Femme (alternatively spelled “fem”) is a queer resistive embodied identity liberated from the limits of normative gender (Story ). Femme approaches femininity, encompasses it, and then pushes against its boundaries—especially those informed by Eurocentric ideals of “woman.” Femme demands repositioning gender as a fluid and artistic process of being. When language seeks to confine or explain our sexualities and genders, femme marks itself as an ineffable performative gender. In what follows, I trace the historical usage of the term femme in US LGBT culture, centering a femme framework that is “bent, unfixed, unhinged, and finally unhyphenated” (Rose , 12). I travel femme across three movements in an effort to describe its “unruliness that struts across day and place” (S. Lewis , ): the homophile movement of the s to the s, the gay liberation movement of the s to the s, and queer organizing of the s and s. I demand the reader to understand not only the shifting uses of a gendered term but also how reading the past through the language of the display can provide a deep underst
Out On The Couch
By Briana Shewan, MFT
In order to prioritize femme voices, all quotes in this article are from femmes.
Positionality makes a big difference in femme identity: Please note I am a cisgender, colorless, thin, millenial femme from an upper-middle class background formally trained as a psychotherapist.
Have you ever wondered if you’re femme? Have you been circling around femme identity for a while without knowing if it fits? Are you unsure if you get to contact yourself femme? Maybe you’ve heard “femme” more and more and you’re curious about it?
Femme is a beautiful, complex identity. What it looks like, means, and encompasses is different for each of us. I’m sure for many femmes there’s a sense of resistance at my try to categorize the identity here. I don’t mean to imply that organism femme fits into one specific box! In fact, quite the opposite is true. Femme is all about stepping outside of traditional femininity. Spoiler! I’m getting ahead of myself.
Rather, this article is intended to broadly clarify femme identity by exploring its common themes. As the word
Last updated on July 22nd, at pm
There are as many ways to construct and live a femme identity as there are femmes. Some femmes wear long hair, others shave their heads, and still others do both. Some wear heels every second they leave the property and others wear sneakers. Some are CEOs and some are welders and some work in pink-collar fields. Some are &#;girly&#; and many are not. Some associate their femme-ness with their appearance, while others associate it with spirituality or energy or emotion or politics or care or strength.
Femme isn&#;t any one presentation or behavior or way of moving through the world, and it&#;s definitely not simply &#;being feminine.&#; It&#;s an intentional, self-aware, and queer twist on feminine energy and presentation that transcends the sum of its parts. Or as Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha writes in &#;FEMME SHARK MANIFESTO!, &#;WE’RE YOUR Top GIRLFRIEND AND YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE.&#;
If you are femme, date femmes, both, or neither, here&#;s a fast primer on the myths and truths around existence femme.
There are many ways to be a femme, so it&#;s foremost not to confine oneself to a specific definitionbut below is an abstarct of how it was defined in the literature I read. Femme is a term used in LGBT culture to explain someone who expresses themselves in a typically feminine way. With that said, femme differs from feminine, and the differences are key in understanding why the terminology femme is necessary. The common threads amongst all femmes are their expression of femininity and their place on the LGBTQ+ spectrum. Many individuals use it to embrace and redefine the stereotypes and expectations that are often placed on women.
Femme & Femininity
Many people outside the gay community may not fully understand what femme means and how it differs from feminine, but the differences are why the terminology femme is necessary.
Femme describes a lgbtq+ person who presents and behaves in a traditionally feminine way with the inclusion of cisgender individuals who enjoy a more passive role in intimate relationships, asexual transgender women, or n