Breaking it down - describe the Femme that you are

[BarbaraRyan]

I joined after the last post, so I hope it's okay that I add my self-description.

As far as labeling my sexuality, I use the terms Femme and Lipstick Lesbian. I like them both because they are complex and express two aspects of me - my femininity and my love of women.

I am very feminine in appearance - I wear make-up and love red lips. I currently have short hair, but wear it in a gamine style. (An ode to Audrey). I prefer wearing skirts and tops, but like dresses that flatter my hourglass figure. I wouldn't say I am modest, but I don't wear revealing clothes. But I wear loose t-shirts pants and boxers when cleaning or gardening.

I like Victorian Lesbian fiction and vintage erotic photos, along with reading Anne Rice and Jane Austen. I drink tea and collect tea pots/tea for one sets. I love vintage hats, clothing, and jewelry. I like lots of pillows on the bed and fluffy comforters where I snuggle with my cats while listening to Sarah Brightman, Sarah McLachlan, Dido, and Nora Jones. I watch British comedies, Bones, the L Word, and Arrested Development. I enjoy musical and try to see them when I can. My favorite is The Phantom of the Opera.

I am really spiritual. I pray to the Goddess and meditate - a lot. I study Her many different guises - such as Mother Mary, Medusa, Athena, and Tara. I don't worship a male deity. I'm a witchy woman with Native Guides and have an affinity to Shamanism and Native Culture. I'm a Reiki healer, tarot reader, and truth teller. I read the stories of the Goddess and watch Pushing Daisies, Moonlight, Buffy, Charmed, Bewitched, and Xena.

I collect crystals and study their uses and properties. I love plants and flowers and have several gardens. I hope to be a Certified Master Gardener one day. I like cooking vegetarian and vegan and have a number of cookbooks. I study herbalism and make herbal medicines. My favorite herbs and flowers are in the mint family and include roses, mints, and lavender. I am a ginger addict! I have several chronic illnesses and blog about living with them.

I love learning and constantly read. I have degrees in PR and Writing Arts. I have worked as a Freelance Writer and in Acquisitions for a Bookseller. I'm interested in Law and plan to go back to school to get my Paralegal Certificate. I enjoy classical studies and want to see the new Cleopatra exhibit at the Franklin Institute.

I also have a tomboy side. I enjoy watching Professional Wrestling and still attend live events. I've been to Wrestlemania. I love old NWA, Attitude Era WWE, and ECW. The ECW Arena in South Philly is one of my favorite places. I like Owen Hart, Shawn Michaels, Chyna, John Morrison, Awesome Kong, Tommy Dreamer, Chris Benoit, and RVD. I collect wrestling DVD's and have a nice little collection. I also love horror. I'm a huge Clive Barker fan and love his Books of Blood. I enjoy Friday the 13th the Series, Dexter, Saw, Hellraiser, Nightmare on Elm Street, Dead Silence, and the Evil Dead. I even have a blog dedicated to examining the horror genre.

Sorry if that's a bit long. Something I like about this thread - is that everyone her has defined herself and has taken the time to look within honestly. It's important, along with not letting others define who or what we are. When we do it, we give away a bit of our power.

[Lady_Wu]

I am femme. Strong in my weakest places. Strong enough take care of myself. Strong enough to relinquish control.
I am femme to your Butch. An old-fashioned, dress-wearing, 50s femme. I am proud to be seen on your arm in a world that does not know who or what we are. I am the one who hears you cry when your family/your job/your world rejects you for being who you are. I am the one who knows your fierce determination not to let them break you. I one who walks with you past the stares of the people who would like to knock you down. I am the one who walks into the lesbian bar, you in your Butch attire made more obvious by my feminine dress. I am your partner in the Dance.
I am femme who would kill for my femme friends. We have been there for each other in the gentle rain of the good times and the thunderstorms of the bad. We have cried on each others' shoulders, laughed at each others' stories, talked for hours on the phone. We have seen each other through the mind-bending of initial love and the heartbreak of its ending. We are the ones we turn to in our joy and our hurt. Who else but a femme really knows me!
I am femme. I amable to live happily alone yet run happily into your arms when you get home. I can open my own doors, carry my own groceries, and unclog my own sink. I can also let you do those things for me! I can ward off the creep next door who leers at me each time we pass. I can let you run him off for me. I can run my own life with ease. I can give over that control to you.
I am femme. I have looks to kill with an attitude to match. I have my own sense of style, with dresses past my calf, librarian glasses, and funky little flat shoes. I can walk past you in a bookstore (my natural habitat) and make you look once, twice, then you're following me around the store. I can be found in the GLBT section looking for that odd Butch/femme title or in the Philosophy section with my nose in the book of an obscure Chinese Author. I can accidentally drop my books at your feet and have you pick then up and shyly ask me to join you for coffee. I know that you know that was no accident.
I am femme. I can shop for hours with a femme friend for just the right purse. I can lecture a class on Early Greek Skepticism. I can simplify my life til I own very little. I can cook a vegetarian jambalaya and buttermilk pie dinner that has those cooked for coming back for thirds. I can make the perfect cup of coffee.
I am all of these things and infinitely more. I am a lady, after all. And a lady is so much more than than mere words can convey. And has so many more talents than words can tell. I am femme.
Lady_Wu

[imperfect_cupcake]

at this moment I am short-nailed (can't be arsed with the gloves and cotton wool any more), ripped men's ribbed undershirt, black jogging pants.

