A QUEER MAGAZINE FOR BUTCH DYKES, BUTCH LESBIANS, BUTCH WOMEN, TRANS BUTCHES, NON-BINARY BUTCHES & ALL THOSE WHO LOVE THEM.

Issue #2 - Family - Family is all too often the site of rejection for butches, which takes us back to the mission of BUTCH IS NOT A DIRTY WORD, and its very title. At its highest, the experience of many has been that their families don’t want their kids to have a hard life. The butch archetype, often paints a picture of loneliness, exclusion, grotesque physicality and someone who is generally disliked. This idea, causes parents to not want their kids to be masculine of center, and that is the root of a lot of the shame and discomfort many of our butches expressed in edition one. This is why the first edition became a beacon for butches, and there was a massive reaction to the concept and the idea that there was a visible and celebratory place for butches - in print, at the launches and online.

Part of that reaction was from the chosen family of a lot of butches. While some butches contact us and spoke of estrangement from biological family, they also spoke of their new, logical family. Friends, lovers and children, all of whom love them for who they are, not in spite of it. The families who witness their butch fragility, the bruises that the world at times inflicts and loves them through it all. We wanted to show family in it’s broadest sense, and show butches are part of their broader queer community. And we wanted to show ALL of this...which is hard in one zine!

Issue #5 - Work & Professions - Issue 5 thematically focuses on work & professions. Nineteen Butches from all over the world tell tales of finding their way in their work lives. It features folks working in a broad diversity of workspaces, all of whom shared different experiences on the way there. The one commonality they do share, is the great and complex journey of navigating professional life as masc-presenting folk in a capitalist cis-het world. Some of the stories shared in this issue are uplifting, and some will pull on your big Queer heart-strings, but all of them are inspiring.

Issue #6 - Mental Heath - Issue 6 thematically focuses on mental health