Can gay men say dyke

Have you heard this term being thrown around lately?

It seems like only a limited years ago, everyone in the community avoided it because of its more-than-sketchy background. But before you write it off completely (or go running around using a potentially revolting word), we’re going to break down the deal with ‘dyke’ and when it is okay to say it.

Ready? Strap in. 

History of the pos dyke

To paint the whole picture, we want to start from the very beginning. Back in the late 19th century, ‘bulldyke’ was used as a slur to stereotype women who didn’t conform to societal expectations of femininity, and people didn’t hesitate to say it every time they encountered a lesbian, especially butch lesbians. 

Fast forward to 1971, when we finally dropped the bull, lesbian poet Judy Rae Grahn published Edward the Dyke in the Women’s Press Collective. This is one of the first times that the term ‘dyke’ as we know it was used in public.

Bringing this story back to the offer, in 2023, we all might have more than one sapphic friend who describes herself with this word, and according to Alison Bechdel, author of the iconic com

the feminist librarian

Last week I saw a Twitter thread shared on my timeline several times that I didn’t understand, and when I clicked into the thread in an strive to learn more I became even more muddled. A bunch of lgbtq+ women appeared to be arguing about whether attracted to both genders women were “allowed” to use the word “dyke” — a slang phrase that’s been around since the early twentieth century , typically referring to queer women who are “mannish” in appearance. Reflect about the Dyke Marches at Pride and Dykes on Bikes, or the long-running cartoon serial by Alison Bechdel Dykes to View Out Forwhich is how I, a teenager in the 1990s, first learned and grew fond of its warm, rebellious edges. Since going down the rabbit hole, I’ve been lurking and reading — on Twitter and elsewhere (Tumblr, reddit) — where these policing conversations are taking place and I’ve written a number of Twitter threads about the themes that I’ve seen. Below are those threads in blog post format. I may update as the dyke police view continues.

Thursday, August 20th, 2020.

I think what I long for all the babyqueers trying e

Attn: You Can Be a Bisexual Dyke! Here’s Why Identifying as Both Is Valid

Gatekeeping dyke? Quit it

“[Dyke] does not stand by erasure. By displacement. By appropriation. By hate,” as the San Francisco Dyke March declares. And that includes the erasure, displacement, appropriation or hate of bisexual dykes.

Beyond being ahistoric (re: dyke, a reclamation), the impulse to inform a bisexual dyke (hi!) that they can’t spot as a dyke is identity gatekeeping.

“Identity gatekeeping is a practice where members of an identity label try to define who can or cannot “join the club,” explains McDaniel. It’s often been used in the lesbian and gay communities as a way to exclude gender diverse, nonbinary, and bisexual people from spaces.

This happens because marginalized communities (here, sapphic communities) feel protective of the community they’ve created for themselves (here, dyke communities).

“But the truth is that someone else naming as an identity you hold does not threaten your own identity and excluding people from spaces because they are complex, multifaceted humans who clutch multiple identities simply recreates the systems of oppression we are trying to dismantl

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