Butch is Back

If it seems to you like there’s a butch revival, you are not alone. This issue of Curve celebrates butch women in all their glory.

I remember the first time I donned a suit, slicked back my hair, and polished my new black dress shoes… Read more »

February 2024

I Enjoy Being a Butch

The first thing to know about Phranc is that she’s low-key funny all the time, introducing herself as “Phranc—with a PH and a hard C.” She’s what the French call droll. Phranc has a dry, clever, not-ostentatious wit that just pulls you along through much of what she says and it is, to be honest, delightful. Phranc is delightful… Read more »

February 2024

Dear White Lesbians:
You Are Not Studs

First came “butch” and “femme.” Remember when we even said “futch?” Then some women started using “top” and “bottom” (and the accompanying “vers” or “switch”). But today on TikTok the word “butch” is seldom found because all of the young masc girls are identifying as “studs.” But I’m here to tell you, white women: You. Are. Not. Studs… Read more »

February 2024

Franc on Phranc…And Butch Identity

From Stonewall activist Stormé DeLarverie to renowned author Leslie Feinberg, butch women have been influencing American lesbian culture since before the genesis of the contemporary Western identity that emerged in the 1940s-1950s. It became a formal identity within the underground lesbian bars of the time, where butch/femme dynamics simultaneously reflected and subverted mainstream gender norms… Read more »

February 2024

Early Butch:
From Fairy Butch to Rachel Maddow

Chloe Atkins first connected with Deneuve and Curve and Franco Stevens when she was a Bay Area shutterbug.

“In the 1990s I was trying to make a living as a freelance photographer in San Francisco, so I was taking my portfolio around and showing art directors of all the magazines, ad agencies, and anyone else who might be interested,” recalls Chloe… Read more »

February 2024

From Deneuve to Curve to dapperQ:
A Femme’s Thoughts on Butch

Deneuve incorporated butch style early on and as the issues rolled on, so did Curve, presenting masc and genderqueer style in spreads on a regular basis. By the time I came on board as editor in 2010, our community was experiencing a golden age of queer women’s style, much of it centered around communities in Brooklyn, New York… Read more »

February 2024
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