Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Lynch Views: So Next Generation
by Lee Lynch
2007-01-24

This article shared 3647 times since Wed Jan 24, 2007
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email


I really don't care if a lesbian identifies as femme or butch or kiki. What irks me is being told that I don't exist. Or, as one arrogant wag put it about my identity, 'That's so last generation.'

For a lesbian to dismiss the experience of so many of her peers is the worst form of homophobia—the internalization of thousands of years of scorn and abuse. I may not wield a post hole digger with strength or confidence, but I'm butch. I may not pick up women in bars, but I'm butch. I may not drag panting femmes by the hair to my dykecave, but they don't make 'em any more butch.

Equally, the femmes I have loved may not always have had a wiggle in their walks, but they were deeply femme. They may not have appreciated having doors opened for them, but they were femme. They may or may not have worn negligees, had long glossy locks or pampered themselves with French manicures, but they were femme where it counted.

Don't put down my lifestyle, don't try to change me and don't tell me I'm wrong about who I am. That's as much a put down as the insults I heard from the boys in high school. Even then, alongside my fears, I had a smug defiant pride about being harassed. I was just angry that they, like most men, felt they had the right to judge me or any woman. Just as I am angry now to be so flippantly dismissed for being myself.

Some lesbians think femme and butch is about role-playing. It's so not about roles that they have butch or femme essences that they have not even noticed. Can't they see a pattern in who they are attracted to? The femmes may cut their hair radically short and clothe themselves in trousers and ties, but they can't fool me. The butches may cook gourmet meals for intimate dinner parties of 12, slip on heels and a form-hugging straight skirt to play hostess, but they can't fool the femmes who finds her fascinating.

Why does this oh-so-now generation refuse to recognize its cores? Why do they act all offended when I dare breathe the words femme or butch? What is it they disdain in themselves? I can only think that they are sharing the majority culture's horror of women who don't define our existence by kowtowing to the roles—yes roles—assigned us by men. Non-gays are so darned afraid of us. We don't need no steenkin' men. We dress for one another, not for the dominant straight society. We understand our signals.

So last generation my ass. I live and breathe today. The earth rumbles when a butch strides its surface. Blossoming trees erupt full-grown from the ground, birds swirl overhead, clouds burst, suns gain power when femmes walk by. And we're not all old. For Petra's sake, Google 'young lesbians' and check out the burly girls in frills and the petite stompin' bulldykes. They found themselves, they know what they want and they don't hold their sexualities by the edge—far out from their faces—like so many discarded tissues teeming with infection.

There's nothing wrong with not claiming a camp and no one has to dress any part. But let's not condemn one another for reveling in who we found when we dared look deep inside. Femmes and butches are a fact of lesbian life. Maybe we can't articulate our essences in anything but five-letter words and our presentation to the world, but that doesn't make us less than the rest of lesbian nation. Face it, no matter that the media makes money off sensationalizing us by calling us the flavor of the day, queer is never going to be the fashion statement of choice. We'll always scare the straights. They'll always be trying to stomach us, fix us or kill us.

We're all in this together, gang: lipstick lesbians, stompers and the clueless. Let's embrace the glory of who we are. Let's honor the differences among us while the real Others out there express their terror of us with nasty names, legal games and other weapons. Let's celebrate the fact that we have so many generations to ponder and honor.

Copyright Lee Lynch 2007


This article shared 3647 times since Wed Jan 24, 2007
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

VIEWS Mike Johnson: The smiling face of Christian tyranny 2024-02-14
- Mike Johnson wants to rewrite the constitution to make the United States a Christian nation. James Michael Johnson, Republican from Louisiana's Fourth District, is the 56th speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He was ...


