“The morning watch supervisors should have been aware of the city council’s extension of bar hours for the Labor Day weekend, but they were not.”Īuthorities call the incident an honest mistake, but with ongoing tensions between African-Americans and police nationwide, bringing paddy wagons to places filled with queer people of color goes beyond bad optics. “Closing the bars early was, very simply, an honest mistake based on a communication failure,” said APD’s Carlos Campos. According to an APD spokesperson, the commanding officer made the call to close the bars, including Blake’s on the Park and Ten, because of concern that crowds spilling out onto the streets could become a public safety hazard. “Stud for stud” and the evolution of black Atlanta lesbian dating. Boston: Alyson Publications Inc, pp.138–146. The Persistent Desire: A Femme-Butch Reader. Therefore it can be problematic for white lesbians to define themselves as ‘studs’ which is common practice, as it can be perceived as an appropriation of the black experience. ‘Stud’ and ‘fish’ are terms specific to the black lesbian community and are not interchangeable (i.e.
These terms were claimed by black lesbians as a way to differentiate their experience from their white counterparts and express gender roles developed within the African-American community for black lesbians, ‘masculinity has long meant carefully mimicking black males’ (Walker, 2017). As a result of this, black working-class lesbians created their own identities and titles which took the form of ‘stud’ and ‘fish’ similar to butch/femme categorisations. This meant that lesbian feminism was mostly represented through white feminism by white women, often excluding working lesbians of colour.
Within this, more specifically lesbian feminist politics began to emerge in full force because ‘for some women, lesbianism was the epitome of feminism ( ibid.). In the latter part of the 20 th century, the gay rights movement began to grow. The Butch/femme categorisation and related bar culture grew, in some respects, because World War II meant that there were significantly fewer men around and as such women were able to enter bars and restaurants without male chaperones. These bars would often be located in so-called ‘black areas with less policing’, however, this meant that black lesbians would have to continue to socialise primarily to avoid scrutiny from neighbours or people they might know in the area, whereas gay white women remained ‘relatively safe from exposure’ (Pasulka, 2015) 1992, pp.138–146)īutch-femme relationships trace back to the beginning of the 20 th century in the US from the 1940s onwards when these relationships became prominent within the working-class ‘bar culture’ which became the only opportunity – and safe haven – for lesbians to congregate outside of private homes and explore their gender without risk of judgement. On the subject, Nestle elaborates goes further to say that ‘butches were known by their appearance, femmes by their choices’ ( ibid. Because of this, historically it was butch women who were most easily identifiable in public due to their masculine appearance in a time where social norms heavily dictated how women dress and carry themselves. On the other hand, Femmes are best described as queer women who undertake traditional feminine traits (such as wearing high heels, make up etc.) and gender roles. However, it is important to note that ‘Butches may cross-dress and crop their hair not because they want to be men, but because they are expressing a different way of being a woman, or simply of being gendered Rather than attempting to replicate traditional masculinity and heterosexuality, Butches present a challenge to both in their rejection of how the dominant culture has decided a woman should look and act’ declares Theophano (2015). The most dominating subgroup that most of us are familiar with is the ‘Butch’ and ‘Femme’ identification(s).īutch identity is often related to queer women who are dominant and perform seemingly ‘masculine’ qualities and methods of outward expression such as short hair, masculine clothing etc.
It is easy to think that lesbians identify as one community, however, within this group of women, there are different subcultures based on gender identity and expression creating a diverse narrative of the lesbian existence. The role of black lesbians within LGBT+ history is often something that is overlooked and underrepresented in studies and bodies of research.