Dyke does not mean lack of attraction to men. Here, it’s a carrd with pretty gifs so you’ll take it as a source.
Here is a reliable citation /s
**tapping any gif will bring you back to this page
no
citation 1 citation 2 citation 3
A dyke is a lesbian or a woman whose appearance is regarded as masculine, with the implication that she is a lesbian.
Yes, it does. When the slur was added to the dictionaries in the 1940’s, “lesbian” meant all wlw. The slur was used against all wlw.
The changing of the meaning of the word lesbian doesn’t give you an excuse to cut the rest of the sapphics off from their slur, because it still means sapphic. (the slur)
^ bisexuals being pushed out of lesbian communities, from the evolution of the bisexual movement by liz a highleyman, anything that moves 1994
I hate to be the one to break it to you but the dictionary DOES NOT CARE about the lgbtq+ community. Their definition of lesbian still includes sapphics, you cannot look at “lesbian” in the dictionary and take it as your meaning of lesbian. Both the dictionary and wikipedia both imply that lesbian still means sapphic. If you have a problem with that, talk to them.
^the oxford english dictionary
^ these definitions includes all sapphics, whether or not that’s something you agree with
Why?
Maybe you should ask yourself why. Why do you think this? What reason do you have?
The word has nothing to do with whether or not you like men, and it was historically used against AND means all sapphics. It’s not a lesbian thing that everyone is trying to get in on, it’s always been theirs. Why do you want to cut nonlesbian sapphics off from their history? This is where I can no longer help you.
Because at some point, someone said it and it spread like WILDFIRE. The only things that mention a lack of attraction to men are carrds with no sources that support it.
@ArcticCircleSys on twitter found the earliest known internet mention that dyke means a “lack of attraction to men”.
OG tweet
It was a tumblr post created on August 5th, 2015. This myth has literally never been mentioned before 2015 unless you can find it. That should be telling enough that it isn’t true.
This is incredibly insensitive to say. No one WANTS a slur. Dyke is already a slur that belongs to sapphics, and getting upset when you try to take it away from them does NOT equal wanting a slur. Are you going to go up to a lesbian reclaiming dyke and tell her she can’t reclaim it, then wonder why she “wants a slur so bad” when she gets mad at you? No. You’re literally just being a prick that thinks you can police what people do.
Thank you for listening! Here are some helpful links for further reading. The twitter threads have all been checked for reliable sources.
@ liz_mikaelson : sapphics and the use, meaning, and the history of the word dyke
@ arabiantragedy : Bisexual Women & The Reclamation of Dyke (a carrd)
susan krantz : possible origins of dyke
@ davidrxse : a little bit about bi women being pushed out of lesbian communities
@ thotscholar : the history of biphobia and transphobia being connected, shared history, and the vilification of bisexual women because of their attraction to men
@ 1980s_homo_film : THE HISTORY OF THE WORD DYKE (and how the lesbian only narrative isn't factual)
@ jessfromonline : "Bisexual Women and the "Threat" to Lesbian Space", a 1996 reflection by Sharon Dale Stone
dyke — wordorigins.org
Go tell the Dyke Marches and see what they have to say about that.
