notes to self

If wishes were pennies and I could fly, I'd be very rich I'd be very high

Jul 5, 2007

Butch

Butch and femme are terms often used in the lesbian and gay subcultures to describe the queering of traditional masculine and feminine gender roles.
-- Wikipedia

I noticed lately I use the term butch loosely, as a way of actually complimenting a couple straight men I admire, and it dawns on me, they don't know what that means, "butch." Well, in both their cases, I use butch as a term that encompasses typically male behavior I admire - that is, competence, aggressiveness, physical ability, male behavior that I don't necessarily possess. Really, behaviors I don't necessarily want to possess as a woman, but enjoy watching in others, behavior I like to be around. So yes, "Oooo, butch!" is a compliment. Not to say butch wouldn't be a compliment for a straight woman, if used correctly, with respect/admiration.

Sometimes I forget these oft-used queer terms aren't in common use. It wasn't that long ago, butch wasn't even recognized by Microsoft Word. Now they reference butch haircut as a crew cut, from the Encarta World English Dictionary.

Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Links to this post:

Create a Link

<< Home