𝓦𝓱𝓪𝓽/𝓦𝓱𝓸 𝓲𝓼 𝓪 𝓕𝓲𝓼𝓱?
a queer black sapphic identity for femmes.
Fish Flags: 1 • 2 • 3
“Within the same 1965 survey, Sawyer found that the feminine-of-center (FOC) Black lesbians living in the same Midwestern communities as studs referred to themselves as fish. Fish lesbians often queered feminine aesthetics, warping heteronormative and cisnormative expectations of gender to play with them in more imaginative ways. Like “stud,” “fish” is a racially specific term...”
From Decoding the Sapphic Internet: A Crash Course in Online Lesbian Lingo
“specifically working-class African American lesbians who identified themselves as fish and studs.”
Note: Historically, Fish have identified as lesbian, bisexual, queer etc. Also, due to racial discrimination in education and employment, fish and studs were able to move between the working-class, middle-class and upper-class fluidly because the African American community had a different view and criteria for class distinctions.
From Fish Tales in Femme: Feminists, Lesbians, & Bad Girls edited by Laura Harris and Elizabeth Crocker
