Butch Lesbians, Kristen Stewart and Stella O'Malley

[thatsthewayitis]

As a Lesbian, I'm really appalled by both things. Stella thinks:
My sins are plentiful; one of them was that in an interview with Travis Brown I was really clumsy in the way I tried to communicate about how it is not only autogynephiles who get a sexual charge out of wearing certain clothes. At the time I stupidly suggested that lesbians also get a sexual charge out of wearing clothes. I explained and apologised for this here.
O'Malley

But there she actually thinks women get a sexual charge out of wearing clothes
We don't! I love attracting women by looking great and being stylish. But I don't get sexually excited by wearing menswear or sexy lingerie.

And here's Kristen Stewart who is 'gay' and 'queer' in a jockstrap posing for Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone cover
It's a total male sexualized view of a Lesbian and she does look miserable just like Ellen Page. Why couldn't she wear a high end 3 piece menswear suit like a boss, or motorcycle leathers and be a Butch pinup?

I find it sad there aren't any current role models for Butch Lesbians or frankly for all women who are sporty, and/or into non-feminine clothing and want to look sharp.

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.

@ApocalipstickNow I'm the Lesbian OP and I totally agree with my straight sisters who see this as a woman sexualized for the male gaze.
And all women are invited to participate and critique; it's called free speech. If you don't like a classic feminist analysis, you're free to leave the conversation.
About the 'tiny moustache ' the artist Frida Kahlo had one in the 1930s in a fecking dress too; now she is amazing!
Frida Kahlo

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.

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

Oops, I agree 💯 with you@ApocalipstickNow.
it's @PlanetJanette who is free to leave the conversation.
Exactly @FKAT!
This pic of butch kd Lang is more like it

‘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.

‘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…

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!

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?

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.

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?’

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

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.