Butch

Butch describes a person, most often a lesbian, whose gender expression is traditionally masculine in dress, mannerism, and self-concept. It emerged from a rich working-class lesbian subculture in the mid-1900s, where butch and femme roles shaped community, courtship, and survival. Butch is not about wanting to be a man. Writers like Joan Nestle argued it is a distinctly lesbian expression of gender rather than an imitation of heterosexuality. In the 1960s and 70s some radical feminists rejected butch presentation, but it endured and remains a proud, visible identity with its own history and aesthetics. Butch identity and transgender identity are separate, though some people relate to both.