Butch and Femme Lesbians: Exploring Sexual and Demographic Differences.

Butch and Femme Lesbians: Exploring Sexual and Demographic Differences, Anna K. Levy-Warren, David S. Bimbi, and Jeffrey T. Parsons, Center for HIV/AIDS Education Studies and Training and CUNY 

This study examined the relationship of butch and femme identities to sexual behaviors and explored demographic differences. In the fall of 2003 and spring of 2004, 400 surveys were completed by self-identified lesbian/bisexual women at two major lesbian/gay community events in New York City. The questionnaire assessed demographics, including age at same-gender sexual debut, and identification as butch, butch/femme, or femme. Of the 400 women who completed this survey, more than half were White (52%) with an average age of 33.93 years (SD = 10.17). Almost half of the women identified as femme (47%), and roughly a quarter each identified as butch or butch/femme. No differences emerged among the three identity categories in terms of level of education, income, race, or sexual behaviors. Two other differences emerged among other sexual behaviors: butch women were twice as likely as femmes to report ever having engaged in water sports and having engaged in group sex. Butch women and butch/femme women were significantly out about their sexual identity and sexually active for more years than femme women (14.43 and 12.87 vs. 10.94 years; 13.56 and 12.61 vs. 10.54 years, respectively). Femme women were 2.3 times more likely to have consumed alcohol and 1.8 times more likely to report sex under the influence of alcohol compared to butch women. The same pattern of results was observed when comparing femmes to butch/femmes. Additionally, femme women were 1.8 times more likely to have smoked marijuana in the past three months than butch women. Most sexual behaviors did not appear to be related to identification category, but further exploration of the factors related to differences in sexual development among lesbian/bisexual women may provide insight into the higher rates of alcohol and marijuana consumption among femmes.