Butch ethics

for an ethics outside the CIStem

Abstract

This article presents a theoretical articulation aimed at constructing a notion of what a Butch Ethics could potentially be, capable of challenging historically established norms regarding who can become a lesbian and/or a butch, while recognizing the plurality of experiences, lived realities, and (dis)identifications within lesbianities and butchness. From a critical perspective, the study highlights the importance of breaking away from cisgender assumptions as the basis for defining these (dis)identities. By establishing this Butch Ethics, the article intends to interrogate the place of lesbianities and butchness in the construction of other (im)possible worlds. Through theoretical discussions encompassing ethics, in their epistemological and ontological dimensions, the article also aims to bring to the surface identity traps and, simultaneously, to (re)locate the position of subjects in the challenges of the present, starting from the reclaiming of the non-binary butch category.