Entry · catalog no. 7026
femme queen
/ /fɛm kwiːn/ /FEM-kween
n. · Harlem ballroom scene, New York · 1980s
✓ Verified
1.
In the ballroom scene, a trans woman; a walker who lives and competes as a woman.
“The femme queen category drew the loudest house.”
Origin & Attribution
A category and identity term from the Black and Latino ballroom scene, where trans women — long pushed to the margins elsewhere — are central, celebrated figures. Seen widely through Paris Is Burning (1990) and documented by scholar Marlon M. Bailey. The scene named trans womanhood with respect decades before the mainstream caught up.
1970s-80s
In use in the Harlem ballroom houses
1990
Paris Is Burning documents the ballroom categories
2013
Marlon Bailey's ethnography maps the term
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The Northeast
Harlem ballroom scene, New York · 1980s
Spoken by
Black and Latino LGBTQ ballroom community
$FEMMEQThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Rising10 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
50/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1980
in the culture
Mainstream crossover
1990
search interest spikes
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@bxgriot
The Bronx, NY
@phillyanne
Philadelphia, PA
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
Jennie Livingston, Paris Is Burning (documentary)
1990
■
+ Cite a sourceMarlon M. Bailey, Butch Queens Up in Pumps: Gender, Performance, and Ballroom Culture in Detroit
2013
See also