Thank you so much for this important history and for protecting Black Lesbians, Butches, and women from the trans cult erasing females in every way they can. I'm a Euro-descent Lifelong Butch, but Black Lesbians and women and Butches have been in the forefront of creating Lesbian and Feminist culture, writing, art, ... everything, across…
Thank you so much for this important history and for protecting Black Lesbians, Butches, and women from the trans cult erasing females in every way they can. I'm a Euro-descent Lifelong Butch, but Black Lesbians and women and Butches have been in the forefront of creating Lesbian and Feminist culture, writing, art, ... everything, across the earth. Pauli Murray's life and history is so important for all girls and women to know. It should be a shock, but this male supremacist cult has been trying to wipe out every Lesbian and woman they can. I would have hoped that there would be more respect for someone like Pauli Murray, whose life and history is so important to know and never forget. How dare they? But these are the same men who send rape and death threats to any woman who says no to them, plus their women collaborators, so no surprise. (They have killed too many of us already and still are called women and put into women's prisons.)
It's like they want to skin us and wear our skins, and I worry for all of us that they will re-write our lives when we die. (I've been in the fight against the trans cult appropriating us since 1973, print, in our book, and at my blogs and my life is constantly slandered.)
It's so important to know Pauli's life for many reasons, including how she made choices that harmed her, that we can understand more knowing who she was and the ways she was oppressed as a courageous Black Butch. (Not "masculine," when being so Butch and Lesbian is as female as a woman can be.) In our book, Dykes-Loving-Dykes, we tried to describe the harm of a lifetime of such oppression as Pauli went through and her story is so important too because she survived and they didn't stop her. How dare they erase her like this? (Most of our book and my later articles, including about the trans cult appropriating us is at: https://bevjoradicallesbian.wordpress.com
Hi Bev, thank you so much for sharing your heartfelt thoughts. Your words really touch me. Especially because-honestly-I have feared the same as well, being revised in history, especially with the amount of public record I've shared over the years about my mental health and personal life.
I wrote this for Pauli because I would want a woman in my image to do the same for me after I died, if my story had fallen into the wrong hands and I am being re-characterized. It just had to be done. And we have to continue standing up for ourselves and each other. **deep sigh**
I don't characterize masculinity as synonymous with maleness. I think female masculinity exists, and it's one characteristic of butchness. Being butch, or masculine, doesn't make a woman any less of a woman. But Yes, being butch or stud is an exclusively female trait. I too, would describe Pauli as butch-but because she didn't identify herself that way, I didn't want to put words in her mouth.
I definitely would love to read a copy of your book sometime! Thank you for sharing 🌺
Thank you again! You're right that it is terrifying to be altered after we are dead and used by those who are our worst enemies. The man still stalking me (he picked a name as close to mine as he could and then lied to "off our backs" to get them to print his article, "Lesbian Sex") is just one example of how much they want to erase us but also re-write our history. His latest ploy was being interviewed by Mr. Susan Stryker in Sinister Wisdom to describe a sexual relationship we never had -- If he can't kill me and wear my skin, he wants to erase my history as a Lifelong Lesbian who said no to him. My mistake was feeling sorry for him, which I think is what so many women have done, so I tried to be friends at a distance for a couple of years. (Sorry to go on, but I know this has happened to other Lesbians and want no one to feel alone in this.) Even saying yes as a friend to these men puts us in serious danger, like the interracial couple with their African-born son who were horrifically murdered in Oakland, and almost no one here knows about it. And of course that male sadist is in a women's prison. https://mandystadtmiller.substack.com/p/rabbitholed-78-dana-rivers-is-the
(I hope that link still works!) Eva Kurilova posted my response to his recent slander at her substack that links to my article: https://bevjo.substack.com
We have to protect each other now even after we die, so it's wonderful and so important you are doing that for Pauli. We need a strong community of all ages, so those younger can keep these men from appropriating us when we can't say no any longer. It must be done for you too!
I can't not think of "masculine" as being male and, since most women refer to Butches as male, I keep trying to counter it. I think being Butch means being closer to what we all would be without patriarchy and more female, if anything. I was resistant to identifying as Butch when young because of being told it meant being male and I wanted nothing to do with males. But we have so few words to describe ourselves. And now, many women pose as Butch in a kind of male caricature who aren't Butch. But we are truly the world over. I have friends who I recognize as being Butch, just from a photograph, from Iran, India, Mexico, China... all over the world. And Pauli is so clearly recognizable. I wish she hadn't had such a hard life, but she also did so much and is being remembered wonderfully by those who treasure her and who care.
That is most of our book at my first blog, but I do have a solid copy too. I wish I could just hand it to you! And thank you again. What you are doing is so important!
Hi Bev, I am really sorry to hear about this man who made you to feel unsafe and tried to rewrite your work. 💜 The thing is, lies are unsustainable and dishonorable-people can’t really get away with them forever. They will always be found out.
“I think butch is closer to what we would all be without patriarchy”
Gosh, I hope not! I love butch women and the distinctiveness they carry. I like how it differs from my expression and I enjoy the balanced dynamic it creates in a relationship. I think butchness (in its true form) is innate, and it’s definitely linked to homosexuality—so I don’t think most women can be butch even if they tried, and that’s okay! Butchness is unique.
There is room to celebrate us in all of our natural expression. There's room for us to have healthy expressions of masculinity and femininity without adhering to damaging ideas of what these things mean.
I want room to be created in our culture so all women can take off the mask and be who we really are without the pressure to fit inside a box. Luckily, some women are living examples of what this can look like by healing and simply being true to themselves. 🌺
Thank you so much. I think who we are is chosen very young, but I've known some Butches who didn't come out as Lesbians (and were het and married for decades) until later in life. So it IS complicated. I so agree and again, so appreciate your work.
