BATON ROUGE, La. — Dec. 27th, 2025
If you had to narrow the particularities of my gender identity down to one single word it would— without any doubts— be “Butch." A strong word “Butch" is. She carries strength and poise, sharpness and love, power and care. To be Butch is to contain a type of strength and a type of masculinity that is sharply contrary to the false bravado that is put on in the so-called “manosphere" but also to reject some of the queer softness that one may see as performed more frequently in the contemporary Queer discourse (particularly in largely online circles). Beyond the ideas and flowery language, however, one should examine what butchness means in the current political space. What does a Butch’s body mean in this space? How does she speak? How does she move? How does she flow?
In general, the Oxford English Dictionary will tell you that a Butch is simply “A lesbian whose appearance, behaviour, or identity is regarded as masculine.” Dictionaries, however, can only tell a piece of a story. Butchness is an identity that was forged for protection and subversion. Butches all through how history have been political figures. To be Butch was not only to protect one’s Femme but also to love and protect one’s community— to forgo privilege for the sake of protection for her community, and an actualized and independent identity for herself. Something worth noting is that we— as Butches— have not the masculinity of men, I would not say that our— or at least not my— masculinity is in any way related to being male. The proximity to privilege that exists for a man performing masculinity for himself exists not for a Black, Transgender, Butch or Stud. Masculinity in this space becomes two distinct concepts. It gains the character of being for oneself— of bravado— of men; and it simultaneously gains the character of being for one’s community— it becomes power not for an individual but power that is characterized by lifting up an entire community of people who have systematically victimized by their material being— this is the masculinity of Butches.
On Body
A Butch’s body— like any person’s— is not one simple thing. It is a complex network of all manner of things that are capable of containing a person’s identity. The body is the practice out from whom emerges identity. Our bodies are strong and scarred, yet no less tender, soft, or loving. Our bodies are shields. We are capable of withstanding hurricanes and thunderbolts through our determination and the practice of our bodies. Take the following;— in our bodies is a central contradiction between the strength that we have found for ourselves through Butchness and the weaknesses that structures may ascribe to us through our still extant femininity, and through our revolutionary spirit of love. Our bodies reconcile this in the most beautiful fashion imaginable. Our bodies— battered, scarred, strong, and soft— reconcile this by housing us. They contain us. Our hands can split stars; our tears ignite fireworks, and our voices strike stronger than the hammer of Thor. Even still, our hands also pamper, our tears soothe, and our words contain the voice of God— compassionate yet ruthless, merciless yet kind.
The Politic
The fundamental question still holds, how do our politics emerge from this state? How do they emerge from the fundamental definition of what Butchness is? I can only know myself for certain, but I would say is that my politics emerged from my Butchness just as my mind emerged from my body;— as a natural consequence. Vanguards emerge from the Butch strength of the wide masses; parties form as the sword and shield of the people. As a Butch, I have a duty to protect my Femmes;— a sworn obligation to guard my communities; as a revolutionary I have a duty to do the same on a broad basis. Each human being has productive capacities in their ability to transform the world around them. To be Butch is to exercise one’s productive capacities that subverts the extant and dares to build something better. The theories of my politic are simply Butchness taken in its most general and universally applicable character. It is fundamentally with that in mind that I can state that the work of building a better world is gender-affirming care.
