"It's not that I want to be a sterotype of a passive femme girl, receptive polite"

This is an artifact, which has been circulating around the Internet in a variety of queer locations. I happened across it in a butch/femme group that I belong to and was utterly horrified. As a queer femme while I’m defiantly all about increasing femme visibility and supporting other femmes but I was shocked by what I saw in this music video. In viewing it I believe that it plays into a variety of oppressive stereotypes within the queer and specifically butch/femme and dyke communities.

My main critique of the video from a queer media studies perspective comes first of all in the ways butchness is constructed, and then secondly the ways in which mythology surrounding butchness is perpetuated. The video opens with the two Gina’s commenting to one another about the disembodied butches whom we only witness by way of their denim clad asses. The two femmes are talking firstly about their attraction to butches, and attributes which turn them on, however they are also discussing something deeper about butchness. The two make the comments “they don’t make them like that anymore” and “they’re a dying breed.” In this section it is clear that they are making commentary about the theoretical “butch flight” in which some believe that all the butches are transitioning FTM. Playing into this transphobic mythology first of all silences the voices of many butches of all ages who do not identify as girls or woman and may or may not be transitioning who still very much identify as butch. Furthermore I think that despite my own beliefs, which do not coincide with the idea of butch flight, I think that there is place for debate and discussion of this sort, it however isn’t with young femmes of my generation. I hold a great deal of respect for older members of the community who have watched the boom of trans folks and trans butches and whom have some concerns about the issue, even though I disagree with their analysis. It however seems absurd to me that two young femmes are talking about “back in the day” when what the historical period they are romanticizing was before they were even born.

Similarly with the idea of romanticizing a historical location they never experienced in the beginning Team Gina makes further commentary about butches of the past saying “it’s sad you don’t see as many as you used to, back in the day when they had to wear at least three pieces of women’s clothes so they wouldn’t get arrested.” Referring to a specific point in American history where it was illegal for a butch to not be wearing three pieces of woman, their construction makes me sick to my stomach. There is a difference between knowing the history of your people, respecting that people and objectifying it. Romanticizing oppression that distorted the lives of many of our people, this construction is something that I read as disrespectful and irresponsible.

Team Gina also perpetuates oppressive ideology about who butches are or should aspire to be. In their mock “butch off” they score low points to the butch who doesn’t resemble the other skinny hipsters until she pulls out a beer bottle at which point her score magically increases. This paring of butchess to alcohol consumption is dangerous; furthermore their lyrics and imagery perpetuate the idea of monolithic butchness. According to their construction butches’ pants hang off their asses (a fashion choice which for the record I rarely have witnessed on butches, and is certainly not a universal phenomenon) and that butches wear their hair in Mohawks (something else which is certainly not something common across the board when you move beyond the hipster community). Although they offer the caveat about “not trying to be a stereotype” they humiliate a butch who is flagging bottom with her hanky in the video. “Hey Butch girl, I kinda got a problem I see from you hanky that you’re flagging a bottom. It’s not that I want to be a stereotype of the passive femme girl, receptive polite. But come on is your bark worse than your bite, are you really going to make me top you tonight? There is already so much silencing and shaming of butch bottoms I see no useful reason why this was included in the film. butch bottoms experience a great amount of invisibility within the community. The portrayal of this scenario within the music video with one of the Gina’s laughingly saying “I’m not trying to be predictable but you’re gonna have to pin me against this wall” is nothing but predictable. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a femme who is sexually submissive, knowing that and stating it as truth, it however portraying it as what is acceptable and shaming a butch who may also be sexually submissive is unacceptable. Furthermore within the music video butchness seems to be reduced to not only physical characteristics (specifically appearance and clothing) but it also becomes tied intimately to physical strength. For example the butches were judged on their ability to open jars. This simplification of butch masculinity and chivalry is highly ablest and limiting.

Despite my critique, I very much appreciate the ways in which Team Gina supports and creates femme visibility. Too frequently queer femmes take a back stage to butches, while here we see two femmes who have butches as their backup singers! These are femmes who are in control of their desire and sexuality, and are vocal about what they are and aren’t interested in. They are displaying a queer femininity and articulating that their femininity and desire resides outside of the confines of heterosexuality. Proudly claiming their desire for butch/femme dynamics, they are not the meek and duped feminine women, which historically femmes have been understood to be outside of queer culture. These are femmes who are not queered exclusively by their proximity to butchness rather; they are undoubtedly queer in their own right.