In just about every way I relate to this article. Us tomboys who grow up to be Butch Lesbians are shamed every step of the way for rejecting femininity, passivity, domesticity and the limited roles allowed to females.
I wish I had an Amazon Warrior Tribe of womyn to call Home. Michfest was the closest, but as a girl it would have been so wonderful to be validated at wvery step rather than denugrated as so many of us were for Resisting.
There ARE little girls that DID get this at Michfest, who grew up at the Festival and ran free without fear and in freedom within a Community of predominately Lesbian Amazon Womyn…at least for a week outta the year if not more( if they were allowed on the Land while workers built it up every year). Who knows how powerful Lesbians and womyn and girls would be if we grew up in real freedom, without fear??
At least, for better or worse, I did come out at a time where there were strong, vibrant Lesbian communities questioning EVERYTHING abd creating a new way of Being, foryms, festivals, enclaves, printing presses, bookstores ect. Almost all of that lost now….who could have imagined our nascent and growing rich Lesbian culture would suffer such a severe backlash to be rendered almost nonexistent. Not from Conservative straights, though all the backlashes against Feminists certainly didnt help,; but rather WITHIN what we thought were our own?
We WILL regrow it again. We must, for OUR OWN SANITY and hopefully in much greater solidarity. Once the number of detransitioners reaches a tipping point, just like the Holocaust people will ask ” where were you?” “Which side of HIStory were YOU ON?” Hopefully not the one of Johanna Olson, who has pushed for ever younger ages of transition. Many of our own Sisters sold us out, but so has the bi and gay male communities, though some gay men are starting to wake up when they see they will not be able to keep their gay male identities and spaces intact. But it has affected us Lesbians from both directions far longer.
From autogynophilic males claiming a space in our communities fir decades, to so many would be tomboy/Butch young women convinced to come out ” male” instead and utterly reject Lesbians, even as they practice Lesbianism with feminine or even othe Butch women. Imitation of het life with a feminine woman, or gay life another Butch, who often eventually transitions herself so they can live as if they are ” gay men”.
I seen it all, and when ANOTHER tells me ir I found out she transitioned it hurts me to the depths of my Butch DykeAmazon soul.
All I can say Sisters is RESIST! Resistance is NOT futile….more and more are waking up to peak trans and what they lost in trying to find Lesbian Community…WE WILL REBUILD, WE WILL RISE!! – in Sisterhood, – FeistyAmazon
Many of our own Sisters sold us out, but so has the bi and gay male communities, though some gay men are starting to wake up when they see they will not be able to keep their gay male identities and spaces intact.
But it has affected us Lesbians from both directions far longer.
– in Sisterhood,
– FeistyAmazon