This LGBT+ History Month, let’s look back at where this concept originated from
BY CAROLINA MENDONCA, IMAGE BY FOCUS FEATURES
Whether it was from Lily Rose Depp’s stellar performance in Nosferatu or the viral “trench coat buttoned to the top” meme, this sapphic couple can’t seem to escape the spotlight. Having been together for just over two years, Lily Rose Depp and 070 Shake have recently made headlines from an interview with MTV where Depp refers to her partner as her “boyfriend”.
“I have a locket with my boyfriend’s hair in it, kind of like in the movie,” the actress says when reflecting on romantic Victorian customs, adding that “I like lockets, I think they are very romantic.”
This interview sent the internet into rampant discourse about gender binaries within lesbian relationships. But the truth is, Depp is not the first to have a lesbian boyfriend, and although the term is quite contemporary, it is a lesbian dynamic which has been around for centuries. I mean, think of Gertrude Stein becoming Alice B. Toklas’s “husband” or Anne Lister and Eliza Raine referring to each other as “husband and wife”.
An Instagram user even went as far as commenting that “since 070 Shake’s pronouns are she/her, it kinda feels like Lily’s trying a little too hard to frame the relationship in a somewhat heteronormative light… but hey, do you I guess.” These types of accusations against butch-femme-leaning couples originated during the second wave of feminism, in a period of intense debate termed the “sex wars”. Many lesbian feminists took to perceiving butch-femme-leaning couples as mere caricatures of heterosexual relationships. But such a view is merely reductionist, disregarding the beautiful history of gender non-conformity which these couples embody and the active role they assumed in the fight for LGBTQIA visibility and rights.
The boyfriend, when existing within a sapphic context, is completely dislocated from its heteronormative meaning. The term does not necessarily encompass a masculine-presenting person or someone who takes up stereotypically masculine tasks – the only requirement to being a lesbian boyfriend is that one feels comfortable being labelled as such. As Them writer Quispe López puts it, “the term is meant to be irreverent — it’s not that deep. The naming of a ‘lesbian boyfriend’ is often not as much a rigid label like how we view pronouns and gender identity today, but more so a playful or perfunctory acknowledgement of someone who contains multiple gender expressions their partner wants to honour.” Think of it as a cute term of endearment!
Gender non-conformity has always been an integral part of lesbian communities. The renowned lesbian activist, Joan Nestle, expresses this phenomenon as a “lesbian specific way of deconstructing gender” which is evident all throughout lesbian history. Storme de Laverie is a notable example of such, as she was often credited for being one of the main instigators in the Stonewall Riots and was known for performing under a male guise, or Leslie Feinberg, the author of the infamous Stone Butch Blues and an activist who dedicated hir life to documenting trans histories.
From transmasc butches to lesbian boyfriends, Lily Rose Depp’s tribute to 070 Shake in this interview is a beautiful acknowledgement of a history which is often erased. This LGBT+ history month, let’s honour the exceptional diversity which exists within the lesbian community and bring to light the forgotten stories of our history.
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