(This Used To Be A Part Of This Post, But I Figured It Wasn’t Especially Relevant To The Topic At Hand,

(This used to be a part of this post, but I figured it wasn’t especially relevant to the topic at hand, so now it’s here.)

Many books discussing butch/fem(me) history point out that a number of women in the scene, particularly fems, were behaviorally bisexual. Due to this—as well as their femininity—fems and fish (a black fem identity) struggled in lesbian communities to be considered “true” lesbians as they were often stereotyped as bisexual. Many butches/studs assumed they were more likely to leave the “lesbian life” because they could “pass” for straight, which, y’know, totally doesn’t sound like how people talk about bi women today whatsoever.

While I’m not necessarily equipped to provide a full MLA-cited deep-dive analysis on butch/femme identity, here are a few quotes (and a very long paper about femme bisexuality if you’re especially curious).

From Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community (1994):

Fems, who never ceased to act on their own initiative, in some contexts were defined as other, as not really lesbian, because of their traditional feminine looks or their active heterosexual pasts.

In keeping with narrators’ varied experiences in finding their identities, the community did not have—nor does it now have—a hegemonic view about how to draw the line between the homosexual and the heterosexual. Many narrators see the butch lesbian as the true lesbian. Other narrators consider anyone who stays with women and is part of the community a lesbian.

The boundaries between heterosexual and homosexual have always been difficult to draw… The gay liberation model made the boundary clear by categorically including every woman who is attracted to a woman. But throughout the twentieth century there have been women who have spent some time in the heterosexual world and some in the homosexual world… Most narrators were aware of these ambiguities and took them into account by speaking in terms of bisexuality, or the pure versus the less-pure lesbian.

It may be important to note that even up until—and during—the 90s, “lesbian” was sometimes defined as “any woman who has at some time in her life loved another woman” (see pg. 11).

Bi butches have been around for a while, too. 

From the 1995 essay “Too Butch to Be Bi”:

But being a butch woman who is also bisexual can be difficult. It feels sometimes that the the idea is so challenging—since the assumptions in our communities are that all butch women are lesbian women and all femme women are bisexual women—that often a butch woman trying to come to terms with being bisexual is stuck. 

[…] But once we find a community that is accepting of our same-sex interests, we run into an entirely different series of messages. A number of these are about appearances and what they are supposed to say about who we are. The ideas about femmes (femme women aren’t really interested in other women, and femme men aren’t really interested in women at all) and butches (butches are always the aggressors in sex, whether they are men or women) permeate our queer culture. These ideas make it difficult for us to explore who we are and who we want to be. Many people feel too threatened to challenge the status quo of an already fringe community, for fear of being outcast from the one place where they have struggled to belong.

From a 1996 interview with Leslie Feinberg:

And I would say that people who were referred to as drag queens, [sh*m*les], female impersonators, drag kings, diesel [d-slur]s, butches, et cetera, uh… Nowadays we think of them sometimes as just being synonymous with a certain kind of sexuality, but in fact there’s a lot of butch women who sleep with other butches, or who are bisexual, and the same thing is true with feminine men.

From the 1997 book Femme: Feminists, Lesbians and Bad Girls:

[Heather Findlay]: Negative Message number three: ‘Don’t date a femme, because she’ll leave you for a man.’ […] I know tons of butches who have slept with guys, and for some reason there’s not some big stigma attached to that. That doesn’t threaten their membership in the lesbian community, but with us [femmes] it does.

From a 2000 issue of Bi Women: The Newsletter of the Boston Bisexual Women’s Network:

But I also think bi women like to experiment with the wide range of possibilities along the butch/femme continuum without feeling confined by them. And that’s fun to watch! And I think many people assume that because bi women are also interested in men that they all would be femmes. Oh, how wrong they are—hallelujah for butch bi women!

Femme/butch identities are not static and they are not necessarily constricting, but they can be. Femme/butch arose out of a historical context where woman to woman love was not safely or openly acknowledged… As queer people have established a safer, more visible place in the world, femme/butch have become much more fluid (and perhaps diluted) identities or presentations. 

More Posts from Toxic-bisexual and Others

6 months ago

All these "just say you're bi lol i promise it is okay to be bi" posts are always written in bad faith. They act like bi people who id as something else do this out of malice rather than struggling with their identity in the society that hates bisexuals. These people dont care about bi people feeling comfortable with their bisexuality, they just want us to "stay in our lane". Not to mention these posts always make internalized biphobia something that is our own fault.

you're absolutely right, and i was only trying to be reasonable because i'm afraid of confrontation. i actually already had that blog blocked from my main so i have no doubt OP was a biphobe who portrays our every interaction with lesbianism as forced and malicious anyway. the tags were about mspec lesbians, which i don't talk about here, but nobody ever assumes innocent until proven guilty with bisexuals, and anyone who identified that way must be doing it to encourage corrective rape and conversion therapy rather than because they struggle with an internal identity or even just genuinely believe it's right for themselves, whether true or not.


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5 months ago

Happy Pride Month. I've always loved the two crent moons in the bisexual community. Also may tribute to the OG bisexyal symbol the 2 triangles.

