Butch Femme Planet - View Single Post - The Re-Definition of the Modern Butch

T D · 12-23-2009, 10:39 PM

I've been some form of lesbian, gay, butch, trans, anything but heterosexual, my entire life. I formally came out at the age of 19 in 1971. At that time, as T4Texas pointed out, there weren't a lot of choices when it came to IDing. In around 1973 I can remember one of my butch friends saying to me "what are you anyway?" meaning what was my ID. I told her that I'm whatever I want to be, which was completely unheard of and unacceptable at that time. Well as we all know a LOT has occured over the past 4 decades, but one thing I can tell you for sure is that Butch and Femme were IDs then and they're still IDs today. They will always be IDs.

In my world butch is internal, but can and does manifest in external ways as well. There is NO set way to be butch. Some butches cook and are quite domestic, others aren't. Some like mechanical stuff, others don't. Some have long hair, others don't. The differences are endless, and quite frankly mean little to nothing. It's certainly not about how one appears to the external world. Butch is about who you are INSIDE. How you feel about yourself, who you are to yourself.

I have always believed that people are who they believe they are. It's very simple. If you believe you're something, or perhaps not something, then that is your truth, your reality, your place in the world. NO one, and I mean absolutely NO one, has the right, obligation, responsibility, or place telling anyone else otherwise. And it is my belief that those who do are only projecting their own views of life (perhaps their own life) onto others. In order to know who people are we need to listen to them. I think listening is becoming a lost ability.

I've found the growing chasm between and describing IDs very disturbing of late. It's almost like people want to be "right", when there is NO "right". We are who we are, period. There will never be a "right", only an enormously diverse, and growing, variety of descriptions for the same (or nearly same) things........ over and over and over.

Just my 2 cents worth at the moment.

12-23-2009, 10:39 PM	#15
T D Member How Do You Identify?: Person of the trans variety Preferred Pronoun?: He, Sir, Bro, TD, Stevin Relationship Status: On occasion Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: SF Bay Area Posts: 1,165 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 1,428 Thanked 1,125 Times in 311 Posts Rep Power: 3570339	I've been some form of lesbian, gay, butch, trans, anything but heterosexual, my entire life. I formally came out at the age of 19 in 1971. At that time, as T4Texas pointed out, there weren't a lot of choices when it came to IDing. In around 1973 I can remember one of my butch friends saying to me "what are you anyway?" meaning what was my ID. I told her that I'm whatever I want to be, which was completely unheard of and unacceptable at that time. Well as we all know a LOT has occured over the past 4 decades, but one thing I can tell you for sure is that Butch and Femme were IDs then and they're still IDs today. They will always be IDs. In my world butch is internal, but can and does manifest in external ways as well. There is NO set way to be butch. Some butches cook and are quite domestic, others aren't. Some like mechanical stuff, others don't. Some have long hair, others don't. The differences are endless, and quite frankly mean little to nothing. It's certainly not about how one appears to the external world. Butch is about who you are INSIDE. How you feel about yourself, who you are to yourself. I have always believed that people are who they believe they are. It's very simple. If you believe you're something, or perhaps not something, then that is your truth, your reality, your place in the world. NO one, and I mean absolutely NO one, has the right, obligation, responsibility, or place telling anyone else otherwise. And it is my belief that those who do are only projecting their own views of life (perhaps their own life) onto others. In order to know who people are we need to listen to them. I think listening is becoming a lost ability. I've found the growing chasm between and describing IDs very disturbing of late. It's almost like people want to be "right", when there is NO "right". We are who we are, period. There will never be a "right", only an enormously diverse, and growing, variety of descriptions for the same (or nearly same) things........ over and over and over. Just my 2 cents worth at the moment. __________________ “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”