#the power of butch and femme besties | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

eclipsecrowned · 1 year

Text

also s/o to all my beloved trans muses. specify muse for a starter w any of my trans-spectrum characters on this, their big day :) this list is v. long maybe do not read more and instead view it on my blog proper soit doesn't gunk up your dash.

danielle o'the wold: fluid, a crackshot archer and outlaw from fantastical medieval england called into a quest to save the realm of magic from those who would use its power for great evil.

amalthea: nonbinary to human perception, a unicorn-turned-woman on a great quest in a fantastical world that leads her to no longer be the last of her kind, but more lonely for it.

un*hana r*tsu: agender, leader of a specialized team of shinigami focused on the healing arts -- in this life, at least, because we do not want to open the can of worms of how much brutality it took to be so soft.

pip bernadotte: trans man, a mercenary based in the 90s all the way up to the modern era via au who perceives the horrors as spouse material, actually.

kayden connors: nonbinary, daughter of a 616 mad scientist just trying to stay afloat after his incarceration largely via art and taking in wayward antiheroes.

raisa wolfe: agender, new york's first mutant elected official even if that position is only a molehill in the great machine that is east coast politics, believes magneto is right actually.

jonathan crane: trans man, supervillain and supergenius in equal measure, obsessed turning the fear that was used to beat him down in his conservative southern upbringing into everyone else's problem.

dream of the endless: agender masc, an embodiment of dreams, exactly as advertised, who has neither want nor need of human labels or gender experience. he just is.

mystery whitethorn: nonbinary, a tiefling shopkeep who is hiding an adventure-filled backstory and a number of illegal dealings in his current life.

marika corvinus: nonbinary, a lone werewolf who is slowly being domesticated into a found family pack by her elders when not found being the loudest party person at human functions.

seth plate: trans woman, a former angel of death who fell for love of a human surgeon, so in love with humanity that now she has the chance to experience it for herself.

modeste lachapelle: nonbinary, notre dame's native daughter and everyone's favorite 4'11" butch, a friend to all pigeons and outcasts that cross her socially anxious path.

claude di montoya: fluid, a 19th century agent of savoy espionage who was designed for the count of monte cristo but by the power of rp crossover is also being a sourpuss in the v*mpire chronicles.

count dracula: beyond gender per his own definition, a classic gothic horror villain on the prowl for blood, world domination, and success in his chosen field of dual-honors classy and feral villainy.

henry winter: trans man, a student of a 1980s liberal arts college whose love of the classics steps well over the line and leads to several murders, the ultimate dark academia bitch in all of fiction.

sylphrena / 'syl': agender femme, an ageless spirit of honor and oaths who just wants to have fun and learn more about the physical world alongside her clinically depressed human bestie, a menace and a baby.

hoid / wit: trans man, an immortal with a few thousand years of space-faring shenanigans under his belt, who steps into worlds where plot is happening and inserts himself into the action more often than not.

cirila montoya: agender, a shrewd heiress from 17th century spain who falls in and ou of adventures with a team of four cavaliers and the beautiful frenchwoman who opposes them.

gabrielle de lioncourt: trans masc, 18th century vampire and dilf who chucked his assigned gender in the trash the second he came into the blood, a recluse who just can't avoid his ne'er-do-well son's drama.

kris lindholm: nonbinary, florida teen thinks her older sister is on a cult centered around a local island, instead calls the irs on a pair of vampire businessmen, obsessed with 80s rock act the vampire lestat.

lyfrasir edda: nonbinary, an alien detective looks into the remains of a decades old train derailment and instead finds out the apocalyptic horrors are within their comprehension, actually.

the snow queen: agender, the winter winds care not for gender, and the freshly driven snow understands nothing of sex in the sense of male or female or other.

hel: demiwoman, jotnar society does not align to human sexuality, so this is as close as she can get to explaining her gender identity, and besides, jotnar physiology is implied to be quiet fluid.

laufey: demiwoman, same as above but in a fun milf package.

utgard-loki: demiman, same rules as his fellow jotnar relatives, except he's king over all the jotnar.

odin: genderfluid, which is actually myth-accurate if you get into some of the weirder roads that the original stories take. typically presents as a masc king of the aesir, though. due to his jotnar heritage he might be physically fluid as well.

