The ‘psycho dyke’ trope is so prevalent that it’s long become a wry in-joke among queer women themselves. Like a lot of ridiculous stereotypes pertaining to queer people, it’s one we’ve swivelled around and adopted. I’ve lost count of the number of stories my friends and I have shared about the ‘crazy lesbians’ in our past, the times in which we’ve behaved like ‘crazy lesbians’ ourselves.

I remember a friend once telling me about two lesbians at high school who became so obsessed with each other that they refused to leave each other’s side, even to use the toilet. They ended up using a crisp packet in the corner of their bedroom instead. I’m 80 per cent sure this story is total bullshit, but I just mean to say that the ‘crazy lesbian’ stereotype might have originated in pop culture, but it’s trickled outside of that, become a myth within the queer community too.

We see the ‘crazy lesbian’ stereotype everywhere in TV and movies, but it’s harmful to queer women