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The Femme Mystique

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By Lesléa Newman

Publisher Description

A fascinating and insightful look at the world of femme identity within the lesbian community. Written by femmes, former femmes, future femmes, femme wanna-bes, femme admirers, and of course, femmes fatales, The Femme Mystique explores what it means to be a femme and a lesbian in a society that often trivializes the feminine.

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The Femme Mystique Reviews

4.0

SibylVane

Created about 1 year ago

lesbian princess 💌

Created about 1 year ago

“I have so much to say abt this book I don't think I can do it justice. I read it twice this year, my wife printed out a copy of it for me bc it's unavailable that's how much I loved it. I think many queer people especially lesbians would benefit from reading this book especially if they've discovered butchfemme recently. Very insightful on how the lesbian community was back in the day and the difference with the community nowadays, the way feminine lesbians are more accepted and liked now (even though they'll try to convince u otherwise). I want the people reading this to realise there's a difference between being a femme and being a feminine lesbian, not all feminine lesbians are femmes and u don't have to be "feminine" to be a femme. I love the sensuality and sexuality that comes with being a femme, my only issue was I wish it had more stories from high femmes/femme bottoms. but thank you to all the femmes who came before me and good luck to all the femmes who will come after me.”

Addictive Coming of age Heartbreaking Romantic Thought-provoking Beautifully-written Easy to read

Alex Downs

Created over 2 years ago

swordsandsapphics

Created over 2 years ago

“A very solid anthology about femme lesbians! I swear if I saw this energy in femme lesbian representation in fiction then I'd have quite a few less issues with them. I loved how unapologetic just about all of the authors were about their femininity -- there's even a whole part dedicated to lipstick! -- and there was some nice variety in the anthology. We've got poems, essays, short stories, photographs -- it's a lot. It touches on issues femmes face both from hets and other lesbians. Especially femme invisibility. Is it a privilege, to be able mistaken for straight women in a way butches aren't? Yes, but it's a privilege that I don't want! It's like being given a gift. You know some people would want this gift. Maybe even benefit from this gift. But to you, it's the worst gift ever. You hate it. But you can't return it to the store because you don't have a receipt. You can't exchange it for anything better, either, or give it away to anyone who can actually use that gift, so the best thing you can do is try to chuck it out the window or throw it in the garbage. Sometimes that's not enough, either -- sometimes it magically reappears back in your room, like a doll in a horror movie, and all your effort throwing it out was for nothing. That's a long tangent I didn't expect to write today, but in short: it's an invisibility that's forced on us, that comes from people assuming we're straight just because we like dresses. I -- and several of the other femme lesbian writers in this anthology, and several femmes, period -- would much rather be recognized for who we are. No wonder they created this anthology, honestly. I can't say for certain what intent they had while compiling this, but to me, it feels like an effort not to just inform the world about femme culture, but to actively resist femme invisibility. It feels like a demand to be seen. It was also both validating and sad to see how many femme lesbians originally tried to be more tomboyish and/or butch before finding themselves as a femme. That's my story, too, but holy shit, I didn't realize that was such a common journey. And this is coming from someone who's known for a long time how much femininity gets dismissed or ridiculed, from the queer community as well as heterosexuals. My one critique is that sometimes it's a bit too heavy on the erotic. Which is a weird critique for me to have because I'm your basic allo lesbian, and embracing your sexuality does feel like an important part of femme culture (at least for allo femmes), considering how often women get demonized for having basic sexual desires. That's important today, and it had to have been even more important in the 1990s. And a fair few of my favorites in the anthology were erotic! But there was so much eroticism that it felt like it was distracting me from the greater point of the anthology, you know? Overall, a fantastic anthology! This makes me really want to write a book with my DND character who's basically Elle Woods but make her a Witcher. I also want to contribute to femme lesbian literary canon someday . . . someday. It'll happen. Until then, I hope to see more femme literature like this!”

Alisa Sutherland

Created about 8 years ago