A friend just sent me the link to this piece: www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/29/binary-gender-feminism-transgender-womens-award
It's Monroe explaining how they understand gender, and much of it strikes me as pretty nuanced and very understandable. So I wondered about something that might be a side note - but can we discuss it?
Monroe explains:
I just want to be myself. Flatter-chested, a bit stronger in the arms and shoulders, and able to pass for a “young man” on public transport. I could still do that as a butch lesbian, but it doesn’t fit.
I feel horribly rude, but I read that and wondered what she was getting at - because she isn't, to my understanding, someone who's ever been 'butch'. I honestly can't tell if she thinks that she is butch, or if she is saying that she had two options - either to be trans or to be butch - and she dismissed the second one because it felt wrong.
I wondered about all this, because on MN FWR I keep seeing people say they've tested out as 'masculine' on tests, or that they are not especially 'girly', or whatever. So, I suppose there are lots of ways to define women who are not 'gender conforming'.
But, would you think of 'butch' as meaning only 'a woman who seems masculine'? Do you think 'butch' women are identifiable with men?
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Feminism: Sex & gender discussions
What do 'butch' mean to you as a feminist (re. Jack Monroe)?
50 replies
JeanneDeMontbaston · 29/10/2015 21:43
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