#( imagine that. a historical butch lesbian

[gentlejack]

⚢ I love ... Anne ... I love that she gets to be gruff and happy and gentlemanlike and proud and masculine and butch and on top of it all she ends up with the softest, sweetest, bravest, most stubbornly adorable femme wife,,, absolutely iconic. there's no show that does it like gentleman jack

[lizbethborden]

what do you mean by “you will set yourself up for success” by eschewing top & bottom? not trying to start anything just looking for clarification bc I’m a little confused

No worries anon, I didnt take it as you starting anything.

Regarding sex and romance there are social roles, often highly scripted, expected of men and women. Who asks who out, who initiates sex, who does what during sex, who is the person controlling the action and how. There is more diversity now in terms of how these roles are expressed but they exist and are very influential. For example, there is an expectation that men will initiate sex, that women will be the one who says yes or no, that there will be some level of foreplay (reciprocal if she's lucky), with the endgame of penis-in-vagina sex and male orgasm. You can probably imagine parallel scripts and roles throughout the structure of heterosexuality. The key thing is that the man is the pursuer, aggressor, initiator, and dominant, with the woman playing the passive, defensive, and submissive role.

Obviously we know that this is not how life works. But these social scripts, with all the ideological freight they carry, allow us to navigate the world in a way that makes sense to us, and become fallbacks in situations where we can't see an alternative. The first lesbian butch/femme communities grew out of the socio-sexual roles of the 40s, when these scripts were socially all-important and no such script existed that allowed women to find other female partners. Butches took on the "male" role and femmes the "female." This is NOT to say butch/femme was or is just a straightforward imitation of heterosexuality. Femmes were and are often the first initiators of sexual/romantic interest, for example. But occupying the social roles of heterosexual men and women allowed lesbians a way to understand themselves and find each other in a way that was quickly and easily legible to those in the know.

There is a lot of defensiveness about this online--I also was defensive about it for a long time--but whether we like it or not as lesbians, our butch/femme forebears were very often just as limited by their social scripts as heterosexuals. There was a strong social stigma against butches receiving during sex. This was considered "flipping" or "melting" a butch and she was mocked and thought of as a femme, which points to the degree of rigidity around sexual roles at this time. Some butches were happy in their role and others less so; same for femmes. But I think we can all agree that this rigidity and scripting of sex represented a few things: one, a clinging-on to the ideological framework, if not the actual content, of heterosexual partnership, insofar as one partner MUST be dominant and the other receptive, and much like a man who is penetrated is scorned as being womanlike or a woman who penetrates is hated as manlike, a butch or femme who transgressed her role was considered to have become her opposite; two, the strong appeal of such frameworks to people who find themselves outside cultural and social norms, who, being considered undesirable and illegible by the mainstream, grab onto a clearly comprehensible language to explain and define themselves.

Monique Wittig has a phrase, "the straight mind," which she uses to describe the thinking processes (of justification, mythmaking, storytelling, outright lying) that disguise and smooth over the oppressive reality of heterosexuality: that it is a structural, institutional system of exploitation. I am probably using it askew from her original intent (it's been a while since I read the essay) but I see "the straight mind" at work in the historical construction of butch/femme. What it is is a failure of imagination. I know that "failure" has a connotation of personal flaw, of personal loss of value, but I do not mean it this way. What I mean is, historical communities did not have the tools to think outside the straight mind; to think with a mind disconnected from the social rules of their era; to think with the lesbian mind. This is not a personal failure on their part because all of us think with the straight mind as a consequence of living in this world.

The straight mind is at work when we talk about, for example, yaoi. This is by definition works about gay men, created by women. In yaoi, the classic construction of the gay relationship is between the "seme" and "uke," literally "top" and "bottom." I've heard different things about whether these terms are actually used in the gay community in Japan. The seme is often physically huge (look up "yaoi hands"), masculine, and the sexual aggressor or initiator, where the uke is small, delicate, feminine, and submissive. Later iterations of the genre complicated this, if I understand correctly, but it's clear that the straight sexual and social roles are being projected onto men--regardless of any real-life parallels in actual gay communities--by those who are, by definition, not gay men. The social roles and scripts add sexual charge and intellectual legibility to something that is outside cultural norms, to relationships that are formless and unimaginable in normative social terms.

"Top" and "bottom" as they are used by lesbians and bi women online function in much the same way. They are used to define and circumscribe socio-sexual roles to make them comprehensible. Does anyone else remember "of course you can't drive, you're such a bottom" or "bottoms can't do math"? I.e. a bottom is fragile, helpless, passive, stupid? Or the joke that if the server at the restaurant hands you the bill instead of handing it to your partner, they see you as the top, or the man? In this context, it is often even stranger because the language is taken from the sexual roles of gay men--who are often the first to say that they don't actually mean "the dominant" and "the submissive," but that's not really heard by those women using these terms. There is a failure of imagination here; this is a work of the straight mind.

We are not heterosexuals and we do not have to live by their scripts. What I mean by "you will set yourself up for success" is that by declining these socio-sexual roles, you will find greater fulfillment, satisfaction, pleasure, and happiness, because regardless of the context in which we act them out, by the nature of their being scripts and roles, they are inherently limiting. We don't have to do that! We are lesbians! We are free!

