The more I read this book the more I realise that a lot that I see people criticizing, and complaining about, in terms of stereotypes in the community (which I'll admit some are valid) are simply things that were there when the community started, things that were reinforced for a couple decades or so and in some ways, a few people never let go of that. Even though the newer generations coming into the community expect adaptation and changes to this subculture, it does frustrate me a bit that there isn't the same intense impulse to learn the history in order to accurately and effectively criticise things you think no longer serve a purpose to us.

And I'll go further to say that there are at least a few aspects in the community, that a huge part of people that engage with the community, carry, that indeed no longer serve a purpose to us, however being beneficial (to certain parts of the community, perhaps not so beneficial to others) the pushback is almost nonexistent.

So I always considered the nautical star tattoo on the wrist to be a butch thing, which I'm assuming it mostly is, however, according to some narrators on Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold, at the start of this symbol, some femmes also got the tattoo to become identifiable in their communities by other lesbians and to be seen as lesbians. The more you know.

"The butch and butch-fem image, as projected in this community, contained three explicit elements of resistance. First, butches, and the butch-fem couple, by “not denying” their interest in women, were at the core of lesbian resistance in the 1940s and 1950s. By claiming their difference butch and fem became visible to one another, establishing their own culture and therefore became a recognizable presence in a hostile world. Second, in the 1950s the butch, who was central to the community’s increased boldness, had little inclination to accommodate the conventions of femininity, and pushed to diminish the time spent hiding in order to eliminate the division between public and private selves. Third, butches added a new element of resistance: the willingness to stand up for and defend with physical force their fems’ and their own right to express sexual love for women.

This culture of resistance was based in and in turn generated a great deal of pride. Narrators are fully aware of how powerful their visibility was, challenging gay oppression and thereby creating a better world for lesbians today."

- Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community by Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy and Madeline Davis

Trying to read while being sick is annoying because I have to keep taking breaks and stupid naps because I'm so fucking tired for no good reason

It's interesting to see the intense desire for distinction from this particular butch/femme community (I say that because I can't say if it's a general sentiment or a sentiment prevalent in that region with the community interviewed) with passing women (term used at the time for people who passed and lived as men)

These butches very strongly wanted to not be seen as men and to not be treated as men and strongly disliked the comparisons with passing women. As the excerpts following imply:

"Butches of the 1940s and 1950s actively worked to create a unique image. Their goal was not to pass as men. Although many of them knew passing women or might even have passed as men for short periods in their lives, as part of the lesbian community they were recognized on the streets as women who looked 'different' and therefore challenged mainstream mores and made it possible for lesbians to find one another."

"In the 1950s women who passed were also known to the lesbian community, but they were not considered an integral part of its daily life. Butches chose to look simply-and dangerously-like butches or "queers."

"From the perspective of the 1980s and 1990s it is difficult to separate being butch and passing as a man, but for members of this community, the difference was significant. Many narrators, like Vic, are resentful about this modern confusion. (Disliking people who thought they wanted to be men)"

- Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community by Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy and Madeline Davis

It continued on the next chapter over, but if I see a change in the way the narrative goes, I'll update this. I'd love to know what was the general sentiment about this, but as it is, it makes sense.

"The pressure on butches and studs not to deny their difference and to defend themselves generated an extraordinarily complex and confusing relationship to maleness, which is vividly expressed in Sandy’s statement quoted above: “You were there, you were gay, you were queer and you were masculine. Men hated it.” These 1950s butches, particularly the leaders, were extremely masculine, and often thought of social dynamics in terms of male and female roles and relationships. At the same time, they were not men, they were “queer.” Throughout their life stories they counterpose acquiring masculine characteristics with not being male. The prominence of masculinity in their vision of themselves and in their understanding of the world is perhaps responsible for the contemporary confusion between these butches and passing women (people passed as men and otherwise lived as men), and the assumption that these women must have been trying to be men. But to recognize their masculinity and not their queerness distorts their culture and consciousness and negates their role in building lesbian community."

- Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community by Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy and Madeline Davis

false sense of choice for the win

:c

he/they lesbian

I am a confident femme and I do love when my butch compliments me, and their top tier compliment to me is when they say "I've never met anyone so prolific in butch/femme-lesbian history understanding and knowledge" after listening to me ramble about and discuss these subjects for hours, like yeah, I do have that hyperfixation, that sweet autistic curiosity, thank you for noticing 🥰

this too shall pass

not to sound like a pyromaniac but sometimes you gotta just light a match and watch the flame eat through it. feel the heat at your fingertips, smell the smoke. be a little sad when it's over. remember you can always light another

I can complain about many things, my hair isn't of them

he/they lesbian

I'd be unstoppable if I didn't have to worry about time or money or having a body

Honestly the first time I ever heard of the "the only butches you ever see are white and skinny" thing was on tumblr because irl it's the complete opposite I don't think I know a single skinny butch they're always either fat or beefcakes and most of them aren't white either and the ones I do know that are white are fat so yeah lesbians please try to find other lesbians irl

no sorry I’m going to get shit for this but genuinely I feel like if older butches, or even just butches now heard the way some of the people on the internet talking abt femmes irl you would get smacked or at least told to shut the fuck up 💞 and no being femme doesn’t make you a good person, but I genuinely can’t believe some of the ways I hear femmes talked about.