Dyke

Dyke is a slang word for a lesbian, often associated with masculine or butch presentation. For much of the 20th century it was used as an insult, sometimes in the forms bulldyke or bulldyking, which Black queer women used to describe themselves as early as the Harlem Renaissance. Beginning in the 1970s, lesbians reclaimed the word as a source of pride and strength, with the poet Judy Grahn among early reclaimers. Groups like the Lesbian Avengers made it central to their identity, and the Dyke March, first held in the early 1990s, grew as a protest against the control of Pride events by white gay men and the sidelining of lesbians and women of color. The word's meaning still depends heavily on who is using it.