Lipstick lesbian

Participants at this 2007 Dyke March in Toronto exhibit both gender-neutral and feminine characteristics.

Lipstick lesbian is a slang term used to describe lesbian and bisexual women who exhibit extremely feminine gender attributes, such as wearing make-up (thus, lipstick), wearing dresses or skirts and having other characteristics associated with feminine women. Most female same-sex sex scenes in mainstream pornography are portrayed in this way.

The term was used in San Francisco at least as far back as the 1980s. In 1982, Priscilla Rhoades, a journalist with the gay newspaper The Sentinel, wrote a feature story on "Lesbians for Lipstick". The term is thought to have emerged in wide usage during the early 1990s. A 1997 episode of the television show Ellen widely publicized the phrase. In the show, Ellen DeGeneres's character, asked by her parents whether a certain woman is a "dipstick lesbian", explains that the term is "lipstick lesbian", and comments that "I would be a chapstick lesbian."

In 1999, columnist Mark Steyn called actress Anne Heche, who was dating DeGeneres at the time, "the world's most famous lipstick lesbian."^[1]

An alternate term for "lipstick lesbian" is "doily dyke".^[2][3]

See also

• Butch and femme
• Soft butch

References

1. ^ Steyn, Mark (1999). "Hash and rehash". The Spectator. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_199904/ai_n8843193. 
2. ^ Keshia Kola (2007-11-16). "The Shesaurus: America's First Women's Dictionary-Thesaurus". http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewshortstory.asp?id=30931&AuthorID=58475. Retrieved 2007-11-18. 
3. ^ "Issue 71" (PDF). G3 Magazine. April 2007. p. 10. http://g3mag.co.uk/issues/g3april2007.pdf. Retrieved 2007-11-19. 

• Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: feminism and the subversion of identity. (Paperback ed.). New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-92499-5. 

External links

• The Lipstick Lesbian Page
• Lipstick Lesbian Life^{[dead link]}