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Friday, March 29, 2024

Butch Women Talk About What It Means to Be Butch

Credit: THEM
Duration: 05:04s 0 shares 1 views

Butch Women Talk About What It Means to Be Butch
Butch Women Talk About What It Means to Be Butch

Butch and masculine of center women discuss their identities and what butchness means to them.

(symbol shimmers)- [Cade] We're here, we'requeer, rise to the occasionor get the fuck out of the way.- [DJ Tikka] There's somethingabout not giving a fuckabout what people think and being yourselfand moving through the world that way,that confidence is really sexy.- [Danielle] The sexiest thingto me about being butch isbeing able to put on a suitand do it better than the guys.(moderate rock music)(hip hop music)- My life as butch womanand dating has been awesome.- For me, it's about being dominant.- Sex toys just liketotally aren't my jam.As a butch woman, I like touse my hands to fuck people.- Well I work at a lesbian bar,so I have like a highfrequency of meeting women.- Dating as a stud, I geta lot of straight women."Straight women."- Straight women, I feel like,are very attracted to me in that waybecause I feel like they see howI carry myself and my body language.- I'm here to put acheck mark in the book.- I like that femmes like butches.- It's all the things I'm not.- [Ilsa] Lying in bedwatching a femme get dressed.- Sweet smells.- Especially when theylike, put on the braand like sort of geteverything like orientedthat's awesome.- When I get a crush on a butch woman,I find myself being surprisedand the actual dynamicsbetween butch women,it's like kind of uncharted territory.You don't really see itin pop culture anywhere.- What isn't sexy about other butches?Are you kidding, oh my God.- [Ali] I think fashion andclothes also like deepenedmy capacity for self possession.I think I just got to know myself a lot.- [Danielle] For aslong as I can remember,I wore oversized clothing.Being a basketball player, sweatpants,baggy jeans, Jordans, and ahoodie, that's just your thing.- To me butch means someone whoI was brought up by and admire.Butch is nuanced,butch is more than I thinkwe've been talking about.- I definitely identify astomboy from a young age.It took me a while to figure outthat I enjoy dressing that way becauseI felt comfortable andfelt good with my body.- My high school uniform wascargo pants, a black polo shirt,black steel toed boots, and freedom rings.- I wore a sari to my senior promand that felt awesome becauseit felt as queer as wearing a tuxedo.- [Danielle] My favoritething to wear is a suit.It's my armor, it's when I feel bold,it's when I feel confident.- I do prefer tailoringfor some formal wear.It feels like, almost likearmor to me in a certain way.- [Danielle] When I'min street wear though,I feel like some of that gets lost.- [Ilsa] The hardestthing about being butchwould be being misconstrued.I've been using the men's bathroomsince I was in middle school.If I go into a men's room, likeno one even like looks twice- I often have thisconversation with my brother.In the United States,black men are seen asthe bottom of the barrel.And I always say to him,"Bro, honestly, I'm below you becauseI'm a woman presenting as a man."- There are times when the black communityis very homophobic.So it pushes me to bein more white spaces.But then you spend enough time there,and then that turns a little racist.So I often feel myself ping-ponging a lotbetween different communities.I'm from the South so,there is two things:you were a fucking fag or a fucking dyke.I think trans-visibility has given memore words and ways to describe myself.- [Cade] Just becausethere were ostensiblymore butches in the 50s,more butches in the 60s,more butches in the 80s,does not mean that therewere actually more butches.It means that there were noother ways for them to identify.- I don't know if it's gotten lost,or if it's disappeared, the term butch,but I feel like just under an umbrellaof maybe like a larger termlike masculine-presenting.- If there are fewer butches out there,then I can own more ofthe butchness that exists.- Just because I identify as a butch dyke,and it's this woman right now.You know what?It doesn't mean I always will.- [Isla] And I'm creating this,like this is conscious decision.If I get up and I get dressed like this,this doesn't happen by accident, right?I have a certain masculinity about myself,to me it all flows.- I just the next personof color, a black youngperson, to feel comfortable in their skinbecause they see abutch-presenting female,who's black that they can relate to.- You will find your chosen family,we are here and every single one of ushas experienced everythingthat you have experiencedso you're not by yourself at all.- Who you are right nowin this moment is perfectand if that changes, you'llbe perfect in that moment too.(upbeat music)

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