Butch and Femme - Attributes

Attributes

The terms butch and femme are often used to describe lesbians and gay men. Butch can be used as an adjective or a noun to describe one's gender or gender representation. A masculine person of either sex can be described as butch.

Stereotypes and definitions of butch and femme vary greatly, even within tight-knit LGBT communities. Butch tends to denote masculinity displayed by a female-assigned individual beyond what would be considered typical of a tomboy. It is not uncommon for females with a butch appearance to meet with social disapproval. A butch woman could be compared to an effeminate man in the sense that both genders are historically linked to homosexual communities and stereotypes.

For western homosexual women, butch-femme has had varying levels of acceptance throughout the 20th century. People who prefer 'femme on femme' and 'butch on butch' relationships face discrimination and cultural repression within their own cultures. This was common in the mid-twentieth century United States working-class lesbian butch-femme scene, and today, this is notable in cultures where masculine tops who have sex with feminine bottoms.

Alternate conceptualizations of femme or butch persons suggest that butch and femme are not attempts to take up "traditional" gender roles. This argument situates "traditional" gender roles as biological, ahistorical imperatives, a claim that has been contested by Sigmund Freud, Judith Butler, Jay Prosser, Anne Fausto-Sterling, and many others. These authors regard gender as both socially and historically constructed, rather than as essential, "natural", or strictly biological. Specifically with regard to butches and femmes, lesbian historian Joan Nestle argues that femme and butch may be seen as distinct genders in and of themselves.

Others have argued that butch and femme are "read" as imperfect mimicries of heterosexual gender roles.