| Part of a series on |
| Lesbian feminism |
|---|
 |
 Feminismportal |
Dyke is a slang term, used as a noun meaning lesbian. [1] It originated as a homophobic slur for masculine, butch, or androgynous girls or women. Pejorative use of the word still exists, but the term dyke has been reappropriated by many lesbians to imply assertiveness and toughness [2] (for example: the Dykes on Bikes motorcycle club).
The origin of the term dyke is obscure and many theories have been proposed. [3] [4] [5] Most etymologies assert that dyke is derived from bulldyke, which has a similar meaning. [3] The term first appears in an August 1921 article in the journal Medical Review of Reviews titled "The 'Fairy' and the Lady Lover". In this article, Perry M. Lichtenstein, a prison physician in New York City, reports on the case of a female prisoner he examined: "She stated that she had indulged in the practice of 'bull diking,' as she termed it. She was a prisoner in one of the reformatories, and there a certain young woman fell in love with her." [6] The forms bulldyker and bulldyking also appear later on in the Harlem Renaissance novels of the late 1920s, including Eric D. Walrond's 1926 Tropic Death, Carl van Vechten's 1926 Nigger Heaven , and Claude McKay's 1928 Home to Harlem. [3] [7] The Oxford English Dictionary notes the first attestation as Berrey and Van den Bark's 1942 American Thesaurus of Slang, which lists bulldiker as a synonym for lesbian. [8]
The etymology of bulldyke is also obscure. It may be related to the late-19th-century slang use of dike ("ditch") for the vulva. [9] Bull ("male cattle") being used in the sense of "masculine" and "aggressive" (e.g., in bullish), a bulldyke would have implied (with similar levels of offensiveness) a "masculine cunt". Other theories include that bulldyke derived from morphodite, a variant of hermaphrodite ; [2] that it was a term for stud bulls and originally applied to sexually successful men; [10] or that it was a dialectical corruption of the name of the rebel Celtic queen Boadicea. [2] [4]
From the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, dike had been American slang for a well-dressed man, with "diked out" and "out on a dike" indicating a young man was in his best clothes and ready for a night on the town. The etymology of that term is also obscure, but may have originated as a Virginian variant of deck and decked out. [11]
In the 1950s, the word dyke was used as a derogatory term for lesbians by straight people, but was also used by lesbians of higher social status to identify crude, rough-bar lesbians. [12]
In a 1970 study, Julia Stanley theorized that the source of these varying definitions stems from gender-determined sub-dialects. [13] Homosexuality in America is a "subculture with its own language." [13] As such, a special vocabulary is developed by its members. Previously, gay men defined dyke as lesbian without derogation. A bull dyke was also defined as a lesbian without further distinction. For lesbians of the community, however, a dyke is an extremely masculine, easily identified lesbian, given to indiscretion. Bull dyke is an extension of this term, with the addition of this person described as nasty, obnoxiously aggressive, and overly demonstrative of her hatred of men. [13]
In 1995, Susan Krantz discussed the etymology of bulldyke, with derivations of the Middle English "falsehood" for bull and dick for dyke (Farmer and Henley 1891). [2] Therefore, a possible origin for a masculine lesbian comes from bulldicker that could specifically mean "fake penis", denoting a "false man". [2] Further speculation talks of the synonymous term bulldagger. Here, dagger also alludes to the male genitalia and bull referring to "false" rather than "man". [2]
In 1969, people in the gay community began to march in the streets to demand civil rights. Terms such as dyke and faggot were used to identify people as political activists for the gay community. During this time, dyke referred to a woman committed to revolution, the most radical position. A surge of feminism in the lesbian community led to "dyke separatism", which emphasized that lesbian women should consider themselves to be separate from men, their ideas and movements. [14]
In 1971, the poem The Psychoanalysis of Edward the Dyke by Judy Grahn was published by the Women's Press Collective. [15] [16] This use of dyke empowered the lesbian community because heretofore it had only been employed as a condemnation. Because of the exposure of the word to the public, the term dyke was reclaimed by the lesbian community in the 1970s. [17]
The meaning of dyke has positively changed over time. Most members of the community have dropped bull from the term to use it as a positive identifier of one who displays toughness, or as a simple, generic term for all lesbians. This abbreviation does not carry the negative connotations of the full phrase as it previously did. [2] Scholar Paula Blank, in a 2011 article on lesbian etymology, called for taking ownership of lesbian and similar words. [18]