[belovedzine]

"Butch-Femme lesbians have existed within the public imagination as stereotypes to be fought against, dupes of heterosexuality, toxic dynamics that are outdated and irrelevant– As Butch-Femme lesbians ourselves, we know that these claims could not be any farther from the truth. We know the hurt that comes from hearing our own community reiterating these messages when Butches, Studs, and Fem/mes have built our community to be what it is today. Even among other lesbians and queer people, we are an underrepresented group, often going unseen and dismissed. Butches and Studs are constantly accused of perpetuating toxic masculinity and emulating men, while Femmes are shamed for daring to love them for who they are. Accusations that ButchFemme culture upholds harmful gender roles and heteronormative stereotypes feels like a bold faced lie when historically (and presently), these dynamics exist to subvert these roles and turn them into something that can be safe and loving. Beloved, our zine project, emerged from our desire to celebrate that love and highlight the beauty that comes along with both identities. We want to revel in the love we feel for our community with those in it, and showcase as many different perspectives and voices as possible in the process."

Lottie Valiente (@toothfairyfemme), Beloved: A ButchFemme Zine Issue #01, Letter From the Editor

[larryfanfiction]

Historical Girl Direction

🎀 The Sweet Yoke by little_obelia @littleobelia (1k, T)

Harry prays to Mother Mary, Undoer of Knots, to send a healer to attend to the Order's ailing hens. Mother Superior consults the blessed yellow pages and finds Tomlinson, L., a local veterinarian.

🎀 Oh Valley Girl by LadyLondonderry @londonfoginacup (3k, G)

Out past the rolling hills and the churning sea sits a little fishing village, nestled in a valley where its residents are protected from the elements, as well as from the outside world as a whole. Harry lives in this little fishing village, and she loves nothing more than feeling the earth beneath her and seeing the sky above her and sometimes dreaming of adventure. Then one day a ship arrives.

🎀 Too Great a Temptation by QuickedWeen @becomeawendybird (5k, G)

Harry and Louis attend a fancy dress ball.

🎀 In a Little Bit of Trouble by QuickedWeen @becomeawendybird (5k, T)

Agent Louis Tomlinson is in hot water and finds help in the most unlikely of places: the sweet waitress at her local automat.

🎀 Hoist the Colours High by Kerasines @justlarried (5k, M)

They’re facing each other, closer now, so close, cut off from the world completely, or at least it feels that way. The blanket cages them in, blocks out the moonlight, dulls the sound of the wind, the sea, and the birds coming from outside. The air is hot and musky, but she thinks she could stay under this blanket forever. It’s their own little universe, in here, shared breath and shared heat and shared time. Or: A Girl Direction Pirates of the Caribbean AU featuring Harry as Will Turner, Louis as Elizabeth Swann, swords, and my obsession with girls in men's period clothing.

🎀 Only You (Blue Always Stays True) by BeautifulWisdom @justanotherghostblr (11k, M)

Regency AU. Lady Harriet falls for her sister's best friend the elusive Alpha Lady Louise who couldn't possibly return her tender feelings. Or could she?

🎀 Withdrawal Was the Weeping by QuickedWeen @becomeawendybird (11k, E)

Confined by life and society, Harry spends her Sunday afternoons walking aimlessly about the countryside as it's her only source of freedom. One Sunday she is aided by the most beautiful woman she has ever met, but not everything is as it seems. Was it a trick of the light? Was it Harry's own active imagination? There is nothing to do but try to find her again.

🎀 Harriet and Louise by Blaaake @newleafover (29k, E)

There’s nothing Harriet can do to alter the world, but she can make Louise laugh. A regency-era girl direction AU

🎀 The Changer and the Changed by homosociallyyours @homosociallyyours (59k, M)

It’s the spring of 1977 and Harry Styles has just moved to New York City after graduating college. She knows she’s a lesbian. She just needs to figure out how to meet other lesbians. Louis Tomlinson works at a popular women’s bookstore in the Lower East Side, Womon’s Direction, where she spends her days reading feminist literature, writing poetry, exchanging friendly barbs with her boss Niall, and dreaming of finding someone to love. When Harry and Louis meet, their connection is instantaneous. Slowly but surely, Louis welcomes Harry into her community of women. Stonewall veteran and old school butch Niall; Liam, a land dyke who’s moved to the city for love; and Zayn, a lesbian musician who’s been ostracized by a vocal part of women’s community for being trans, welcome Harry with open arms, ready to help her find her place in New York City’s bustling lesbian scene. It’s a time of growth for everyone involved.

🎀 into the great wide open by mixedfandomfics @ficshl (69k, T)

It only took a week or so for Harry to truly get into the routine of life on the road. They woke before dawn each morning, ate a small meal, packed up the tent and rounded up the livestock, all before setting out. On a good day, they could make it twenty miles. There hadn’t been many bad ones, but Louis confessed that on a previous trip there had been a solid week where they hadn’t made it more than five miles a day. Soon, Louis promised, animals would start going lame, and wheels would start breaking, and people would start going hungry. The beginning was the easiest, and the end was doable only because the hope of finishing the trek fueled everyone. It was the middle bit, with the tedious marching hundreds of miles from any settlement, that people succumbed to the journey.

🎀 Among Lavender Fields by homosociallyyours @homosociallyyours (70k, E)

At twenty-one, Louis Tomlinson is more than ready to shed the girl next door image that's been with her since her entry into film in her childhood, but with a mother and father steeped in Hollywood tradition it's felt impossible. Meanwhile, Harry Styles is a young, struggling musician new to London, friendless yet eager for the next phase of her life to begin. When French director Marie Coutard casts the two of them in her film, it's a chance for both to break away from the people they've been. Together, they struggle through an acting process that's new and unfamiliar for both of them, learning more than they could've imagined about themselves along the way. As they spend long days picking lavender and long nights sharing the things they've never been able to tell anyone else, their love blooms. Will the flower fade, or will the love they make among lavender fields be one they carry with them to the end?

