Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community by Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy & Madeline D. Davis

Author:Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy & Madeline D. Davis
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781317663966
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2014-05-08T22:00:00+00:00

The negative reactions in the 1950s to those who were ki-ki stem from the fact that such people disrupted the butch-fem social order. Those who maintained their roles felt that their own identities and reputations were threatened. Sandy remembers how she used to hate it if someone she was with became butch in another relationship. She didn’t want others to think that she was fem. “I knew women who didn’t know their role. I was with some when they were fems. When they came out butch, I didn’t want anyone to get the idea that I rolled over.” She explains that butches experienced this kind of role-changing as a personal betrayal. “You showed someone you cared. You let your defenses down, and then they switch roles and you feel betrayed.”

Some fem narrators were also deeply upset by those who changed.

“They swung like monkeys from one thing to another. … It was like one time, well I’m butch this week or this month and maybe I’ll be fem the next month.… [They] totally disgusted me. … I feel that people should know… what they want. You’ve got to know where you’re at. Like you’re either butch or you’re fem, you can’t change a thing from one month to the next.” (Bell) “

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