In the late 20th and early 21st century, the term dyke was claimed by many lesbians as a term of pride and empowerment. [19] [20] Alison Bechdel, author of comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For (1983–2008), [21] said use of the term was "linguistic activism". [20] The strip depicts the lives of a lesbian community and is one of the earliest representations of lesbians in popular culture. [22] It has been described "as important to new generations of lesbians as landmark novels like Rita Mae Brown's Rubyfruit Jungle (1973) and Lisa Alther's Kinflicks (1976) were to an earlier one." [23]
The term dyke is also important in the leather community, who use the term leatherdyke as the counterpart to the gay male "leatherman." [24] For example, in the 1995 documentary BloodSisters, which is about the leatherdyke community, one of the interview subjects says, "I don't want to be called a lesbian, I'm not a lesbian. . . I'm a dyke. And for me, that's a real power word. It's a source of pride, and strength, and it has history for me." [25] Because of its association with the leather community, some may choose to use the term dyke, rather than lesbian, to indicate a position in the feminist sex wars. [26] [27] [28]
In her 2011 article The Only Dykey One, Lucy Jones argues that consideration of lesbian culture is core to an understanding of lesbian identity construction. [29] Matters came to a head when the United States Patent and Trademark Office denied the lesbian motorcycle group Dykes on Bikes a trademark for its name, on the grounds dyke was offensive, derogatory and disparaging to lesbians. However, the office reversed itself and permitted the group to register its name after attorneys appealed and submitted hundreds of pages to show the slang word does not disparage lesbians in the way it once did. [30] On December 8, 2005, Dykes on Bikes won the trademark case, [31] and the organization has since gained international recognition for leading gay pride parades from San Francisco to Sydney.
In June 2017, Facebook censored the use of the word "dyke" on its website as "abusive content". [32] [33] [34] This decision resulted in a Change.org protest petition created by the Listening 2 Lesbians collective that was signed by 7,247 supporters. [35]
Dyke Marches have become popular gay pride events nationwide in the United States and Canada. They are generally non-commercial, in sharp contrast to corporate-sponsored pride events, and some are participated in by bisexual and trans women. The stated mission of the Boston Dyke March, for example, is "to provide a dynamic and welcoming space for participants of all sexualities, genders, races, ages, ethnicities, sizes, economic backgrounds, and physical abilities." [36] Marches also take place in several European cities. The United Kingdom's first Dyke March was held in London in 2012. [37] In Germany, the annual Dyke March Berlin was established in 2013. [38] [39] In Mexico, the Marcha Lésbica (Lesbian March) was founded in March 2003 and is held biannually in Mexico City. [40] [41] [42]
A dyke bar is any bar or club frequented by lesbians, and is considered as slang in the vocabulary of the LGBTQ community. The existence of official dyke bars, or lesbian bars, in the United States has decreased tremendously in the past 40 years. In the 1980s there were around 202 lesbian bars, in 2021 the number was thought to be at 16. [43] The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the closing of dyke bars, with the lack of business preventing bar owners from paying rent, exacerbating an already existing decline in lesbian spaces. [44] The Lesbian Bar Project is an ongoing film and documentation project created by filmmakers Erica Rose and Elina Street in 2020 to document the country's remaining lesbian bars; it has since expanded to Europe. [45] However, there is some evidence that this trend may be reversing in some regions, with an increased number of lesbian bars opening in the United States since 2023. [46] [47] [48]
Queer is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or are not cisgender. Originally meaning 'strange' or 'peculiar', queer came to be used pejoratively against LGBT people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to reclaim the word as a neutral or positive self-description.
Dykes to Watch Out For was a weekly comic strip by Alison Bechdel. The strip, which ran from 1983 to 2008, was one of the earliest ongoing representations of lesbians in popular culture and has been called "as important to new generations of lesbians as landmark novels like Rita Mae Brown's Rubyfruit Jungle (1973) and Lisa Alther's Kinflicks (1976) were to an earlier one". It introduced the Bechdel test, a set of criteria for determining gender bias in works of entertainment, that has since found broad application.
