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Femme identity remains a highly controversial topic. It has been maligned in both heterosexual and queer contexts, and is rarely represented in empirical literature. In this study we examined how femme women experience their own gender identity. Interviews were conducted with femme-identified lesbians; the focus was upon 4 content areas: identity development, experiences in the lesbian community, heterosexual society, and romantic relationships. The interviews were analyzed using Grounded Theory (B. J. Glaser & A. Strauss, 1967), an empirical method of generating models of subjective phenomena. The core category in this model "Maintaining integrity: Upholding beliefs about sexual desire and gender representation" reflects the need to uphold their sense of integrity across a variety of contexts by confronting stereotypes about both women and lesbians.
KEY WORDS: femme; lesbian; gender; homosexual; transgender; queer; identity.
Butch-Femme History
Butch and femme lesbian genders first became visible in the United States in the late 1940s as bars allowed women to congregate without male escorts (Faderman, 1991). Butch women's more masculine clothing and short hair conflicted starkly with feminine norms at the time, and femme women exaggerated femininity and became known for their bright lipstick and seductive dress. Femme-butch couples resembled popular media images of heterosexual gender in the culture of that time, and increased public awareness of lesbianism through their discernable gender representation.
By the 1950s, it was imperative for a woman to identify as either femme or butch if she wanted to become integrated into this lesbian culture. At that time, these two genders "were the key structure for organizing against heterosexual dominance" (Lapovsky-Kennedy & Davis, 1993, p. 6). This gendering cast butch women as protectors and aggressors and femmes as seductresses and sources of emotional solace within a community geared for resistance. It offered a needed sense of belonging that helped to fortify the women against the harassments and arrests that were common at the time-as well as offering a system of coupling that structured romantic pairing, in much the same way as physical sex does within heterosexual contexts.
Although to the outside world lesbians appeared to be mocking heterosexuality, femme-butch identities were very complex, and transcended and radicalized traditional gender roles (e.g., Feinberg, 1996). By appropriating the signs of masculinity, butch gender stretched the image of...