Lesbian stereotypes: The femme and the butch
Ideas of people about how to be a lesbianEverywhere in our society, you can find different kinds of stereotypes. In the following article, two lesbian stereotypes will be further explained. Stereotypes aim at simplifying complex structures in daily life, such as society and different peer groups. That´s why using stereotypes is very common and mostly happens unconsciously. Everyone is driven by them: you use them, we all use them and even lesbians themselves categorize other lesbians by using stereotypes.
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Putting a label on groups of people not only simplifies but can also spread untruth and misunderstanding.
In the following, we are going to look at two well-known stereotypes of lesbians:
The femme and the butch.
To give an general (but also oversimplified) idea about the femme and the butch you could desribe them as follows:
On the one hand, the femme is a lesbian or queer person who dresses (make-up, high heels, wearing dresses), speaks and behaves in a rather feminine way.
On the other hand, the butch can be seen as the opposite to the femme. The butch is often described as “THE” typical idea of a lesbian.
So what is a butch? And what kind of stereotypes about their lifestyle, appearance and fashion do we know and also use ourselves?
The butch is a lesbian whose body language and physical appearance reminds of men. The typical characteristics of this stereotype are shown in the picture (see above on the left side).
In the following, we are going to look at two well-known stereotypes of lesbians:
The femme and the butch.
To give an general (but also oversimplified) idea about the femme and the butch you could desribe them as follows:
On the one hand, the femme is a lesbian or queer person who dresses (make-up, high heels, wearing dresses), speaks and behaves in a rather feminine way.
On the other hand, the butch can be seen as the opposite to the femme. The butch is often described as “THE” typical idea of a lesbian.
So what is a butch? And what kind of stereotypes about their lifestyle, appearance and fashion do we know and also use ourselves?
The butch is a lesbian whose body language and physical appearance reminds of men. The typical characteristics of this stereotype are shown in the picture (see above on the left side).
Stereotype:
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This picture leads to the conclusion that people imagine lesbians with short hair and no make-up. They should also be dressed very manly and should be pierced and covered with tattoos. In addition, drinking beer and being vegetarian is a further property of a butch. They are also known to behave in a very masculine way (burping, farting) and are meant to hate men.
The other girl shown on the picture represents the opposite type of a lesbian, the femme. But guess what? Yes, some lesbians like to dress in a rather masculine way. But others don´t. Like everyone else they come in all shapes, sizes and colours. That is the case of almost every kind of stereotype. You should therefore rather question it instead of following narrow-minded categories and getting influenced by these concepts. Well, getting to know people instead of believing in everything you are told, is a lot better anyway ;) The truth is that homosexual women are just as diverse as heterosexuals. |
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In the past years, more and more companies have discovered the importance of including LGBT culture in their marketing and advertising. Within this time, there have been increasingly more advertisements with gay couples. Yet, it is very rare to find publicity where lesbians are included. In these few advertisements only the femme is represented although the stereotype of the butch is more common and more widely used. If there are homosexual women in ads, they are (almost) always sexually attractive and very feminine.
Conclusion: Not only in publicity but also in advertisement lesbian women are still quite underrepresented. So it will be interesting to investigate what kind of clichés about lesbians are still in people’s mind. To find an answer, you could have a look into our video where we asked people what comes to their minds, when thinking about lesbians. |
1. http://cdn.pinknews.co.uk/images/2015/10/american-apparel-ad-dc-kiss-300807_ 640x345_acf_cropped3.jpg
2. http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user12162/imageroot/2013/10/les%20ad.jpg
3. https://chloeandolivia.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/buffalo_bitton.jpg
4. http://www.pride.com/sites/www.pride.com/files/2014/06/02/Chaumet_SheWiredx480_0.jpg
2. http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user12162/imageroot/2013/10/les%20ad.jpg
3. https://chloeandolivia.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/buffalo_bitton.jpg
4. http://www.pride.com/sites/www.pride.com/files/2014/06/02/Chaumet_SheWiredx480_0.jpg