sigyn: nonbinary, frankly queerness was all over mythology and i will sprinkle it all over at my own pleasure, especially on a certain ambassador within the aesir court.

enkidu: transmasc, was designed to act as a foil/echo to the hero-king gilgamesh, which included an assigned sex that did not align at all with his identity.

dolores gordon: genderless, an agent of a fear entity which is based around the uncanny valley, a part that the ever shapeshiftng dolores plays to perfection.

the host: INFORMATION ERROR, current gender identity unknown, but identified as a nonbinary individual in their pre-avatar life.

the mole: agender, a wee beastie that worships the dirt and is known for reverse graveobbing -- pushing the dead back aboveground so as not to tarnish the sacred world below.

catherine rice: nonbinary, the kind of person who says paranormal investigator but really means paranormal instigator because she's still looking for answers about avatar-based trauma from years before.

lothric, younger prince: agender, a lab-grown draconic abomination in their mainverse who is making the journey from sacrificial lamb to antichrist out of spite for their hellacious upbringing.

victor deshayes: trans man, newly freed from his conjoined twin who is a woman, so the math is solid that victor is not cis and is instead in your walls :)

zevran arainai: genderfluid, beautiful elvhen assassin swinging in every gender direction, gracefully, with a knife in hand and an accent their own va described as sounding like 'sexed up inigo montoya'

einmyria lavellan: nonbinary, super-femme elvhen historian is here to advise the inquisitor and occasionally flip darkspawn like a fucking pancake with her yoked af warrior strength.

taran lavellan: masc agender, over the years has forgotten his birth clan, his birth name, and even his fuckin gender. oh well, we love this roguish elf all the same and want only the best for him.

aria mahariel: nonbinary masc, has no human-defined gender in the dalish standard, but has settled comfortably into masculinity socially and in presentation. if only her baby face got the message.

cyra cross: nonbinary masc, a mad scientist in training clinging onto that last hinge of medical ethics, works for shinra but their genius level intellect says these people are idiots killing the planet and they can fix it.

ardyn lucis caelum: agender, a divinely-wrought, kin-betrayed abomination seeking to put the entire world out of his two thousand years of misery, with a cool hat thrown in for free.

master invi: trans woman, an ancient master of both magic and the in-universal super special magical blade, aligned with serpents and ever playing the pious daughter to her master.

kokoro kyriakou: nonbinary, badass normal defies the aging scala council to seek answers for what happened to a relative and his three students that went missing over a decade prior and has character development throughout.

riku: agender masc, local teen put through absolute hell, keeps pressing onward in a clear metaphor for mental illness that he refuses to let him hold him down as it once did.

julia mayfair: agender, where most people have gender, there is only trauma for this spy, but also the clear-cut knowledge that this is her identity and she is beyond more 'basic' definition.

"nikolai": queer, that's how he ids in pretty much every sense of identity, and plays with gender and roles and sex in a way that is awesome to witness.

albel nox: nonbinary masc, his clothes are his clothes and they are his prerogative and if you try to define him he will use his clawed prosthetic to carve out a nice reminder for you.

gensai shizuka: fluid, former king of the kamur0cho gay cabaret scene grows up to become the best defense attorney in town and a friend to honorable men, yet lives in a tiny closet identity-wise.

#out of stories

1 note · View note

butchhamlet · 3 years

Note

hal and hotspur for the character asks

hal:

Sexuality Headcanon: i think hal said bisexy rights HOWEVER. as you know damn well. i am also partial to a lesbian hal SKDHFKHFDS Gender Headcanon: see again it depends on how everything is played because like... i see CANON hal as a guy (i haven't thought about transing him. but trans hal with his father's expectations to be the Right Kind Of Man would kind of slap) but also i think all the time about when you, pan, and i talked about femme hal vs. butch hotspur and the unique experiences of gender and misogyny both of them would have and i start levitating A ship I have with said character: .........i am a halspur person i'll admit it i have terrible taste and tunnel vision for any set of foil characters. i'm not saying it's healthy for either of them i'm just saying i want to study them. alternatively he definitely had a thing w ned poins A BROTP I have with said character: i don't LIKE falstaff but the hal/falstaff dynamic is so interesting A NOTP I have with said character: this one depends on staging but his relationship with catherine of valois as henry v... like i'm sure you CAN do it in a way that doesn't feel skeevy, but the inherent political power dynamic makes it seem to me like an uphill battle A random headcanon: is it a headcanon to say i always picture shakespeare!hal with the historical shrewsbury scar? otherwise my headcanon is that killing hotspur weighed very heavily on his mind for pretty much the rest of his life (+ that hotspur's sense of justice and courage was to some degree something he drew from as king) General Opinion over said character: garbage but he's MY fucking garbage. no but genuinely hal's character arc over the henriad is honest to god one of my favorite parts of the shakespearean canon that i've experienced so far he is SUCH a good character and also immediately made it on my list of dream roles because of course he did

hotspur:

