(no subject)

[felis_ultharus]

The research continues. Today I'm reading up on the lesbian community in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.

You know I'd always assumed that "butch" was just a political or fashion statement, the way it is now. In the 1950s, it seems to have been more of a job description. The butches of Montreal protected the femmes -- you actually had to get permission from one to speak to a femme.

They also played the role of bouncer. Plus the butches local army protecting the bar from bashers and the police. When the bars closed, the butches spread out to patrol the streets so the femmes could get home safely.

I had no idea the role was formalized.

Not sure how interesting anyone else finds this historical stuff, but I find it really neat. Today I went out looking for the original Joe Beef's tavern by the Old Port, another major Montreal landmark, and probably the only bar in the world to have ever used a real live bear as crowd control.

Comments

[retrogamerbear.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'm just a bit Jaded (TM) but this sounds more like some sort of fantasy version of the 50s gay life. You've got the Butches acting as some sort of semi-militaristic group that watches over a herd of femmes... I don't doubt it happened on some scale (i.e. more of a 1:1 or 1:2 ration Butch to Femme), just have trouble beleiving it would be an encompassing scale.

[yumemisama.livejournal.com]

I find it fascinating. But my BA is in Sociology, so I would. I also completed my Japanese minor partly by writing about the cultural significance of the yaoi genre, and why it's read mainly by women over there.

Interestingly, you see something similar when straight women go out in a large gaggle to bars and clubs, except in that case the gatekeeper is often the most "femmey" one, i.e., the one in the shortest skirt and lowest-cut shirt. SHE evaluates all comers and determines who gets to talk to the rest of her friends for the night. They're usually called rude things like "cockblocks" by the guys, but the other girls in the group seem to think this is the natural way of things. Straight girls often have one queer guy in their group of "best friends" that go clubbing together, but for some reason I've never seen the guy get pushed into the gatekeeper position, although I have very occasionally seen the female gatekeeper tell off some idiot who is harrassing him.

Anecdotally I gather the straight guys work in groups of two -- primary hunter and his "wingman", which terminology is taken from WWII Air Force/RAF slang -- but since I hang out with geeks I really don't see this happen.