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Being A 'Queer Femme' Is About More Than Just The Way You Dress

Sure, youve seen femme embroidered in swirly letters on midriff-bearing crops. Maybe youve even rocked one yourself! But did you know femme implies queer femme? And that femme has a rich history in the LGBTQ+ community? Ill fill you in.

What It Really Means To Be 'Femme'

In French, "femme" simply means "woman," but in English, it's an identity that applies to queer women who present femininely. (Though it's *not* the same as being feminine. More on that in a sec.)

Femme is also far more than an aesthetic: Femme gestures towards an inner-strength, as well as the wealth of feminine energy that has existed throughout history, says , a psychotherapist at in New York City.

But like many other identity terms (think: queer or non-binary), the exact meaning of femme likely varies femme to femme.

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For instance, sexologist and , bisexual advocate and founder of the shop Bi Girls Club says: For me, being femme is all about subverting the idea that a woman always needs to dress in what men find attractive.

While Kai Werder, trauma-informed certified sex educator and author of the zine Beyond Yes & No: The Intimacy of Consent , says: For me, femme identity is about seeing more value in interpersonal and community care than productivity or consumption.

Nope. Femme and feminine are not synonymous, says , PhD, queer African American anthropologist. Femme is a style of femininity, but its a specific kind of femininity.

For queer high-femme legend and writer, , the difference is between how she dressed in college and how she dresses now. Previously, she was dressing femininely, but she was dressing for others (specifically, men). Now, she says, Im dressing femininely, but Im doing it for myself. And Im doing it despite how people expect me to dress as a woman who sometimes also dates women. And thats femme.

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Much of femme history comes from blue-collar bisexual women, trans-femme sex workers, drag queens, and dyke culture in the 40s and 50s, says Werder, who notes that the iconic text Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Fienberg (which you can download for free ) offers insight on this rich history.

For a long time, femme was a pejorative word, especially within the LGBTQ+ community. There was this false idea that you were a true lesbian that you did not enjoy Vogue or other markers of femininity associated with femmeness, says Maroon. As such, being a queer lesbian wasnt just a look or way of dress. It was a political statement that said: I decide what my sexuality looks like. Nobody else. Femmes remained outliers in the queer community until the end of the twentieth century when lesbian feminists and activists did work to combat the idea that a sexual orientation has a look, she says.

These days femmes are much more accepted by the queer community. But Kennedy says identifying as femme is a way to reflect that LGBTQ+ history.

And to be clear, femme *is* an inherently queer identity. "Straight people cannot [be] femme, Werder says. Though Maroon notes that there are a lot of femme drag queens who dont identify under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, as well as femme lesbians who do not identify as queer.

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In our current world, many see a femme-presenting person and assume that person must be a straight woman, says Kennedy. While nobody ever needs to come out, queer femmes who want to be out, often need to come out over and over and over again.

Queer femmes are often put in the position of either having to assert or defend their queerness or resign themselves to being mistaken as straight, says Kennedy. Sometimes this is as subtle as a co-worker asking, Are you bringing a boyfriend to the holiday party?

Other times, its as undermining as, Are you sure youre gay? You dont loooook gay. Noel and Ryan (who, fun fact, are dating) note that when they are on a date, people always assume that they are just biffles. And not, yanno, girlfriends #femme4femme.

For queer femmes, This invisibility and need to repeatedly declare your identity or come out can create a lot of painful rejection, says Kennedy. Not to mention, its exhausting AF.

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If youre a queer femme reading this, hopefully youll take comfort in knowing youre not alone. But if youre not and have found yourself assuming or disbelieving someones sexuality because of how they dress, do all the queer femmes in the world a favor and knock it off.

Start by giving the femmes interviewed in this article a follow. While youre hitting up the search bar, if your femme-identity takes joy in makeup, Ryan recommends giving some drag queens a follow.

Werder used to host a podcast called Femme, Collectively that is still available wherever you get your podcasts. They also recently conducted an interview about the word with certified sex educator on IGTV thats .

Some solid reading:

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Maroon adds: No research on femme would be complete without a study of ballroom culture of the 1980s and couture culture. For this, Paris Is Burning and the series Pose are best, both of which are currently available on Amazon Prime.

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