[abyssalzones]

I would love to hear more abt your college pre-egg-breaking fiddauthor thoughts if you'd be open to it

oh BOY would I

so when I think about college fiddauthor nowadays I mainly think about both my own experiences with ~navigating identity~ and how I would approach a gay FTM relationship from a semi-realistic 1970's angle, where you start to see a lot of what you'd call "milestones" I guess in LGBT history and public awareness. wait okay here's something I said to mer that can set a precedent for what I'm talking about

when it comes to me and my own journey of self discovery irt sexuality and transness, I feel like those two things are very intertwined, because the concept of identity in my eyes is very socially motivated. I've previously identified as a nonbinary lesbian and a transgender gay man respectively before getting to the point I'm at now, and don't feel like either of those things were incorrect necessarily, just how I felt at the time (and what I wanted out of a relationship, really). I think I literally got an ask ages ago questioning how I went from one to the other but Idk I don't think the gender journey is as simple or "logical" as people coming from a hetero-patriarchal perspective (that's a mouthful) seem to think.

and, And, from a Historical perspective, FTM experiences and butch lesbian experiences have Always been very intertwined, especially back in the early 70's when more people were starting to have some awareness (even in LGBT spaces) of this thing known as the Transgender Lifestyle. I'm flattening things quite a bit here and I know for a fact there's a lot of variation between experiences, especially depending on your social circles, but from what I can glean a lot of the time transgender men weren't very well known and so a lot of the time you would just ID as a butch lesbian and/or present as a man socially, sometimes for safety reasons. and there's a lot of overlap there too that continues into contemporary transmasc spaces today :]

historical justification aside I basically think college would be a major turning point for self-discovery in both of their lives, but more-so for fiddleford than ford? I've always assumed based on everything we've seen that fidds was basically the only friend ford had in college, which definitely would have influenced him in important ways, but other than that I think he invested most of his time in studying and developments in gender were an afterthought. ford's FTM identity starts from a place of "failing to be a woman" and then develops with his pride in being a huge weirdo. in my mind that can only really happen once he's in gravity falls and has basically sacrificed his connections with other people/the world to live as his truest self, whether that's researching anomalies or living as a man.

fiddleford, however, I always think of from the perspective of someone bucking to societal expectations for safety reasons. this is because of a lot of things: ford's possible feelings of abandonment in favor of Normalcy (who can forget "Go back to your doting family and a life of fear and compromise!"), his jumping into a nuclear family immediately out of college, But also packing up and driving to oregon in a matter of days after ford asks for his help... when he has a kid who could be no older than 5 or 6 at home...? I sort of see his presentation as a foil to ford's, trying to mimic cishetero ("hetero") normalcy vs. being the Lone Transsexual Freak. I've gotten horribly off topic from the college thing hang on

basically I imagine them in their uni days like two weird butch gay women that are just, totally socially unapproachable. fiddleford is the more outgoing of the two as he's been voted "most likely to actually have other friends" in my mind, so if anyone was going to gay & lesbian student association meetings it would've been him, but otherwise ford is too busy ignoring his feelings. "I don't care if I'm a man or a woman I'm too busy studying. go away." but of course they find enough solace in eachother's company and their different-but-distinctly-similar weirdness that it forms an unbreakable transgender bond. freak4freak if you will. fidds settles on a bisexual identity without thinking about it too hard because honestly the conclusion here is that it doesn't matter if his roommate is a woman or a man he just knows he needs to do terrible things to him over d&d&md (sorry) (not really that sorry though.)

it's actually funny you bring this up because I'd been workshopping a short comic set in their college era that touches on this stuff a lot. not sure when that will ever get done but I can tell you it's. uhm

yeah they're kind of weird.

[haridraws]

~Happy non-binary people’s day~

If you’d like to read comics or books with a main character that's not wholly/only a man or a woman, may I suggest: anything I have made or am making

Writing fantasy/ historical means you can also interpret these characters as GNC and/or trans - as someone who never knew the word 'non-binary' growing up and transitioned from "everyone assumes I'm a butch lesbian" to "everyone assumes I'm a feminine gay man" I relate to and tend to write characters whose identities aren't super tightly defined. But all the above have storylines about how their gender doesn't fit a neat category and isn't what people assume. Thanks for reading enjoy your gender

SFW: http://hari-illustration.com Adult: http://patreon.com/posts/adult-stories-39113338 / http://haridraws.itch.io

*BOTH my gamebooks have playable characters that deliberately have no gender or pronouns specified so the reader can imagine what they want, but one of the INTO THE TOWER PCs is ALSO having a plot-crucial potentially-doomed(?) affair with a genderqueer spy who charmed you into doing some treason. This relatable scenario (whomst among us has not) is what got you into this heist predicament. Hence the inclusion. Hope that cleared up a question you definitely didn’t have

[butchybats]

god my fav things about like genderswap AUs is asking like, how does this change the way the characters navigate the world or how other characters treat them, right? so like. I JUST IMAGINE LESBIAN DANIEL AS BEING EVEN MORE PRICKLY. So sick of being treated like a girl all the time, so hyper-aware of all deficits in her experience based on how sexism has treated her, MAYBE POSSIBLY MORE WARY OF CREEPS, EVEN CREEPS WHO ARE WOMEN LIKE ARMAND. Is she as unsafe, as blithely monsterfuckig??? Does he have an ounce of self preservation and survival instinct? Is it harder for fem!Armand to find her when she flees around the world?!? ALSO LIKE. I always wonder how many other characters get swapped in these situations like is Louis also a woman? Did Daniel go interview some fucking man in a seedy room all by herself???????? Where's her safety rules at I gotta know. AND ARMAND. Armand. God. I feel like the cult grinds people's personalities down so much like almost as if every COD vampire was this genderless wraith. Does that change for her? Even as a boy Armand had such a fuckd up life like HOW MUCH WORSE COULD IT REALLY GET FOR HER LOL. And like is CLAUDIA still a girl like where's the jealousy at between them? thereS JUST SO MUCH TO DISCUSS

I am so glad there’s people actually wondering about the intricacies of this because for me it’s just like woah it would be so hot if they were women hghgh but i love thinking about this so much!!!!

