Butch-Femme Identities

The Butch and Femme question is an interesting one that has been disputed very heavily during the past 40 years. The issue at the core of this argument, which we discussed in class, is whether or not butch and femme identities are actually identities in and of themselves, or if they are merely replicating heterosexual gender roles. There three prominent lesbian feminist theorists that have written extensively on this issue. The first is Nestle, whom we read in class. In addition to The Fem Question, she wrote Butch-Femme Relationships: Sexual Courage in the 1950s which praises butch-femme couples for facing the extreme oppression and harsh discrimination that came with that type of visibility. Nestle writes, “Butch-Femme relationships, as I experienced them, were complex erotic statements, not phony heterosexual replicas. They were filled with deeply lesbian language of stance, dress, gesture, love, courage, and autonomy. In the 1950s particularly, butch-femme couples were the front-line warriors against sexual bigotry” (The Fem Question). She is clearly of the school of thought that butch and femme identities are clearly identities in and of themselves.

The second prominent theorist that engages in this argument is Sue Ellen Case. She wrote Toward a Butch-Femme Aesthetic in 1988 in which she subverts the popular idea that gender roles are biologically determined by exposing them as masquerades and constructs with an agenda. She writes, “The butch-femme couple can, through their own agency, move through a field of symbols…playfully inhabiting the camp space of irony and wit, free from biological determinism, elitist essentialism, and the heterosexist cleavage of sexual difference” (Towards a Butch-Femme Aesthetic). She would, no doubt, agree with Nestle in the debate as to whether Butch and Femme are their own entities or if they are simply reproductions of heterosexual roles.

The third important theorist when it comes to this subject is Sheila Jeffreys. She agrees with the position that states that Butch and Femme identities are merely heterosexual replicas. She defines herself as a lesbian feminist as apparent in the title of her work, Unpacking Queer Politics: A lesbian feminist perspective. She states, “Heterosexual sex is defined as a sexual desire that eroticizes power difference.” She thus thinks that heterosexual, and thus Butch and Femme desires, are defined by inequalities. She tackles the question of how to construct homosexual desire and answers it by saying that we need to make equality sexy.

These three perspectives are distinct and very interesting. Of course, there have been many works on this subject. These are merely a few more famous perspectives. I personally, being the self defined butch that I am, believe that Butch and Femme identities are not mere replicas. I think this is a hard question to answer because it has so much to do with personal identity and feelings. I know this because I can feel it; it is who I am. It is difficult to engage with issues that are based so much on feelings and emotions, but isn’t that at the base of the fight for LGBT equal rights?