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Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies
Transmasculinity; butch; butch/femme; female masculinity; feminist theory; Critical Race Theory; transgender studies; disability studies; film studies; butch/femme; transatlantic modernisms; blues; film noir; silent film; Cather
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Full-Text Articles in Women's History
Butch Between The Wars: A Pre-History Of Butch Style In Twentieth-Century Literature, Music, And Film, Karen Allison Hammer
Butch Between The Wars: A Pre-History Of Butch Style In Twentieth-Century Literature, Music, And Film, Karen Allison Hammer
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Butch Between the Wars is a pre-history of “butch,” a twentieth-century masculine style that became an identity category for lesbians in the 1940s and ’50s. Between the two world wars and in the early postwar period, women used the energy of butch to create literature, music, and character on film. Butch-styled artists expressed a muscular orientation to the world, one with close associations to lower and working class black and white masculinities. Those who were recognizably lesbian and those with less clearly defined sexualities challenged the idea that strength, authority, and independence are qualities “naturally” bound to the male body. …