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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2012)
(i.e. I can't get a date because I’m femme). The thing is our narratives, our politics, our lives, our families, our identities are nuanced, complicat- ed, contradicting, and uncomfortable. Femmes don’t just sleep with butches. Femmes aren't just coming in and stealing your girlfriends. Some of them transition genders. Some have no gender. Some have many genders. That’s part of being queer. And when straight ideals carry over into our conversations what happens is we essential- ly create caricatures of competitive petty lezbos fighting for masculine spectrum people. This is inaccurate at best and sexist at worst. Having dated femmes for a long time, hearing conversa- tions about ‘femme competition’ seemed to reg- ulate, decide, and confine my sexuality. When femme solidarity movements assume a hetero- normative sexuality, is that solidarity a powerful form of activism or merely reinforcing a binary we claim to be combating? My larger political questions are around the very concepts of femme coming from assigned femininity. These terms can come with a lot of intense assumptions that, on a broader po- litical level, can not only reinforce sexism but also perpetuate other injustices such as rac- ism, transphobia, and class privilege. Myths of femininity have often aligned with what kind of femininity is the most valued. That most valued historically has been white womanhood. Myths of femininity have traditionally gone to those as- signed and socialized as female. That has added to a culture where transwomen are the most subject to violence and the most invisible. Myths of femininity in relation to class privilege have erased working class modes of living and have also assumed that most femmes have access to housing, health care, and education. If the priority of femme solidarity is based on sexist ideas of femme competition and what we define as feminine, instead of justice and libera- tion, then it is something that personally I want to stay away from. Liberation starts when we start talking about our differences in a real, nuanced, and thoughtful manner. I want to see a femme politic that plac- es destroying white supremacy and transphobia at the core. From there we can build solidarity from a place of fun, humility, care, and account- ability wherein all femmes and not femmes can receive community and solidarity. Catherine Hollenbeck lives, loves, DJ's, and works in Portland, OR. Reach her at www.JustOut.com June 2012 JustOut.com 21