Sexuality Headcanon: once again hotspur is a bi legend BUT i am partial to lesbian/wlw hotspur because... oh my god hotspur my beloved Gender Headcanon: re: canon hotspur is definitely a guy (and again i haven't thought about transing him but now i'm itching to think about it) but i think butch lesbian hotspur is something that can be so personal. it's about the complex relationship with masculinity and the desire to protect your loved ones A ship I have with said character: re: i'm a halspur person BUT at the same time hotspur's relationship with kate is just so. it's so. it's SO. like. what can i even say they're both hurt and hurting and traumatized but they love each other SO much i'm so. hghghgbgbbg A BROTP I have with said character: ...oh my god does hotspur have ANY friends. does he have any friends or does he just have kate and relatives who control him. i need to sit down anyway kate is his bestie A NOTP I have with said character: i think this means romantically (in which case of fucking course i'm not shipping him with his father and uncle) but in general can we get him OUT of there and away from northumberland. like. please A random headcanon: autistic hotspur my fucking beloved. i don't think he stims in public because he's focused on being the image of a proper knight so he mostly restricts himself to pacing but when he gets very worked up some of the handflapping slips out. he DOES stim in front of kate who is also the only person allowed to casually touch him without getting an uppercut to the jaw General Opinion over said character: HOTSPUR I LOVE YOU SO FUCKING MUCH SOMETIMES I THINK ABOUT YOU AND LOSE THE ABILITY TO FUNCTION AS A NORMAL PERSON / 100/10 / my favorite asshole / the only histories character i love more than and would rather play than hal / characters who would go in my beloved heart locket gifs

#max.txt #it's funny bc in general i like most of the war of the roses characters better than henriad characters #but i have SUCH insane tunnel vision on hal and hotspur like they're the reason i love the henriad. i just think. foil characters. who are #both so uniquely fascinating in their own rights #hotspur my best friend hotspur.#henry iv #hotspur #asks #TY MACY SORRY THIS IS SO LONG #i will answer the rest of the asks later i have to be a self sufficient person rn or smthn #prince hal

12 notes · View notes

kettlequills · 3 years

Text

i love the miraak cultists. sulis, ulf, drethys, mirdein, soskro, rokzaam, rekzaam, hjoti, agata, sadeni, hakir, my beloveds. rokzaam and rekzaam are from the miraak follower mod! these guys are all thats left rip rip but they're in waking dreams!

soskro: nb transman. dunmer. the o.g. cultist. lived in the temple all his life, brought there when he was a baby in the red year by his grandmother. best at blood and shape magic, did sacrifices to make the stones work for miraak. probably would be the leader if he was more into that than being mysterious.

mirdein: transwoman. dunmer. former redoran guard who saw soskro in her dreams until she came to the temple to be trans and free. extremely loyal, prefers to follow rather than lead but takes charge of temple defence cause of her experience.

sulis: agender nb dunmer. young, ex-mephalite. stabby, fantastic shot. definitely on the run from the morag tong. is in the cult to lay low, but also curious about the power.

ulf: man. nord. large, quiet, hairy. solstheim native, either ex.werebear or skaal. as tall as miraak. nervous about talking because he has anxiety, so mumbles. unintentionally kind of mysterious but generally good-natured

drethys: man. dunmer. rumoured kicked out of a bandit group after being tricked and betrayed. knows agata from those days, has a healthy fear of her. possible learning disability - maybe adhd, dyscalcula and dyslexia. the trickery involved cutting him short on money cause he struggled with counting. kind of bitter.

hjoti: woman. nord. bandit who got defeated by mirdein. joined up. boisterous, typical mead-swilling nord. likes a fight, also kind of bitter about the empire, possibly was a runaway from the army during the great war.