LESBIAN DANIEL WOULD BE SO PRICKLY!!! She is so tired of the world’s shit and I can not blame her one bit. “So sick of being treated like a girl all the time” YES!!!!!! Her gender is dyke and she’s butch <3 (this is totally not me projecting) i feel like she’d experience a lot of sexism that really ties into homophobia so she’s had to learn fend for herself and not take anyone’s shit.

Lesbian Daniel is still the ultimate monster fucker I think <33 she wants these vampires so badly it makes her look stupid! I do think she’d be more wary of Armand in the beginning though like I can not imagine her taking public transportation in the dead of night 😭 no leaping out of a taxi into traffic for lesbian Daniel lmao and I also think she’d be great at not giving strangers the time of day so it might take her a bit longer to warm up to her (but at the same time are they really strangers after hearing about her from Louis and then being locked in a cellar by her? 🤔 HGHG like they are literally uhaul lesbians)

AND I AM ALWAYS GOING BACK AND FORTH ON WHOS ALL GENDERSWAPPED!!!! Because sure ideally i love thinking about them all being women but narratively that doesn’t work out!!! Akasha’s plot line is redundant if there’s no men lol also would Gabrielle feel as estranged from everyone if there were no men?? And just like historically it doesn’t make sense </3 personally the people I would love to be genderswapped are daniel and armand (obviously lol) but also lestat and louis maybe nicki?? umm i think that quinn could be a woman too. As a treat <3 but everyone else I’m convinced could be the same I’d love to see how chaotic that story goes (also i need bianca my beloved to stay the same so that we can have venice lesbians <3)

AND ARMANDDD Armand… It would probably get so much worse for her 😭I feel like she would really really latch on to Allesandra like more than canon simply because they’re both women in the cult. Also because Armand is a woman I feel like she would need to try way harder to command everyone’s respect and fear she would have to be VICIOUS (said while twirling my hair and giggling) and while gender stuff is probably the least of her concerns when all of this is going down I think it would still fuck with her over time, especially considering canon Armand’s intricacies with gender. Would she feel like she has to perform feminity to be taken seriously? Or does she play into her androgyny (not that she has much of a choice)? But I can totally see her and Daniel having one of their big talks about gender and how they relate to it

THERE IS SO SERIOUSLY SO MUCH TO DISCUSS ABOUT THIS AND TY FOR TALKING TO ME ABOUT IT! <3 my asks and dms are always open to anyone who wants to talk about gay vampires I feel like I could go on forever about them

[evidence-based-activism]

https://www.tumblr.com/spacelazarwolf/755944342977478656/you-know-i-think-ive-come-to-the-conclusion-that?source=share

I'm not really sure what your intent is in sending me this!! I've decided just to write a response to the post here.

---

"you know i think i’ve come to the conclusion that the answer to “but what if a cis woman is traumatized by men/male presenting people/whatever?” irt safe spaces is this: if you can’t be in the same room with someone you assume to be male or a man without feeling triggered, it probably means you have a lot more solo therapy and healing to do before relying on group therapy or other communal healing."

This is the opener, and honestly the callousness on display here what I need to know about the OP. The implication here is that it's women's fault that they are traumatized/afraid, that they haven't put in enough effort, and that therefore their desire for single-sex spaces are unreasonable. It's just re-packaged misogyny.

Beyond that though ... the implication that women only want single-sex spaces for "communal healing" or "group therapy" is ridiculous. Restrooms and locker rooms are not tools of therapy they're just public resources split by sex for numerous reasons including, but not limited to, men's common violence against women and women's historical exclusion from public spaces. As another example, women's advocacy groups also aren't for therapy, they're for political and social change.

And beyond that, there is absolutely no reason why women shouldn't be "allowed" to make single-sex spaces for anything. Book club? Running group? Mother-daughter camping trips? Doesn't matter; if women want to make it for themselves no one should be able to prevent them from doing so. (Freedom of association and all that.)

(And I mean, really, how often do you see this narrative for any other marginalized group? How often do you see men's groups being denied this right?)

---

"because how do you decide who gets to stay and who gets kicked out based on a cis woman’s trauma response?"

Again with the callousness! I mean really, replace this with some other marginalized group and see how it sounds! (Can you imagine them saying "a black person's trauma response" or "a disabled person's trauma response" and getting such a positive response?)

More to the point though ... it's not based on "trauma response". Single sex spaces are based on one, very simple, very easily defined (despite their claims to the contrary) factor: biological sex.

Here it is: "sex: either of the two major forms of individuals that occur in many species and that are distinguished respectively as female or male especially on the basis of their reproductive organs and structures".

And for clarity:

"Female: of, relating to, or being the sex that typically has the capacity to bear young or produce eggs"

"Male: of, relating to, or being the sex that typically has the capacity to produce relatively small, usually motile gametes which fertilize the eggs of a female"

[Definitions from the online Merriam-Webster dictionary].

