This was tagged as butch bait, so I presume this is a jest post and I decided not to reblog directly from the original poster because of this. However butches and gender nonconforming women almost NEVER get shown as old in media, and our beautiful middle aged (and older!) butches never get to the public eye!

There is a future for butch and gnc women. We can grow old and be ourselves, without changing a thing. So I present to you pictures of older butch and gnc women!

ok, bud

Submitted by @fermata4

the line between transness and gender & sex nonconformity isn't a line at all. it's not even a gradient. it's a messy web of colored strings that are so incredibly tangled together, you can't tell where the ends are - it there are even ends at all.

Are people allergic to being normal about gnc women?

Literally two sides of the same coin.

Begging, begging, begging people to stop associating aging and femininity in men/masculine people as Wrong and Predatory. Femininity has no age limit.

To any feminine man, masculine person, or really, anybody who needs to hear this: Your femininity deserves to be recognized and celebrated. Aging is a natural and unique part of life, and you don't have to sacrifice your femininity for fear of being "too old" to be accepted or seen as charming. You are already charming.

There is no limit to being who you are. No matter what you're told, you still deserve to completely claim yourself.

“Butch on Bike”, The Disappearing Butch (2022).

Photography by Theresa Scott.

The Disappearing Butch was born out of necessity, the necessity to expose society to an in-between world in which women shatter the rules that have been placed on them. Society has deemed that women who do not conform to feminine standards are other.

Visibly Lesbian

Lesbian and Gay Pride event, Waterloo Place, London, June 24th, 1995 (photo by Steve Eason)

Gender-nonconformity MUST be normalised. I don't care your gender, sex or sexuality. I don't care how old you are or how young you are. I don't care your political idiology. Gender-nonconformity is an inherently neutral idea and should be supported in any and all forms

So here’s the thing,

Being visibly queer to the point of ostracism is historically synonymous with gender nonconformity and I don’t think that’s a conversation some are ready to have.

Gender nonconformity as it pertains to Stede is a hot button topic of debate in the fandom rn, and I love that! So much! Queer theory shit is in right now? Sign me tf up! But I see a lot of posts answering “no” to “does Stede wear feminine clothing?” as if it’s the same question. It’s also being talked about as a binary “to be” or “not to be” as if gender nonconformity is not a concept experienced on a spectrum.

Even if Stede’s clothing can be considered reasonably “masculine” with all the anachronisms, picking flowers, not being able to stomach a “man’s” job, and wearing robes that cause other characters to misgender him are harder sells. The number one thing I see the “Stede is NOT gnc” side say is that these things are only associated with femininity if you’re seeing them from a stereotypical lense. And well… yah. Gender nonconformity is a social construct. That’s what a social construct is. Enjoying bright colors, preferring non-confrontational solutions, wearing a skirt, having long hair, these are all things that are not biologically innate to women. They’re extra characteristics our society uses to construct the idea of a woman. That’s also why gender nonconformity hinges on the cultural context as well. Different societies, different rules.

In order to understand where people are coming from when they say Stede is gnc and use the queerphobia he experiences as evidence, you have to look at the metaphysics. What is homophobia in its original form? What is it made of? I’d argue it’s purest components are the fear that the divides between men and women will break down. It’s considered “an abomination” because sleeping with a man is seen as the natural duty of a woman, and for women, sleeping with a man. Beyond that, all of the baggage that comes with those extra characteristics I mentioned follows suit. Lesbians were by and large excluded from womanhood, in some points of history specifically bottoming was illegal because it was “placing yourself in a woman’s position”, etc.

And that’s not to say masc gay men don’t experience homophobia, they absolutely do. I’m just saying if Stede is experiencing specifically the same bigotry as non-passing queer people do in the form of being excluded from his own gender and even from others in his group, then I don’t think he’s one of those men.

Honestly a thousand kudos to @eluciferate for already bringing Albert from “The Birdcage” to the conversation. Cause he really is the perfect example of not only gender nonconformity beyond the literal surface, but the fact that for many it’s a state of being rather than a conscious choice of queer empowerment. When Albert’s son brings home a girl with very conservative parents, and Albert attempts to “play straight” for his sake… he can’t do it. Even in ultra masculine clothes and trying his best, the nonconformity shines through like toes poking out of old shoes.

