dike

Dike is an extremely offensive slur for a lesbian. It has been reappropriated by some in the LGBTQ community as a label of pride and solidarity.

What are some other forms of dike?

dyke

The origins of the term dike to mean “lesbian” are unclear. Its predecessor appears to be bull-dyke, recorded in the 1890s for a “masculine lesbian.” The bull, here, may indicate a manliness, while dyke may ultimately be a corruption of hermaphrodite.

Dike and dyke, as in a “ditch,” were slang for “vulva” in the late 1800s. English professor Susan Krantz has argued dike is a corruption of dick. She also connects bull-dyke to bull (“lies”), making bull-dyke a kind of fake man.

Dyke itself is seen by 1930, commonly spelled dike, and it later became a verb for “to have lesbian sex” or “be a lesbian.” In the 1960s, the modifier dikey appeared.

Dike is a homophobic slur, but, as is true of many slurs in marginalized groups, the lesbian community reclaimed it in the 1970s, notably in the 1971 poem “The Psychoanalysis of Edward the Dyke” by feminist Judy Grahn. Some lesbians took on the label dike as a show of pride and solidarity.

In 1993, the first Dyke March was held throughout the U.S. and Canada. The march was organized as part of a larger national movement for LGBTQ rights. Dyke marches traditionally occur the night or day before larger Pride parades to ensure visibility for queer women.

In December 2005, the lesbian motorcycle club Dykes on Bikes won a case with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark its name after being initially denied on the grounds that it was offensive, which shows how effectively a part of the lesbian community reappropriated the term.

Dike, like vulgar words, depends on who is using it and how. For some members of the LGBTQ community, calling yourself (or someone else) a dike is a matter of pride and identity. That said, some lesbians still find dike very offensive, given the history of the term.

Just because dike has been reclaimed by some in the LGBTQ community, that doesn’t mean people outside of it don’t still use dike as a slur for lesbians or masculine-seeming women. Openly gay Scottish politician Mhairi Black, for instance, she has described many homophobic messages calling her dyke and other anti-lesbian slurs.

More examples of dike:

“On Saturday, thousands of queer women and dyke-identified trans and nonbinary folks marched down Fifth Avenue in New York to demonstrate to the world exactly what a dykeocracy looks like.”

—Mary Emily O’Hara, Them, June 2018