Butches

The term “lesbian” refers to women who are attracted to other women, and originates from the Greek word that means “from Lesbos,” the island home to famous lesbian poet Sappho. Starting in the 1940s, the term “butch” refers to a lesbian who appears and behaves in a traditionally masculine manner. However, as is the case with many queer people, there are many perspectives and experiences within both of these labels. To begin to understand these identities, one must consider the history and perspectives of lesbians and butches. 

The first and arguably most famous lesbian figure is the Greek poet Sappho. Born around 620 BCE, her lyric poetry often incorporates images related to Aphrodite's rituals. The word “homosexual” itself, however, was first coined in the 1860s in a letter from Austrian journalist and human rights campaigner Karl Maria Kertbeny to German lawyer and pioneer of sexology Karl Heinrich Ulrichs — who has been described as “the first gay man in world history.” Though almost always illegal, the tolerance of homosexual relations and marriage has varied over the years, sometimes even coming close to acceptance. Used in the late 19th century in New England, the term “Boston marriage” referred to “a long-standing and intimate monogamous relationship between two women who typically were not heterosexually affianced or wed.” However, the fight for full tolerance and acceptance of lesbians would take another century to begin. In 1955, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon cofounded the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), which was the first civil and political rights organization for lesbians in the U.S.. The organization was fairly conservative, shying away from political material and essentially encouraging conformity (i.e. discouraging butch and femme expression that would be too noticeable). The DOB remained fairly small in comparison to their gay male counterparts, likely in part due to their classism, assimilationism, and prioritization of white women. In 1969, the Stonewall riots brought attention to LGBTQ+ issues, where butch singer and drag king Stormé DeLarverie was credited with inciting the riots during her arrest. Regardless, DeLarverie was an important figure in the movement, striking down homophobia and bigotry — “ugliness” as she called it — wherever she could. The first Pride Parade (originally called Gay Liberation Marches) took place in 1970 to commemorate the Stonewall riots of the year prior. Six years later, Dykes on Bikes, a group of often queer women motorcyclists, was founded when they rode at the front of the San Francisco Pride Parade. Now, this group leads the Dyke March (which takes place the day before the general march) in many cities every year. In 2004, founders of the DOB, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, became the first same-sex couple to be officially married in the United States. Finally, in 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court decision for Obergefell v. Hodges ruled that the right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples, legalizing same-sex marriages across the country. 

To best understand butchness, one must consider both the scientific and personal perspectives on the identity. In a New York Times article, former Olympic swimmer Casey Legler is quoted to have said “We exist in this realm of masculinity that has nothing to do with cis men — that’s the part only we [butches] know how to talk about.” Lesbian artist Allison Bechdel described her hesitancy to self-label as butch, because “part of being butch is owning it, the whole aura around it.” Writer Kerry Manders describes how “It isn’t just about what you’re wearing, though, but how: Butchness embodies a certain swagger, a 1950s-inspired ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ confidence.” These perspectives explain butch identities as somewhat of a chosen lifestyle and attitude. The butch style is generally understood to have originated during the 1960s during second wave feminism. It is often more masculine, with many butches having short hair (and regarding cutting their hair short as an important part of their transition in style) and wearing men’s clothing. The distinctions between butch and femme have been theorized and stereotyped to take after heterosexual norms of gendered expression. However, some believe that these identities are to be understood outside of the typical cisgender and heterosexual lens, and they allow lesbians more fluidity and freedom of expression outside of gender. Meanwhile, Levit and Hiestand (2004) study how butch and femme identities correlate with physical differences: “Furthermore, butch women have been found to have a more masculine body shape (i.e., higher waist-to-hip ratios) and less desire to give birth than their more feminine romantic partners… As well, butches have been found to have a higher level of testosterone than more feminine lesbians.” 

