lipstick lesbian

plural lipstick lesbians

1. derogatorysometimesLGBTQ slangA lesbian who has glamorously feminine characteristics; specifically, one attracted to other such lesbians.First known use early 1980s

   Coordinate term: chapstick lesbian

   3 more examples

   [T]he National Inquirer^([sic – meaning National Enquirer]) headlined their expose "Barbie Doll – the Dyke." Women's Wear Daily did a breathless story declaring that this was the trend of the decade, the biggest thing since Bette Midler opened the Continental Baths. If you wanted to be with it, you simply had to be a Lipstick Lesbian who advocated Gay Rights.

   1983 October 27, Bob Woolhouse, “Wild and Woolly: The New Wave Miss America”, in Paul F. Lorch, editor, Bay Area Reporter, volume XIII, number 43, San Francisco, Calif.: Benro Enterprises, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 27, column 1

   Was it time to relent, to throw in the towel and become a lipstick lesbian? […] Mona dashed to the window and peeped down at an elegantly dressed brunette waiting in the entrance alcove. She certainly looked like a friend of Serra's. The lipstick lesbians were everywhere.

   1984, Armistead Maupin, Babycakes (Tales of the City), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row, →ISBN, page 40

   Clandestine dress codes that once announced who we were and what we liked, where historically queer identity had been hidden in smoky bars or salons encrypted under the dandy, the clone, the mannish or lipstick lesbian, sexualities (and genders) are now virtually indistinguishable.

   2024, Adam Geczy, Vicki Karaminas, “Queer Style”, in Véronique Pouillard, Vincent Dubé-Senécal, editors, The Routledge History of Fashion and Dress, 1800 to the Present, Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →DOI, →ISBN, page 487

   Synonyms: designer dyke, doily dyke, glam lesbian · Antonyms: bull dyke, dyke, butch