An odd trend in t-shirts has some queer people up in arms: Chain retailers Topshop, H&M, Urban Outfitters and Mango are all selling t-shirts with the word “femme” emblazoned on them.

"Femme" is slang for a feminine lesbian, often used in contrast to a "butch," and has been in circulation at least since the 1940s. It's also used among gay men to describe feminine gay men. (Hence the demand on hookup profiles for "no fats, no femmes.")

Of course, it also happens to be the French word for “woman.”

“It’s not necessarily diminishing the suffering of the LGBT community by printing this term on a t-shirt, but it’s serving it up out of context,” self-proclaimed “aspirational celesbian” H Beverly told the Daily Mail.

Beverly, who lives in Essex, took photos of the shirts and complained to the retailers, claiming they're turning an identity into a fashion statement.

“I think the shops don’t realize what the word means or they just don’t care," she says. "They’ve just taken a word that has a specific meaning to a specific group of people and sold it to people that it has no relevance to. I don’t understand why you would want to wear a word across your chest that doesn’t have a meaning to you.”

Is pop culture having another "lesbian chic" moment? If you were around in the early 1990s, you'll remember how every magazine, TV show, and movie wanted to capitalize on girly-girl gay love. (It was not a good look.)

We're not 100% sure Bev makes her case but it's hard to explain putting "femme vibe" or "femme forever" on a shirt and saying it has nothing to do with lesbian subculture. Check out this more out-and-proud tee from Feminist Apparel.

This wouldn't be the first time a major clothing company has co-opted LGBT terms and symbols: Earlier this year Gucci named a new collection of shoes Queercore, after the 1990s gay-punk movement, and Levi's 2017 Pride line "borrowed" from ACT UP with a denim vest reading "Silence Equals Death" on the back.