Butch Lesbian Identity and the Queer Umbrella

The Queer Body

In this episode, Dr. Sasha T. Goldberg explores what being queer and butch identity means. Over the years her relationship has evolved from the militant stage, which felt more like a response to the world to be more centered on self in the world. In the past 15 years, she has come to the place of not using the term queer as it feels more potent to center on her female-identified butch identity. We explore how linguistic conditioning in queer spaces, for all the liberation it offers, can push female-identified butches to the outside again. For many butches she has interviewed, there is a lot of pressure to conform to a non-female identified masculinity or pronouns.. She asks us to consider:

“What would happen if we learned about each other something other than gender first?”

“Tell me who you are without using pronouns or gender.”

“How could we then see each other face-to-face with authenticity and integrity?”

“What would you like me to know about you so I can stand with you in solidarity?”

”Are you ready for me when I walk in the door?”

She invites us to lead with good intentions, to be expansive, and to make sure there is butch representation on the planning committee in solidarity with other crucial diversifications.

Embodiment practice: When you see a butch in the world make some eye contact, and give some acknowledgment. Know and appreciate the hyper visibility of butch women in our history and the ways butch women have taken it on the chin for our queer community.

Dr. Sasha T. Goldberg is a professor, researcher, author, and oral historian who holds a Ph.D. in Gender Studies from Indiana University and a Masters degree in Judaism from the Graduate Theological Union. Her work centers Butch women, female masculinities, and lesbian specificity; she also specializes in grief, loss, and pastoral care. In her previous life, she ran intergenerational LGBTQ and Jewish non-profits. Her scholarship is therefore interdisciplinary by design, intersectional by dedication, and fueled by the pursuit of access, justice, and equity. Dr. Goldberg has lectured internationally on gender, sex, and sexuality, and consults across a broad spectrum on all things DEI-oriented. She lives in Oakland, California with her wife Lynn and their favorite four-pawed troublemaker, Phinneas.

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