agata: woman. nord. alchemist. old. implied ex-bandit when she accrued gambling debt, fell in with the cult when she got too old to be a bandit. old butch, v sharp, would cut your throat without hesitation despite seeming a friendly old lady.

sadeni: woman. redguard. a trader from high rock whose ship crashed on the way to morrowind. soskro healed sadeni, and she decided to stay cause the debts she'd rack up from the ship would make her broke anyway. likes to read the books in the temple.

hakir: man. redguard. weaver from raven rock originally who saw miraak in his dreams. he joined kinda by accident cause he was stumbling around the temple of miraak having seen miraak in his dreams and tranced his way up there. quite a gentle guy.

rokzaaam: nb. dunmer. besties, possibly twins. a dark backstory mo one knows. they were found by soskro and raised in the temple. took the dovahzul names to distance themselves from their past. prefers to present a little more femme, has imprinted on mirdein like a duckling.

rekzaam: nb. dunmer. the more outgoing one, generally speaks for rokzaam. likes to help hakir with weaving.

3 notes · View notes

kikiburb · 2 years

Text

What's the point of heaven if my mom doesn't go there to fall in love with her bestie?

I’ve been thinking about my mom’s best friend a lot lately in sense that butches rule and she was nothing but goodness in our lives. Her daughter just sent me this message, and I ended up daydreaming an afterlife for my mom and her friend.

I’m def shipping them in a gorgeous butch-femme relationship because I’m a morbid romantic freak and I think my mom deserved more than she got out of her relationships with men. It's cool if it's a queerplatonic relationship. Whatever they want.

B and V are lounging on a frilly antique picnic blanket that my mom, B, brought out into their garden.

Together they’ve created a riot of color, with vines spilling over walls and layers and layers of weird colorful flowers and blooming fruit trees. It smells like B’s roses. V does all the shrub pruning, and heavy tree care and B takes care of the fussy annuals and perennial flowers.

They’re sharing a cig, drinking mojitos and reminiscing about their photography trips to Cuba and Haiti together in decades past, and how much fun they had showing their art work together.

V was a master gardener and groundskeeper for a university until her back gave out and she married a rich businesswoman. The sterility of her new suburban life killed her soul. B remained an artist, and designed gardens and cleaned house for her wealthier friends. But she paid a price with her heart too - surviving below the poverty line by enduring a loveless partnership.

Now they only make and grow things for each other and themselves, no need to barter their gifts or power to others.

V’s wearing the same black leather jacket as always, but she wears it more like a hug than armor than these days. She’s had the same spiky home shorn haircut since she was 14, and it suits her. She sees no reason to change that now.

B manages to have a different vintage dress on every day, but unlike her old ones, they never have holes in them. And the garden soil here never gets them dirty. She looks like a 50’s pinup model until you notice her worn combat boots.

Standing in them all day doesn’t hurt her feet any more. And V can shovel mulch now without her old back surgery or arthritis firing up. Neither of them can get over how their teeth have stopped aching.

Apparently in whatever version of West Virginia this is, no one has a poor person’s mouth. They wake up many mornings and talk over strong coffee about how the little things that make life better are actually not so little. They wonder how silly they seem staring at each other’s perfect smiles. Then they remember no one can think they are silly here.

“We should have done this ages ago,” says B, curling her legs under her and adjusting her dress around her.

“It’s ok,” V says in her gravely drawl. “You had a lot going on then. How would you have known?”

“But you were one of the only safe people in my life. You were always there when Sarah and I needed somewhere to go at 2 am. Why couldn’t I see it?”

“Look, how many bisexuals did you know in Appalachia in the 90’s?

“How many women did you know who could name what was happening in their homes for what it was?”

B's silent.

“Yeah, exactly.

“And it’s not like I was a paragon of stability. I was barely scraping by myself. You might have been living with a raging drunk - but remember when you had to bail me out for that bullshit DUI.

“Plus, you say you didn’t figure it out in time - but your kiddo did. They aren’t struggle like we were. Remember one of the last things they told you? They’re safe and full of joy now, and you damn well know they wouldn’t sugar coat something like that.”

“Yeah,” B sighs. You keep telling me there’s no need for regrets in this place, and you’re right.

“You helped them too, you know. They loved hanging out at your house and listening to The Cowboy Junkies and Janis Joplin while I was teaching. Your place was like an oasis for them.

