butch/femme invisibility?
January 4th, 2008 Sassafras
On New Years Eve my partner and I spent the evening at a gathering hosted by an acquaintance of ours. The evening was lovely, although slightly humorous as a soft butch in attendance spent the majority of the time staring at me-and granted I did have a lovely amount of cleavage, however I am confidant my boobs were not what drew her attention. Alas it was my being there with my partner that threw the poor kid for a loop. My partner is a transgender butch, and although ze doesn’t identify as male ze passes as a man nearly all the time. Sitting in our friend’s living room the lesbian in question appeared obviously confused as she looked from me to my partner, pausing to stare at my black triangle tattoo, and other clues to my queerness in attempts to determine what was going on, and if I was nothing more than a “hasbian.†Things shifted when my partner spoke of hir solo shows’ NYC debut – the performance is about “testosterone†and butch and trans identities. Suddenly she got it, and appeared visibly relaxed having solved this great “mystery†about what I was.
