95per cent of Lesbians Hold Their Fingernails Brief, All Practical Platform | Autostraddle

The Lesbian Stereotypes Research
was done in Sep of 2018 by
obtaining volunteer members via Autostraddle.com
. You’ll
see an infographic showing the class of our 12.3k review respondents here.

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In month one of many masterwork lesbian social touchstone ”
The L Keyword
,” Shane notifies Dana, a closeted football member with lamentable gaydar, that one of a few approaches to accurately spot a lesbian will be see the woman fingernails — “are they long or short?” Alice follows this with “polished or plain?” which shocked myself, also at that time — it actually was my personal queer friends (and
Lindsay Lohan tbh
) which had gotten myself
into nail polish
in the first place and then i am dependent on manicures, so centered on my personal test size of two (me and Lindsay Lohan Bisexual), I’m not sure exactly what Alice had been going for there. However, judging by the obvious problem of my personal request at nail salon to usually have mine cut “as small as it can,” it does look like much longer nails tend to be more well-known than brief between the so-called “mainstream.”

This isn’t, but happening when considering the queer women’s community!

Shane Had Been Correct: We Frequently Hold Our Nails Short

On our very own Lesbian Stereotypes research, 92percent associated with 12.3k participants responded affirmatively on the question “do you generally keep your fingernails small?”, such as 95% of lesbians and 95percent of participants at this time in an union with a cis woman.

Before 5percent of you @ myself, I would like to recognize that
it really is obviously entirely possible to externally promote and finger-fuck some one with long fingernails
. You can either be very careful (you should really do anyways!) you can also put on gloves or, for additional safety, cotton-balls

and

gloves. “I’ll cut all of them down if my partner wants us to,” said one survey-taker, “But if i will reconstruct an engine and construct a routine panel all without fumbling everything or messying right up my completely manicured nails you then should be aware of that I am not browsing damage what you do not want us to.” That’s feminism, ladies!

The Longer AND the In Short Supply Of It

However — 200 for the 907 respondents with lengthy fingernails left comments, and an important percentage of the feedback happened to be informing me it’s nothing like you keep

all

of your own fingernails long. Just… several. “My ‘fingering fingernails’ tend to be quick the rest tend to be long,” said one, while another divulged which they keep three short together with other seven flapping from inside the wind. “simply two back at my prominent hand,” mentioned another enthusiastic finger-fucker. Just one more recognized, “when I’m in interactions I usually have traditionally fingernails on one hand, and small on the other.” Some how to find bisexual women stated their particular nail conduct ended up being influenced by the sex of these companion, e.g., “Im much less aware with duration when single or internet dating a dude.”

Numerous others noted the current length of their particular fingernails reflected general “laziness” or which they would cut their unique fingernails if they happened to be fucking anyone but because they aren’t, exactly why bother? For those people, the correlation between keeping short nails and having lesbian sex seem inexorably linked. But is it?

The Nails / Intercourse Connection

“merely cutting your own nails when you’ve got anyone to shag” is a thing — but not a

super

common thing. 92.6percent of solitary individuals hold their own nails short, merely a little lower than the 92.8per cent of people who are “single and dating,” 92.9per cent who’re “dating some one not in the state connection” or even the 93.03% who are in a monogamous union. Least prone to hold itty-bitty fingernails? Those in non-monogamous interactions without a primary lover — only 85.6percent do.

Issues around nail length and lesbian intercourse commonly focus primarily regarding the work of finger-fucking, therefore it is well worth pointing out not every lesbian sexual commitment entails screwing somebody else’s snatch together with your hands — just
32% of surfaces on the tops/bottoms survey like vaginal electronic entrance
, as an example.

Some of you are internet dating people that do not have vaginas (and indeed i am aware that anal electronic penetration is out there and is also great but it is additionally
not nearly since prominent just like the front-hole activities
), plus it really does feel like doing this allows you to prone to grow your fingernails — 84% of survey-takers in relationships with cis guys keep their nails short, an entire 11per cent lower than those internet dating cis ladies. 86per cent of these in connections with trans females hold their nails small — but some trans females

do

have actually vaginas, so that wide variety, while fascinating to take into account, is actually also… theoretically worthless and inconclusive.

