Lipstick Lesbian - Television Tropes & Idioms

alt title(s): Femme Lesbian

The Lipstick Lesbian is what many straight men, in a case of wishful thinking, like to imagine all lesbians are like. She dresses in a more typically "girly" fashion than the stereotype "butch" lesbian (and wears makeup, hence the name), making her conventionally attractive while still gay. Main-character lesbians on TV tend to fall into this category more often, as it's often seen as "safer", unless the show is going for "edgy".

A related term is "femme"; however, the implication is that, while a "femme" would be attracted to a "butch", Lipstick Lesbians are attracted to others of the same type. Also note that in LGBTQI (Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex, and a partridge in a pear tree) communities, lipstick lesbians tend to be described as lesbians who are 'more feminine' than average straight women or whose expression of femininity is 'over-the-top'. The Japanese term for "femme" is "Neko" (Meaning "cat").

Note that Lipstick Lesbians do exist, making this a case of Truth In Television to a degree. They just aren't nearly as large a proportion of the real lesbian population as the fictional one.

The opposite of Butch Lesbian. Related to, and perhaps a direct result of, Girl On Girl Is Hot. See Schoolgirl Lesbians, another form of catering to Yuri Fanboys via character type. For a rough male equivalent, see Straight Gay.

Examples:

Anime and Manga

Chizuru Honshou from Bleach could fall into this trope, since she is (physically) attractive and feminine but quite, quite gay.
- She also likes her girls girly, what with her pursuing the very feminine Orihime, Kunieda and Mahana while telling Tatsuki that she's too boyish for her
Michiru Kaioh from Sailor Moon; however, with her girlfriend being the more masculine Haruka, some might say it would be more accurate to describe her as 'femme'.
Yasuna from Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl, sort of. Hazumu likely counts too.
Possibly Minto of Tokyo Mew Mew, but when she says she loves Zakuro it could mean either romantic love or just the obsessive admiration for the celebrity and Onee Sama.
Lavinia from Soukou No Strain. Bunny suit, anyone? And let's not get started on episode seven.
Jun and Nene from Maka Maka qualify to a large extent (although they are bisexual).
Maya Ibuki from Neon Genesis Evangelion is hinted to be one of these.
- Hinted? Her last act in End of Evangelion is giving a long, romantic kiss to a hallucination of Ritsuko, at a time when everyone on Earth is seeing a vision of who they love most. The only way the subtext could have gotten more texty there is if they'd actually had sex on the desk.
  - Actually, it's Makoto who gets kissed, by Rei/Lilith disguised as Misato. However, "Ritsuko" does tell Maya "I need you", and gives her a very tender hug...with her knee planted in Maya's groin. That, and Maya's joyful returning of the hug, is definitely jam-packed with subtext.
Akko and Mari from Girl Friends. Particularly prevalent since much of the plot includes shopping for clothes, getting makeovers, and hairstyling.
Hazuki from Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito, who has long billowy black hair, a pretty seifuku, stunning blue eyes, and is just slightly gayer than an entire pride parade reenacting the Rocky Horror Picture Show. The object of her affections is even more feminine, though bi- or pan-sexual.

Comic Books

DC Comics's current Batwoman, in an enlightened Politically Correct attempt to exploit a target demographic, is a Lipstick Lesbian. She was 'outed' in a cunningly-written magazine interview several months before the character premiered.
- Like Ellen, Batwoman's on-again/off-again paramour the Question could be described as a "chapstick lesbian". She's neither overtly butch nor femme and wears unisex clothes.
Karolina Dean of Runaways pretty much the same reasoning for existing as Batgirl above but had been dropping hints about her sexuality since her first appearence making her outing slightly less jarring.

Film

The female protagonists of Mulholland Drive fit this trope to a T.
Judy Squires in Better Than Chocolate, who is also a transwoman. Frances, the woman she's in love with, is more of a "chapstick lesbian."
Amy and Lucy, the main couple from D.E.B.S. fit this character trope. Ninotchka, Lucy's unsuccessful blind date also fits.

Live Action TV

Linda in Seacht.
Remy Hadley ("Thirteen") in House is something of a Lipstick Bisexual.
Jaye's sister Sharon in Wonderfalls
Many characters in The L Word, which makes the occasional guest spots by real-life celebrity lesbians all the more jarring: they never look as Hollywood-feminine as the main characters.
Laura Dern as "Susan" in the "outing" episodes of Ellen.
- Averted by the title character of Ellen, who has (hilariously) referred to herself as a "chapstick lesbian".
Spencer and Ashley's relationship in South Of Nowhere takes up a considerable amount of attention within the show.
Willow and Tara from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Though it's worth noting that seemingly everyone in Sunnydale is abnormally attractive.
DC Jo Masters from The Bill has been described like this, although she doesn't really advertise it. Rather large in the chest department, she had Eddie (the male crime scene examiner) ask her on a date. She told him they'd go for a drink and she'd explain.
Serena Southerlyn of Law And Order - though we only find this out via one of the biggest Wall Bangers of all time.
Out of Practice, a failed show on CBS, had a central character who screamed this trope to the heavens. She dressed provocatively, threw herself at women, and couldn't open her mouth without bringing up the topic of her sexuality.
Both Emily Fitch and Naomi Campbell from Skins - though they both, somewhat ironically, tend to wear a lot of plaid, button-down shirts.
After her coming-out storyline, Beth Jordache from Brookside (played by Anna Friel) was labelled as a "lipstick lesbian" by the British media, receiving equal attention from young women and young men.

Webcomics

Nanase from El Goonish Shive pays attention to her hair, wears a good bit of make up and prefers wearing a skirt to pants. Compare this to Ellen, and she's pretty damn girly.
- Of course, she also occasionally shows a horrible temper, some tomboy mannerisms, and eagerly volunteers for a Gender Bender for a party, making her an odd example of both extremes.
  - She volunteered for the Gender Bender because she thought it would make it easier to show her true feelings (she wasn't yet out at the time), not because she had any real desire to be a guy. She does do the whole martial arts thing, but her appearance is generally feminine.
- Kinda subverted recently, as she cut her hair really short and started wearing giant boots, which is at least slightly butch-y.
Jessica Mc Intyre of Loserz. See this strip.
- The sad thing was, This Troper saw that one coming something like a year or two before the strip ever even got around to it actually happening...
  - That's because they telegraphed it like Western Frikkin' Union.
Both Lia and Fiona from Yu Me Dream are definitely feminine enough to be considered Lipstick Lesbians.

Web Original

Julia Gordon. And First Lady Anna Mitchell, which causes a scandal in Columbia and prevents her husband from reelected for a third term.

Real Life

Tristan Taormino
Portia de Rossi. Meanwhile, her wife, Ellen DeGeneres, has jokingly referred to herself as a "chapstick lesbian."
Margaret Cho might count, although she's bisexual
This troper, while working at a vegan restaurant in NYC, quickly came to understand that this was basically every attractive girl who walked in.
One of this troper's elementary school teachers.
Truth in Television: Leisha Hailey and Alexandra Hedison, who play lipstick lesbians Alice and Dylan on the L Word, are both femme lesbians whose famous dates are more often chapstick lesbians than butch.
Lindsay Lohan, lipstick ~~bisexual~~ drunk, horny and indiscriminate.
Hello? Jodie Foster?

Lesbian Vampire

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