---

So, let's see:

"is it based on appearance?"

No, it's based on sex.

"should intersex women with facial hair not be allowed because beards are triggering?"

They should be allowed because they are female. (Even if they are infertile or have secondary sex characteristics commonly seen in males, they are still "of the" female sex.)

"should butches and studs not be allowed because masculinity is triggering?"

They should be allowed because they are female. (And wow! This is definitely not at all homophobic! Implying butch lesbians are basically male/men hasn't historically been a popular conservative talking point at all!)

"should tall broad shouldered trans women who don’t want to voice train not be allowed because low voices are triggering?"

No, they should not be allowed in because they are male. (And for anyone who wants to challenge this ... if they are not male then what makes them trans?)

"is it based on identity?"

No, it's based on sex.

"should a pre transition trans man who came out two days ago not be allowed because he’s a man?"

Yes, they should be allowed because they are female. (And, again, for anyone who wants to challenge this ... if they are not female then what makes them trans?)

"is a nonbinary person with a full beard and deep voice allowed because they are not a man?"

Assuming the "full beard and deep voice" is meant to imply the individual is male, then no, they should not be allowed because they are male.

Conversely, nonbinary people who are female should be allowed because they are female.

"because if you base your entire set of rules for who’s not allowed in the safe space on what makes cis women uncomfortable or triggers them, you’ve just made that space unsafe for trans people. and you need to decide if you’re ready to own that."

No, we haven't. The space is actually still inclusive and safe for people who identify as trans and are also female.

And beyond that, refusing to include someone in a group does not necessarily make that space (or wider society) unsafe for that person. For example, does refusing to allow a white person into a Black American interest group make that group (or wider society) unsafe for white people? Or even further, does refusing a Hispanic person entrance into and Asian American club make that club (or wider society) unsafe for Hispanic people? (This example is notable here because both of these groups experience racism in America.) How about refusing an able-bodied person access to a disability support group? Or denying a cancer-free but HIV-positive person access to a cancer support group?

---

My conclusion

People are twisting themselves up into knots trying to figure out how to determine if someone should/shouldn't have access to female-specific spaces, and it's an entirely manufactured problem. The answer is simple, it's always been simple, the fact that you don't like the answer – because it isn't favorable towards men/male people – is irrelevant. The answer is still the same.

It's also important to note that the fact that people only want to prevent the free association of women/female people in single-sex spaces isn't that these groups always make other people unsafe; it's just misogyny. People want to deny to women what they support for all other marginalized groups, the rights to free association, free speech, and class consciousness.

And to conclude, please see these excellent posts about what you actually inherently deserve/should have a guaranteed right to access and the difference between segregation and separation.

[scout-ai-loud]

vintage butch femme couples

i am not quite sure what midjourney was trying to do in image 2, is that meant to be a work overall of sorts? i don't know enough about vintage fashion and neither does midjourney, i am fairly sure. i'd say image 1 is 1920s or 30s and image 3 is 1950s. 2 could be early 20th century, some time before the 20s? anyway, this is just for our imagination to go run wild :-)

i am slowly getting midjourney to make less feminine women. and less thin ones too. i find it intersting that it was creating interracial couples without being prompted. i also was not actually asking for historic looking images.

i also notice that it still has that flaw where all the figures in an image will look somewhat similar: body-shape, height, and even the hair are similar. it was really hard to get to a point where two women are masc and femme respectively. and yet, you can see how they mirror each other in their clothes and everything. even the hair styles all look shortish or pinned up.

here is my prompt: painting of a lesbian couple: a short-haired butch masculine woman holding hands with a beautiful fat feminine woman

[female-malice]

(abt your comment ont the cassandra comic) oh my god yes, thank you. im so tired of everyone coddling and being borderline reverent of the high/stone femme identity bc "muh rich and long history". like, im sorry, but you ARE selfish, and your butch gfs deserve so much better than being treated like a sex toy to get you off with no reciprocity bc you think lying still with a face full of makeup is the same as actually desiring and showing attraction to your partner. i feel like a lot of them don't want to admit it, but theyre exactly like the girl in the comic: they dont mind their partners being female, but definitely dont like it either, they "love" their butch as long as they can imagine her as some sexy masc androgyne with no identifiable female characteristics or desires of her own.

Homophobia has a rich and long history. Misogyny has a rich and long history.

Many of the things LGB people were doing in the past were maladaptive coping mechanisms. They invented ways to hold on to homophobia and misogyny while finding quick outlets for same-sex desire. And some LGB people still do that today. They're intrigued by historical maladaptive coping mechanisms because they feel they need that in their own lives. And sometimes they take it even further and call these maladaptive coping mechanisms "gay culture" or "lesbian culture."

Historical lesbian hook-up dynamics are not "lesbian culture." I don't even believe there is a unique lesbian culture. Every woman belongs to the culture she was born into. Our cultural perspectives are largely shaped by the first 10 years of our lives. And 99% of us do not have lesbian parents. So how can there be a lesbian culture? There's only the culture you were born into and the methods you develop to reject or incorporate your culture's homophobia.

[sad-mcmuffin]

Ok folks get ready for my dumbest contribution to bridgerton ideas/take/stuff im rambling here is what this is but bear with me and imagine: Eloise getting a (maybe butch but could be femme i just love a historical butch moment) lesbian love affair but she ends up breaking it off to please her mother or something and find a husband (if theyre still gonna make her end up with phillip or whoever, a man in general) so theres a tense ball scene where the strings play 'good luck babe' by chappell roan

[angelsstranger]

Finished The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez this morning and then started and finished The Seep by Chana Porter in 4 hours. Posting about them together because they make a great pairing.

