High Femme

High femme describes a heightened, deliberately maximalist expression of femininity within queer, and especially lesbian, culture. Think full makeup, styled hair, heels, and a polished, glamorous look chosen consciously as a queer statement rather than as an attempt to blend into mainstream expectations. Many who use the term treat high femme as a distinct gender presentation or identity, one that some describe as privileging artifice and glamour over understated "natural" looks. It grew out of the femme side of the butch-femme dynamic in lesbian communities, where femme has never meant passive or conventional. People define the term in different ways, with some using it mainly for presentation and others for a fuller sense of identity, so meaning often depends on the person and community.