls on the bodies of femmes particularly dark femmes of colors bodies.
Femmephobia is a facet of misogyny that occurs specifically against femme-identified women in queer communities.
It is not a general hatred/disdain of femininity or of straight women who present in feminine ways. that’s misogyny.
white cis women who ID as femme:
please remember that femmes of color and trans folk cannot take being seen as feminine for granted the way you can
please remember that
just
please
please
please remember that
Please, please, please, stop bickering over who has more right to call themselves ‘femme’ or ‘butch’ or ‘queer’ or ‘straight’ or ‘aardvark’! I’m not taking anyone’s femme-ness away by calling myself a femme. (I don’t actually call myself that, but I’d like to have the right to, without being drawn into an identity war.)
aww look at you missing the point
that’s cute
all this post asked was for you to be mindful of certain perceptions and how that affects people different from you who also ID as femme
nobody said you’re not allowed to call yourself anything
siiiiigh
god forbid someone ask you to be reflective
white cis women who ID as femme:
please remember that femmes of color and trans folk cannot take being seen as feminine for granted the way you can
please remember that
just
please
please
please remember that
“Dating a submissive femme” is the best part!
[The Dyke Lables]
BUTCH
SOFT BUTCH
HARD BUTCH
HARD FEMME
FEMME
SOFT FEMMEmmmmm, a beautiful ocean of white, thin, cis-centric, reductionist, cliche, safe blandness, I feel like puking aaaaaallll up in it.
whoever made this should feel bad. Very bad.
Men who wear makeup: Radical! Hard femme! Totally progressive and hot!
Women who wear makeup: Hypocritical patriarchal handmaidens!
My pet peeve of the moment! The unrestrained salivating over hard femme/femme men going on in queer community is really full on at the moment; women have never received adulation and admiration for being femme and it’s NOT because ‘femme’ would superficially fall in line with ‘patriarchal standards of femininity’ as some will hasten to argue because women have never received adulation and admiration for being butch or andro or just themselves in any permutation- though if a FAAB person is genderqueer or transmasculine, or if a trans man does some fashionisting THEN their masculinity becomes a cause for celebration and exaltation. Women’s fashion statements and stylistic experimentations are only lauded by other women wheras anything men do in this regard is seen as risque! Daring! Sexy! Interesting! Original! by absolutely everyone and everything.
Tired of seeing men with beards and drag makeup get 50000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 notes about how beautiful and special and sexy and unique they are while women still get dissed for being attention whores and grossly narcissistic.
straight women identifying as femme is a form of erasing queer history.
sorry you’re being homophobic.
Anyone but lesbians identifying as femme is a form of erasing queer history. Bisexual or pansexual women do not need to identify as femme. It is already a cultural expectation that they will present themselves femininely. There is no crisis of feminine bisexual visibility. It’s appropriation of lesbian culture, and a ridiculous one at that.
“La Reina Del Salon” – Juanmi Márquez Photography
So.much.perfection.I.can’t.even.
