A response to: The Butch Dynamic/Mystique a problem? post

In one of the responses to the post below a lesbian blogger gives her take on the issue and the points raised in my post. Photos were added by me to enhance the discussion.

Post republished with permission

Cherie wrote:

"Howieeee! It's Cherie.

I read your post re: butch/femme mystique. It was good reading. I was considering your question of whether the national obsession with masculinity, associated societal beliefs and rules that govern them are some how rubbing off on the lesbian sisters who identify as butch or stud?How could it be otherwise? I can not speak to what might make it so that some women have a yearning for the masculine model of behaviour (dress etc); and I accept it is being as natural as liking the colour pink or not. But the basis of my response is this: butch women might not necessarily want to BE men, but they have a yearning for the masculine model of behaviour.

Therefore definition of "butch" is a woman whose behaviours are modeled off masculine behaviours and this will be true across any culture. Sooo, it follows that the butch behaviour would be affected by and shift with the larger societal beliefs and understanding of what it is to be masculine. Bearing in mind also that this is a general commentary, there are many butch women who only exhibit certain masculine behaviours while there are others who feel it necessary to do everything like a man would do it.

This distinction also raises another significant question about physical appearance and how heavily it features in how lesbian women are labeled. But that is too big for right now. Mi brain start twist up as I think of it. Think of men who are content to be taken care of - if a stud choses that role... is she still a butch because she walks talks and dresses like one? Or is she a femme in butches clothing? And a femme who fucks and functions like a butch but is completely feminine in her outward appearance?

I had few and far between girl on girl experiences while I iden

tified as Bi; so really and officially I largely consider my current relationship my initiation into the lesbian world.
One of the things I'm being educated about is the spectrum of gender identity. I don't think that a lesbian HAS to identify on - and stick to - either side of the masculine:feminine ratio. My take is do whatever makes you happy, and I took it for granted that it was like that in the community, but I'm figuring out that there are rules and expectations about how you're expected to behave based on how you look and identify.

For myself I look like a femme but don't necessarily behave as

one in our relationship while my girlfriend looks like a butch but doesn't necessarily behave like one in our relationship. It's very fluid and we're happy with that.
I can't see it being any other way; so when she commented to me the other day that she's happy to be able express her feminine side in our relationship I was a little surprised. When I asked her why she thought something like that's a big deal she explained that in the past she's had women lose interest when she behaved less aggressively. Wow.

For a minute I thought that was really whack cause I think it's acceptable to want what you want and be who you are. But I gather it's not really ok in some areas of the community. There are some women who identify as very butch, and some women who want only that; and some women who identify as super femme and some women who want only that. I think that's ok. Where we run into trouble is by not talking about it before we enter a relationship ,we get our wires crossed and end up with a woman who's a poor match and we create situations where women feel like they can express only one extreme of their aggressive/submissive self.
Before she and I started dating we had conversations about our expectations; she expressed certain "butch tendencies" that I explained I wouldn't find satisfactory in a relationship and told her what my ideal situation is and she did the same thing. We discussed what would make us most comfortable in our relationship and we still continue to talk about it.

In that way, I've come to be with a woman who is (and is happy to be) a great balance on the butch femme scale for me rather than the extreme butch I first started talking to and would not have been very comfortable in a relationship with.

I'm sure this isn't going to be true to every situation, but it kinda shows how important it is to talk about what's important to you on this scale, and to make room if necessary for each of you to flex whatever muscles - or not - you desire.
So, I think we should put it like safe sex, on a list of things you need to discuss before you make that big step into a relationship."

Cherie ENDS

Thank you Cherie for responding and allowing the views to be shared.

Then there are others who do not take kindly to "labelling" behaviours or identities in the community whether for purposes of separating behavioural differences in the groups purely in a level of recognition or those who use such labelling for destructive and discriminatory purposes as we do have inter and intra community discrimination especially intertwined with socio economic class and scholastic achievement in all spheres of Jamaican LGBTQI life. I however try to use the various descriptions purely out of an academic purpose so we can easily identify groups, individuals or behavioural trends for greater understanding.

Let's continue brainstorming and talking.

Peace and tolerance

H