KD Lang .... definitely a 100 footer 
I’m sure most of you have seen the episode of the Real L Word where they introduce the masses to the term, “A 100 footer.” Which for anyone who may have missed, it refers to a lesbian that is so obviously GAY you can spot her from a 100 feet away.
What I wonder though is …. isn’t that almost the same thing as butch? Or boi? I mean really, let’s break this down: Isn’t it usually the butches/bois that stand out right away? While femmes fly under the gaydar no matter how hard we try to dyke it up for the day.
My point is, and I’ll keep this post short: Are we really that afraid to use the term butch in any positive way, that we’re now making up new and slightly stupid, new categories to fit lesbians into that in the old days, would have proudly worn the title of Butch? (BTW I know the term 100 footer isn’t exactly new but it’s new to a lot of us.)
Which goes along with Whitney hating to be called butch or femme, so much that her best friend has compromised and calls her a “hard femme” or a “soft butch.” Oh geeez …. a hard femme? Don’t even get me started on that one.
Keep in mind I have *not* seen the episode (I know I know!)
I agree with you, but only partially. There are definitely women who are clearly gay but aren’t butch/bois. Examples? Ellen Page, Clea Duvall, Amanda Moore, Lindsay Lohan and possibly Michelle Rodriguez.
Each of these women are femmey in looks but they rang hard on everyone’s gaydar for awhile. Ellen’s never said anything about her sexuality (well, excluding the SNL skit and her boy’s underwear declaration), and she’s adorable, but does anyone think she’s straight? Even the most clueless hets pick up on her.
Clea’s a pretty blonde thing who had shoulder length hair, but still seemed queer.
Amanda was a supermodel, and even though she was a jock, she is super pretty and not butch in looks.
Lindsay – I picked her out long before she came out. I don’t think anyone will say she’s butch.
Michelle – she can rock a dress, has long hair, is pretty etc.
Each of these women have an energy that permeates them. They are pretty, and often wear long hair and stereotypical straight girl gear, but its their energy that makes them so obviously gay to the rest of us.
Maybe obviously gay to gay people but no one is “obviously” gay to straight people…. Most straight people have their heads so far up their collective asses in denial that homos exist anywhere near them that they couldn’t see a 100 footer from 5 feet away. And I am sorry Sasha but I have to say that I understand the term hard femme because there are femmes that are not quite soft butch but they are not high femme either. Let me just say that I have no attraction to a hard femme. I like the high femme with her feminine energy and ladylike demeanor. And as good as you may be at laying hardwood, you are still a high femme in my book sweetie.
kristen stewart. totally gay, a 100 footer but not butch or boi.
I see your point WWG & Kenley, but while those girls may set off other lesbian’s gaydar, I stand my point that they would not seem “obvious” to any one not in the know.
For example, Remi is not butch per say, more of a self-identified tomboi and she looks as gay as the day is long, complete with short SHORT hair she usually wears up in a faux hawk, however that does not stop men from hitting on her on a daily basis. So even though to our trained lesbian eyes, she might be a 50 footer, straight men get within 6 inches of her and still ask her for her number.
@Sasha: so doesnt that whole Remi thing kind of undermine your whole point? It’s not a butchies ‘don’t-want-to-be-called-butchies’ thing it’s a ‘straight-people-are-living-in-denial’ thing. Cuz there are def some non-butch girls who are as gay as the day is long… Total hundred footers whether butch OR gay and straight people just aren’t getting the memo
For what it’s worth you couldn’t tell me that Alicia Keys wasn’t gay before she turned up pregnant by Swizz Beats… It was just something about her that sent my gaydar haywire. So sometimes we make mistakes, too
wow.. 100 footers, 50 footers, butchies, bois, tombois, hard femme, high femme, soft butch…. i’ve been out since I was 16 (12 years.. woh..) and I’ve never been so confused with all the, for lack of better words, labels. I mean – I’m ALL FOR identifying with whatever makes you comfortable, and I will absolutely and always respect how anyone identifies 100% of the time.. but sometimes I feel like we’re trying to make sure there are names for EVERYONE when not all of us want a title. I’m just me.. i’m not butch, or femme, or boi. I don’t seemingly fit into any category – and yet certain members of my lesbian community are OBSESSED with the “what are you” question. When I don’t have an answer for them they try to rate me on the “butch/femme scale”. Then, when I still don’t have an answer for them, it’s almost as if they are disappointed in me or my gayness because I wear both boy shorts and dresses and flannels (hey.. sometimes it’s cold where I live
) and tight jeans depending on the day. It’s an interesting societal development.. although it can become frustrating to those of us who feel like we don’t fit in with our own community just because I don’t have a specific, consistent, known identity. Living outside of the predetermined norms was all part of the beauty of coming out in the first place.
By the way – I looked into it a while back and thought I saw something about Ellen Page’s boyfriend. I didn’t see that one coming either.
@serenissima i agree with sometimes making mistakes. Pink has totally broken my gaydar. When i hear her talk about her husband she sounds so sweet and genuine but her energy is SO gay. So yea, our trained lesbian eye can be wrong too.
Wait a minute… Ellen Page is gay?!?!? Since WHEN!? She is SUPER hot! This is exciting! Why am I so excited about this???
And I’m sorry, but Clea DuVall? 100-footer. She just LOOKS gay/bi whatever. I thought so the very first time I saw her as the drunk girl in that one movie… With Rachel Leigh Cook (whatever happened to her?)… Oh yeah, “She’s All That.”
But ELLEN PAGE IS GAY!?!??! OMG!
Wow. Seriously? This is exciting me for the strangest reason. I am super happy now. And yes– I DO need a life.
