General
stud
What does stud mean?
A Black masculine-identifying lesbian. Often summarised as 'Black butch,' but it's not interchangeable with butch — stud is a racially specific identity created by Black lesbians to name an experience and a set of gender roles developed within Black community, and to push back against the male gaze rather than imitate it. The term is documented as far back as a 1965 sociological study and entered the lexicon via AAVE.
"She's a stud through and through — and she'll tell you that's not the same as calling her butch."
Origin
Black lesbian culture; the term moved into AAVE via jive in the 1940s and is documented in Ethel Sawyer's 1965 study of a Black lesbian community.
Frequently asked questions
Can anyone call themselves a stud?
Most of the community holds that stud is specific to Black masculine lesbians — it was coined by and for Black queer women to name an experience white butches don't share. Non-Black lesbians using it is widely seen as overstepping.
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