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Expression

Futch

Between butch and femme, or moving across both. A way sapphic women and femme-aligned non-binary people present, not a gender.

A way of presenting, not a gender identity. Futch is a way of presenting inside lesbian and sapphic culture, not a gender identity.

A shorter entry: the essentials, written to the same standard. The fuller guides are on the main identities.

What it is

Futch is a presentation word from lesbian and sapphic life. The record describes a lesbian, bisexual or otherwise sapphic woman, or a feminine-aligned non-binary person, whose look mixes femme and butch. In practice that means one of two things: a settled androgyny that does not lean far either way, or a swing, more butch some weeks and more femme others, without the person underneath changing.

It is not a gender. You can be futch and a woman, futch and non-binary, futch and trans in any direction. The word describes the surface and the culture the surface belongs to. Chapstick lesbian is the older synonym, built on lipstick lesbian. Stem, from stud-femme, is the Black-specific version, and stud is not a word for non-Black people to take.

The history is older than the meme. Some people think futch was invented for the futch scale joke; the record cites a 2004 Urban Dictionary entry and, earlier still, a 2002 piece in The Advocate in which a lesbian describes herself as futch, meaning a feminine butch. It has been a real word in real mouths for a while.

Pronouns

Whatever you use. Most futches use she/her; plenty use they/them or two sets in different rooms. Nothing about the haircut tells anyone which. Ask.

Does this sound like you?

Half your wardrobe is from the men's section and half is not, and the halves get worn together.
Butches read you as a bit femme. Femmes read you as a bit butch. Both are right and neither is the whole answer.
The futch scale meme made you laugh and then made you slightly annoyed, because you could not find your square.
Getting ready involves a decision that is not about the weather: which way today.
You don't look gay and you look really gay have both been said to you in the same month.
The question butch or femme has never worried you. It has bored you. That is the tell.
You have been the one asked to explain, in a queer space, what you actually are, and you had a shrug ready.

Nearby identities

The distinction is the useful part.

Butch

Masculinity built inside queer life, and the pole futch measures from on one side. If the masculinity is load-bearing, how you move and how you want to be seen, butch is likely the truer word.

Compare Futch and Butch →
Femme

Queer femininity, chosen and worked at, the other pole. Femme can usually pass unnoticed when it needs to; futch often cannot.

Compare Futch and Femme →
Soft butch

Softer edges, still butch. The overlap with futch is nearly total. Soft butch says I am a butch, gently; futch says I am neither pole.

Compare Futch and Soft butch →
Masc

Masculine presentation for anyone, no lesbian history attached. If the dyke-bar lineage is not yours or not wanted, masc or androgynous may be the more comfortable word.

Compare Futch and Masc →
Tomboy

Boyish girl or woman, no queer history required, widely used by straight women. If your look is tomboyish and the sapphic part does not apply, tomboy is the plain word.

Compare Futch and Tomboy →

It might not be you if…

  • You are straight and want a nicer word than androgynous. Futch belongs to sapphic culture. Androgynous is right there and it is not a demotion.
  • What changes is not your clothes but your gender. Look at genderfluid or genderflux; a presentation word cannot carry that.
  • You are Black and stem is the word your community uses. Use it. Futch is the general term, not the better one.
  • You want a gender identity out of this. It is not one. You can be futch and still have the whole gender question in front of you.

Questions people ask

Is futch a gender?

No. It is a presentation: a place between butch and femme, or a movement across both, inside lesbian and sapphic culture. Futches are women, non-binary people, and trans people of any modality.

Where does the word come from?

It is femme and butch pushed together. The record cites a 2002 piece in The Advocate and a 2004 Urban Dictionary entry, both before the futch scale meme that many people wrongly think invented it.

What is the difference between futch and stem?

Stem is stud-femme: the Black lesbian version, between stud and femme. Stud is a Black-specific word, so stem is too. Futch is the general term.

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Last updated · How these pages are written and checked

Flag: designer and date from the record shown above. Text: written from how people who use the word Futch describe it.

Sources:

  • Futch — LGBTQIA+ Wiki — Fetched. Definition, futchfluid, chapstick lesbian and stem, and the history note citing The Advocate (20 August 2002) and Urban Dictionary (28 December 2004) against the futch scale meme.
  • Butch and femme — Wikipedia — Fetched. Names futch (feminine butch), soft butch, stem (stud-femme) and chapstick lesbian as terms for women with characteristics of both butch and femme.

This is not a clinical instrument, not a diagnosis, and not evidence of anything about anyone. It describes experiences so you can recognise your own — or rule them out.