What's the common way of referring to gay couples? 'Butch', and 'Camp'?

[Mehrgan]

Hi all,

May I please have the very common adjectives used when talking about a gay couple. I've heard, 'she must be the butch one!'.
I was wondering if the following words refer to both gays and lesbians:

'Butch', 'camp', 'fem', and 'sundance (!)'

(I'd be so thankful if I had some British usage too.)

Thanks

 

[Mehrgan]

I hope none of the terms above are offensive! If so, please put it down to my ignorance. I just happened to hear them, and hope nobody takes offence.

 

[SoothingDave]

It's really not politically correct to discuss such matters. That said, I have heard "butch" to describe a lesbian who is more manly than her partner. I have never heard the other terms.

 

[Raymott]

You might find something useful here, and on similar sites:
Living Lesbo: Lesbo Lingo

And probably more than you'll ever need to know here:
http://www.odps.org/glossword/index.php?a=list&d=8&p=16&w1=B

 

[konungursvia]

It's really not politically correct to discuss such matters. That said, I have heard "butch" to describe a lesbian who is more manly than her partner. I have never heard the other terms.

It's fine to discuss them in Canada. I know that "butch" means the masculine lesbian partner, and "fem" is the lady-like or feminine one.

But I've never heard 'camp' in that context, to me it means a series of tents or in another context something that is not elegant; "Sundance" is the nickname of a character in a Robert Redford movie, and also the name of a famous film festival, but I've never heard it in a gay context. I'll ask one of my openly gay colleagues about it if I see him over the summer (our last day of school was Friday).

 

[emsr2d2]

"Camp" is an adjective used to describe a particularly feminine [gay] man. Actually, now that I've written that, I realise it might be confusing. I don't mean that he looks feminine or looks like a woman. I mean that he has gestures/voice/characteristics that are not very masculine.

Note that I put "gay" in brackets in my first sentence. That's because a heterosexual man can be very camp too. I have a heterosexual male friend who is also probably the campest man I know. Everyone who meets him assumes he's gay but he's not.

Aha! YouTube to the rescue again. This is, as the title suggests, a rather camp man. There is no indication as to whether he is gay or not (and of course, that is immaterial). The Tube - Camp Guy - YouTube