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sapphics and the use, the meaning and the history of the word dyke
alright so i’ve had some questions about this in my cc and my dms, so i'm going to do by best to answer them in this long-ass thread. i'm more of a math than history human, so if you notice any errors, lemme know
alright so i’ve had some questions about this in my cc and my dms, so i'm going to do by best to answer them in this long-ass thread. i'm more of a math than history human, so if you notice any errors, lemme know
dyke comes from bulldyke. we're not quite sure where bulldyke comes from, maybe from hermaphrodite, maybe from a time in which dyke referred to vagina (so mannish vagina) or from dick, with bull meaning fake (so fake penis).
hermaphrodite and the celtic queen boudicea are also possible origins of the word. susan krantz did a great job summing up the texts on this.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/710f/ad8a8c783992fa8c67aeaae3ccfef8fb4f65.pdf?_ga=2.60256429.1454879394.1600001964-1751932116.1572177854
dyke clearly referred to a woman who is too mannish, who is not the "right" kind of woman.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/710f/ad8a8c783992fa8c67aeaae3ccfef8fb4f65.pdf?_ga=2.60256429.1454879394.1600001964-1751932116.1572177854
dyke clearly referred to a woman who is too mannish, who is not the "right" kind of woman.
dyke does not mean lack of attraction to men. there is absolutely no reputable source that says this. someone said it & it was repeated, but it’s not the actual meaning of the word. (i searched high & low, but if you do have a historic source that i’m wrong here, pls let me know)
so, bulldyke, eventually shortened to dyke, was a widely used slur in the 50s and 60s. back then, bisexual was a purely academic identity and lesbian had a different meaning. it was something you did. anyone who dated woman was classified as a lesbian.
this was a time of oppression, this was the time of bar culture and bar raids. cops didn't walk into a bar and say "who here identifies as bisexual? you're free to leave."
bi women were called lesbians, and they were harassed and oppressed as such.
bi women were called lesbians, and they were harassed and oppressed as such.
the definition of lesbian changed with the emergence of political lesbians in the 70s and 80s. they defined a political lesbian as a "woman identified woman who does not fuck men".
this thread also covers a lot of material about them: https://twitter.com/BellaRizinti/status/1173894002044801025
this thread also covers a lot of material about them: https://twitter.com/BellaRizinti/status/1173894002044801025
to be a political lesbian, a woman did not have to be attracted to women - she simply had to “not fuck men”. this was a stark change from what lesbian had meant before then. this was a movement called lesbian serperatism.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3dD4VR6trTUMzYzZTExNmMtY2FlMC00MjlhLTg1ZjItYjFhNGMzMWNlMGIx/edit?hl=en&authkey=CN6ixb8C&pli=1
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3dD4VR6trTUMzYzZTExNmMtY2FlMC00MjlhLTg1ZjItYjFhNGMzMWNlMGIx/edit?hl=en&authkey=CN6ixb8C&pli=1
i said this badly in my last tweet, so sorry about that:
many radical second-wave feminists were also TERFs and SWERFs, most famously probably sheila jeffreys.
however, some lesbian seperatists were and are inclusive of trans women.
many radical second-wave feminists were also TERFs and SWERFs, most famously probably sheila jeffreys.
however, some lesbian seperatists were and are inclusive of trans women.
however, a large number of political lesbians excluded amab people, sex workers, and bi women because they benefited from “heterosexual privilege” or the connection to “heterosexual privilege”.
they also criticised butches and femmes for “conforming to heterosexual behaviour.” leslie feinberg wrote about this in her semi-autobiographical work, stone butch blues. https://twitter.com/radiantbutch/status/1315112839611330560?s=20
this book also discusses the changing definition of lesbian, how bi women were pushed out of communities and how they became a part of bi groups. https://twitter.com/davidrxse/status/1312942470649516033?s=20
a much more smart human than me has also collected a lot of the sources on how systematic and wide-reaching the push against bi and trans women was - she has a lot of great sources and historic reading material at the end of her thread. https://twitter.com/thotscholar/status/1191424588124696576
this happened throughout the 70s and the 80s, and after the bisexual manifest in 1990, lesbian & bisexual became, in the community, two separate identities. However, lesbian as an umbrella term remained for lesbian relationships, lesbian bars, and you guessed it, lesbian history.
