Stud Dyke

Stud dyke pairs two traditions of naming queer masculinity in women. "Stud" is a term rooted in Black lesbian communities for a masculine-identifying Black woman, and "dyke" is a once-derogatory word for lesbian that many have reclaimed as an empowered self-label. Used together, stud dyke describes a masculine-presenting lesbian or queer woman, most often within Black queer cultural contexts. Because "stud" is racially specific, the compound is typically used by and for Black women. Like both of its parts, it is generally an in-community, self-chosen identity rather than a label applied from outside, and it signals pride in a distinctly Black expression of queer masculinity.