Happy Pride Month. I've Always Loved The Two Crent Moons In The Bisexual Community. Also May Tribute
Happy Pride Month. I've Always Loved The Two Crent Moons In The Bisexual Community. Also May Tribute
Happy Pride Month. I've Always Loved The Two Crent Moons In The Bisexual Community. Also May Tribute
Happy Pride Month. I've Always Loved The Two Crent Moons In The Bisexual Community. Also May Tribute
Happy Pride Month. I've Always Loved The Two Crent Moons In The Bisexual Community. Also May Tribute
Happy Pride Month. I've Always Loved The Two Crent Moons In The Bisexual Community. Also May Tribute

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8 months ago
We Love The Catgirl And Blondie Bi Girlfriends

We love the catgirl and blondie bi girlfriends


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1 month ago
↦ Biluqian;

↦ biluqian;

a gender in the quinbian system related to the bi moons, specifically in the context of them being a symbol of bisexual pride! it is also connected to community, strength, empowerment, and taking pride in one’s queer identity.

for anon!! huge galaxy vibes here :0

↦ Biluqian;

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7 months ago

Various Bisexual Flag moodboards ♡

Various Bisexual Flag Moodboards ♡

Bisexual (pastel version, edited by me)

Various Bisexual Flag Moodboards ♡

Camellian (a bi woman/bi sapphic who dates fellow sapphics exclusively; acknowledges attraction to men but chooses to not act upon it- basically a trans/nb inclusive vers. of febfem!)

Various Bisexual Flag Moodboards ♡

Bi Dyke (bisexual woman/bisexual sapphic who chooses to reclaim the slur dyke)

Various Bisexual Flag Moodboards ♡

Bi femme (a bi who is femme)

Various Bisexual Flag Moodboards ♡

Selenic (any bisexual sapphic, regardless if they are dating a woman, a man, an nb, or single. Any bisexual wlw + nblw)

All photos sourced from Pinterest!


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6 months ago

god i didn't even have asks on i'm sorry y'all

6 months ago

do u know of any mlm bi terms?? i know this blog is bi wlw focused so if this question is out of line feel free to delete it!!

Hello hello! No worries, this isn’t out of line at all! Tysm for acknowledging my blog is bi wlw focused tho!

Iiiiiii don’t know any :0 AND I took a lookie see on this site AND on Reddit AND Twitter and got nothing :/

I will say tho, are you familiar that sapphic is another word for wlw and achillean is another word for mlm? So bi achillean is a quicker way to say bi mlm right there (not referring to it as an acronym; then it’s shorter to say)

there’s a gorgeous bi achillean flag I saw made by @ akemishka on Twitter!

Do U Know Of Any Mlm Bi Terms?? I Know This Blog Is Bi Wlw Focused So If This Question Is Out Of Line

And there’s this beautiful one by @ryanyflags!

Do U Know Of Any Mlm Bi Terms?? I Know This Blog Is Bi Wlw Focused So If This Question Is Out Of Line

As for any terms, hmmmm… well I have come up with one!

Khonsic! (Pronounced con-sick). It’s kinda the equivalency of Selenic, a term for bi sapphics that I’m obsessed with!

Moon Knight fans will love this lol, so Khonsu is the Egyptian god of the moon! Selenic is derived from Selene, the Greek/Roman goddess of the moon! I figured since moons are so prevalent to bisexual symbolism, keep the theme! I was uncomfortable with the idea of the term for bi men + bi nblm being derived from a goddess, so I googled “male god of the moon” and boo yah!

I stuck the term on the bi achillean flags I showed you!

Do U Know Of Any Mlm Bi Terms?? I Know This Blog Is Bi Wlw Focused So If This Question Is Out Of Line
Do U Know Of Any Mlm Bi Terms?? I Know This Blog Is Bi Wlw Focused So If This Question Is Out Of Line

And then I put some bi men + bi male aligned nonbinary/genderfluid Loki :3

Do U Know Of Any Mlm Bi Terms?? I Know This Blog Is Bi Wlw Focused So If This Question Is Out Of Line
Do U Know Of Any Mlm Bi Terms?? I Know This Blog Is Bi Wlw Focused So If This Question Is Out Of Line
Do U Know Of Any Mlm Bi Terms?? I Know This Blog Is Bi Wlw Focused So If This Question Is Out Of Line
Do U Know Of Any Mlm Bi Terms?? I Know This Blog Is Bi Wlw Focused So If This Question Is Out Of Line
Do U Know Of Any Mlm Bi Terms?? I Know This Blog Is Bi Wlw Focused So If This Question Is Out Of Line
Do U Know Of Any Mlm Bi Terms?? I Know This Blog Is Bi Wlw Focused So If This Question Is Out Of Line
Do U Know Of Any Mlm Bi Terms?? I Know This Blog Is Bi Wlw Focused So If This Question Is Out Of Line
Do U Know Of Any Mlm Bi Terms?? I Know This Blog Is Bi Wlw Focused So If This Question Is Out Of Line

Feel free to use! The icons, the term Khonsic, whatever resonated with you!


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2 months ago
‼️ IMPORTANT ‼️

‼️ IMPORTANT ‼️


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1 year ago

i was gonna go with a poison ivy icon but i like the look of this layout (+ character pose) better tbh


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toxic-bisexual - ⚸ bi sapphic shining in bright moon ⏾
⚸ bi sapphic shining in bright moon ⏾

☽☾ bi blog ✗ learn ur historyop (pride-cat, whom you can call aster) goes by he/she and identifies as butch (but is often inactive) icon credit: n7punk | header credit: mybigraphics

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