Masculine of Center -- the term

[julieisafemme]

Originally Posted by Parker

I know you are talking specifically about that conference and how the people there reacted, but to be honest, it does feel alienating to me - not as a white Butch, but as a Butch woman.

The term feels to me like it negates the woman in me; and I am not even speaking as a Butch woman who does not claim, use, and identify with masculinity - I do consider myself masculine and I have embraced both the masculine and feminine sides of my whole Butch self.

That's why I would never use it to describe myself - of course, I would never tell another human being that they could not use it to describe themselves either.

Yes I hear you and understand how you feel. There were many other butch women who felt the same way. All I can tell you is that in the rejection of the term there was unexamined white privilege and ageism. The conversations were extremely heated and emotional. What *I* learned was that for many people of color they did NOT feel comfortable in white butch spaces. They did not feel heard. Butch Voices was trying to include those voices.

I am a white femme. I do not pretend to know what people of color go through. During the weekend I listened and heard that many people felt that butch was a white identity and it did not speak to them. MoC did. It included their particular cultural identities of stud, aggressive, macha, dom etc.

[Parker]

Originally Posted by julieisafemme

I am a white femme. I do not pretend to know what people of color go through. During the weekend I listened and heard that many people felt that butch was a white identity and it did not speak to them. MoC did. It included their particular cultural identities of stud, aggressive, macha, dom etc.

I feel you on this and I wonder if we (community) can &/or should use both then: Butch &/or Masculine of Center.

In my mind - again, this could be my age, my privilege, or my ignorance - Butch encompasses us all; but now that I know that Butch can be marginalizing for POC but Masculine of Center is a more accepted term, I will start using both when speaking about Butches in general.

[Greyson]

Originally Posted by julieisafemme

Yes I hear you and understand how you feel. There were many other butch women who felt the same way. All I can tell you is that in the rejection of the term there was unexamined white privilege and ageism. The conversations were extremely heated and emotional. What *I* learned was that for many people of color they did NOT feel comfortable in white butch spaces. They did not feel heard. Butch Voices was trying to include those voices.

I am a white femme. I do not pretend to know what people of color go through. During the weekend I listened and heard that many people felt that butch was a white identity and it did not speak to them. MoC did. It included their particular cultural identities of stud, aggressive, macha, dom etc.

Although I do not want to use MOC for myself, I did understand how they believed that Butch was a white identity. I guess because I am old enough to remember when white lesbians shunned using Butch as an identity, and there were POC Butches. Today there are many White Female Identified Butches. I am not saying that is a bad thing.