“Apparently they call you their ring of keys person - which I hadn’t heard of before. They thought it was hilarious because when you were the campus groundkeeper you literally had a ring of keys on your jeans all the time!”

“Ha! Damn, I knew they were a baby butch when I saw them in crocs and zip-off pants. You hated those crocs! Only took them 20 years to figure it all out.”

B’s laughing hard now. “I’m thinking about them taking in your swagger and dyke competency and trying to figure out what they were seeing.”

“YOU didn’t know what you were seeing!,” V teases.

“They kind of remind me of you,” muses B. “Now they’re the one taking 2 am phone calls.”

“Fuck,” says V, taking the lipstick stained cigarette from B and tapping the ashes into a mojito glass. “The more things change…”

V wonders if they should go out and do some street photography like in the old days. B pauses and takes the cig back from V. After a long drag she says, “Nah, the garden’s too nice right now, let’s just rest.”

#short story #short fiction #omg I've never written fiction before and now I'm turning my dead mom gay and setting her up with her bestie #flash fiction #creative writing #grief #queer stories #queer representation #cottagecore #original fiction #might delete later #rural queers

1 note · View note

news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog · 5 years

Text

Femme birds, butch owls, and lesbian frogs: Meet the queer animals of Instagram

In 2008, a gay penguin couple went viral for the best of reasons: They stole an egg from a straight couple in order to become parents, then replaced the missing egg with a rock. Genius.

It's rare to see queerness represented in the animal world — if you can even call it queerness, given that these are, in fact, animals who don't have human sexualities. Still, that hasn't stopped the LGBTQ community from anthropomorphizing them wherever they can.

To anthropomorphize is to be human. Who doesn't want to see a lesbian earth mother frog dispensing self-care advice? Or a high femme owl warding off a heteronormative holiday with her deadly, femme fatale stare? Tell me the last time you saw a masculine-of-center bird represented in media. How many serial monogamist flamingos do you know in your personal life?

View this post on Instagram

▼ 2019 people! We need to take it easy!!!! As in just let it come. Take it with the utmost gentleness. Take my pose and repeat after me: “I am ready for any challenge and I will keep my peace and relax my body when needed. I ROCK even when I sit still! 🙏🏾 “ And then you can say HELL YEAH or Namaste or amen or whatever but SAY IT!!!! Ps don’t forget that it is EXTREMELY important to scream once in a while. LET IT OUT!!! But ALWAYS go back to this relaxed pose I am showing you here. You can even print it out and hang me on your wall! Try it! You will not regret it. Yours truly. Lesbian Frog forever. ▼ #lesbian #animal #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqi #lesbianculture #lesbianfun #animals #animalsco #animalsofinstagram #queer #animallover #animales #lesbians #lesbienne #lesbiana #dyke #frog #2019 photo by @yan_hidayat_567 special thnxz to @heavenandhella @amysedaris 🙏🏾💘

A post shared by Lesbian ▼ Animals (@lesbian_animals) on Jan 7, 2019 at 3:02pm PST

These moments are few. But thanks to Instagram, "queer" and queer-adjacent animal representation is starting to spike.

SEE ALSO: Zodiac shaming is a real thing. Don't do it.

Welcome to 2019, where "queer" animals are able to build large Instagram followings. To be clear: None of the queer-animal-centered Instagram accounts claim to fully know the sexuality of the animals they depict. The "lesbian warthog" from Instagram account @lesbian_animals could very well be a pansexual warthog. Or maybe she just experimented with female warthogs in college after seeing a particularly dapper drag king warthog at the local warthog cabaret.

Or maybe she's just a warthog and therefore has no idea what any of these humans posting about her are talking about.

View this post on Instagram

▼ Tiny Lesbian warthog cooling down in a tiny mud puddle ▼ #lesbian #animal #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqi #lesbianculture #lesbianfun #animals #animalsco #animalsofinstagram #queer #animallover #animales #lesbians #lesbienne #lesbiana #dyke #warthog

A post shared by Lesbian ▼ Animals (@lesbian_animals) on Jun 12, 2017 at 4:41pm PDT

So while queer Instagram animals might not have a sexuality in the same way humans have a sexuality, there's something about them visually that feels so deeply, constitutionally queer. Queer people can see themselves in them.

As strange as that is, it matters.

