History Main / ButchLesbian

* [[Characters/TheOwlHouseLuzNoceda Luz Noceda]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' is a {{downplayed}} Bisexual example. Luz is gender non-conforming but with an overall more traditionally masculine appearance, with a pixie cut, and shorts for most of her journey and she almost never wears skirts. But she is more energetic and expressive than most examples and showed no qualms against wearing a full-fledged dress or growing out her hair. She also has several more traditionally feminine hobbies and interests such as romance, and cute critters, while her fictional idol Azura is a very feminine MagicalGirl archetype.

* ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'': Ellie. While merely hinted at in the first game where she is only fourteen and doesn’t really interact with any other girls (although she does find a gay male porn magazine and show only bored amusement over it instead of anything else ("Hold your horses, I want to see what all the fuss is about."), and WordOfGod later clarified the situation. The ''Left Behind'' DLC throws all ambiguity off the window and is a story about Ellie and her best friend Riley realizing they like each other. Going by the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btmN-bWwv0A& gameplay reveals]], by the time of [[Videogame/TheLastOfUsPartII the sequel]] it's no longer a secret.
* [[PlayerCharacter Female Shepard]] tends to take this role in the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series if played as gay or bi, especially by contrast to [[TheIngenue Liara]] or [[LipstickLesbian Traynor]].

* ''{{Film/Foxfire}}'': Legs is indicated to be one, sporting short hair and having masculine clothing. Goldie in the book is a lesbian as well, but her sexual orientation isn't specified in the film (although implied as she retains this look).

* ''Film/ButImACheerleader'': [[spoiler:{{Subverted|Trope}} quite brilliantly with Jan, the most butch girl, who realizes that she's straight.]] Graham is however a [[PlayedStraight straight]] [[JustForPun example]], though a soft butch.

* ''Series/{{Deputy}}'': Deputy Bishop has short hair and always dresses in nice suits while on duty. She's established as a lesbian in the pilot.

* Lois [=McGiver=] from ''ComicStrip/DykesToWatchOutFor''. Also Ana, June, and a few others, including Alison Bechdel's AuthorAvatar Mo, to varying extents.

While Butch Lesbians are often poorly represented or offensively stereotyped, one existing in fiction is [[Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad not a bad thing]], and there are many portrayals created as self-images by real butch women.

* In ''Fanfic/ThePriceOfFlight'', Kiiki Pekisaalen is wiry, athletic, short-haired and tomboyish. It worried her commanding officer Olga Romanoff that she simply ''had not realised'' that two of her pilots were in a full physical relationship even when all the signs were there. The other half, Marina Raskova, is a homely [[UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} Rodinian]] girl, well on her way to becoming a fairly stereotypical HuskyRusskie in terms of build and look. In this case, two variations on the theme of Butch Lesbian elected to get it together. They emd up happily married and running a reindeer ranch together in [[UsefulNotes/{{Finland}} Swommi]].

** Two episodes showcase Huntara, a buff, a muscular outlaw who's introduced flirting with the waitresses (and who sets Adora's eyes to sparkling).

* Yasha and Beauregard from ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' are both very butch and have both showed interest in women. Yasha was confirmed to have been married to a woman in the past. It... didn't work out.

* In ''Webcomic/WitchesAmongHumans'', being a witch from the Boiling Isles, Luz is more crass than her canon-counterpart and is in a relationship with Amity.

* [[Characters/TheOwlHouseLuzNoceda Luz Noceda]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' is a {{downplayed}} Bisexual example. Luz is gender non-conforming but with an overall more traditionally masculine appearance, with a pixie cut, and shorts for most of her journey and she almost never wears skirts. But she is more energetic and expressive than most examples and showed no qualms against wearing a full fledged dress or growing out her hair. She also has several more traditionally feminine hobbies and interests such as romance, and cute critters, while her fictional idol Azura is a very feminine MagicalGirl archetype.
* ''WesternAnimation/HaileysOnIt'': Becker Denoga is very tomboyish and likes to destroy stuffs. In episode "Catching the Felines", she developed a crush on the titular character Hailey Banks, but in episode "Along for the Slide", she gets in a relationship with her former rival Kennedy.

** Two episodes showcase Huntara, a buff, muscular outlaw who's introduced flirting with the waitresses (and who sets Adora's eyes to sparkling).
** Subverted with Scorpia, who mostly ''looks'' the part because she's enormous, muscular, short-haired and mostly wears military uniform, and is pretty unambiguously a lesbian, but has a very friendly CuddleBug personality and on the rare occasions she chooses a different outfit for herself she tends to go for a more femme look. Calling her "butch" is something of a BerserkButton to chunks of the fandom.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' (Dr. Quymn, Medicine Woman) featuring a beefy lady named Ginny who was revealed in one line to be interested in sleeping with the eponymous Dr. Quymn as well as openly being hateful of men though she says it's because she hasn't met a real man yet. She also pursues Brock Sampson-- whether it's to "distract" him from the sexy Dr. Quymn or some strangely genderbent EvenTheGuysWantHim, it's not revealed.

