We Femmes & Butches got treated very poorly & disrespectfully, during the "Women's Liberation" time of second wave feminism, by those we knew as "political" lesbians. That is, those who chose to be lesbian as a political action/statement against the patriarchy. In their eyes, we Femmes & Butches were merely imitating the world of the dominant heterosexual culture. Butches were viewed as mimicking men, or "pretending" to be men. The relationship between Butches & Femmes was totally misunderstood. These "political" lesbians were completely ignorant regarding the erotic, sexual, & relational dynamic between Butches & Femmes. They were completely clueless about how the power intrinsic in such relationships between women, had less than zero to do with men & everything to do with a different way of being women.
I came out when the Butch-Femme community was still strong in San Francisco. It would be at least another year or so before much ruckus would be raised by the "political" lesbians about Butch & Femme. Second wave feminism has given us a lot, but the carry over from, what in my opinion was a form of homophobia, still seems to trouble us.
A dictionary definition of butch is this:
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butch
A (traditionally) masculine man or woman, and especially a masculine lesbian. Often the "dominant" partner in a lesbian relationship, and especially of a butch/femme lesbian relationship.
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Women being Butch, owning Butch, & claiming their own lesbian masculinity has less than zero to do with the masculinity of men, or of the dominant heterosexual culture. Rather it is a masculinity of women. It is male energy expressed through the female form, thus is entirely female, though male. As such, it bends gender, & to my way of thinking creates a way of being that is neither female or male, but both in one, i.e., Butch or Boi, or Stud, or AG, or any of the other terms currently in use to define it.
This is long, I realize, but I do want to close with some words on the subject of Butch by poet Judy Grahn from her book, "Another Mother Tongue".
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"…the butch is ceremonially speaking, Puck. Cross dressing is a magical function, & the butch is the equivalent of the traditional cross dresser who may become a magical/shaman of the tribe. She is the one who cross-dresses, becomes a hunter or a soothsayer or a prophet or the first woman in a formerly all-male occupation. She keeps the idea of biological destiny untenable".
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