The inherent queerness of birds

Take a look at @femmebirds, an Instagram account dedicated to the bird femme community. Created by Meaghan O'Malley of Butches and Babies and Katie Horowitz, the account celebrates the femmeness at the heart of bird identity:

"Birds just don't give a fuck, which I think is inherently femme," O'Malley told Mashable in a phone interview. "They're also very sensitive and hollow-boned."

O'Malley started the account after discovering @butchbirds on Instagram, an account dedicated to the severely underrepresented butch bird community. Both accounts share photos of birds that are aesthetically queer.

Worship the raw masc power of Bryce, a newly appointed young butch owl. Bryce is the Shane of the queer owl community. He fucks.

View this post on Instagram

A submission from @thepaylestqweeyah, for your viewing pleasure we bring you Bryce, a newly minted baby butch. Very eager to sweep you off your feet. #woulddate #alsotherewillprobablybemessypoly #babybirdbutch

A post shared by Butch (@butchbirds) on Dec 30, 2018 at 12:52pm PST

Next, open your heart to these queer pastel parrotlets processing critical attachment theory:

View this post on Instagram

A good wingfemme knows when to pull you into her fluffy, feathery bosom to tell you how magical and important you are when things are feeling rough. A good wingfemme also probably takes advantage of the convenient proximity of your ear to her beak and whispers a reminder to read that book about attachment she mentioned to you a year ago. AHEM.⁣ ⁣ #wingfemmewednesday [femme birds: pastel parrotlets] #femmebirds | photo credit: @freyaeverafter_ |

A post shared by Femme Birds (@femmebirds) on Feb 6, 2019 at 5:19am PST

But these accounts do more than just share photos of animals. Both @femmebirds and @butchbirds draw from queer tropes to generate meaningful conversation.

For O'Malley, @femmebirds allows her to discuss queerness in a way that feels lighthearted and slightly removed. It can be challenging and painful to discuss LGBTQ issues in more traditional contexts. Who really wants to explore the nuances of gender performance in a Twitter thread?

When queer identity is re-imagined in bird form, the conversation feels lighter, more manageable. It's easier to discuss femme visibility among parrots (who are inherently absurd) than among humans:

"I am not really an animal person, but I love birds and their anthropomorphic personalities ... and I think it's a little bit easier with animals to connect with what you're feeling and experiencing," O'Malley said. "Femme birds are specifically adaptable in that way. The vast majority of birds we post are assigned male at birth. Male birds tend to be the most femme in nature. Some people have been curious about why we use male birds. But that has everything to do with our perception of femme identity."

View this post on Instagram

A good ol’ fashioned #wingfemmewednesday intervention is in order when your bestie suggests getting back together with her toxic ex for the fourth time. ⁣ ⁣ We can acknowledge our fear of scarcity and then do everything we can to believe in abundance. Toxicity isn’t love, boobirds! ⁣ ⁣ [femme birds: eastern bluebirds] #femmebirds

A post shared by Femme Birds (@femmebirds) on Feb 20, 2019 at 8:45am PST

O'Malley is able to facilitate a conversation about the meaning of femme identity — who it belongs to, and why we associate it with just one sex — without it becoming a contentious internet forum.

These are birds, for God's sake.

View this post on Instagram

Femmes: there is no such thing as more femme or less femme, better femme or worse femme, good femme or bad femme, real femme or imposter femme.⁣ ⁣ Femme is femme is femme. ⁣ ⁣ You are pure, real, and beautiful in your femmeness, however it manifests, no matter your gender. Identity policing is *NOT* for the femmebirds. [femme bird: dwarf kingfisher from SE Asia] #femmebirds

A post shared by Femme Birds (@femmebirds) on Feb 9, 2019 at 10:57am PST

Language is key to understanding these accounts. @Femmebirds routinely repurposes vocabulary from queer culture, such as bottoming or lesbian processing, to discuss bird behavior. In doing so, O'Malley is able to have a conversation about femme visibility and even poke fun at some of the more rigid conventions through a careful curation of words.