Butch and femme are masculine (butch) or feminine (femme) identities in the lesbian subculture that have associated traits, behaviors, styles, self-perception, and so on. This concept has been called a "way to organize sexual relationships and gender and sexual identity". Butch–femme culture is not the sole form of a lesbian dyadic system, as there are many women in butch–butch and femme–femme relationships.
Judy Grahn is an American poet and author.
"Lipstick lesbian" is slang for a lesbian who exhibits a great amount of feminine gender attributes, such as wearing make-up, dresses or skirts, and having other characteristics associated with feminine women. In popular usage, the term is also used to characterize the feminine gender expression of bisexual women, or the broader topic of female–female sexual activity among feminine women.
LGBTQ slang, LGBTQ speak, queer slang, or gay slang is a set of English slang lexicon used predominantly among LGBTQ+ people. It has been used in various languages since the early 20th century as a means by which members of the LGBTQ+ community identify themselves and speak in code with brevity and speed to others.
Faggot, often shortened to fag, is a derogatory slur used to refer to gay men but expanded to other members of the queer community. In American youth culture around the turn of the 21st century, its meaning extended as a broader reaching insult more related to masculinity and group power structure.
The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s in the Western world, that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride. In the feminist spirit of the personal being political, the most basic form of activism was an emphasis on coming out to family, friends, and colleagues, and living life as an openly lesbian or gay person.
A dyke march is a lesbian visibility and protest march, much like the original Gay Pride parades and gay rights demonstrations. The main purpose of a dyke march is the encouragement of activism within the lesbian and sapphic community. Dyke marches commonly take place the Friday or Saturday before LGBTQ pride parades. Larger metropolitan areas usually have several Pride-related happenings both before and after the march to further community building; with social outreach to specific segments such as older women, women of color, and lesbian parenting groups.
Over the course of its history, the LGBTQ community has adopted certain symbols for self-identification to demonstrate unity, pride, shared values, and allegiance to one another. These symbols communicate ideas, concepts, and identity both within their communities and to mainstream culture. The two symbols most recognized internationally are the pink triangle and the rainbow flag.
Gay is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
Fruit, fruity, and fruitcake, as well as its many variations, are slang or even sexual slang terms which have various origins. These terms have often been used derogatorily to refer to LGBT people. Usually used as pejoratives, the terms have also been re-appropriated as insider terms of endearment within LGBT communities. Many modern pop culture references within the gay nightlife like "Fruit Machine" and "Fruit Packers" have been appropriated for reclaiming usage, similar to queer.
Dykes on Bikes (DOB) is a chartered lesbian motorcycle club with 22 chapters, numerous affiliations, and 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. They are known for their participation in gay pride events such as Pride parades, and significant LGBTQ+ events like the international Gay Games.
LGBTQ linguistics is the study of language as used by members of LGBTQ communities. Related or synonymous terms include lavender linguistics, advanced by William Leap in the 1990s, which "encompass[es] a wide range of everyday language practices" in LGBTQ communities, and queer linguistics, which refers to the linguistic analysis concerning the effect of heteronormativity on expressing sexual identity through language. The former term derives from the longtime association of the color lavender with LGBTQ communities. "Language", in this context, may refer to any aspect of spoken or written linguistic practices, including speech patterns and pronunciation, use of certain vocabulary, and, in a few cases, an elaborate alternative lexicon such as Polari.
This article is intended to give an overview of the history of LGBT rights in Brazil.
Tranny is an offensive and derogatory slur for a transgender individual, often specifically a transgender woman.
The development of LGBT culture in Philadelphia can be traced back to the early 20th century. It exists in current times as a dynamic, diverse, and philanthropically active culture with establishments and events held to promote LGBT culture and rights in Philadelphia and beyond.
The following is a timeline of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) history in the 20th century.
Lesbian erasure is a form of lesbophobia that involves the tendency to ignore, remove, falsify, or reexplain evidence of lesbian women or relationships in history, academia, the news media, and other primary sources. Lesbian erasure also refers to instances wherein lesbian issues, activism, and identity is deemphasized or ignored within feminist groups or the LGBT community.
Various lesbian flags have been used to symbolise the lesbian community. Since 1999, many designs have been proposed and used. Although personal preferences exist, as well as various controversies, no design has been widely accepted by the community as the lesbian flag.
Special Issue: A History of "Lesbian History," Part 2
