identity politics

“Femme is Pure Strength”

But what is femme? For me, femme is the confident way I move through space. It is the soft outside that couches a tough-as-nails interior. Femme is my unique strengths, the way I wear my clothes, the way I fuck, the way I create, the way I structure my relationships, the way I live in my body. And femme is the way I want the world to treat me. I love having butches open doors for me. I love having my chair pulled out, assistance with my coat, a strong hand on the small of my back guiding me through a crowd. But Femme is also the way my voice carries when I’m wanting to be heard, the way I can take charge of a situation and handle a crisis. Being femme is having a core of pure steel and being able to lay it down and be vulnerable- because of, not in spite of, my strength.

via moxie’s flickr. Any idea where this comes from?

Published by Sinclair Sexsmith

Sinclair Sexsmith (they/them) is "the best-known butch erotica writer whose kinky, groundbreaking stories have turned on countless queers" (AfterEllen), who "is in all the books, wins all the awards, speaks at all the panels and readings, knows all the stuff, and writes for all the places" (Autostraddle). ​Their short story collection, Sweet & Rough: Queer Kink Erotica, was a 2016 finalist for a Lambda Literary Award, and they are the current editor of the Best Lesbian Erotica series. They identify as a white non-binary butch dominant, a survivor, and an introvert, and they live outside Seattle as an uninvited settler on traditional, ancestral, & unceded Snoqualmie land.

3 thoughts on ““Femme is Pure Strength””

  1. lady brett says:

    now that you mention it, that might be why i'm unsure about identifying as femme. because femme is strong, and (while i have my strengths) i am not strong, not like the people i identify as femme. maybe.dunno the source, though.

  2. Ms. Avarice says:

    can't find source eitherwow. definition of me.

  3. aisforalisha says:

    damnit. i KNOW i've read that before.. i'm reading 'Girl Meets Girl' and i looked through there and don't see it.. i skimmed 'Stone Butch Blues' [thinking maybe Theresa said it?]…this is going to drive me nuts.

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