Bull Dyke

Bull dyke describes a lesbian who presents in a markedly masculine or butch way. The word is a shortened form of bulldagger, and both grew out of Black lesbian subculture in Harlem during the 1920s, with earlier related forms like bulldyker recorded by around 1906. For most of its life it was used as an insult against masculine women who did not fit expected gender roles. Many butch and masculine lesbians have since reclaimed it as a badge of pride, while others still hear it as reductive or hostile. Because it sits on the boundary between slur and self-description, who says it and in what setting changes its meaning entirely. Respecting how a given person identifies is the safest guide.