This Scissor Sisters video is making the rounds & I’m amused as now Urban Dictionary is filled with people defining kiki as a small private party in someone’s apartment, & that is definitely not the way it’s been used (historically) in queer communities.
“Kiki” was used to describe lesbians who were not butch or femme when butch-femme was expected, back in the 50s, and it was also used to describe someone who had been “flipped” – that is, a butch who made another butch her femme, sexually speaking, and it was the “flipped” butch who was referred to as a kiki. So the shorthand often just meant someone who didn’t accept a distinct sexual role, or who played both sides; in lesbian communities of color, it’s often referred to women who might just be described as bi. It wasn’t a compliment or even neutral but was (at the very least) a snide label that commented on someone else’s “confusion” or “indecision”.
(& Much thanks to Jacob & Drew for the heads up.)