virgodura:

Catherine Opie, from “Domestic" series, 1995-1998.

In 1998 Catherine Opie embarked (along with her dog) on a “great American road trip.” Over three months she completed a 9,000-mile journey across the United States photographing lesbian families and couples in their home environments. The resulting series of photographs titled Domestic (1995–98) presents these families involved in everyday household activities: relaxing in their backyard, hanging out in their kitchen, or playing with their children. There is no sensationalism here. These intimate photographs speak both to Opie’s identification with her subjects and to the overwhelming absence of such images in mainstream representations.

gaygothur:

for me being butch means rejecting all the unnecessary and uncomfortable things that women are expected to do in our society like the impractical clothes, wearing makeup, hair products ,and it also means rejecting the softness that is also expected of women and reserving it exclusively for my significant other. it means openly expressing my love for women. it means allowing myself to be ugly, but at the same time not thinking of myself as unattractive. it also means protecting other women from male violence and protecting other lesbians from homophobic violence. my presence is to intimidate men who are acting too confident and taking up too much space. it also means taking up the amount of space that me and all other women deserve. i don’t waste my time pretending that the things men say to me matters, and i don’t move out of the way for men on the sidewalk who expect me to move instead, and i speak my mind always even if it means hurting a fragile male ego. i don’t pretend that men are doing a good job when they’re showing off their mediocrity. that is what it means to me. it just means doing what i want.