this isn’t abt uwu feminine women can be butch or me as a bi woman trying to undermine lesbians in any way. it’s abt the lack of consideration for women who subvert or reject femininity without cutting their hair. i have seen here n on like twitter (gag) convos about how you can’t “really” be butch unless you cut your hair.
the idea that you HAVE to cut your hair to be butch is an extremely white one. butches of color don’t have to divorce themselves from their culture or the importance of their hair to their personhood in order to b validly butch.
the idea that long hair = womanly/feminine is very white. there are so many cultures of color where long hair is not gendered. there are cultural and religious traditions where cutting hair is not common, if not outright discouraged. there are hairstyles that are revered or culturally important that wouldn’t be possible with short hair. there’s a litany of meaningfulness in hair. everyone has different relationships with their hair, and that’s an individual, personal relationship that cannot be defined by anyone else.
like the majority of Black lesbians i know, especially those who ID as butch or studs, don’t have short hair. braids, locs, fros, slicked back ponytails, etc. are very common. and i would truly pity the fool who tried to tell them they aren’t being properly butch.
like… ppl rlly need to be mindful of the cultural implications of what they consider to be “universal” or essential attributes to an identity. race and culture are always intertwined with other identities. if you’re only looking at a white perspective, you are leaving so many ppl out.