@ serenissima …. No, I don’t think I hurt my argument at all, I was using that to illustrate the very point I was trying to make. While to “us” (most of us fellow gays), Remi “looks gay”, she is not butch in her clothing choices. She often opts for figure hugging clothing (and with her body who can blame her) and that single choice, because it is not the stereotypical image of a lesbian to the mass populace she isn’t a 100 footer by straight standards.
Ughhhh …. this is easily one of those conversations that can go round and round for days and none of us be wrong, but all of us have valid arguments from our point of view.
I guess when it comes down to it, if we’re really going to argue about it, we have to first determine if the term 100 footer is being used by straights or gays and which group are we discussing?
Ha, you know, when they brought up the 100 footer thing, it did make me chuckle because there were certain people that I know who immediately came to my mind.
However, I can see where mistakes get made, and especially around here with middle-aged women. My stepmom would come across in dress and demeanor as pretty butch – she’s got super short hair, she never wears a dress, is kind of blunt and brusque, and works a physical factory job. However, she’s married to my dad. A lot of women her age in my area would totally pass for “butch” except they have absolutely zero clue about it in the first place. They just look like a lot of other straight middle-aged women.
That said, we get a kick out of one of my aunts who swears when she’s out on a golf course in bermuda shorts and oversized sweat shirts with her partner and their two best lesbian friends, all with the same matching helmet-haircut that a lot of OG lesbians sport, nobody can tell all four of them are gay. I would swear a blind virgin nun raised in a convent from birth could tell.
Waaaaait a minute!! Shit. No, I don’t have any insider knowledge on Ellen Page’s sexuality. Can I retract that? Dammit. Okay, I just mean she’s girky in *look* but everyone *assumes* she’s gay because of the energy she puts out. (I’m not helping myself here much, am I?)
Anyway, agreed with above, 100 footers aren’t always gay. My married, straight friend looks butch as can be. I look straight as can be. At a party one day she and I were super affectionate (her husband was there the whole time) and another party guest was flabbergasted to find out not only were we *not* a butch/femme couple, but she’s married and *i’m* gay. Just sayin.
But yeah, most of the time 100 footer is another term for butch.
Frankly, I call em “pass the salt” gays. You know those coming out stories you hear where someone finally comes out and their friends/family says “oh yeah, I knew two years ago. Pass the salt.” Yeah, that’s a pass the salt gay. Like you Sasha with your friend saying “you’re soooo gay” when you thought you were bi.
Erm, girly, not girky. Stupid blackberry typing. *grumbles*.
I have to agree with Ryan somewhat. I don’t understand the labels, either. From a feminist perspective, haven’t we had enough of societal classifications? I know a lady who can be so feminine she puts Venus to shame. She sometimes dresses in slinky fabrics, strappy stilletos, drips in diamonds, wears false eyelashes and has her hair done at the best salons. Her skin is soft and she smells good and her hand movements are graceful. Men and women both swoon when she walks by. People probably think she’s straight or very high femme. That same woman then goes bare faced, and puts her hair up in a truckers cap, dons steel toed boots, cargos and tanks with dog tags and leather wrist straps, and wields a sledgehammer like a man as she knocks down drywall (that’s her job). She would set anyone’s gaydar off as butch. She doesn’t identify as straight, femme or butch. She says just a woman who works hard and knows how to clean up nice. =)
The term 100 footer was actually introduced in the l word. If I remember coreectly, it was in season 1, where Shane, Jenny, Alice and a few others were at the Dinah Shore weekend.
Anyway, I would have to say that I am pretty similar to Rexie’s friend. I’ll be dressing like a femme one day, in figure-hugging dresses and all and then the next day, I’ll do a 180 degree turn with boots and a leather jacket. I think I confuse my friends because they cant figure me out and it doesn’t help that I’m not out yet.
“a hard femme? Don’t even get me started on that one.” hahaha
That really made me chuckle…
Met a woman from the islands at a party once who was TOTALLY confused by mainland lesbians. “I can’t tell on any of you if your butch or femme” then proceeded to try to label me. I just smiled at her. Then she said “I’d guess butch, but you wear makeup!”
and I answered “Because I’m old and I’d look like hell without it…”
ahahahahah
Actually Erin, the term 100-footer has been around much longer than the L Word. The L Word did a lot to bring such terms to light but saying they coined the phrase would be like saying they coined “top surgery”.
I’m sorry, what I meant to say was that the term was mentioned in the L word as well in case anybody missed that one out. Perhaps I didn’t phrase my sentence properly. I wasn’t trying to imply that they coined the term.
Sorry Erin, I wasn’t trying to sound harsh when I posted that. I just really don’t like giving the L Word more credit than they are due because I don’t necessarily feel that what they contributed to my existence as a butch was very positive. Even Max was treated snobbishly by the other characters when introduced as Moira. And while I enjoyed the show overall for entertainment value, I do harbor some resentment towards them for not representing the butch lesbian in a positive light… or at all really. But since I understand the show was supposed to be about L.A., I can understand why it happened that way. I’m just saying they did me no favors. So I give them very little credit for starting anything except an anti-butch culture and the Shane clone phenomenon.
(Side note only related to the photo on this post and not what’s written in the post)- OMG KD Lang is SO hot. She definitely ages VERY well I think she gets hotter as she ages. And not to forget hot I. Coyote and sexy Amy L.
They set the attraction bar 
for real life butch/lesbians very high for me 
because on a famous person- not known in real life people- they all appear to definitely have beautiful insides/personalities too beyond just their HOT looks.
I reread all this again and agree with Ryan and Sasha. I’ve never heard this 100 footer term before, but OMG I love the look that fits with that term. Of course I like soft butch etc too. OMG all the labels spin my head like a damn top lol. Most importantly, it IS the person’s heart/personality that does matter the most!