Fuck, Stede wasn’t kidding when he said he was “uncomfortable in a married state”. Even the way he carries himself back home looks carefully minded, like his whole life is a play he was horribly miscast for. In other words sometimes you didn’t purposely decide to stick it to the heteronormative man. Sometimes with great gayness comes great responsibility and that’s that.

Jokes aside, we can nickel and dime all his frilly little affects all we want, but at the end of the day Stede is gender nonconforming in a way that goes beyond aesthetic. And I think a lot of people may be hesitant to read him this way because it requires you to acknowledge homophobia in the show, that Stede’s queerness is commented on and something he actively has to mind before even knowing what it is.

Women, don’t be soft.

In a world where men are the most dangerous risk to women, and said men want women who are styled in the patriarchy’s costume, feminists must reject this costume!

We must refuse to be soft. Refuse to be shy. Refuse to be quiet, over accommodating, cute, seductive, small. It’s only logical: don’t be what men want women to be. Don’t give them the satisfaction or opportunity. Don’t let men win. You must be tough, independent, loud, ugly, mean. Command your space.

poll - read all options before answering!

for lesbians, sapphics, wlw, gay laydies, bi and pan goils, enbies and androgynes and bois and queer dykes.

i'm curious again so here's a lil poll. i find we focus a lot on the term butch but there are a lot of terms and identities that are similar so i'm curious how folks identify. while some of these can be genders in themselves i'm not so much looking for like what your gender is, but more describing how you look and what your presentation is, which is why i'm not listing nonbinary. if you feel that's the best way to describe it and is how you describe yourself then go ahead and say that! if the term that resonates most for you also is your gender, that's fine select that term. also there are a lot more terms i would've included if i had more space so if the word you'd pick isn't here please choose other and list it in the tags or comments! i understand there are a lot of regional, subcultural, ethnic, and non-english language terms that you might use. so again, please feel free to use the 'other' and say what your term for yourself is.

some english language terms that i didn't include are: diesel dyke, bulldagger / BD / bulldyke, AG / aggressive, futch, stem, transmasc, dyke, boi, fuckboy/fuckboi, kiki, tomboy, drag king, stag, tomcat. and the subsets of butch: soft, hard, stone, LHB (long hair butch)

plus there are sooo many more non-english language terms out there that i'm not familiar with but you might identify with! please share 'em!

as always, talk about it in the comments n tags! i

[Image description: A tumblr text post, edited erasure-poetry stye. Blackout-poetry-esque lines are comprised of painted greenery and flowers. Resulting text is below.]

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Leftists are 100% committed to every GNC kid & encouraging them with care. A person needs care & rights, benevolence.

people are discriminated against - sometimes violently - for their sex traits. but not in whatever fucked up and bigotted way radfems mean that. sex and gender are different things, despite people acting as otherwise.

and there is no set of privileged sex traits. it's all dependent on what traits an individual has/doesn't have, how they identify/express themselves, and how they're perceived. any one of those things being "off" can lead to discrimination in relation to sex traits.

so as a trans intersex person, i sincerely wish this is what "sex based discrimination" referred to. it's something anyone can experience, and it's not fucking fair the phrase is taken on by bigots pretending to be fighting for women's rights.

At this point, gender nonconformity is about what the person says their experience is.

If a woman with a beard or a man with lipstick and a mustache says they're gender nonconforming, then they are! If a woman with short hair or a man with long hair says they aren't, they aren't! And that's not even getting into the awesome nonbinary, abinary, genderqueer, intersex, and general genderfuckery that may both be and not be conforming.

So much of what is even considered gender conforming or gender nonconforming is based on a world of exclusion. When we start defining one's conformity with whether they fit into white cishetero perisex standards or not, we play into the idea that there's only a very narrow window of what is considered worthy of time and thought.

Little Liza

Del Lagrace Volcano; 1988.