THE FEMININE
VIEWPOINT
by and about women
why not compromise?
FRANKIE ALMITRA
Ever since the publication of Radclyffe Hall's controversial novel The Well of Loneliness in the late 1930's created a furor among gay and straight circles alike, there has been a pronounced tendency in the Lesbian world to make a strong distinction between 'femme' and 'butch.'
To be a butch, one of the basic requirements is to become a 'Stephen Gordon' type. Or so it seems.
This is fine!
But to be considered butch, is it really necessary for us to carry our masculine tendencies so far that some of us spend three-fourths of our time walking around looking like adolescent school-boys not quite old enough to shave?
What, actually, is there to gain by the attempt to be and to live as something which we are not? We cannot improve our social or financial standing in society. Quite the opposite! Yes, we are lesbians!
Yes, a percentage of us are butches!
WE know we are! Our gay friends know we are! The girl with whom we may be involved knows we are!
But why should the rest of the world be able to point a finger at us, and quite obviously know we are? It's really a little unnecessary, isn't it?
I am a butch!
Not too long ago, I was what is considered a 'butchy' butch. Crudely so. I went through the motorcycle jacket and levi stage. I even carried the holy fact that I was a butch to the point of wearing my hair in a flat-top haircut. So I am speaking from the vantage point of personal experience.
I have walked down streets and had fingers pointed at me. I have been denied admittance to some of the nicer restaurants because of my appearance. I have lost job opportunities for which I was fully quali-
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