View this post on Instagram

WE STAN FOR THE POWER BOTTOM ⁣ [femme birds: common kestrel] #femmebird4femmebird #femmebirds

A post shared by Femme Birds (@femmebirds) on Feb 15, 2019 at 8:37am PST

Look at this queer femmebird trying to process her emotions with her cis boyfriend:

View this post on Instagram

Queer femmebird trying to do some deep lesbian processing with her boyfriend, who has very clearly never been a lesbian. #panbirdproblems [femme bird: red-legged honeycreeper] #femmebirds

A post shared by Femme Birds (@femmebirds) on Jan 26, 2019 at 1:33pm PST

This femmebird walks her runway like a goddamn professional: She's "steadfastly true to herself, her values, and her fabulous shoulder-padded/glittery pantsuited/silky bowtied aesthetic."⁣

View this post on Instagram

This week's Femmebird Icon is none other than Dorothy Zbornack, the tallest, fiercest, sharpest-tongued Golden Girl. Dorothy was known for her [...occasionally problematic...] ability to quickly read the room, and you, for filth. When forced to explain or justify her gender and/or sexuality, she remained steadfastly true to herself, her values, and her fabulous shoulder-padded/glittery pantsuited/silky bowtied aesthetic. ⁣ ⁣ While not the tallest bird of prey, the secretarybird reminds us so much of Dorothy that we felt this comparison needed to happen. Like Dorothy and her suffer no fools approach to Stan's hijinks/Blanche’s delusions/Rose’s non sequiturs/Sophia’s trickery, secretarybirds quietly and carefully stalk their prey and then skillfully and aggressively, well, uh, stomp them to death. Thank you for being a friendbird, Dorothy.⁣ ⁣ NB: These pairings are our best bird testaments to these icons and their energy/aesthetics. These femmebird icons are people who have contributed to the expression and identity of femme, in many cases to our intersecting movements, and generally to our conceptions and expressions of justice and/or style. Finally, these Femmebird Icons include folx who are real and fictional AND folx of all gender identities and expressions who may or may not identify as femme, but who have inspired us nonetheless.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ [femme bird: secretarybird] #femmebirds #femmebirdicons

A post shared by Femme Birds (@femmebirds) on Jan 28, 2019 at 4:17pm PST

Human lesbians may struggle with scissoring. Great crested grebes sure do:

View this post on Instagram

Giving you hot scissoring technique this #femmebird4femmebird Friday. #✂️🐥🐥✂️⁣ ⁣ [femme bird: great crested grebe]⁣ #femmebirds

A post shared by Femme Birds (@femmebirds) on Jan 25, 2019 at 7:42am PST

These femmebirds are absolutely crushing the cis-heteropatriarchy:

View this post on Instagram

Femmebirds, 1. Cisheteropatriarchy, 0. [femme bird: house sparrow] #femmebirds

A post shared by Femme Birds (@femmebirds) on Jan 17, 2019 at 6:55am PST

Let's be clear: @femmebirds and @butchbirds are, at their hearts, extremely funny accounts. Yes, they inspire thoughtful comment threads about gender performance and identity. They're also weird as hell, in wonderful, tender ways that remind me of the pre-bad internet era.

Forget everything you learned about Judith Butler and Michel Foucault and just soak up the comedy of this sex talk between parakeet lesbians.

View this post on Instagram

Explaining to your newly-out wingfemme the finer points of good ol’ fashioned lez luvin’. [femme bird: Indian ringneck parakeet] #femmebirds #wingfemmewednesday

A post shared by Femme Birds (@femmebirds) on Jan 23, 2019 at 6:08pm PST

I will always hate birds. But I am deeply thankful for Instagram's queer bird community for giving this highly marginalized group some representation in media.

Lesbian guinea pigs, gay lions, and closeted cats

There are plenty of animals in the kingdom who possess big dyke energy.

Instagram account @lesbian_animals, which has been around since 2016, identifies the non-avian queer members of the animal kingdom. They're less visible than out and proud pigeons. But that doesn't mean they're not worth paying attention to.

Consider, for example, the queer guinea pig community. Without this account, we wouldn't even know they existed.

View this post on Instagram

▼ Lesbian parenting ▼ #lesbian #animal #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqi #lesbianculture #lesbianfun #animals #animalsco #animalsofinstagram #queer #animallover #animales #lesbians #guineapig

A post shared by Lesbian ▼ Animals (@lesbian_animals) on Oct 8, 2016 at 4:00pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

▼ Lesbian Guinea Pig (by EmmasBears on Etsy)▼ #lesbian #animal #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqi #lesbianculture #lesbianfun #animals #animalsco #animalsofinstagram #queer #animallover #animales #lesbians #lesbienne #lesbiana #dyke #happypride

A post shared by Lesbian ▼ Animals (@lesbian_animals) on Aug 1, 2017 at 11:36pm PDT

Possums really broke into the viral spotlight last year. But — with all those memes and all those tweets — did you ever once hear about the vibrant LGBTQ possum scene?

