Feminine but not femme: the dual lesbian body

This paper deals with the ways in which young educated Israeli lesbians construct their bodies, disregarding the traditional categories based on binary criteria such as butch/femme. The "lack of codes" is deconstructed in order to bring forward their complexity and their adherence to the postmodern era. The results, based on 50 in-depth interviews, point to the young lesbians' tendency to unify within their bodies two trends: one that allows the mingling of the male with the female body; and another that eliminates the option to choose to be either femme or butch. This study points to means of social control that assure the acceptance of the dressing code as well as bodily codes by the lesbian community. Their acceptance allows drawing boundaries not only between the lesbian and the heterosexual women but also between the young lesbians and the former generation of lesbians who lived out of the closet.