Contemporary understandings of femme identities and related experiences of discrimination

Abstract

Although the term ‘femme’ is most often used to describe feminine lesbians or bisexual cisgender women, recent femme theorists have argued that this definition is insufficient and fails to account for the sexual and gender diversity of those who self-identify as femme. The current study sought to examine the multiplicities of femme identity by exploring who identifies as femme and whether femme-identified individuals experience in-group discrimination as a function of their femme identity (i.e., femme-negativity). Femme-identified individuals in the study were diverse with respect to both gender and sexual identity, and queer identification was highlighted as an important element of femme identity. Many of the femme-identified individuals reported experiences of femme-negativity and femme-related stigma consciousness. In contrast to previous research, femme-identified individuals in the current study were not found to have higher levels of internalised homophobia or identity concealment when compared to butch and androgynous identified sexual minority participants.

Keywords:

• butch-femme
• lesbian
• femme
• femmephobia
• gender identity
• femme-negativity
• in-group discrimination

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Femme-negativity is being used in place of femmephobia to stay in line with current trends in de-stigmatising prejudices, i.e., homophobia to homonegativity and heterosexism, transphobia to genderism and cissexism.

2. In an effort to capture the experiences of discrimination and femme-negativity specific to trans women (such as trans misogyny), it was necessary to separate cis and trans identities.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Karen L. Blair

Dr Blair is a Canadian Institutes of Health Research postdoctoral fellow at the University of Utah. Dr Blair’s research focuses on the intersections between social support, relationships and health as well as LGBTQ Psychology.

Rhea Ashley Hoskin

Ms Hoskin is an SSHRC-CGS doctoral scholar at Queen’s University in the Sociology Department where she studies femme theory, femme identity, gender identity, health and feminist theory using intersectional analysis. As a recipient of the Michel-Smith Foreign Study Supplement, she is also a visiting scholar at the University of Utah.