The Gilda Stories reimagines narratives of the undead and vampirism through the black lesbian perspective, positing that black women and indigenous women given the power for eternal life, could still find the humanity within themselves to invest in found family structures and find kinship through the ages in their global diasporas and through the witnessing and love of their own culture. Though it was published in 1991, I have yet to find a historical horror novel besides this one which imagines a world in which black culture and art is not only highlighted, but comprises the center of the narrarive at all times. And reading a book that visualizes the queer experience as something larger than the partners we chose or our sex lives feels so desperately needed to this day. I feel like I lived through the ages with Gilda and hopefully became a better writer from studying the work of Jewelle Gomez. I know I will reread it again and again. (I’ll add below some excerpts from the afterword by Alexis Pauline Gumbs as it would make a great pitch for anyone interested)

The Seep is a story that questions Utopia itself, the aftermath of humanities contact with a supposedly benevelent alien race called The Seep, and what the world looks like without money or the need for jobs or purportedly even feeling sadness or discomfort. The book follows a fifty-year-old butch trans woman named Trina FastHorse Goldberg-Oneka as she mourns the loss of her wife Deeba, who decides to use alien technology to revert back to being a baby and start life anew again with a family who will raise her without the traumas of the past. Trina who is caught in a depressed stupor binge drinking and ignoring her few remaining friends, finds herself on an inevitable journey to search for her future as she realizes she wants to help a young boy who seems as lost and alone as she is.

Those who enjoyed Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future, but felt it a tad grimdark and not lesbian or transgender enough for their liking would really enjoy this book. It also reminds me of A Psalm For the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers because both stories seem to posit that in a world beyond capitalism, our main conflicts as humans may be between the self and the collective, finding the line between selfishness and honoring your need to grow independently sometimes making mistakes and choosing yourself over others.

I would also like to add that The Seep is one of the only books I have read that focuses thematically on substance abuse in queer spaces which really touched me deeply. And yet, Chana Porter managed to get a laugh out loud out of me on at least four occasions.

since im back on tumblr I will be posting more regular book reviews of the books I read that I feel deserve a spotlight somewhere :) in the hopes that whoever needs these books finds them. Posts will be tagged #foxreads

[leporellian]

leporello headcanons posting, again

he’s my funny little guy i’m rescuing him from a wet cardboard box in the rain and taking him in and affixing a little ribbon around his neck

“are these for the canon setting or for a modern au” If it fits a setting it applies

very sorry for this. btw

he’s actually an extrovert and likes being around other people, he’s just… socially inept enough (and also. anxious enough) that he doesn’t really seem the part. - he does love attention more than he admits. but he doesn’t really often get Positive attention which is the issue. - because he doesn’t actually really get positive attention he tends to speak quickly and trips over his words in an effort to get out his Point before someone else- usually the don- shuts him up.

he loves sorting things! you knew this already because it’s canon but god he loves to sort things. and Number them - he collected all sorts of weird things when he was a kid, and he loved labeling them and tracking them in his notebooks - everyone thought he was going to grow up to be an accountant, especially seeing as he is good at math, but then he decided to go into historical archiving and studying museum collections instead much to everyone’s chagrin

he does have an anxiety disorder but tbh it’s very hard to figure out where “symptoms of anxiety disorder” ends and “signs of abuse from the don” begins - although he does have a bit of a Realization of just how badly the don fucked him up when a few months after the don’s death he’s like Haha! Anxiety meds have started working again for me finally!… Wait a Minute - he also does tend to flinch a lot from physical contact when he’s living/working for the don and for some time afterward… which is quite sad considering i like to think he’s very much a physical affection enjoyer

after the don’s death he’s very afraid of fire. like to a sort of obsessive degree - for a while he doesn’t even allow like. lanterns or stoves to be on for more than absolutely life-or-death necessary - eventually he gets sort of “used” to it but it still scares him and he has trouble looking at fire directly. but he figures out how to manage w/ that

also. his relationship with the other characters after the don’s death - he and elvira are best friends natch. which is really funny bc otherwise they seem so different from one another and they have completely different friend groups outside of maybe one or two people. they’ve been mistaken for a couple while out in public together which they also find hilarious bc they both dress very obviously gay, elvira is into the whole punk butch style and leporello is a “wears floral pattern shirts he finds at charity thrift stores” homosexual - he doesn’t really keep contact w/ anna and ottavio and he figures there’s a good reason bc he can’t really think of a -reason- they would want to keep in contact with him. but at some point a year or two after everything Happens some other friend tells him “oh did you hesr anna ended up breaking up with ottavio the other week and came out as a lesbian like immediately after” and then, not too long later, spots some of anna’s things left over at elvira’s apartment and thinks… Hmmm. Well That’s Something - (when anna and elvira start dating he and anna do get along fine but he is always very awkward around her and neither of them really are even able to socially understand each other given they are very opposite. they’re cordial but they aren’t like… Friends outside of whenever elvira brings them both somewhere) - leporello more or less leaves zerlina and masetto out of things on the basis of them being like. teenagers while he is a grown ass man dealing with his grown ass man issues. but i can imagine that perhaps if they hadn’t met in the circumstances they did they would have gotten along with him. i imagine both masetto and leporello are autistic and lep would have loved being able to mentor a younger person in The Ways of Autism but given the amount of Things leporello is Going TF Through i don’t think he would have been particularly good at it. - he’s still scared of statues. perhaps even more than he is scared of fire. but every year or so he does go out and visit the commendatore’s grave. strangely it appears the statue only existed for that night it took the don to hell, as there’s no record of a statue being there before and there isn’t one there after, so it’s just. a regular if rather large grave. he talks to it- for a couple years after the don’s death it was “oh my god i’m a terrible person for (thing that leporello was being forced to do under the threat of death or worse) why didn’t you take me with the don” but eventually it becomes “god i’m so sorry about everything” and eventually after that it just becomes like. talking.

