Confirmed lesbian characters in media are still a rarity. Heartstopper, Brokeback Mountain, Shameless and most recently even Bridgerton exemplify the range of content available for queer men. Unsurprisingly, the woman-dominated first letter of the queer alphabet (L, in case you’d forgotten- L for lesbian) has significantly less representation in media than their male counterpart. And, when lesbians are shown on screen, the most crucial demographic is not included: butches.
Don’t get me wrong, I do not want to disregard the excellent lesbian representation and lesbian media that we do have. Portrait of a Lady on Fire is stylistically, narratively and wholly one of the most excellent films I’ve ever seen. Pride unifies the queer community, gender division placed aside; Glee, too, in a different way. Yet none of these feature a butch lesbian, the most visual and unignorable type of lesbian. The kind that men, usually, cannot or will not sexualise and degrade.
This opens the question of consumerism and how the media, supposedly, is showing the audience what they want to see. Consistently and near exclusively having two hot, pretty, and feminine queer characters in media does not represent the kaliediscopic sapphic demographic. However, the counterargument is that media does not always need to reflect reality and that feminine lesbians make more money. Yet, that would be the argument as butch media has not been given a chance to prove it can be successful- or has it?
Orange is the New Black was a Netflix hit that included fem, butch, stud, bisexual, lesbian, trans and cis women all in the one show. And, when it was airing, it was the one of the most popular shows on the platform, receiving 12 Emmy nominations from the first season alone. A range of races and nationalities were featured, encompassing so many facets of the queer and lesbian demographic. Although, as mentioned, it most poignantly included butch stories- and the audience loved it.
The list of buthces/studs includes, but is not limited to: Crazy Eyes, Papi, Boo and- the people’s princess- Poussey. Within this list, the spectrum of interpretations of the butch identity is shown. The butch identity, like lesbianism, is not ‘one size fits all’. OITNB seems to understand this, and shows the scale of butchness whilst making an additionally incredibly important effort to portray and humanise the struggles within criminal justice system (although this attempt often falls flat).
OITNB is based on the memoirs of Piper Chapman, the protagonist of the show, and includes all the sorts of people she met during her prison stint. The show even includes her lesbian romance with Cleary Wolters (character name Alex Vause). Although, this where the admiration of efforts ends as the butch representation is snubbed. Alex in the show is played by Laura Prepon. The real Alex bares little resemblance, aside from the glasses; the real Alex is butch.
Piper Chapman and Alex Vause together make a feminine sapphic couple. And, as apparently previously established, two hot feminine women getting together is an easier sell for the general audience, an audience that loves to sexualise women and their femineity. Now, that point is true as seen by the array of other lesbian media. But, OITNB fans did not rally behind this couple nor these characters like they did another. The one that audiences truly rooted for, the one that really helped the show succeed and thrive was one particular stud: Poussey.
Now, Poussey wasn’t the most explicit masculine lesbian but she undeniably fits the bill for butch representation when in the prison environment. When her character was killed off in season four, the fans kicked off at losing a beloved and important black masc character. Poussay was adored, and the love for her proves audiences engage with non feminine lesbian stories. That’s a lesson that can be learned from OITNB. Changing Alex may have helped get audiences in, but characters like Poussey are who made them stay and invest in the story.
Other projects, too, are stretching the boundaries of desirability and showing the truth of lesbianism. Love Lies Bleeding is an homage to buff women, bisexual women and masculine-presenting women. Gentleman Jack is another based-on-a-true-story butch tale, and is one for the period-drama lovers. Feel Good details a range of queer identity crisis’s from sexuality to gender, all from the gentle and intimate perspective of real-life comic and human Mae Martin. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have But I’m a Cheerleader and The Sex Life of College Girls, showing audiences that lesbians can be cut from an unexpected cloth.
And, finally, we have a show- a reality dating show at that- which includes the full spectrum of lesbian expression: I Kissed a Girl. The BBC show has lesbian, bisexual and queer women, featuring femme and butch identities and in-between identities. All are seen as desirable: not sexualised, desirable.
The tales of butches and studs are paramount in the queer community, and the women themselves are pillars in upholding everything LGBTQ+s stand for: freedom of self expression, humanity and strength. They helped create queer safe spaces and to this day dominate them. The media should be the next space the regularly inhabit and we know the people want to see it. But even if it isn’t what they want, make it anyway. Their stories deserve to be told and their existence deserves to be portrayed. Stud and butch representation is crucial. And, studios can’t argue that the stories aren’t money-makers. They are. Give the audience what they want- give them all-rounded accurate lesbian representation.
Feature image credit: (Top left) Netflix, (top right) A24/Lionsgate UK, (bottom left) 20th Century Fox Home ent, (bottom right) Channel 4 and Netflix.
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