Why Do Femme?

This is my response to Making Space’s recent post on femme and femininity.  You can read her whole post here.
It just never ever ever in a million gazillion years would EVER occur to me that ANY woman EVER EVER EVER EVER (have I emphasized this enough?) would voluntarily paint her nails or wear makeup every day. So I’m [...]

A Sublime Blogiversary

Hello darlings, I’m back from my vacay just in time for my one-year blogiversary!   Van and I had a great time on our cruise and also enjoyed ourselves at the gorgeous Mayfair Hotel in Miami, which was wonderful despite the heat.  
Just how much fun did we have?  On the cruise I discovered that minibar bottles of Absolut are an excellent remedy for puffy eyes.  Chilled bottles should be applied [...]

On Your Knees! It’s Miss Grace Jones

Who else could pull off gold eyebrows with so much ferocity but the incomparable Grace Jones?  I know, I know.  She scares you, right?  Frankly, I hope so. 
While I have not been blessed with Miss Jones’s gift for provocation, l have nothing but admiration for her willingness to embody extremity of all kinds.  To me, her sculptural beauty [...]

Happy B’day Angelina

It’s Angelina Jolie’s birthday, which got me to thinking.  Remember when Angie was an unpredictable wild child and all-around badass, not the perfect wife/mother/Hollywood goddess/goodwill ambassador?   I’m glad she’s happy, really I am, but I miss the good old days when she played with knives, kissed girls, dressed like Morticia Adams, wore a vial of Billy Bob’s blood on [...]

Against Femme Privilege

There’s been good discussion over at A Brown Girl on the question of femme invisibility and femme privilege, prompted by ABG’s reposting of Nikki’s thoughtful piece on that issue.   I’m a big fan of Nikki and her blog, give me space (to rock), but I think the concept of “femme privilege” doesn’t actually capture the experience of [...]

Visible: A Femmethology (Review)

Why is it so hard to claim femme? This is one of the many things I was thinking as I read Visible: A Femmethology, the new two-volume set just released by Homofactus Press. I’ve been puzzled by this question myself for years. As a professor, I teach about all kinds of  “hot-button issues”–abortion, queer theory, [...]

Femme Literary Meme

We deserve a meme of our own!
Best all-around femme self-help book  Miss Piggy’s Guide to Life.  A fountain of wisdom.  The book includes gems such as: 

“Never forget that only you can ever fully appreciate your own true beauty.” 
“The essence of managing money is managing to have enough of it.”
Miss Piggy on choosing a career:  “Does [...]

Tomboy Chic: Style and Tomboy Femme

I’ve always adored women in menswear or menswear-inspired clothes.   (How hot does Katherine Hepburn look here?  Enough said!) So of course I was pleased about the buzz for the new “tomboy chic” and the so-called “boyfriend look.” (Note to the fashion industry:  Enough already with this boyfriend crap.  Heterosexism is not cute.)  Check out ”Tomboy Chic” in [...]

Femme Myths

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Myth #1  Femmes are helpless
Myth #2  Femmes aren’t really dykes
Myth #3  Femmes are passive
Myth #4  Femmes can’t be tomboys (or tomboys can’t be femmes)
 
What myths about femme and/or lesbian gender do you want to rid the world of?  
And hey, don’t I look good putting on my spare tire?!
 

Femme Pleasure and Strap-On Sex

I’ve sometimes felt that some butches are rather too… a-hem… narcissistically attached to their strap-ons.   If you can’t fuck without it, get out of my bed. 
Don’t get me wrong; I certainly don’t think strap-ons or dildos are heterosexist or antifeminist, and I’m not sitting around worrying that I have internalized heterosexist norms because I like sex with toys.  [...]