essentially, femme is queer femininity and butch is queer masculinity. that’s why masculine gay men in the 1960s could serve “butch realness” or feminine n-b people can say they present femme. these are also identities in sapphic culture. the words have many different meanings.

having femme days as a genderfluid person doesn’t necessarily mean you identify as a Femme in a sapphic context. Butch and Femme are basically genders/gender roles within lesbianism and from their start as labels, played off of the meanings of these words from ballroom culture.

saying other queer people can’t even use the words butch and femme if they’re not sapphic reduces the history of these terms. being a Butch is a very specific experience, but butch on its own can also be a way to describe queer masculinity in general, like a way of presenting.

femme is the same way. these labels being used by sapphic people as identities and even genders is important and deeply historical, so other queer people using the terminology in other ways can never detract from that. our community has always shared so much, including words.

that being said, and this is important for me to clarify as a proud butch lesbian, the identity Butch in context of lesbianism is *not* just an aesthetic. it’s not something you can take on and off. it’s an inner experience projected outward. it’s my gender. it’s who i am always.