Butch is not a dirty word, it’s an act of rebellion
Reclaiming a once-weaponised label, Butch is Not a Dirty Word is championing butch identity and protecting a decade of community history.
Words by Phebe Barnum-Bobb
Cast your mind back to the summer of 2024. With the release of Billie Eilish’s ‘LUNCH’, BBC’s I Kissed a Girl and the opening of new lesbian bar La Camionera, “lesbian” was suddenly the word on everyone’s lips, a moment suitably coined the Lesbian Renaissance. But while lesbians across the world began redefining terms historically used to harm them, “butch” remained weighed down by negative connotations, fetishisation and misunderstanding.
From Mothers to Mythbusting: This Month in Queer
Welcome to another issue where queer culture does what it does best: refuses to fit neatly into one genre. We’ve got a pop mother, bi discourse, butch rebellion, political myth-busting and a guide to the queer films that will dominate your 2026 watchlist. You know, balance!