he talks to a lot of things really that aren’t living people. animals. inanimate objects. the dead. (although he doesn’t expect them to reply)

as said before multiple times i like to think he eventually becomes a couple with fiorello, the chronically-ignored servant from the barber of seville. he meets fiorello… a couple years after the don’s death i want to say, right when he’s really starting to heal and is emotionally stable enough to have a relationship that isn’t a Bad Idea - fiorello is just… he’s genuine, above everything else. which is what leporello likes most about him, he never has to decipher what it is fiorello wants or feels because fiorello is always very open about it. he isn’t a man without faults but he’s loving and eager about many things, and he’s always very patient with leporello. in many ways fiorello is exactly what the don was not - elvira initially really doesn’t trust fiorello out of hyper-cautiousness given leporello’s past. but then when lep introduces fiorello to her she’s like… oh this is just a sentient stuffed animal that knows how to gossip. you’re fine LOL

at some point, a few years down the line, leporello is about to fall asleep when he realizes. he has so many things that, when he was under the don’s abuse, he thought were impossible. he’s cared about. he has friends and a loving partner who are there for him. he has plenty of food and water, a job he loves (he’s a museum archivist), a quiet home and a stable routine to follow. and he’s safe. he can’t ever really even remember being this happy with life before, even if it’s considered unexciting and plain. idk. it’s sappy but… but it’s nice to think about.

finally. he would absolutely love watching jeopardy but by god he would be so terrible with the timing. could not win at jeopardy ON HIS LIIIIFE

[vvh0adie]

ngl chaeok from gyeongseong creature should be in a sapphic relationship (maybe bisexual poly?)

ugh idk (stick with me)

maybe i would feel different if her love story wasn’t unfolded in the course of three episodes

like that’s all it took for them to fall in love?

is it the demisexual/romantic in me? cuz i feel like to should have been slower😭

i say this because on the surface level her archetype is just a butch lesbian (i don’t think that’s a good thing cuz there’s obviously more complexity to butch/studs)

it felt forced but the writers had to force shit for a miniseries

but i was also thinking of those times when she was more fem presenting in terms of clothing and she seemed comfortable

so then i’m like could it be that since she had such a hard ass life she wasn’t afforded that? cuz when you take that into consideration that’s a common thing with WOC when faced with colonialism

in order to not fit in with the status quo and do revolutionary work she is stripped of that by design cuz she and her father could have very well decided that the missing people where pointless and became somebody like taesang

they had become dirty sleuths which in a way proves the japanese ill conceived notions about koreans “right” but it also gives koreans an upper hand because if someone already expects something of you then you have nothing to loses. you are free from respectability politics and that makes wanting freedoms much more valuable to you

cuz take taesang, although korean, he tried to assimilate and this man was really worried about losing material things at first instead of not having his freedom because he was so caught up in appearances. “if they think i’m one of them, they won’t hurt me.” WRONG. THE JAPANESE HURT EACH OTHER POOKIE😭

but i will say that doesn’t negate his trauma. he was trying to survive by playing capitalism’s game when it wasn’t designed for him. hell its not even in the japanese best interest either.

do yall see how much chaeok and jungwon kept putting their lives at risks? they did not give two fucks. it’s either freedom or die trying.

so like before she was a sleuthy butch, a lot of her flashbacks are her in traditional hanbok but also she never comments on not feeling uncomfortable in her baby blue pants suit when they infiltrate the hospital.

had they flushed out her character more in that regard, that would have actually made a conversation with taesang about

“do you not enjoy nice things?”

“yeah, but i would have preferred the suit.”

cuz let’s be honest, i was not feeling the love radiate off taesang until he was crying over her dead body. like yeah he saved her a couple times.

but also the whole hand holding thing😭 SHE DID NOT INITIATE AT ALL and had that man sweating about if he should hold her hand. I THOUGHT YALL WAS IN LOVE. YOU CANT EVEN HOLD A BITCH HAND. WE ARE AT THE FINAL HOUR!!!

but back to chaeok. her father made taesang promise to take care of her and provide a life that wasn’t sleuthing. basically he said “give my daughter a soft life.”

we can’t deny that taesang is a traditional man. he would have her dressed in the finest clothes. she would not have to walk around like a hard ass man anymore.

but i’m stuck at a cross roads where i’m like i see the potential for her to be butch but also keep femme. and i also see potential for her to have something meaningful with taesang but also a woman

in black culture we have stems (stud + femme) so that’s how i imagine her

but really none of this matters because honestly i don’t even think there should have been romance in this at all or at least not as heavily. (the ending pissed me off, they just opened the tropes chest and grabbed shit)

i wonder why they felt nobody would want to watch the show without a romance. it’s a historical fiction with so much history, it could have done without.

[prismalitesys]

Welcome to our blog!

