Sheldon's question about "masculine women"

[Rezenet Moges (cappucheeno@yahoo.com)]

I chose the term "masculine women" as the category of my research 
subjects.  Yes, it is sometimes awkward to find the appropriate term 
without discomforting anyone.  In the continuum of the gender identity 
between femininity and masculinity, as stated earlier, I will focus on the 
women on the far end of masculinity.  I am not focusing on their 
sexuality; thus, I will not mention them as butch lesbians, dykes, studs, 
or else.  I will include heterosexual tomboys and girl-jocks in my study, 
so I welcome all women of any sexual background but of specified gender 
category with the presence of masculinity.  Simultaneously, they need to 
be native signers as well.

As a native signer myself, I find it difficult to settle on a single sign 
for "masculine" without making any establishment or compounded sign.  I 
have seen several variations for that sign.  The most popular sign for 
that word resembles to "MACHO" or "BUTCH."  If I was to be transliterate 
in writing, it does not seem appropriate to write "
sign language, focused 
on MACHO women." Would it?

In addition, all this is in its preliminary stages of research so I am 
eager to hear any feedback.  Thanks for your inquiry.


(I tried to post since last night, and am uncertain if there will be 
repetitive posts. So please excuse this if it does.)



Rezenet Moges

Research Assistant,
Anthropology Department,
CSU, Long Beach