Am I lesbophobic for being bi and wanting to be called butch? I’ve been banned from like 3 different sapphic spaces and gotten harassed for referring to myself as such. I saw an old post of yours on the subject and was wondering your opinion?
thats not lesbophobic at all! the idea that butch/femme are lesbian-exclusive terms is an idea originating from radical feminism, and more specifically the lesbian separatist movement.
radfems/lesbian separatists treat anyone with any (real or percieved) connection to men as untrustworthy or outright dangerous. this has led to many accusations against bi women- like being complacent in their own opression, being the reason for predatory men preying on lesbians, and much much more. they insist that associating with bi women is a danger to "real lesbians" (aka, ones who are exclusively women attracted to women), and have continuously pushed to erase bi peoples shared history, community, and terminology- even use of the word lesbian- with lesbianism, and unfortunately they have been quite successful in spreading this idea outside of radfem circles due to how much damage theyve done to queer spaces. so much biphobia has been extremely normalized, all in the name of supposedly "protecting real lesbians" from simply associating with them.
butch/femme have a vast history of use amonst many types of queers- its not even exclusive to women. anyone saying otherwise are radfems, or have deeply fallen for how normalized their rhetoric has become.
im really sorry youve had to deal with people being so hateful because of this shit too. ive defintely dealt with a lot of it over the years on here due to being a genderfluid bi lesbian, and being very vocal about such. but there ARE plenty of people out there that are accepting of those like us that dont fall for radfem bullshit! its a rocky field to try to navigate and find our safe spaces for sure, but theyre out there! ive reblogged from tons of inclusionists on here :> and unlike what many radfems will claim, there ARE many monosexual+monogender lesbians who love and support lesbians who arent exactly like them, along with celebrating their shared history with other types of queers!
*hugs from a femme bi lesbian!* <3