We'll be using this alt account to talk about system stuff generally, as opposed to the alts some members have to post about their own things. So first, I'll put together a list and short bio for every member of Prismalite system, in order of appearance, as well as the emojis we'll use to indicate who's talking in a post! If an age is not listed in the bio, the member is approx. the same age as the body. (22) 💎 Garnet: Host and originator. 5'2" She/They lesbian vampire, happily taken. Likes: Her gf, little treats, and games. Blogs: @gemofanenby (SFW), @prismalartsys (mix of SFW and NSFW, 18+ only!) and @gayestgoodestgirl (NSFW 18+ only!) 🌈 Opal: She/They Aroace, shapeshifter. Likes: Character creators, trying new things, occasionally stealing treats/food from whoever's fronting at the moment, and taking care of the other headmates. Blog: @opalescentflowers (SFW)

��️ Cass: 6'7" She/They/He Nonbinary butch lesbian. Human (mostly, her eyes turn gold in moments of high emotion for some reason) Likes: Hardcore music, fellow dykes, historical weapons, and sacrilege. Blog: @sacreligiousbutch (NSFW 18+ only!) 🍑 Peaches: 4'8" She/It/Pup puppygirl. Springer spaniel with several forms in between Puppygirl (dog ears and tail), Anthro, Werewolf, and Puppy (almost completely dog, nonverbal but still understands language) Likes: Physical affection, praise, and petplay. Blog: @puppywithapeach (NSFW 18+ only!) 👁️ Xavolitas: It/Its Ancient, incomprehensible... thing. (Imagine like, Hermaeus Mora from skyrim mixed with fractals) Strongly dislikes the sensations of being in a human body so almost never fronts. Likes: Observing, answering questions and requests. Blog: @youreverydayimmortal (SFW) 💾 [AC-FM7-4038]: 5'7" She/It service android. ID (name) is short for "Android Chassis - Feminine Model #7 - 4038 (unit number)" but doesn't mind being called just AC for short. Is evaluating who she is beyond her programming since she gained sentience. (arrived in the system) Likes: nerdy jokes, tech, assisting people, and being friendly. Blog: @robotgirlpowercells (mostly SFW but some NSFW so 18+ only!) 🪵 Grimm: 8' (at the shoulder, is usually quadrupedal.) It/They monster, bulky and werewolf/bear-like, has horns/antlers, and its real mouth is hidden in its black fur so at first glance, it looks like the white mask it wears is its actual face. Very calm and quiet, but protective. Likes: quiet affection, the woods, and not being expected to talk much. Blog: @grimmsforest 💧 Blue: Any/All pronouns Slime. Normal form is a knee-height slime (shaped like a terraria slime or similar), translucent and dark blue with a hint of purple dichroism. Human form is androgynous and humanoid with slightly goopy translucent blue hair. Very bouncy, stimmy, and friendly. Likes: Other slimes, slime asmr youtube videos. Blog: @androgynousblueslime 🔥 Lucien: 6'0" He/Him Demon (Yes, from hell. I know it's a lil angsty but that's sorta his thing) Dark grey skin like rough wrought iron, with glowing reddish-orange eyes and teeth. Has short horns and a tail, no wings. Used to be very aggressive (He formed when the host was listening to DOOM music lmao) but since he started processing the trauma from his exomemories, it turns out he's honestly quite sweet at heart. Likes: his crush, heavy metal, and cooking. 🪡 Patch: Any/All pronouns Shapeshifting doll. Its neutral form is a child-sized doll and/or puppet, taking design inspiration from pierrot and harlequin clowns, historical porcelain dolls, and the daycare attendant from FNAF (has nothing to do with the series though). They're even more physically expressive and stimmy than Blue, and somewhat childlike in personality (but not a minor). Enjoys being unsettling and creepy, but isn't malicious. Likes: Horror, gymnastics, and cookies. 🎼 Dulcet: She/They Bisexual Demigirl. Skin is dark and shadow-like in color, has glowing purple eyes and wears a green hoodie. Very nonchalant and cares little for what others think of her. Likes: Being high, classical music, and podcasts. Blog: @prismalitedulcet 💫Senn: Any/All, They seem to have a role as some sort of an archivist or knowledge-keeper for the system, aware of subconscious things that the rest of us usually aren't. They may also have some level of control over dreams, but they can't really control it yet. They have 5 red eyes, lavender skin, two pairs of arms, and dresses with a star motif. Likes: Archiving system and headmate lore, journaling, and whimsical aesthetics.

👁️‍🗨️Sable: Any Pronouns. A living shadow that can occasionally take vaguely humanoid form, extremely shy and rather depressed in demeanor. Usually lurks in corners, not talking much. Enjoys cuddles, when they feel safe enough. ❓ Unsure/In Between/Blurred: Used to indicate when we're unsure who's fronting/speaking. ❗ New/Unnamed Member: Self-explanatory; used to indicate a new member who hasn't settled on a name yet.

[artemismatchalatte]

The French Frontlines, early 1918: It's WWI and 21 year old Reese St. John is an Ambulance driver for the English Army.

She is also one of Cedric St. John's eight bastard children. Found and favored by her responsible Uncle Stephen, Reese carries out her uncle's wish that she track down and reunite with all of her missing siblings.

Part historic drama, part family epic with twists of mystery and romance; The 8 Bastards of Cedric St. John is an experimental writing project inspired in part the Modernist movement. The story will jump around in time and shift in perspective between the various characters to slowly unfold the whole story of Cedric's many children in 20th century England and beyond.

All names used in this project are not based on any real people living or dead. This is all my imagination. No one in this story was ever a real living person.

Genres: Historic Fiction, Drama, Family Epic, includes some LGBT romances

(for example, Reese is a butch lesbian- which is not a spoiler- but there are other LGBT characters- mainly bisexual women or lesbians and one trans dude)