MovieChat Forums > The L Word (2004) Discussion > Was Shane butch or not?

Was Shane butch or not?

posted 11 years ago by shoshonehuey
14 replies | jump to latest

When the show was airing, I know people complained about a lack of butch representation. I used to think "Isn't Shane supposed to be the butch?"

Looking back, I guess she was more of a "soft butch" or a "hard femme". Stem. Whatever term you wanna use. I suppose having a boyish haircut and unisex clothing is not enough to qualify as butch?

Angelina Jolie. Liz Taylor. Bette Davis. Charlize Theron. Mae West.

[–] TibetteSharmen 11 years ago

no need fot labels. Shane was just Shane.

Peace!

[–] cornish-pixie-1 11 years ago

Tibettesharmen - exactly! Amen. Why are we so dependent on labels?

"Don't eat muffins when I'm developing you"

[–] shoshonehuey 11 years ago

Why are labels problematic? The lesbian community uses them quite often. And there really is a lack of butch representation on TV.

Angelina Jolie. Liz Taylor. Bette Davis. Charlize Theron. Mae West.

[–] TibetteSharmen 11 years ago

Why are labels problematic?

I find labels problematic because they are so very definitive and closed. There are people who don't feel like they fit into any specific label or group and just like to think of themselves as being who they are without feeling the need to be defined by labels.

In the case of Shane, i think of Shane as just Shane.

I can understand if there are people out there who feel like they want more diversity in the representation of LGBTQIA characters, but I don't feel like labels contributes to said diversity necessarily.

I've always felt that labeling within an already rather marginalized and relatively small group (Lesbians) only leads to more division and generalisations/Prejudice.

just my thoughts!

peace!

[–] MaryEunice 11 years ago

She was kind of butch deluxe to me.

[–] edmunds_division 11 years ago

I find the term 'butch deluxe' to be an excellent description of Shane.

[–] SampanMassacre 10 years ago

LOL Labels are only problematic unless you are talking about Christians.

But Shane is NOT butch. She's a hot looking girl who looks like a hot looking girl trying to look like a hot looking boy. Butch lesbians look like Robin Williams.

[–] omgjayde 9 years ago

LOLOLOLOL

[–] RockaDee_Requited 10 years ago

Haha, Shane is not butch at all.

"Tree's don't all grow straight, they grow however makes them happy"-Bob Ross

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] omgjayde 9 years ago

She was androgynous, not butch at all, IMO.

[–] Florianopolis 8 years ago

My thoughts exactly.. I was just going to type your exact comment.... I think it was Harry an extra character from S1, said
"Androgyny defined", or something like that, when she introduced herself a a female.

[–] dperth-33500 8 years ago

Butch means you dress in men's clothes, cut your hair like a man's, etc. Tomboy means you're a girl who like to do boyish type things like climb trees and play sports. They're totally different things.

Shane wore men's clothes but didn't cut her hair like a man's, so I vote for soft butch.