[BullDog]

The story that Nixon describes of her family is very similar to one I am familiar with. My butch roommate is a mother and grandmother. Her grandson, when he was about 3, started calling his grandmother Guz (we think it's a combo between Buzz Lightyear and Grandma). It fits his butch grandmother to a t. The kids call their femme grandmother Nana. Kids know butches are somewhat different and they figure it out.

Whether Nixon's partner specifically ids as butch or not, she appears to face many of the same issues that a lot of butches/masculine women face. She deals with people that know and love her as well as perfect strangers who might not always know where to place her. She deals with it in her house, at the barber shop, at her kids' school, wherever she happens to go. That's in the context of being a masculine, lesbian/queer WOMAN (in terms of how you are perceived, not talking personal, individual identity) in this world- and all the good, bad and indifferent things that go along with that. The very lived experiences that lots of people in butch femme communities seem to want to ignore or erase.