The butch and lesbian identities have also had conflict within and around them, particularly regarding race, feminism, and sex. Abigail Girón explains that “because the feminist movement was mostly comprised of White women, butch was closely associated with the White lesbian woman's esthetic.” This racial bias and relationship with feminism would hinder the community’s strength. Girón describes how because the LGBTQ+ community is dominated by White privilege, queer POC experience exclusion and rejection at higher frequencies. Girón writes: “During the 1960s, the butch style was politicized and seen as a statement towards eradicating gender oppression rather than associated with sexual desire.” By the 1970s, second wave feminists endeavoring to challenge traditional gender roles excluded butch women from the lesbian community, as butches were reproachfully perceived to be adopting male privilege. This tension over the masculinity of butches continues to appear now with the discourse surrounding the seemingly contradictory identities of butch and female-to-male (FTM) transgender people. Judith Halberstam describes how “Some lesbians seem to see FTMs as traitors to a ‘women’s’ movement who cross over and become the enemy. Some FTMs see lesbian feminism as a discourse that has demonized them and their masculinity. Some butches consider FTMs to be butches who ‘believe in anatomy,’ and some FTMs consider butches to be FTMs who are too afraid to transition.” Many gender theorists tend to view butch as a manifestation of the larger social transition towards gender fluidity or abolition, while viewing transgender people as manifestations of traditional understandings of gender roles. However, Halberstam argues that the two identities do not necessarily negate each other: “Transgender Butch describes a form of gender transition that could be crucial to many gender-queer dykes’ senses of embodiment, sexual subjectivity, and even gender legitimacy.” The perceived juxtaposition between transgender identity and butch identity can be remedied, in my opinion, by regarding butch as a gender or identity in itself. If butch is a gender, separate from sex, then it can exist easily as either a primary or secondary gender or identity for lesbians and men alike. 

All of these understandings of butchness seem to agree on the identity’s complexity and intersectionality. Butch is simultaneously a gender, expression, sexuality, lifestyle, attitude, and none of the above. Leslie Feinberg, trans lesbian communist and author of the butch novel Stone Butch Blues (1993), wrote in response to the novel’s reception: “People who have lived very different lives have generously related to me the similarities they recognized in these pages with their own struggles—the taste of bile; the inferno of rage—transsexual men and women, heterosexual cross-dressers and bearded females, intersexual and androgynous people, bi-gender and tri-gender individuals, and many other exquisitely defined and expressed identities.” In other words, butch is for everyone. 

Works Cited

Levitt, Heidi M., and Katherine R. Hiestand. "A Quest for Authenticity: Contemporary Butch Gender." Sex Roles, vol. 50, no. 9, 2004, pp. 605-621. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/quest-authenticity-contemporary-butch-gender/docview/225370749/se-2, doi:https://doi.org/10.1023/B:SERS.0000027565.59109.80 

Girón, Abigail. Exploring the Lived Experiences of Black and Latina Self-Identifying Masculine Presenting Lesbians: A Qualitative Research Study, California State University, Long Beach, United States -- California, 2025. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/exploring-lived-experiences-black-latina-self/docview/3225719651/se-2 

Feinberg, Leslie. “About the 20th Anniversary Author's Edition ofStone Butch Blues.” LESLIE FEINBERG, https://www.lesliefeinberg.net/  Accessed 16 July 2025.

Halberstam, Judith. “TRANSGENDER BUTCH: Butch/FTM Border Wars and the Masculine Continuum.” TRANSGENDER BUTCH, Duke University Press, 1998, https://www.sfu.ca/~baw2/GSWS826/Halberstam.pdf  Accessed 16 July 2025.

Manders, Kerry. “The Butches and Studs Who've Defied the Male Gaze and Redefined Culture (Published 2020).” The New York Times, 13 April 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/13/t-magazine/butch-stud-lesbian.html  Accessed 16 July 2025.

Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Sappho | Biography & Facts.” Britannica, 31 May 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sappho-Greek-poet  Accessed 16 July 2025.

Goodin, Cal. “Stormé DeLarverie (U.S.” National Park Service, 20 February 2025, https://www.nps.gov/people/storme-delarverie.htm  Accessed 16 July 2025.

Gordon, Rachel. “Lesbian couple wedded at SF City Hall Women had been together for five decades.” San Francisco Chronicle, 13 February 2004, p. All. SFGate.com 

O'Brien, Jodi. “Encyclopedia of Gender and Society, Volume 1.” Google Books, 2009, https://books.google.com/books?id=_nyHS4WyUKEC&source=gbs_navlinks_s  Accessed 16 July 2025.

Theophano, Teresa. “Daughters of Bilitis.” glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture, glbtq, Inc., 2004, https://web.archive.org/web/20110629110236/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/daughters_bilitis.html  Accessed 16 July 2025.

Warren, Elisabeth, et al. “DYKESTORY | SF Dykes on Bikes.” Dykes on Bikes, 25 August 2021, https://www.dykesonbikes.org/dykestory  Accessed 16 July 2025.