Often misunderstood and derided in the past, 'femmes' are now a celebrated feature of the lesbian scene, Katrina Fox reports.

High heels, make-up, pretty dresses - all or some of these are the domain of the femme lesbian. They've been accused of buying into patriarchal constraints of femininity and gender role-playing, had their sexuality and right to be in a lesbian bar questioned and their intelligence undermined by the belief that a preoccupation with their looks must mean a deficiency in their brain activity. These are all grave misconceptions and femmes have been grossly underestimated.

"In the lesbian community a woman is generally expected to reject femininity and free her mind from the shackles of shallow, consumerist, patriarchal appearances. A femme lesbian throws off the shackles of shallow, consumerist, patriarchal appearances, takes a deep breath, and then decides that there's something kind of fun about this pretty clothes and make-up business after all," Ali Haberfield, who describes herself as "the girl who dresses to the nines in a slinky cocktail number, then decides to go climbing up trees in the middle of the night with the frock hiked up around my knees", says. "Femmes are working hard to rip femininity away from rigid ideals of womanhood, allowing femaleness and femininity to be two entirely separate things. Every femme I've ever met has been a proud feminist, and I don't see any conflict between femme identity and feminist ideals. Femmes are all about choice - the choice to take on or reject aspects of femininity, and to make up our own minds about what makes us powerful."

While femme lesbians may share a love of 'girly' things with their straight sisters, femmeness is tied up with notions of defiance, Haberfield, 23, believes. "As a femme dyke, I look and behave nothing like what is expected of a dyke, and I think the avenues for defiance through femininity are less clear for straight women. Femmeness is also incredibly, if not exclusively, queer," she argues.

Historically, femme could only exist in association with butch, but both identities have now come into their own, independent of each other. Sixty-six-year-old Joan Nestle, author and "Bronx-born, working-class Jewish fem feminist" (she prefers the shorter "non-affected" spelling), believes this is a good thing. "Femme-butch relationships are as historical as anything else," she tells SX. "I am not the same kind of fem I was in the 1950s and I would not want anyone thinking they had to follow femme-butch patterns of another time to be authentic. Femmes will be a reality, a changing reality, as long as this way of being feels authentic."

Authentic, of course, is a subjective concept and the definition of femme means different things to different people. For some, such as 29-year-old naturopath, Lara Coleman, it's a celebration of her softness and strength. "It's sexy and creative, it's mysterious," she explains. "I am always femme - it's not a character I play, it's my personality. In appearance I am also nearly always femme - I wear pink satin pyjamas, and co-ordinated underwear is important to me!" For others, combining typical accoutrements of femininity with less traditional aspects is exciting - as is the case with this week's cover model Sindy Ray, a 28-year-old stripper and performer who manages her own pin-up website (www.sindyray.com). "As a heavily tattooed femme, I'm more a variation on a femme theme," she says. "Tattoos are probably still considered by many to be un-femme. I'd disagree, of course - nothing is prettier, in my opinion, than loads of ink poking out of a great girly frock."

When Coleman first came onto the lesbian scene, she felt so "intimidated" by the women in the bars that she retreated back to the safety of heterosexuality for a few years, before finally plucking up the courage to return to the dyke world. It was clubs such as Candy Lips, for which Coleman is now a proud member of the Love Police, that allowed her and other femme women to feel completely comfortable in their sexuality. Next month, as part of Pride Week, the club will be having a special Moulin Rouge theme (pictured) in celebration of the femme. "Candy Lips has evolved through the demand of a unique girls' night and one that caters specifically for women wishing to express their sexuality rather than simply providing a space in which to express their sexual identity," promoter Janine Tennille says. "In the past 12 months, Candy Lips became somewhat like your regular Friday night girls' event, which are fantastic but that's not its aim. Being a night to encourage one to frock up and be fabulous and accepting of all sexualities is the differentiation. Encouraging the girls to frock up is about adding the gloss to the lipstick."

And while femme is fun, it's also political, Haberfield reminds us. "Femme is more important than ever right now, because people are starting to really look at gender and wonder what the hell is up with it all. I like to think that the more gender-fucking goes on, the more people will think about it and hopefully come up with something slightly more interesting than the tired old two-gender binary. A femme knows that revolution can be just as much, if not more fun, in sparkling five-inch heels."


SX News is one of Australia's leading gay and lesbian arts, entertainment, news and culture magazines For more information visit the magazine's website at www.sxnews.com.au