Thank you so much for this important history and for protecting Black Lesbians, Butches, and women from the trans cult erasing females in every way they can. I'm a Euro-descent Lifelong Butch, but Black Lesbians and women and Butches have been in the forefront of creating Lesbian and Feminist culture, writing, art, ... everything, across the earth. Pauli Murray's life and history is so important for all girls and women to know. It should be a shock, but this male supremacist cult has been trying to wipe out every Lesbian and woman they can. I would have hoped that there would be more respect for someone like Pauli Murray, whose life and history is so important to know and never forget. How dare they? But these are the same men who send rape and death threats to any woman who says no to them, plus their women collaborators, so no surprise. (They have killed too many of us already and still are called women and put into women's prisons.)
It's like they want to skin us and wear our skins, and I worry for all of us that they will re-write our lives when we die. (I've been in the fight against the trans cult appropriating us since 1973, print, in our book, and at my blogs and my life is constantly slandered.)
It's so important to know Pauli's life for many reasons, including how she made choices that harmed her, that we can understand more knowing who she was and the ways she was oppressed as a courageous Black Butch. (Not "masculine," when being so Butch and Lesbian is as female as a woman can be.) In our book, Dykes-Loving-Dykes, we tried to describe the harm of a lifetime of such oppression as Pauli went through and her story is so important too because she survived and they didn't stop her. How dare they erase her like this? (Most of our book and my later articles, including about the trans cult appropriating us is at: https://bevjoradicallesbian.wordpress.com
Thank you so much again for your brilliant work!
Hi Bev, thank you so much for sharing your heartfelt thoughts. Your words really touch me. Especially because-honestly-I have feared the same as well, being revised in history, especially with the amount of public record I've shared over the years about my mental health and personal life.
I wrote this for Pauli because I would want a woman in my image to do the same for me after I died, if my story had fallen into the wrong hands and I am being re-characterized. It just had to be done. And we have to continue standing up for ourselves and each other. **deep sigh**
I don't characterize masculinity as synonymous with maleness. I think female masculinity exists, and it's one characteristic of butchness. Being butch, or masculine, doesn't make a woman any less of a woman. But Yes, being butch or stud is an exclusively female trait. I too, would describe Pauli as butch-but because she didn't identify herself that way, I didn't want to put words in her mouth.
I definitely would love to read a copy of your book sometime! Thank you for sharing 🌺
Thank you again! You're right that it is terrifying to be altered after we are dead and used by those who are our worst enemies. The man still stalking me (he picked a name as close to mine as he could and then lied to "off our backs" to get them to print his article, "Lesbian Sex") is just one example of how much they want to erase us but also re-write our history. His latest ploy was being interviewed by Mr. Susan Stryker in Sinister Wisdom to describe a sexual relationship we never had -- If he can't kill me and wear my skin, he wants to erase my history as a Lifelong Lesbian who said no to him. My mistake was feeling sorry for him, which I think is what so many women have done, so I tried to be friends at a distance for a couple of years. (Sorry to go on, but I know this has happened to other Lesbians and want no one to feel alone in this.) Even saying yes as a friend to these men puts us in serious danger, like the interracial couple with their African-born son who were horrifically murdered in Oakland, and almost no one here knows about it. And of course that male sadist is in a women's prison. https://mandystadtmiller.substack.com/p/rabbitholed-78-dana-rivers-is-the
(I hope that link still works!) Eva Kurilova posted my response to his recent slander at her substack that links to my article: https://bevjo.substack.com
We have to protect each other now even after we die, so it's wonderful and so important you are doing that for Pauli. We need a strong community of all ages, so those younger can keep these men from appropriating us when we can't say no any longer. It must be done for you too!
I can't not think of "masculine" as being male and, since most women refer to Butches as male, I keep trying to counter it. I think being Butch means being closer to what we all would be without patriarchy and more female, if anything. I was resistant to identifying as Butch when young because of being told it meant being male and I wanted nothing to do with males. But we have so few words to describe ourselves. And now, many women pose as Butch in a kind of male caricature who aren't Butch. But we are truly the world over. I have friends who I recognize as being Butch, just from a photograph, from Iran, India, Mexico, China... all over the world. And Pauli is so clearly recognizable. I wish she hadn't had such a hard life, but she also did so much and is being remembered wonderfully by those who treasure her and who care.
That is most of our book at my first blog, but I do have a solid copy too. I wish I could just hand it to you! And thank you again. What you are doing is so important!
Hi Bev, I am really sorry to hear about this man who made you to feel unsafe and tried to rewrite your work. 💜 The thing is, lies are unsustainable and dishonorable-people can’t really get away with them forever. They will always be found out.
“I think butch is closer to what we would all be without patriarchy”
Gosh, I hope not! I love butch women and the distinctiveness they carry. I like how it differs from my expression and I enjoy the balanced dynamic it creates in a relationship. I think butchness (in its true form) is innate, and it’s definitely linked to homosexuality—so I don’t think most women can be butch even if they tried, and that’s okay! Butchness is unique.
There is room to celebrate us in all of our natural expression. There's room for us to have healthy expressions of masculinity and femininity without adhering to damaging ideas of what these things mean.
I want room to be created in our culture so all women can take off the mask and be who we really are without the pressure to fit inside a box. Luckily, some women are living examples of what this can look like by healing and simply being true to themselves. 🌺
Thanks again for your support 😉
Thank you so much. I think who we are is chosen very young, but I've known some Butches who didn't come out as Lesbians (and were het and married for decades) until later in life. So it IS complicated. I so agree and again, so appreciate your work.