this is a brief history of ‘dyke’ from an educational handout by GLSEN.

dyke is an anti-lesbian slur rooted in antiblackness and butchphobia. it is meant to degrade women who reject gender roles by exclusively having attraction to women.

it is only reclaimable by lesbians.

if a non-lesbian is called ‘dyke’ it is because they are being degraded thru comparison to lesbians.

slurs are only reclaimable by the subject of the slur—the demographic actually being referred to. thus, if you aren’t a lesbian, you aren’t the actual target of the attack.

notice the language specifies “assumed to be lesbians.”

a masculine cishet woman or a non-lesbian sapphic might be assumed to be a lesbian and thus called ‘dyke’ to hurt them, but the intent is to drive them away from lesbianism, not encourage them to be proud lesbians.

‘dyke’ ONLY refers to sapphics attracted exclusively to other sapphics.

this means that any sapphic who is attracted to men CANNOT be a dyke. if a bipan woman is called a dyke she is being threatened for her proximity to lesbianism to discourage her from further similarity.

bottom line:

1. if you are attracted to men, you are not targeted by the ‘dyke’ slur

2. if you do not ID as a lesbian, you are not the one being referred to when ‘dyke’ is used as an attack (regardless of the recipient)

3. if you are not a lesbian, you cannot say/reclaim dyke

while we’re here, please appreciate my hot fat & hairy crippledyke tat