Use of the Term "Dyke"

The following discussion of the meaning and use of the term
"dyke" took place on WMST-L in February 2005.  For additional
WMST-L files available on the Web, see the WMST-L File Collection.

I am posting this request on behalf of a colleague at Nat'l Center for
Lesbian Rights

Dear Friends:
We are seeking an expert witness who can provide testimony about the
contemporary meaning of the term "dyke" as used by LGBT people and, in
particular, as used by some lesbians as a positive term to describe
themselves.  We are looking for scholars who might be able to address
this topic from a number of angles: linguistically, historically, or
sociologically.  We are particularly interested in being able to show
that, as used by the LGBT community, the term has shifted from a
negative term to a positive one.  Any research on community and pride
events that use the term "dyke" in a positive context and positive
community responses to those usages would be particularly valuable.

If you or someone you know might be able to help us, please contact:
Shannon Minter
NCLR
870 Market Street, Suite 370
San Francisco, CA 94102
Minter  AT  nclrights.org

It might be very useful for some of us to see a discussion on this issue and
some of the research source material posted to the list.
I for one refer to this term often in my classes, though usually as a
derogatory term.

My understanding is that it also shows up as Dike or Dikey and began usage in
the 1930s.

I'd be interested in what others know and in a sharing of resources.


shalom, chris tower
Women's Studies at Western Michigan University
gmrstudios2  AT  cs.com

Dyke was a derogatory term, referring to more butch looking and/or acting
lesbians and still may be derogatory --and homophobic-if used by
hetersoexuals. But when used by lesbians, it is one of the re-claimed
words...see DykeTV, "Dykes to Watch Out For", Dyke Marches, etc.  A
self-proclaimed dyke is a proud OUT lesbian.
ciao, JAM

there is a good chance my response won't post to the whole list, so perhaps you
could forward it for me?

i agree that the positive/negative connotation of "dyke" depends on who is
saying and how they are saying it.
i have also found in my research on drag kings that there is a distinction made
between "dyke" and "lesbian" in some communities.

from what i gather, "dyke" refers to more working class/poor, gender
non-normative or gender queer and/or more radical women who have sex with women.

"lesbian" on the other hand, often refers to weathier, more gender normative
and/or liberal women who have sex with women.

interestingly, one of the kings of color i interviewed argued that "dyke" is a
term claimed by more white women, and that she did not hear it as much in the
communities of color she ran in.

not sure if this helps you or not
thanks
donna

Donna Troka
Program Coordinator
University Advisory Council on Teaching (UACT)
dtroka  AT  emory.edu

Judy Grahn discussed the term "Dyke" at length in her book Another
Mother Tongue: Gay Words, Gay Worlds, which I thought was published in
about 79, and was apparently updated and expanded in 1984, reprinted in
1990.  More about her at http://www.serpentina.com/women-x.html .  The
website contains information about other women writers who do women
centered research, China Galland and Carol Christ among them.

I sent this information privately yesterday, but there seems to be
interest on the listserv.

Marilyn Grotzky
Auraria Library

You might also want to take a look at Sexuality: The Essential Glossary,
edited by Jo Eadie.

Publisher: Arnold Publishers (August 30, 2004)
ISBN: 0340806761

Tamarah Cohen, KGU (Japan)

In a lesson we are doing with our violence against women peer ed class
we are discussing issues of homophobia. A portion of that discussion
includes defining the roots of the terms "fag" and "dyke". We found a
great resource on the GLSEN website that traces the history of both
these terms. The website is www.glsen.org and where you can find this
particular information is under the educators section of their website.
It's under curriculum section there and is from  October, 30 2001. The
title is Lesson Plan: What do "Faggot" and "Dyke" mean? It doesn't delve
into the new reclaiming of the term, but it does trace a very nice
history up until that point.
This is the link to what I think should be the exact article, but if it
doesn't work that way just trace the steps above.
http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/educator/library/record/846.html
Hope that helps. Caitlin

Caitlin M. O'Brien
caitlin.m.o'brien  AT  uconn.edu
Women's Center
University of Connecticut
417 Whitney Road
Storrs, CT 06269

 "the world breaks everyone, and afterwards, some are stronger at the
broken places."

  The GLSEN teaching guide is very interesting and goes beyond the Oxford
English Dictionary.  However, I thought I read that "dyke" is also a sexual
act--"intertwining" of two women, particularly their legs--and that this
usage goes back hundreds of years.  To quote my own writing:

Think you must our world's but a witches's Sabbath.
All wanton and wicked and no rule remissed.
Maid's legs dyked nightly in tribading  bliss.

Has anyone heard this before?  I cannot find this information in the books
and sources from which I had thought that I had learned it.

Hannah Miyamoto
hsmiyamoto  AT  msn.com

At Ohio University we have an awesome activist student organization
called Swarm of Dykes that most recently has been organizing around
Ohio's malicious anti gay marriage state constitution amendment.

Although I mostly agree with the description below I worry about the
idea that one might need to be gender non-normative or genderqueer to
be a dyke--that leaves femmes outside of this category.  The term dyke
is and historically has been claimed by many femmes.  The term dyke
often (but not always) seems to be linked to butch/femme more than
lesbian femininst communities.