Probably not. Shout out to @lesbian_animals for bringing this marginalized demographic to the forefront.

View this post on Instagram

▼ Lesbian parenting ▼ #lesbian #animal #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqi #lesbianculture #lesbianfun #animals #animalsco #animalsofinstagram #queer #animallover #animales #lesbians #lesbienne #lesbiana #dyke #mammapossum

A post shared by Lesbian ▼ Animals (@lesbian_animals) on Jun 6, 2017 at 2:24pm PDT

When was the last time you learned about queer chosen families in the animal world? Look at how these queer koalas have forged community in spite of oppression:

View this post on Instagram

▼ Lesbian Koala's Love to cuddle in groups. "Our favorite movie is Trolls!! We watch it together at least twice a month and then we cuddle and dance and eat rainbow popcorn!!!" ▼ #lesbian #animal #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqi #lesbianculture #lesbianfun #animals #animalsco #animalsofinstagram #queer #animallover #animales #lesbians #lesbienne #lesbiana #dyke #koala

A post shared by Lesbian ▼ Animals (@lesbian_animals) on Mar 30, 2017 at 6:57am PDT

Accounts like @lesbian_animals are more than just collections of queer koala friends. They meet a psychological need, highlighting "queerness" in the world around us, even if that queerness is absurdist projection.

Just like everyone else, queer people want to see themselves on television, in movies, in government, and sometimes even boning in the wild.

So forgive me if I take deep satisfaction in this lesbian otter tape dispenser. As a queer person, I am sick and tired of seeing only cis heteronormative seal tape dispensers.

Finally, I feel seen: by animals, and by the people creating these accounts.

View this post on Instagram

▼ Lesbian Tape Dispenser ▼ #lesbian #animal #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqi #lesbianculture #lesbianfun #animals #animalsco #animalsofinstagram #queer #animallover #animales #lesbians #tape

A post shared by Lesbian ▼ Animals (@lesbian_animals) on Dec 16, 2016 at 4:55pm PST

It's more than just queer animal tape dispenser representation

For all the joy it brings me to see a genderqueer rockabilly owl, queer animal representation isn't ultimately about the animals. It's more than that. As O'Malley describes it, it's about the people behind the accounts and the people engaging with these accounts connecting with each other.

When you like a photo of two lesbian dogs in matching knit hats, you're not identifying with the dogs. You're sharing a moment with the account's creator, who knows what knit hats signify in the lesbian community and can laugh about it with you.

View this post on Instagram

▼ Lesbian couple ▼ #lesbian #animal #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqi #lesbianculture #lesbianfun #animals #animalsco #animalsofinstagram #animallover #animales #lesbians #deers

A post shared by Lesbian ▼ Animals (@lesbian_animals) on Jun 18, 2016 at 3:07pm PDT

As much as you think you're connecting with animals, you're actually connecting with people.

Here's how O'Malley describes the human affect behind her femme bird account:

"Femme identity has always been something I tentatively danced around. I didn’t fully embrace it until about a decade ago. It's been challenging because there's so much gatekeeping around it. I was really unsure if I would be able to create femme-centric content ... [but] posts that tend to resonate the most are dramatized versions of my own experience. Posts that say: 'I am femme but I don't feel like I'm good at it' tend to get the most affirming feedback. It makes me feel like less of an outsider femme. I have not been able to connect to other femmes as a human but I have through my bird language."

Let me use my bird language to connect to the kind readers who've made it to the end of this story.

We see you all: the masc owls, the drag queen parrots, and even the heteroflexible parakeets. These Instagram skies are open. There's a home for you all, my fellow queer birds, even if it's just on a platform.

WATCH: New study says honeybees can do basic math

#_author:Heather Dockray #_category:yct:001000002 #_lmsid:a0Vd000000DTrEpEAL #_uuid:5476854b-9b1f-3b3a-9152-b562b376cb45 #_revsp:news.mashable

0 notes