In order to prioritize femme voices, all quotes in this article are from femmes.
Positionality makes a big difference in femme identity: Please note I am a cisgender, white, thin, millenial femme from an upper-middle class background formally trained as a psychotherapist.
Have you ever wondered if you’re femme? Have you been circling around femme identity for a while without knowing if it fits? Are you unsure if you get to dial yourself femme? Maybe you’ve heard “femme” more and more and you’re curious about it?
Femme is a beautiful, complex identity. What it looks like, means, and encompasses is different for each of us. I’m sure for many femmes there’s a feeling of resistance at my try to categorize the identity here. I don’t mean to suggest that being femme fits into one specific box! In proof, quite the opposite is accurate. Femme is all about stepping outside of traditional femininity. Spoiler! I’m getting ahead of myself.
Rather, this article is intended to broadly clarify femme identity by exploring its common themes. As the term
Last updated on July 22nd, at pm
There are as many ways to construct and live a femme identity as there are femmes. Some femmes wear long hair, others shave their heads, and still others do both. Some wear heels every moment they leave the home and others wear sneakers. Some are CEOs and some are welders and some work in pink-collar fields. Some are girly and many are not. Some associate their femme-ness with their appearance, while others associate it with spirituality or energy or emotion or politics or care or strength.
Femme isnt any one presentation or behavior or way of moving through the world, and its definitely not simply being feminine. Its an intentional, self-aware, and queer twist on feminine energy and presentation that transcends the sum of its parts. Or as Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha writes in FEMME SHARK MANIFESTO!, WE’RE YOUR Top GIRLFRIEND AND YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE.
If you are femme, date femmes, both, or neither, heres a swift primer on the myths and truths around creature femme.
There are many ways to be a femme, so its finest not to confine oneself to a specific definitionbut below is an abstarct of how it was defined in the literature I read. Femme is a term used in LGBT identity to describe someone who expresses themselves in a typically feminine way. With that said, femme differs from feminine, and the differences are key in understanding why the terminology femme is necessary. The ordinary threads amongst all femmes are their expression of femininity and their place on the Homosexual spectrum. Many individuals use it to embrace and redefine the stereotypes and expectations that are often placed on women.
Femme & Femininity
Many people outside the queer people may not fully understand what femme means and how it differs from feminine, but the differences are why the terminology femme is necessary.
Femme describes a lgbtq+ person who presents and behaves in a traditionally feminine way with the inclusion of cisgender individuals who adore a more passive role in intimate relationships, asexual trans person women, or n
Femme: a neo-noir thriller about a gay man getting revenge
It’s early morning and everyone’s a bit bleary-eyed when I sit with Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George MacKay, stars of the new revenge thriller Femme. Stewart-Jarrett quickly grabs a second coffee in preparation for our chat as we delve into what drew them to the film, how to announce queer stories and whether or not revenge is a good idea.
In Femme, Jules, played by Stewart-Jarrett (Misfits), pops to a corner shop for cigarettes following a stunning production as his drag persona Aphrodite. There, he tenses as a rowdy team of guys walks in. The inevitable queerphobia begins, but Jules, though clearly shaken, bites back. It doesn’t go down adv. The gang follow him and launch a mean attack led by a heavily tattooed Preston, played by George MacKay ().
The attack leaves Jules traumatised, barely leaving the home for months. Eventually, one night he drags himself to a gay sauna and there he sees Preston once again. Not recognising him, Preston invites Jules back to his flat, where it posthaste becomes evident