[BullDog]

I have thought about this... I honestly don't see myself as very feminine at all. I am not trying to puff out my chest and say I am uber 100% masculine. I just don't see much femininity within myself. Perhaps others do, I don't know. No one has ever mentioned me being feminine or having a feminine side, but perhaps some do see that in me. I am very sensitive. I suppose some might see that as my feminine side. I do not. I am not mechanically inclined at all. A few femmes, including a former femme partner (no one from this site) have ridiculed me for it. If you want me to fix your car or build you a house, you are fresh out of luck. If you want me to prepare and file your taxes or write you a story, that I can do. I do consider myself most definitely female and woman. I am a masculine lesbian/queer female- for me that is what butch is. I definitely embrace my female masculinity and it definitely feels natural (subject of course to all the socialization I have received throughout my entire life). My masculinity is not tied to being male. I don't feel male at all. I am a masculine female.

To me, masculine and feminine are more about energy and mindset (thank you Tick). I don't think masculinity is solely "owned" by men nor femininity "owned" by women. It's hard to talk about because the qualities that I consider masculine are not easy to define, they tend to be fairly amorphous but at the same time unmistakable.

In butch femme communities, it seems there is a tendency to think if an FTM knits, he is an FTM who knits. If a butch woman or female identified butch knits, she must be a soft butch, not as butch as some others. There is nothing wrong if that term resonates with you, but it does seem to me to feel like "butch lite." I just get the sense if you claim female and/or woman there really isn't much room for you to express yourselves in ways that are associated with woman or femininity without getting sent down a few notches on the "butch scale." Of course, not everyone does this, but the butch continuum scale really does seem to be there in the background, and sometimes the foreground, at all times.