you still see this in a lot of dictionaries and sources, where lesbian has multiple meanings. the oxford english dictionary names three meanings, two of which include bi women.
the changing definition of lesbian shouldn't be an excuse to deny our shared history with bi women.
bi women were butches, they were femmes, they were oppressed and they had the slur dyke used against them. they have every right to reclaim it.
bi women were butches, they were femmes, they were oppressed and they had the slur dyke used against them. they have every right to reclaim it.
now let's talk about the reclamation of dyke, because that is an empowering and awesome topic.
in 1976 a group of 20-25 sapphics assembled at the head of the san francisco pride parade, coining a tradition and a name: Dykes on Bikes®. since then, they spearheaded sf pride.
in 1976 a group of 20-25 sapphics assembled at the head of the san francisco pride parade, coining a tradition and a name: Dykes on Bikes®. since then, they spearheaded sf pride.
their fight for the right to reclaim & trademark this name lasted fourteen years. the patent & trademark office denied the case because they considered the name to be "disparaging" & it was only 2017 that the supreme court struck down the paragraph that had been used to deny them
their lawyer clearly stated that the mark of disparaging is identified by the people who are referred to by this term, in this case, "lesbians, bisexual and transgender women."
so, sapphics who were called dyke went to court for their right to reclaim dyke.
so, sapphics who were called dyke went to court for their right to reclaim dyke.
irrelevant but awesome side info:
in 2008, dykes on bikes was sued by a guy called matt mcdermott. he found the name to be "insulting to men" and said it comprised "scandalous and immoral material". they won that lawsuit, too.
in 2008, dykes on bikes was sued by a guy called matt mcdermott. he found the name to be "insulting to men" and said it comprised "scandalous and immoral material". they won that lawsuit, too.
in 1993, a group called the lesbian avengers organised the first Dyke March in Washington D.C. they were also clear about dyke identity.
since then, there have been numerous chapters of dykes on bikes founded and countless dyke marches have happened all over the world. dyke has been reclaimed by many sapphics and in a way few other slurs have. it's no longer just a slur, it's evolved into an identity.
and dyke marches, dykes on bikes, the lesbian avengers, they’ve all made it very clear that they support all sapphics who identify as dykes.
and directly from the chicago dyke march: https://twitter.com/DykeMarchChi/status/875110220451778563
one last thing : dyke is a slur and slur reclamation is a very personal thing. no one else, no matter how they identify, should refer to you in any way that makes you uncomfortable.
i think all sapphics should be able to reclaim dyke, if they want to, and so do all the people who did the leg work of the reclamation, who marched, who sued, who fought for our right to reclaim dyke and turn it from a slur into an identity.
i’ve said my part, i think. extensively. if you have questions, please ask. if you have corrections or further thoughts, please, please let me know. i’m normally a maths and not a history girl, so i very well might have made errors or inaccuracies.
due to the already huge length of the, i’ve also skimmed over a lot of things. there’s a lot more to unpack here and i encourage you to contact your local queer community or read more about this on your own. as queer people, we have a rich and powerful history.
have a great day!
have a great day!
things i missed/ forgot to add because i am dumb (i am fairly optimistic that i'll be adding things here for a while):
bulldyke/ variants of the word were used in the black community during the harlem renaissance- which spanned the 1920s & 1930s. bulldyke/bulldagger referred to a masculine, black woman and described "physical strength, sexual prowess, emotional reserve, and butch chivalry"
thank you @Catastrfy for sending me this great paper about that time period: https://encompass.eku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1039&context=ninepatch
and i also found this paper very interesting:
https://www.urop.uci.edu/journal/journal10/06_tenorio.pdf
and i also found this paper very interesting:
https://www.urop.uci.edu/journal/journal10/06_tenorio.pdf