** Catra is very obviously in love with Adora (though she doesn't even admit it to herself) and is seriously butch. At the Princess Prom, she shows up in a tuxedo rather than a dress and does so again in Adora's dream. [[spoiler: Following her HeelFaceTurn in Season 5, she also gets a new outfit and a short haircut]].

* ''Series/IAmNotOkayWithThis'': A {{downplayed}} example - Syd isn't particularly athletic, but stays far away from traditionally feminine pursuits and looks. While she has had sex with Stan, she notes that something was 'missing' from it and figures out just what it was when she kisses Dina. Her diary seems to be explicit about her lesbianism as well [[spoiler: if Brad is to be believed-apparently in there she went on at great length about Dina and her feelings for her.]]

* ''Series/InTheDark'': Sterling, who gets involved with Jess, has BoyishShortHair and also dresses in a pretty masculine way. Sam, meanwhile, is [[spoiler:also revealed as being with her]] and even more of an example: she's a [[BaldHeadOfToughness shaven-headed stone-cold badass female gangster]].
* Subverted with Grace Polk in ''Series/JoanOfArcadia'' who looks and acts the part and who many think is a lesbian but is straight.

** Candace, Dusty, Jamie, Robin, Tasha all have short hair and more masculine attitudes/attire.

* In an OlderThanFeudalism example, in one of ''Literature/DialoguesOfTheCourtesans'' by Lucian of Samosata, one of the courtesans, Lena, is [[LesYay explicitly seduced]] by a woman who reveals herself as a bald, masculine lesbian named Megilla who refers to herself as a boy and has already "married" a matron. The details aren't told, as Lena founds them too [[{{Squick}} disgusting]] to remember. Some have interpreted Megilla as a [[UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} trans man]] however, given the male self-reference and reacting badly to being called a woman.

* In an OlderThanFeudalism example, in one of ''Dialogues of the Courtesans'' by Lucian of Samosata, one of the courtesans, Lena, is [[LesYay explicitly seduced]] by a woman who reveals herself as a bald, masculine lesbian named Megilla who refers to herself as a boy and has already "married" a matron. The details aren't told, as Lena founds them too [[{{Squick}} disgusting]] to remember. Some have interpreted Megilla as a [[UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} trans man]] however, given the male self-reference and reacting badly to being called a woman.

* Several in the works of Mary Renault: Colonna Kimball in ''Purposes of Love'', Thalestris in ''The King Must Die'', Axiothea in ''The Mask of Apollo''. Axiothea is based on a real character, one of Plato's two female pupils, who "is said to have worn men's clothes".

NoRealLife, as this is subjective and speculative. In addition to being likely to encourage gossip and rumors, TVTropes has a rule of no RealLife examples for SexTropes.

[[noreallife]], as this is subjective and speculative. In addition to being likely to encourage gossip and rumors, TVTropes has a rule of no RealLife examples for SexTropes.

The contrasting counterpart to the LipstickLesbian, the Butch Lesbian is typically clad in heavy boots, jeans, plain t-shirts, and other conventionally unfeminine attire -- perhaps switching to [[BadassInANiceSuit a men's suit]] if she wants to look particularly classy. She'll have a [[BoyishShortHair short haircut]] and stereotypically male job, and often be [[OneHeadTaller taller]] and bulkier than her femme counterpart, though a lanky or PintSizedPowerhouse build is not unheard of. Breast-binding is optional, as is using a TomboyishName or even masculine pronouns. [[SoapboxSadie She will probably be vocal about gay rights and feminism]] (sometimes to the point of being a StrawFeminist), and may also be [[LesbianJock quite sporty]] (e.g. soccer, field hockey, softball). On many occasions, she can be [[LadyLooksLikeADude mistaken for a man]], and even the [[ViewerGenderConfusion audience might make that mistake]] until a GenderReveal.

Traditionally, butch lesbians are paired up with high femmes or {{Lipstick Lesbian}}s. The overuse of this trope sometimes comes under fire for allegedly enforcing a male/female dynamic in homosexual relationships. A saying within the gay community is that a butch lesbian is [[BruiserWithASoftCenter "steel covering velvet"]] while a lipstick lesbian is [[SilkHidingSteel "velvet covering steel"]]. That's not too much of an exaggeration.

[[noreallife]]

* ''Literature/AMasterOfDjinn'': Fatma likes to wear bowler hats, very nice suits and has a cane. She also wears her hair short and she works as a detective, being among the few women doing this. Due to this, she also gets mistaken for a [[PrettyBoy handsome]] [[LadyLooksLikeADude young man]] repeatedly, indicating her style makes her look {{bifauxnen}}. She's secretly lovers with Nubian woman Siti.

* * Redfern Jon Barrett's 'ambitopian' novel ''Literature/ProudPinkSky'' is set in the world's first gay state – and features Diesel, a district just for butch lesbians.

* In the ''Series/ModernFamily'' episode "Schooled", one of Lilly's classmate Connor's [[HasTwoMommies moms]] partially fits the trope—she wears her hair long like her partner, but works as a contractor, wears boots, speaks in a husky voice and is quick to complain about being stereotyped (often [[HypocriticalHumor hypocritically]], since it turns out that most of the stereotyped assumptions about her are true).