Can I call you brother?

The following manuscript is a novel intended to explore the confusing nature of butch lesbian gender identity and the unique bonds of friendship butch women often share with one another. Lesbian culture, today, sometimes puts pressure on the term butch and pushes butch women to choose between transgender, femme and androgynous. The lead character in this novel, Sarah, struggles to come to terms with her own sexual identity amidst all this pressure to conform. She watches her friends and searches for a model of what butch is and is not but she continues to feel emotionally and physically cut off from the people she cares about. Ultimately, Sarah realizes she can move fluidly between many genders. When she stops trying to be a stereotype, she is finally able to connect with the people she cares about.