on being a dyke

The dominant culture's derogatory use of "dyke" is celebrated/perpetuated in most dictionary definitions (a tool of control if ever there was one). To wit:

1. [n] Ýa barrier constructed to contain the flow of water or to keep out the sea
2. [n] Ýoffensive terms for a lesbian who is noticeably masculine
3. [v] Ýenclose with a dike; "dike the land to protect it from water"

HyperDictionary.com (Using the 1913 version by Webster.)

So, if one stops at the first few entries of a google search, the mainstream definition is reinforced.

Yet, The Collins English Dictionary presents a more neutral version: 9 descriptions of engineering uses, and one synonym for lesbian.

The beginning of an essay on theories of dyke art explains that no one has yet defined the term "dyke" from a lesbian perspective:

"Dykes seem to be everywhere in queer culture, yet nowhere at all.Ý There are "unmistakable dykes," "real dykes," "sports dykes," "old dykes," "femme-dykes," "dyketionaries," "Dykes to Watch Out For," "diesel dykes," "dyke punk rock," "dyke poetry," "dyke cafes," "dyke bars," "Technicolor dykes" and yes, even "dyke art."Ý Yet no one is offering any solid definitions.Ý Dykes are discussed, stories of dykes are told, pictures of dykes are taken, drawn and painted. Yet dykes are still not defined.Ý (Perhaps this is to our advantage.)
ÝÝÝ Does this mean dykes and dyke artists are beyond definition?Ý Or does it mean that dykes are purposely avoiding definition?Ý Is identifying as a dyke a way of building a community and culture with other women who might otherwise be divided by differences in class, race, age, cultural heritage and so on?Ý Are dykes resisting the marginalization they might feel because they are not perceived as being "mainstream" enough, even within lesbian communities (for example, they might be activists, outspoken, working class, "alternative," or not-white)?Ý These questions all lead to possible answers, but as of yet no one wants to or is willing to come up with some theories.Ý I do not believe that it is an accident or a simple oversight that dykes are not defined. "

In support of my assertion that being a dyke is about being political, I found a review by Lori Hughes of a book described as an "autobiographical philosophy". Dyke Ideas offers this definition:

"'dyke' as a label...emphasize[s] its implication of resistance instead of the label 'lesbian' that carries a sexual definition in many peopleís minds. To [author Trebilcot], 'dyke' means 'having radical lesbian feminist ideals, including: being alert to and active against oppressions; taking every womon seriously, especially by attending to what each womon has to say; and empowering wimmin in contexts that wimmin create'.... Dykism 'is not a matter of sex but rather rejecting and separating from patriarchy and joining in solidarity with wimmin.'"

The reviewer notes that Trebilcot has a strong separatist streak - that is a bias with which I fervently disagree. One does not have to hold any antipathy towards men in order to be a dyke.

Another review of Trebilcot's book (maybe I ought to read it!) explains:

"Adopting the time-honored feminist maxim 'the personal is political,' Trebilcot self-consciously identifies as both oppressor (e.g., caucasian, "middle-class, thin") and oppressed (viz., "female, old, and 'homosexual'") to recognize and understand how her background and past experiences influence her ideas and behavior. Full understanding must acknowledge that ideas evolve from psychological, logical, and political origins. In Dyke Ideas, Trebilcot abandons a rigorous academic style of writing in order that her work be accessible to a broader readership of wimmin. This volume comprises a number of excellent essays, several poems, one provocative dialogue, and several pieces which do not adhere to any particular category. "

There does seem to be a bias leaning towards a more masculine appearance but I would insist that this is an incursion of dominant culture's gender labels, not a necessary constitutive characteristic of a dyke. I'd suggest that the political/resisance dimensions of being a dyke are taken directly from the functional engineering purposes of physical dykes.