Lisa Walker, a professor of English and Women’s Studies at the University of Southern Maine and the author of a recent book, Look Like What You Are: Sexual Style, Race and Lesbian Identity delivered a lecture on lesbian femme culture in the Campus Center on Oct. 25.

The presentation is the fifth in the Stonewall Center’s LGBT Studies Lecture Series.

Walker explained that the lesbian community is often divided into two identity groups: “butch,” or masculine, and “femme,” or feminine. Walker said that having a femme identity can create problems for lesbians both within and outside of their community.

Walker explained these concepts using stories from her own life as well as the research from her book. She recalled an exterminator who frequently visited her Louisiana home during her graduate school years. Walker said she knew that the exterminator was a lesbian right away through “gaydar…all the subconscious ways [gays and lesbians] recognize each other.” However, Walker said, the exterminator didn’t acknowledge Walker’s lesbian identity until she met her then-girlfriend, who was butch.

“My girlfriend was immediately recognized as a lesbian because she was the butch one,” Walker said. “As for me, my d