Being Butch in Female Spaces

During women’s history month, it’s important to shine a light on the many different experiences of women. Women call with all different shades, sizes, and stories.

Despite this, women who present more masculinely are often singled out and ostracized from their own communities.

There have been many times where I’ve been mistaken as a man or nonbinary person, regardless of the setting. It’s an odd feeling to hear someone stumble over their weirds to figure out how to address you, especially when it seems like your only crime is having short hair and wearing pants.

I don’t blame any per se, but I can’t deny that it’s disheartening for it to happen over and over again.

I recall an occasion where I used a grocery store bathroom (my first mistake) and had an older woman stare at me. I asked her if something was the matter (my second mistake), and she huffed, spit at me, and stomped away.

I recall another occasion where I went to an LGBT get together and introduced myself to people I didn’t recognize. When I told them my pronouns, they looked me up and down with an odd smirk as if I had said something blatantly wrong.

In both instances, there’s still an expectation of women to be feminine, and when they’re not, they’re assumed to be predators or a different gender category altogether.

There has never been a right way to be a woman, and in the future, I want women to be unconditionally accepted as they are.