Gay News

VIEWS Parents, not legislators, should be making decisions about medical options for children 2024-02-06
By Jeffery M. Leving - No matter the medical issue, when it comes to kids, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said something last December that every lawmaker in the country should realize when it comes to medical decisions for children. "Were House ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Sundance items, Green Day, 'Wednesday,' Queerties, 'The Wiz' 2024-01-26
- At the Sundance Film Festival, Jodie Foster told Variety that the $1.4-billion success of Barbie helps confirm that Hollywood no longer views women directors as too much of a risk. She said, "With a big success ...


Gay News

VIEWS Is the Pope Catholic? Francis faces opposition in steps toward LGBTQ+ inclusivity 2024-01-02
- The recent change in Vatican policy allowing priests to bless same-gender couples has provoked an unprecedented backlash against Pope Francis and his openness to LGBTQ+ people—a backlash that some fear might devolve into a schism in ...


Gay News

Bring Chicago Home: Guess who's saying no again 2023-12-04
Commentary by Bob Palmer and Mark Swartz - Chicago is ushering in an era of change with a new progressive mayor with a vision to invest in communities long ignored and a significant increase in like-minded city council members. We are excited to see ...


Gay News

Pope Francis's community of transwomen 2023-11-28
- It's a rare opportunity to meet the pope. It's even rarer if you're a transgender Catholic. However, on Nov. 19, in Torvaianica, Italy, a community of transwomen, many of them sex workers, were welcomed and seated ...


Gay News

Banning the Banning of Books: Illinois and California lead the way 2023-10-26
- In June, at the Harold Washington Library in Chicago, Governor JB Pritzker signed legislation banning book bans in Illinois public libraries. This legislation, initiated by Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, passed the Illinois House and ...


Gay News

OPINION Renewing state's Invest in Kids program is investing in anti-LGBTQ+ hate 2023-10-23
- In February 2020, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield warned transgender students in the Diocese's educational system that they "may be expelled from the school" if they live their lives authentically. Lansing Christian School ...


Gay News

Gilbert Baker Foundation reacts to death of shop owner who flew the rainbow flag 2023-08-29
--From a press release - In response to the murder of Laura Ann Carleton over flying the Rainbow flag in her shop in California, the Gilbert Baker Foundation released the statement below. Facebook refused to post the statement as it did not "...meet their standards." ...


Gay News

VIEWPOINT U.S. higher education under siege; freedom of inquiry and speech at risk 2023-07-03
- The Covid pandemic threw a harsh spotlight on higher education in America, exposing forces eating away at the foundations of college and university learning, calling into question the traditional purposes of such education in our post-modern, ...


Gay News

Guest essay by Florida mom Nicole Pejovich: What's Happening to Florida's Public Schools? 2023-06-19
Related video below - A queer Florida parent answers questions about recent laws, how Floridians are coping, and how you can help Books pulled from school library shelves by the dozens. All evidence of inclusivity stripped from classrooms. The politically ...


Gay News

VIEWPOINT For divorced parents, transgender children's health can present tricky dilemmas 2023-06-12
- Over the last few months, issues impacting individuals who identify as transgender and non-binary are getting a lot of attention in the media and among some politicians. Sadly, because it's become a political issue; a lot ...


Gay News

VIEWPOINT War in the 21st Century: mercenaries, private military companies, private armies 2023-05-20
- In 2022, $407 billion of the Pentagon budget—representing half of that year's funding —were obligated to private contractors, of which a significant number were Private Military Companies (PMCs) involved in ...


Gay News

VIEWPOINT Telling the world about my mental health disorders 2023-05-04
- Over the years, coming out as a lesbian hasn't been that hard for me—because I was always too busy hiding something else. Confessing queerness can be a breeze compared to revealing mental illness. But I decline ...


Gay News

VIEWPOINT German bishops endorse blessings of same-sex couples: Ancient rituals retturn 2023-03-31
- This March, at a national meeting of leaders of the German Catholic Church (referred to as a synod), a document titled Blessing Ceremonies for Couples who Love Each Other" received overwhelming support: 176 votes in favor, ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.