Jae

Sapphic Slow-burn romances

butch character

Butch character who is shorter

Butch character who is shorter (Book Unicorn #3)

Have you ever noticed how butch characters are portrayed in sapphic books? I’m not talking about their personalities or how they interact with other characters; I’m talking about their physical descriptions. Most of the time, especially in butch/femme romances, the butch character will be tall and athletic and have smaller breasts compared to her love interest.

If you haven’t noticed before, pay attention to the physical descriptions the next time you read a book with a butch character.

For this category of the Sapphic Book Bingo, read a sapphic book with a butch main character who is shorter than her love interest. If you struggle to find a book with a butch character who’s shorter, I’m fine with a butch character who’s the same height as her love interest, as long as she isn’t taller.

sapphic book butch character

Sapphic book with a butch main character (Sapphic Book Bingo #23)

For this week’s Sapphic Book Bingo category, read a sapphic book with a butch main character. 

In case you’re not sure what butch means: Butch has been used since the 1940s, primarily in the lesbian community, to refer to masculine-presenting women, but being butch is more than how you dress or wear your hair. It’s an identity that relates to masculinity without being male. Some genderqueer and nonbinary people also identify as butch, e.g., the two main characters in A Jade’s Diamond by Char Dafoe.

There are many ways to be butch, and I hope the books I recommend below reflect that.