A quest for authenticity: contemporary butch gender

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research,  May, 2004  by Heidi M. Levitt,  Katherine R. Hiestand

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Although the participants had diverse geographical origins, ages, socioeconomic classes, and occupations, they all shared an affiliation with one lesbian community, therefore readers should exercise caution when generalizing our findings to other communities. As well, it is important to note that many lesbians do not classify themselves as butch (or femme or androgynous) and so may not share a sense of gender with these participants. Although these interviewees held a unified understanding that their gender and sexual orientation were an intrinsic part of themselves, research suggests that different sets of women have distinct experiences of and motivations for being lesbian (see Kitzinger, 1987; Levitt & Horne, 2002).

Similarly, most of the discussion of sexuality in this study was in butch-femme terms, which reflects the norms of the participants and their community, although butch women also may have romantic relationships with women who are not femme-identified. Also, it is important to stress that gender identities within this community were not binary in formation: among their identities were "soft butches," "androgynous women," and "high femmes." Although most women in the community described their gender in relation to butch-femme terms, there was also an acceptance that many women did not claim either identity.

Still, by allowing women to describe their own experiences and not relying on preexisting questionnaires, we enabled women to articulate the issues they thought were relevant to their gender and allowed for the inclusion of experiences that might otherwise have remained invisible. The study of women who have developed a butch gender identity that they experience as positive and healthy can enrich our understanding of both masculinity and femininity.

These findings present challenges to theorists who view butch gender as either a performative act or as biologically driven. Although it would require a separate article to provide an in-depth description of the ways that constructivist and essentialist components are combined in butch-femme identities, some central points can be presented.

The Construction of Authenticity

There are two main ways in which butch gender has been described as a construction. First, there has been the pejorative description of butch lesbians as "women aping men." This misconstrual of butch-identity as "role-playing" is pervasive and trivializes the meaning of this gender. The implicit assumption is that butches' sex (female) should determine their gender (the expression of femininity), and therefore any divergence must be superficial imitation. Butch identities often are pathologized further through associations with antiegalitarianism, oppression, and developing or nonindustrialized cultures (e.g., Lynch & Reilly, 1986). For instance.

    Many politically oriented lesbians in the United States object to
    role-playing as an extension of patriarchal repression. Yet there
    is widespread recognition that role-playing has been a part of
    lesbian behavior historically and continues to some extent.... If
    many American lesbians have largely abandoned role-playing, lesbians
    in Peru, Brazil, and the Philippines tend to accept it as an
    ordinary part of lesbian life and many actively perpetuate it.
    (Whitam, Daskalos. Sobolewski, & Padilla. 1998. p. 40)