What is a Lipstick Lesbian?

The terms "Lipstick Lesbian" and "femme" can be used interchangeably. However, most properly, a "Lipstick Lesbian" is a feminine woman who loves other feminine women, and a "femme" is a feminine woman who loves masculine women. Both types of feminine Lesbians are represented on this site.But both kinds of girly-girls encounter the same problems. Since we "don't look like Lesbians", other Lesbians don't recognize us, which means we are often excluded from the united front. (Also, we don't get asked out.)When men find out we're Lesbians, they want to watch. One gorgeous femme of my acquaintance was offered twenty dollars by a man if she would kiss her girlfriend while he watched.And when we go to gay bars, no one believes that we belong there. Nice women take us aside and say, "Do you know that this is a gay bar?" Obnoxious women challenge us to "prove it" with requests that would get straight men kicked out of public office. Cautious women assume that we're straight women looking for kicks, and unfortunately, there are a lot of those out there, preying on unsuspecting Lesbians.Some Lesbians believe that femininity is an artificial creation invented and imposed on women by men to keep us down, and those who believe this think that every woman who wears makeup is endangering our civil rights. This is absurd. I say, "Vive le difference!Some Lesbians believe that we are "trying to pass for straight". Well, when I was 13 and thought that I was going to Hell because I wanted to kiss a certain blonde in my ballet class, I didn't know that there was a "right" way to be a pre-vert. I didn't know that a desire to kiss girls was supposed to inspire me to play sports and fix cars and wear boys' clothes. I liked pretty clothes when I was a tot. I'm not trying to pass for anything; I'm being true to myself.So here is a place just for us, where we don't have to apologize for being feminine, we aren't expected to entertain men, and everyone knows we're not straight.