Best, Beth


Elizabeth Currans
Ph.D. Candidate
Women's Studies and Religious Studies
UC Santa Barbara
myrtyl  AT  juno.com

Donna J. Troka writes:

from what i gather, "dyke" refers to more working class/poor, gender
non-normative or gender queer and/or more radical women who have sex with
women.

"lesbian" on the other hand, often refers to weathier, more gender
normative
and/or liberal women who have sex with women.

If I may add just another twist to this:

Yes, "dyke" has been claimed herstorically by femmes as well.  HOWEVER, I
would like to suggest that, in retrospect, the self-identification of femmes
as "dyke" has been more a political act than it has been a fixed gender
identity reference.  Over time, it has become quite clear to me that "dyke"
has come to mean FOR MANY a very specific category of gender identity that
does not include femmes.  As a femme, I have on more than one occasion had
(friends who are) self-proclaimed "dykes" say to me, "You are no dyke!"  Those
exchanges, along with my own studying, has lead me to a much richer
understanding of "dyke" as an identity.

This points to a very important point of which we need to be so conscious as
teachers:  It's not enough to say "Historically ..." We also need -- not to be
trite or oversimplistic -- to examine closely the uniqueness/difference among
"yesterday," "today," and "tomorrow" as well as "here," "there," and
"---where."

Lisa Burke
LBurke2  AT  njcu.edu

Hey everyone,

    Please put some historical context around language and around your
own location when you make definitions.  As a 59-year-old who came out
in the 1970s in the Bay area, I identified then, and identify now, as a
dyke and as a lesbian.  Younger women may use the term differently.
Language changes constantly, and it is also regional, as well as
sub-cultural.

    Lois Helmbold
    helmbold  AT  unlv.nevada.edu

following from the discussion below, and another comment someone made
about ethnicity and the word 'dyke', i am quite perplexed at some
people's take on it, and concerned at possible depoliticisation of our
terminology and co-opting (heterosexualising) of our politics.

i am sure that african-american self-identified dyke singer doria
roberts, (who is in her early 30s so also relatively 'young'), and who
is not particularly 'butch', would be puzzled by generalisations that
'dyke' is less likely to be used by
- younger women
- women who are not middle-class
- white women [corrected in next message to "women who are not white"]
- women who lean more towards butch-ness or tomboyish appearance.

i chose the example of roberts because i am australian and my experience
of the lesbian community here is so far removed from the comments i am
reading on this list that i felt i needed to use at least one US example
of my recent knowledge (i saw her perform at sydney's gay and lesbian
mardi gras festival last year) - she has this wonderful song about being
an inyerface 'bitch nigger dyke' - to give myself a little reality check.
and i do know other US dykes who are not middle class, not butch and not
white who also use the term with gay abandon (pardon the pun).

i am also highly amused to find that the term 'lesbian' is now thought
by some to have a sort of liberal middle-class genteelness about it - is
this something to do with the influence of 'the L-word' and other media
representations of blowwaved lipstick lesbians?

if this is the case, then hey gurls, we'd better start reclaiming the
term 'lesbian'.  ...and 'dyke' while we're at it.  before we're
lipsticked back into invisibility.

and personally, i don't identify as either butch or femme.  does this
mean i can no longer be either lesbian or dyke?  i certainly don't want
to be an 'anything-goes' queer either.

but i do identify as radical (although perhaps not exactly in the way
that donna troka means - i mean radical lesbian feminist).  so hey, i
guess i'm still a dyke :-)

bronwyn
--
***********************************************
Dr Bronwyn Winter
Senior Lecturer
Dept of French Studies
Brennan Building A18
University of Sydney  NSW 2006
Australia
email: bronwyn.winter  AT  arts.usyd.edu.au

***********************************************

oops - correction.   - 'white women' in the list [above] should of course
read 'women who are not white'.  there, it should make more sense now!
(although on the not-white thing, indigenous australian dykes often use
the word sistergirl.....)

bronwyn

***********************************************
Dr Bronwyn Winter
Senior Lecturer
Dept of French Studies
Brennan Building A18
University of Sydney  NSW 2006
Australia
email: bronwyn.winter  AT  arts.usyd.edu.au

***********************************************

good morning all:

just a quick note to re-emphasize that what i posted about the difference in
definition between dyke and lesbian was the distinction i found when
interviewing thirty drag kings from columbus, ohio, chicago, illinois and
minneapolis, minnesota.  not every king i talked to made the distinction, but
most did.

i was not making a general statement about all women who have sex with women in
all countries across all time. this is a very small sampling of a very large
community which interacts with numerous other communities.
i did not ask them about this, it just came up within the course of the
interview (as did references to the L-Word- also unsolicited)
it was an unforseen outcome, and i thought it was pertinent to this discussion.
my contribution was not meant as a blanket statement, or as TRUTH or as
disrespectful to anyone
thanks yall
donna

Donna Troka
Program Coordinator
University Advisory Council on Teaching (UACT)
dtroka  AT  emory.edu
404.712.8704