What Violence Against Masculine Lesbians Looks Like

Who Masculine Lesbians Are and Why We Are Talking About This

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Masculine lesbians are those who have a masculine, gender-nonconforming presentation in their style, appearance, and behavior. Within queer culture, they are typically represented by the identities of masc and butch. The latter is a distinct cultural phenomenon with historical roots in the United States during World War II, and embodies resistance to heteronormative patriarchal frameworks and roles. Today, the spectrum of masculinity is quite broad and diverse, and is not tied to any specific set of attributes.

At the same time, this kind of presentation remains a challenge to society and to gender roles. Its very existence means that masculinity can exist without men — and signals that people can construct their identity however they choose, without being bound to innate qualities. This is a threatening idea within a heteropatriarchal system built on a strict gender binary with fixed roles and acceptable presentations. It is also something unfamiliar, incomprehensible, and threatening to many people who have grown accustomed to that binary as something normal and natural. This is precisely why masculine women — and lesbian women in particular — represent a kind of anomaly within the system, one that it seeks to "correct."

What Stereotypes Exist About Masculine Lesbians

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Masculine lesbians face discrimination and violence, including within the queer community itself. As with other forms of gender-based violence, people are largely driven by stereotypes — in this case, ones that fuse misogyny with homo-/queerphobia.

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The central prejudice, from which others stem, is the assumption that masculine lesbians want to be men or are imitating them. This reflects a profound misunderstanding and dismissal of their distinct identity. It is also a form of black-and-white thinking, in which society is imagined as purely binary — neatly divided into feminine women and masculine men. In reality, people are far more complex and varied, and freedom of self-expression matters for everyone.

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Because of this assumption, masculine lesbians may be perceived as "abnormal" women who cannot find themselves, who have strayed from natural femininity, and are suffering as a result. When pressure is applied to them, or violence is committed against them, abusers often frame it as doing them a "favor" — a necessary, if unpleasant, act to bring these women back to "their senses."

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Masculine women may also be perceived as generally untrustworthy and threatening, since stereotypes assume they must possess typically "male" qualities such as dominance, aggression, and emotional coldness. While feminine women are often subjected to so-called benevolent sexism — being treated as less intelligent, capable, or strong — masculine women tend instead to be avoided, ignored, or regarded with suspicion.

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There is yet another stereotype, especially common within the queer community: the claim that masculine lesbians are inherently toxic because they adopt the destructive behavioral patterns of cisgender heterosexual men — misogyny, coarseness, condescension, a tendency toward harassment and violent behavior overall. While individuals who fit this description do exist (as they do across all identities), applying this characterization to all lesbians with a masculine presentation is a stereotype.

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What Forms of Violence Masculine Lesbians Experience

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• Humiliation for gender nonconformity: insults, mockery, critical comments, pointed and intrusive questions.

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• Physical aggression aimed at "correcting" the survivor: assault, beatings, shoving, being locked in a space, having personal belongings taken or destroyed.

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• Social isolation: being forbidden from seeing or communicating with community members or a partner, under the pretext that they are "a bad influence."

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• Sexual violence in attempts at "correction": harassment, forcible undressing, exposure to explicit content, corrective rape.

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• Discrimination in access to services: denial of housing or medical care, distrust from law enforcement.

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Why We Should Fight This

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Violence against masculine lesbians is a symptom of inequality and hatred of difference within society. This is why it concerns not only them, but everyone. At the root of this form of violence lie rigid binary gender stereotypes that harm all of us: they dictate how women and men should look and behave, what they should like, and who they should be. They obstruct individuality and freedom of self-expression, and condemn the slightest deviation from a norm that is, in truth, imaginary. Those who suffer most are people with less privilege — those who have no means of protecting themselves against an entire system that is set against them.

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It is also worth remembering that rollbacks and erosions of rights happen gradually. Even if it seems this does not affect you, there is no guarantee it will not in the future. It works like a row of dominoes: first, the most vulnerable groups are affected, and then the next ones — those with more privilege — follow. So even if you are not a masculine lesbian, but simply, for example, a woman or a queer person, this issue concerns you too.

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You can begin by examining your own biases: questioning the automatic thoughts that arise toward those who are different from you, and reflecting on why those thoughts emerge. If something is unclear, it is worth seeking out reliable information and filling in those gaps yourself — otherwise, they will be exploited by those who spread disinformation for their own ends. Engaging with members of the community can also be a valuable step.