Louise Dalgleish is documenting dykes in order to preserve visibility and create community
BY SHANNON MOYCE, IMAGES BY LOUISE DALGLEISH
Meeting at Manchester’s queer-friendly cafe The Feel Good Club, I sat down with Louise Dalgleish, the driving force behind the captivating photography account, Butch Order, and the electrifying club night, Butch Revival.
Butch Order champions butch representation through powerful visuals, while Butch Revival draws inspiration from Manchester’s iconic Hacienda era, creating a unique space. This club night blends diverse music genres and welcomes all ages, fostering a vibrant community where people can let loose and come together.
We talked about what it means to have this butch representation and the importance of community.
Why did you set up Butch Order?
It was due to the lack of butch representation in the media. I’m in your face hard, and I’m sick of seeing this soft gentle version. So, I thought I’d do it myself!
I relate so much to the photographs from the Rebel Dykes era, the 80s and the 90s, the media from that culture, the leather dykes. The documentation back then was so much better and I think we take it for granted. I decided I had to change it.
What has been your favourite moment since starting Butch Order?
I’ve been doing queer photography since 2021 and photography since 2018. I have long-term cancer, and it means that I can’t be near those [photography developing] chemicals. The one thing that I adore was cut off and taken away from me. So, I avoided photography for a long time but got back into it in 2021. It was painful to get back into it. but I want to do that documentation that is not there.
How did you set up Butch Revival?
I was initially planning my dream [club] night in my third year of interior design. This perfect queer heaven. I thought, “I wish this was real.”
I felt sick of not having lesbians around me. I thought I’ve got to do something about it if no one else is. There’s no time like the present. I’d rather make it happen.
If you’re a butch lesbian you don’t fit in anywhere, you’re not appreciated, you’re not valued. That’s why we specifically said it’s got to be called Butch Revival, it’s that emphasis on the fact that it’s led by butches.
I met Kate who does Ruff Crest magazine and my partner who runs British Asian Lesbians, and we merged together on this. It was originally only supposed to be one night. Then we got asked when’s the next one. It was a long process of getting there but it’s because we lack lesbian spaces.
What do you expect people to feel when they come away from a Butch Revival night?
Feeling like they have a home. Everything that other places push away, that’s a home for us.
We’re not the minority anymore in that space, we are the majority and that really does make you feel something.
Butch Revival is very intergenerational. We have everyone from 20 to 80 years old. We have all generations coming together. The music is a massive reason why people connect. All these people in one room letting their hair down.
People talk, debate, laugh and cry. But they’re coming together and bonding. People always come away with that fresh take on things.
What is the future of Butch Revival?
We love our venue [Withington Hall]. It’s a small intimate pub and it used to be a gentleman’s pub until 2017, so no women were allowed. Now it’s filled with dykes, and we want to keep doing our events there. We just hope we can change the loneliness within the lesbian community because I think it can be very lonely.
What has setting up Butch Order and Butch Revival meant to you?
People always say that I’m quite young, and that I shouldn’t be setting something up at this age. It’s because I have long-term cancer which means that I have a condition where I’m likely to live between the age of 20 and 30 years. I was told that I wouldn’t live until 12 when I was first diagnosed. I’m now 24. I’m in that age bracket. I’ve got to do things and make the most of it. Makes you appreciate the little things in life. If you’re waiting for someone else to do it, you might be waiting forever. I tend to take matters into my own hands as time is not on my side.
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