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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2001)
19 nTî7TF!7T!Tlneu;s Raized Printing We specialize in W ord P rocessing Where does the term "d y k e " come from ? uring the past three decades, the word “dyke” steadily has gained currency in the gay and lesbian com munity, although it flW ÂV retains some rough edges. Unlike “lesbian,” which boasts a well-documented, almost gen teel pedigree reaching back to classical antiquity, “dyke” only recently has stepped off the streets, and no one seems sure of its ori gins. But there have been some interesting hypotheses. Older women will remember when “dyke,” like its gay male counterpart "faggot,” was almost always a term of abuse, pronounced with a mixture of disdain and fear about women who tried to act like men— in the clothes they wore, their mode of speech and the way they courted other women. Lesbians rarely used the word; women who assumed masculine ways usually would call themselves “hutches” or, especially among African American lesbians, “studs.” In the 1970s, however, lesbian activists sought to reclaim the word as a term of self- identification signifying allegiance to a woman-centered culture. In the mid-’70s, for example, lesbian separatist Elana Nachman started writing her books under the sur name “Dykewoman” (later modi fied to “Dykewomon”). Soon, women began to wonder about the origins of the word. Lexicogra phers generally agree that the lesbian meaning is unrelat ed to the word meaning “embank m ent,” as in the dikes that keep the sea from flooding Holland. The earliest con firmed references to “dyke” with the meaning “butch lesbian” date only to the 1920s, when it appears in African American slang as “bulldyke," with the variations “bulldyker,” “bulldagger” and “boondagger.” In 1935, Bessie Jackson recorded “B-D Woman,” a blues song about women who “ain’t gonna need no men”: “They can lay their claim, they can lay that jive just like a natural man.” In the absence of any obvious etymology, several theories have arisen to explain the ori gins of “dyke.” One hypothesis, proposed in 1975 by Harold Wentworth and Stuart B. Flexner in their Dictionary o f American Slang, views the word as a contraction of “hermaphro dite,” positing an intermediate form such as “morphodike.” But although the “hermaphro dite”— someone who appeared to be half-man and half-woman— was a popular feature of cir cus sideshows, little evidence indicates the word ever widely was applied to mannish women out side the circuit. Lesbian poet and cultural theorist Judy Grahn conceived a much richer history in her influential book Another M other Tongue, first published in 1979. She found in the word “bulldyke” an echo of the name of the British warrior-queen Boudica (more commonly spelled Boudicca or Boadicea), who led an uprising against Roman invaders in 61 A.D. According to Grahn, the name “Boudica” business cards EASTSIDE MOVING & STORAGE Co. using thermography, die cutting, embossing, and foil stamping. Call us at: 5 0 3 . 2 3 9 . 6 6 9 4 or Household Goods International Trade Shows visit our website at: www.raizcdprinting.com ¡ by Rawley Grau circulated underground for centuries as code for a strong female rebel until it eventually became “bulldyke.” Her evocative etymology transforms a word of abuse into a word of empower ment, and that no doubt was its pri % - ! î t* e / ment,an mary purpose. Toni. C. Morales é e °r<le [ Director of Corporate Relocation E-mail toni@move-northwest.com T M A YFLO W ER. TRANSIT “•o (503) 777-4181 (»0«) 547-4600 Fax (503) 775-8443 Q t^ rPh0n/ ‘Sty* , „ e th But this >. *t>'o “dyke” doesn’t hold water. Grahn’s theory doesn’t explain why Boudica’s name took more than 1,800 years to resurface and then did so not in England but among African Amer icans. Similar problems, and similar good inten tions, come with the speculation that “dyke” harks back to the Greek word for “justice,” dike (pronounced DEE-kay), associated with the warrior-goddess Athena. Bibliographer J.R . Roberts has proposed what might be the most credible theory. She dis covered that 19th century dictionaries of Amer ican slang listed “dike” with the meaning “a man in full dress, or merely the set of male clothing itself.” In 1902, a slang dictionary derived the word from the archaic “dight,” “to deck or adorn.” A man dressed to the nines was said to be “diked out” (com pare our present- day “decked out”). Significantly, this usage was uniquely American. According to Rob erts, “dike” eventual ly came to be applied pejoratively to women who were dressed up— or “diked out”— in male cloth ing, either because they were attempting to pass as men or because they wanted to make a political or artistic state ment. “Thus dike, once used to describe a well- dressed male, becomes a vulgar and hateful epithet to be hurled at women who rebel against confining roles and dress styles,” Roberts writes. Among African Americans, “bull” was added to underscore the mannishness of such women; the prefix also might have alluded to their perceived sexual voracity. This theory explains not only the American provenance of the term but also why it was applied almost exclusively to butch women, not lesbians in general— at least until the 1970s, when activists embraced the word “dyke” as a designation of pride. Popularized by such things as Dykes on Bikes, dyke marches and Alison Bechdel’s comic strip, "Dykes to Watch Out For” (where not all the “dykes” are butch), today the word fast is becoming an accepted synonym for “lesbian.” Nevertheless, it might not be quite ready for polite society. JH R awley G rau has won four Vice Versa Awards fo r his writing on gay and lesbian culture. He can be reached at G ayN estor@ aol.com . 25 years of professional expertise in representing ifour best interests... Deborah Betron Broker, C R B , G R I Office: 503/287.9370 v mail: 503/699.8061 B *. & ....... .................... - ............................... www.bridgetownrealty.com i ■ 1111 ""■■■■■■...... ■■■■■■.............. T imes C hange . T he N eed F or A S olid F inancial P lan D oesn ’ t . Do you have a plan for your retirement? For your estate? How will your partner, family, children or yourself be cared for in the event of sudden illness or death? Do you have enough life insur ance? 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