Small complete Numbers are somewhat lower people pinpointing about asexual range also — 88%, when compared to 93% of
allosexuals
. When considering sexual direction amongst allosexuals especially, those distinguishing mainly as “gay” emerge on top of the short-list (97.5per cent), with lesbians (95percent), queers (93percent), Sexually liquid folks (86.4%), bisexuals (86.3per cent) and pansexuals (85.8percent). That said, around 10% of bi/pan people identify as “hard femme,” the sex speech more than likely to feature much longer nails on our review, in comparison to just 5% of lesbian and 4% of gay-identified folks citing “hard femme” as resonant term on their behalf.

My Fingernails Are Not Long, I’m The Piano Man

I’ll let you know exactly what — there are numerous different reasons why you should keep the fingernails quick than because you need to push them inside somebody’s vagina. Like, we at the very least 15 complete orchestras taken into account with this study. Personally, I have found entering to-be extremely irritating with very long nails, though I imagine folks do everything the full time. By the way if you have fun with the electric guitar you have to have a few of your nails small but also a few of your fingernails long, which made this question frustrating for so many good acoustic friends.

Listed below are some associated with the issues explained you keep fingernails short for BESIDES LESBIAN SEX FINE:

• to hold a pen more easily
• training climbing
• “fine detailing” whenever working as a sculptor
• playing the: guitar, violin, cello, clarinet, guitar ukelele, unspecified percussion instruments
• pottery
• boxing (“forming a fist with extended fingernails is actually painful”)
• massage therapy
• pole moving
• going to the coastline (“I hate mud under my personal nails”)
• getting a “soup cook”
• printmaking
• getting an electrician
• being a nurse or a veterinarian or a midwife or elsewhere employed in the healthcare industry
• playing activities
• employing horses
• “maintain from inadvertently clawing my personal sight out”
• entering and texting
• probably a Montesorri class
• gardening
• working in the sciences “with hefty machinery, unsafe substances, latex gloves, etc”

Others had small nails because nail-biting, sensory dilemmas, or a general choice containing practically nothing anyway to do with gender, not at all!!! As Kristen Stewart’s manicurist
when said of Kristen Stewart back in 2012
, “She doesn’t like her fingernails attain too-long.”

The Reason Why The Long Fingernails?

As with any lesbian stereotypes, there are a lot of sensitivities around how these society norms tend to be kept. “You will find very long phony fingernails because i feel much more femme therefore helps manage my personal
dermatillomania
,” added another person, “but other queer females give me a great deal crap because of it despite all of them posing no danger to genitals.”

Many of us carry out reflexively flinch when it comes to extended fingernails within our penile areas, and several particularly cited
this short article
which I should remind you involved somebody who had a rhinestone-tipped French manicure. Additionally, small fingernails tends to be as unsafe as long if they are perhaps not sleek and submitted.

Lots of people
enjoy the feeling of lengthy fingernails
and discover it major on their identity. “I love the way that different nails enable different types of touch and feelings,” published one. “i’m my a lot of erotic with long coated fingernails.”

Lastly

Up to now, here is the many overwhelmingly confirmed lesbian stereotype we have discussed — the chances that a queer lady or non-binary person provides brief nails are really TALL, and for that reason Shane was correct, that I endeavor to advise takes place more frequently than a lot of

L Keyword

cynics might argue! But’s perhaps not a sure thing, which’s probably precisely why, after watching that the woman-in-question during the globe provides very long refined nails, Shane does

not

declare that she is right, just that she actually is “leaning towards right, but still need more info.” Never think anything, i assume!

I would ike to end with this specific inspirational quotation:

“some time ago i obtained actually into the nail artwork pattern, along with very long pointy nails. I found myself constantly afraid of wounding the girl in was connecting with during the time. IVE LOOK AT THE ARTICLE OMG. I keep them short now, for factors which happen to be component inactivity and part wanting to signal queerness. I’m really femme, and I always wish that my small, unpainted fingernails will contrast along with the rest of my really groomed look in a way that looks deliberate. God exactly why is this anything I’ve invested a whole lot time contemplating. I have not a clue the things I’m performing with my life, let-alone my fingernails, i must most likely take to a dating application or something.”