2025 has been full of butch, stud and masc icons
BY DIVA STAFF, IMAGE VIA YOUTUBE
We’re living through what some are calling the “dykenaissance”. It’s great to see more lesbian and sapphic visibility in the world at large. We still have a way to go when it comes to butch, stud and masc representation, but we are slowly starting to see a change. As we near the end of 2025, join us in taking a look at some of the butch, stud and masc icons who made waves this year.
Jessica Betts
From continuing to serve up unapologetic Black queer love on red carpets with her wife Niecy Nash-Betts to featuring on Da Brat’s “stud anthem” Have U 2 Myself, Jessica continues to provide proud Black masc visibility. We can’t get enough of this heartthrob.
Melissa King
And Halloween may be over, but we’ll never get over Melissa King’s Halloween snap with Padma Lakshmi. The two professional foodies were dressed as the queer-fave Gomez and Morticia Addams. We loved seeing a suited and booted Melissa, and she rocked the signature moustache.
Tig Notaro
Last year we couldn’t stop swooning over this DIVA-fave when the promo photos came out for her Handsome podcast, which she co-hosts with Fortune Feimster and Mae Martin. The podcast continues to be a huge success today. This year has been a big one for Tig, she celebrated her 10-year wedding anniversary with Stephanie Allynne. She was also one of the producers of the must-watch documentary Come See Me In The Good Light.
Cat Burns
We can’t get enough of this soft masc and butch-leaning icon. This year she treated us to the sapphic AF music video GIRLS! We also were OBSESSED with her in this year’s Celebrity Traitors. How could we not feature her on this list?
Julien Baker
We were listening to Julien Baker and TORRES’ collaborative album on loop when it came out in April. Whenever Julien releases a new music video, we fall in love with her all over again. We love her amazing musical talent as well as her queer masculinity. It’s very understandable how someone could write moving love songs about this musician…
Towa Bird
Ever since this British-Filipino singer-songwriter went viral on TikTok for her impressive guitar skills and covers, we have held a special place for her in our hearts. She’s also one half of one of our fave celesbian power couples. She and Reneé Rapp serve up lots of lesbian visibility, and Towa is always providing dapper masc looks that we’re perpetually swooning over.
Naomi McPherson
This non-binary musician is always making us hot under the collar. They are one-third of the queer supergroup that is MUNA. They dedicated much of this year to speaking up for and advocating for Palestinian lives.
The rest cast of Lucy Dacus’ Best Guess music video: E.R. Fightmaster, Christina Moreland, Elio Kennedy-Yoon, Giovanna “Gio” Ferraro, Drew Hermes, Gray DiSciascio, Natalia Castells Esquivel, Jacqueline “Jackie” Morfin, Janae Holster, Jia Yan Lin, Kaly Winslow, Kristianna La Roda, Lilah Larson, Mattie Westbrouck, Zeinab “Zee” Oumais and Cara Delevingne
Towa and Naomi were two of the many faces who featured in Lucy Dacus’ Best Guess music video. Best Guess is a love song for Julien Baker and the MV was full of masc appreciation.
Kristen Stewart
We loved seeing this soft butch star play a reclusive butch gym manager in Love Lies Bleeding last year. Thankfully, our Love Lie’s Bleeding-induced KStew hangover didn’t last too long, as the actor turned director has been up to a lot in 2025. Her directorial debut The Chronology Of Water made waves at Cannes and other film festivals. She starred alongside Steven Yeun in a post-apocalyptic AI love story. News of her being set to star in a new vampire film pleased many a Twilight fan. And she finally got married to Dylan Meyer in a beautiful, low-key wedding.
And, of course, all the glorious butches inside the pages of our first-ever butch issue
Is your favourite butch, stud or masc icon missing from this list? You might find them featured on last year’s…
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