Masculine lesbians historically take on a very conservative role within their expression in fashion. They make up a large portion of the sapphic spectrum in the LGBT community. Masculine lesbians can operate in the form of butch, stud, or a ‘mild’ masc presentation. For context, butch lesbians are non-black masculine lesbians. Studs are historically, black lesbians, as the name can only serve to represent black masc lesbians. Then a mild or soft masc lesbian is a representation of a lesbian that does not present feminine through the expression of their gender and sexuality. Masc lesbians take on a flamboyantly non-feminized or highly femme role within the community and their exploration of expression.
There’s an intersection of masculine lesbians, that through their exploration of gender and sexuality begin to discover the truth in their gender, as quite often, many lesbians, identify as women who have liked women for years, and at some point, some may identify as transmasculine or as men through this exploration. Masc lesbians have a huge impact and voice on the LGBT community and many pavements have been made through the lens of masc lesbians or trans masc lesbians.
Throughout history, binders have dominated the queer community. A binder is an article of clothing that exists as a compression bra of sorts. It is a step higher than your classic Nike sports bra and the effect is to give a smaller chest. Most masc lesbians will wear sports bras and binders are most typically aligned with trans masculine individuals. However, considering it is just simply an article of clothing: if the effect of a flat chest is what is desired, a masc lesbian who identifies as a woman could still wear it if they do not want their presentation to be associated with having a bigger chest.
In a very popular show, Euphoria, season two aired in 2022. Hunter Schafer a notable, trans woman in the show and real life was wearing a binder in one or multiple episodes of that season, as she noted in the show and in a special episode she co-wrote, she is navigating a largely cis world, and is trying to understand her expression and gender through this lens. Many trans women have also noted that their existence and expression largely operates and is impacted negatively, or in other cases, positively by a male-dominated perception as we live in a male-dominated world. This radical feminist idea struck a lot of people negatively when Hunter Shafer said it, and it still is not received well by many standards regardless of the nature and truth behind it. This is one of those ideas that operates outside of the traditional gender binary that is largely only represented in media. However, if these ideas were represented more as they were in Euphoria, trans people would not feel so excluded or so ostracized when they want or have the desire to explore their gender outside of the binary that cis people have assumed that they transitioned into.
Streetstyle or loose-fitting a tire, in general, has made a large comeback in the last 10 years. This comeback has not just been centered towards masc lesbians but towards everyone quite honestly. However, the difference between a straight girl wearing baggy pants and a baggy shirt with a full face of makeup on is obviously different than a masc lesbian wearing baggy pants with a baggy shirt who is presumptively, not trying to appear feminine whatsoever. And that is the most ardent difference between a straight woman saying she looks ‘very lesbian today’ just because she is wearing baggy clothes.
In queer spaces these lengths are often not seen to such extreme measures as this performance of gender within the queer community can be more flexible and fluid. What is so beautiful about the sapphic community is that these spaces or not as restrictive or unsafe as their cisgender and heterosexual counterparts and therefore masc lesbians have the freedom to explore areas of their gender and sexuality that they typically would not be able to do in straight dominated areas due to fear of safety, fear of validity, or uncomfortability around people who do not understand their average expression and the desire to seek the bounds of all queer avenues in their presentation.
It feels as if it’s a running joke within progressive parts of the queer community that the goal is to, ‘become so trans that your cis.’ People in the trans community have noted, specifically, trans men, that once they felt secure in their testosterone levels, in their masculinization facial surgery, etc. they now felt the freedom to explore feminine representation within themselves because it does not feel the same as being viewed as a cisgender woman as it is to being viewed as a trans man exploring femininity through a trans lens not a cisgender lens.
Makeup has always been a huge part of the queer community as makeup and fashion go hand-in-hand with one another. One of the biggest forms of fashion, and make-up that are represented in the queer community is drag. Drag is one of the most important parts of queer culture and pop culture in general as much of the language, style, and ambiance is used to influence cisgender and heterosexual representation through language and expression within their own confines and bounds.
Written and Curated by: Natalia Miller
Blog Published and Directed by: Natalia Miller
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