Butch Lesbians, Kristen Stewart and Stella O'Malley

Interesting conversation. Wearing male clothing as a woman though hasn’t been taboo or something to be done illicitly for decades now. Which isn’t the case for men In women’s clothing. Plus a massive dose of patriarchally determined pornifying of women’s clothing and looks, which doesn’t exist for males to the same level. So it’s ripe to be a fetish. i also understand the sensory/practical issues of wearing make clothing. It’s why most women in the west now walk around in jeans, which you’d not have seen in my grandmother’s generation.

That said, to suggest there’s never a sexual charge to wearing men’s clothing for some lesbians is oversimplifying it. It’s why the thought of Marie de Gournay in the cufflinks is appealing I am a lesbian by the way. Have to agree that KS is more andro in those pictures than butch.

‘Is there criticism of how she presents or how she has been styled?’

all of it, it seems! She’s a genuine movie star. An openly GAY movie star. Who has more money than she could ever spend.
I don’t think for one second that she’s been ‘styled’ in a way she’s not fully supportive of.
The movie she’s promoting is NOT your typical movie starter choice - not for a woman anyway

Seems that the right AND many on the left are really upset by the cover. I tell you what though, my 15/16 year old self would have looked at that cover and realised there and then that I was gay gay gay!

Is there criticism of how she presents or how she has been styled?

Im heterosexual so I’m conscious this isn’t an area I have any say in- I’ll leave that to the lesbians who I believe when they self describe that way- but I think it’s ok for lesbians to have a conversation about how the media portrays their community. If that’s ok with you, Jan.

You've got that round the wrong way, Janette. Those photos are designed for the straight male eye. The criticism comes from women and lesbians who can spot another woman who's decided to try and boost her career by conforming to male fantasies of what a lesbian ought to look like. We're not looking at it through 'the lens of men.' But maybe you are?

Butch lesbian icon? Check out poet/novelist Joelle Taylor. I may not agree with people on here about a lot of things but if you're looking for a successful in their field contemporary butch lesbian, the Joelle Taylor is your girl. Her collection C+nto is amazing!

‘and I totally agree with my straight sisters who see this as a woman sexualized for the male gaze.’

well, you should check out Twitter/X then because men seem to be horrified by what’s ‘happened’ to poor ‘woke’ Kristen… the males don’t seem to want to gaze at her at all and are bemoaning how pretty she was as that insipid Twlight character compared to now…

‘You’ve got to love the pretence of so called feminists and lesbian ‘allies’ telling a lesbian how she should dress.’

yup! Lesbian here, and I and most the other gay women I know thinks she looks hella hot.
Strong, sexy … this IS what some masc lezzers look like BTW.
though she looks to be mainly in character from the movie she’s promoting.

Also the only person she rubs up against in the whole shoot is a man and this is what passes for 'lesbian aesthetic' in 2024? LOL

I called it 'male gaze pornified stuff'. I didn't criticise what she wears or who she has sex with.

Are feminists banned from discussing how actresses in male-owned mainstream media publications are presented? Because that's kind of our thing.

But hey, what an incredible coincidence that how a lesbian shows a lesbian in a photo shoot is EXACTLY the same way men have been photographing naked and semi-naked women for nearly 200 years. How groundbreaking.

The subject of the photo shoot is a lesbian. The photographer is a lesbian. The shoot absolutely depicts a form of lesbian aesthetic.

Criticising a lesbian for how they choose to present themselves because you can only conceive of a woman’s appearance through the lens of men is not feminism.

I mean straight people telling lesbians how to correctly lesbian is particularly egregious.

But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s pretty bad even if it’s other lesbians doing it.

Well you seemed to imply it was wrong due to the assumed heterosexuality of the poster.

Fairly standard feminist practice to point out how the male gaze impacts how women choose to present themselves. And interesting to see a lesbian doing that. Although I assume that was actually the magazine editors wanting to sell copy.

Its identity politics isn’t it? Who is ‘allowed’ to think or say what according to their expressed ‘identity’? This is where the rot set into the collective brain and led to ‘no debate’ and the rest of that nonsense.

If you support critical thinking, please robustly challenge anyone telling someone what they are allow to think or express according to their identity, otherwise intelligent people and their valuable perspectives can be shamed into silence.

Not sure why you think it’s any better for a lesbian (and of course anyone can describe themselves as anything on an anonymous forum) to criticise another lesbian for their choices about how to present.

The first poster describes herself as a lesbian.

A poster who says she is not a lesbian criticises the male gaze framing of the photoshoot- I believe it’s ok for feminists to criticise the male gaze whatever the woman in question’s sexuality is, don’t you?

Perhaps it’s the same reason gay men like Andrew Doyle do? AD doesn’t fancy women so doesn’t relate to the sexual charge a heterosexual man can get from wearing ‘women’s clothes’ and - I believe JB hasn’t had much in the way of heterosexual activity (I could be wrong, but I am sure I’ve heard her being described as a ‘gold star lesbian’ before) so, maybe she can’t relate to that male ‘charge’ either, presumes it’s akin to wearing a man’s shirt?

You’ve got to love the pretence of so called feminists and lesbian ‘allies’ telling a lesbian how she should dress.

It's not her internet reputation that's the issue, it's the way she sold LGB people down the river by forced teaming them with the T. Awesome she ain't: she'll go down in history's book of shame as the woman who took a once-great organisation and trashed it.

Quite. And wants to grow a moustache and a treasure trail 🙄😏which has made some think the T is beckoning...

thatsthewayitis, that KJK defence of butch lesbians, in an edit by 'Gender Receipts' on X x.com/GenderReceipts/status/1757824154726732186?s=20

And the YT source, cued to that segment, for non X:

https://www.youtube.com/live/W6wub7_f4FU?si=JyGftG3p_-5Z6c8h&t=2323

Kristen Stewart… butch?

I think Baroness Marie de Gournay rocks 🤘