I wear make up spectacularly and artistically (usually deep end glam) when I feel like wearing it. 5 days a week I have a scrubbed and lotioned face and spikey, short, bleached hair with very long lashes.

I love cosmetics but in a pallet/paint way - it's joyful art.

I wither with no real backwoods camping. England makes me very spirit sad this way.
I love all animals and the spiders in my flat are honoured pets.

I love cooking, especially with my partner.

I love to create. boxes, collages, painting, make up, cooking... building things makes me feel purposeful and skilled and I want to get back into furniture making. I also love beading and stitch-work.

I am loud laughing, swearing, confrontational, vunerable, independant, co-operatively dependant with my partner and very happy about it.

I am quiet, inverted and overly stressed

I like dinner parties and when I can pull it off, the rare dance all night and go out for breckfast before going home.

I love living in big cities but need a regular escape route to the trees and the lakes and skinny dipping.

cats are my happiness and can't wait till we can finally get two. It's been very empty with them.

I am exploratory and science orientated. I am continually learning. I love certain frames of specific religions though and like picking and choosing of things I want to bring into my own special kind of... lack of word for what I am.

I am devoutly feminist. I owe them everything I can do/am. I will continue their work.

[Lady_Wu]

I am still the femme I described. Let me be more specific now.
I am short-haired, like a bikkhuni and studying to be a Roshi and Taoist priest. My nails are long and I wear dresses but little make-up. A little lipstick and nail-polish for special occasions. Perfume everyday, though. I have 3 scents I wear: Romance, Green Tea, and Inner Realm.
I live more like a Taoist monk than anything else. I take care of the sick, clean house and prepare meals like a good Chinese taitai. I study when I have time. But the above leaves me little time.
I am not as healthy as I used to be. MS and other illnesses have taken their toll. My spirit is still strong. I will have pain. Pain will NOT have me.
I would love to be pampered and have someone take care of me. That is not my lot in life right now, though I have hopes that one day that could change. Right now I just want a peaceful home. I would also like a few friends. I have accepted that that is just not possible here. Meeting people is impossible in a town that has no gay community: no bar, though that is not my scene; no bookstores, and no cafes or coffee houses.
I love these mountains but the people in WV are unlike any I've ever known. Unless you are from here, you basically do not have any way to be known. No-one speaks to each other in the grocery, unless it is to talk to others related to them. Sigh. I'm used to exchanging recipes with strangers in the vegetable section. And having no-one be a stranger. Then again, I come from the deep South. The cold is killing me as well. Again, it is gorgeous but hard to maneuver in.
So I live the life of a Taoist monk, trying to do good and study. I have my dreams still but have found that happiness comes in small doses. Contentment is the best I hope for.
Lady_Wu, Taoist monk femme

[BarbaraRyan]

Thank you Lady_Wu for sharing. I admire your strength and determination. I am curious though - What is a taitai? I've never heard that term before.

Hugs!

Originally Posted by Lady_Wu

I am still the femme I described. Let me be more specific now.
I am short-haired, like a bikkhuni and studying to be a Roshi and Taoist priest. My nails are long and I wear dresses but little make-up. A little lipstick and nail-polish for special occasions. Perfume everyday, though. I have 3 scents I wear: Romance, Green Tea, and Inner Realm.
I live more like a Taoist monk than anything else. I take care of the sick, clean house and prepare meals like a good Chinese taitai. I study when I have time. But the above leaves me little time.
I am not as healthy as I used to be. MS and other illnesses have taken their toll. My spirit is still strong. I will have pain. Pain will NOT have me.
I would love to be pampered and have someone take care of me. That is not my lot in life right now, though I have hopes that one day that could change. Right now I just want a peaceful home. I would also like a few friends. I have accepted that that is just not possible here. Meeting people is impossible in a town that has no gay community: no bar, though that is not my scene; no bookstores, and no cafes or coffee houses.
I love these mountains but the people in WV are unlike any I've ever known. Unless you are from here, you basically do not have any way to be known. No-one speaks to each other in the grocery, unless it is to talk to others related to them. Sigh. I'm used to exchanging recipes with strangers in the vegetable section. And having no-one be a stranger. Then again, I come from the deep South. The cold is killing me as well. Again, it is gorgeous but hard to maneuver in.
So I live the life of a Taoist monk, trying to do good and study. I have my dreams still but have found that happiness comes in small doses. Contentment is the best I hope for.
Lady_Wu, Taoist monk femme