Contemporary understandings of femme identities and related experiences of discrimination

Abstract

Although the term ‘femme’ is most often used to describe feminine lesbians or bisexual cisgender women, recent femme theorists have argued that this definition is insufficient and fails to account for the sexual and gender diversity of those who self-identify as femme. The current study sought to examine the multiplicities of femme identity by exploring who identifies as femme and whether femme-identified individuals experience in-group discrimination as a function of their femme identity (i.e., femme-negativity). Femme-identified individuals in the study were diverse with respect to both gender and sexual identity, and queer identification was highlighted as an important element of femme identity. Many of the femme-identified individuals reported experiences of femme-negativity and femme-related stigma consciousness. In contrast to previous research, femme-identified individuals in the current study were not found to have higher levels of internalised homophobia or identity concealment when compared to butch and androgynous identified sexual minority participants.

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