Butch

Butch was a term coined in the early 20th century to describe people with masculine gender presentation (the way one physically presents oneself to the world) and/or masculine gender identity (the way one internally feels about one’s gender). While the term can be utilized for any gender, it is most commonly utilized by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community to describe lesbian or queer identified women who fall on the masculine end of the spectrum regarding physical appearance, because they wear men’s clothing or maintain a masculine hairstyle (e.g., short, cropped hair). As such, butch is typically utilized to describe the [Page 272]gender presentation and/or gender identity of lesbian, bisexual, or queer women. Butch identified women are oftentimes stereotyped as upholding specific ...