A lesbian shop worker has slammed four top fashion retailers for 'appropriating' the word 'femme' as a t-shirt slogan - which she claims is only the LGBT community's 'to use'.

'H' Beverley, from Chelmsford, Essex, visited Topshop, H&M, Urban Outfitters and Mango taking pictures of the t-shirts before complaining to the stores online informing them it is an LGBT term for a feminine lesbian.

The 25-year-old is a self-declared 'aspirational celesbian' and claims it is unfair for stores to turn sexual identity into a fashion statement for profit. She believes it was a huge oversight of the designers to use the word.

While H acknowledges that femme is also French for women, she believes the term is 'ours [the LGBT community] to use'.

H, who also identifies as femme, said: 'I think the shops don't realise what the word means or they just don't care.

'H' Beverley, from Chelmsford, Essex, has blasted retailers such as Topshop and Urban Outfitters for appropriating the word 'Femme' as a slogan for t-shirts

H has taken issue with t-shirts, such as this offering from Mango, saying a word belonging to the LGBT community has been appropriated as a fashion statement for profit

'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.

'I was disappointed to find these tops on sale but I wasn't surprised because I don't think it's out of the ordinary to see this kind of thing on clothing.

'You see slightly dodgy or questionable slogans on t-shirts all the time but this was just a bit like, "why would you do it?".'

The 25-year-old self-declared 'aspirational celesbian claims it is unfair for stores to turn sexual identity into a fashion statement for profit and believes it was a huge oversight for the designers to use this slogan

While H acknowledges that 'femme' is also French for woman, she believes that word when used in English belongs to the LGBT community

H says she can't understand why anyone would want to have a slogan across their chest that holds no meaning, such as this one from Urban Outfitters

H, who regularly shares LGBT fashion on social media, tweeted H&M and Topshop stating 'the word femme has a history & meaning specific to LGBTQ+ people.

What DOES the word 'femme' mean? The lesbian sexual identity stems from working class bar culture of the 1950s. It was used to indicate a woman who had feminine characteristics and wasn't immediately identifiable as a lesbian, compared with a butch partner. While it can still be used in this manner, it now also describes any queer person who appears feminine, regardless of gender or sexuality. For example, a gay man might describe himself as femme. It's also been associated with a new form of feminism that includes people who don't subscribe to any particular gender. Advertisement

'It is ours to use - it isn't yours to sell to straight people'.

She later added 'weird how they all wanna be femme but I doubt that I'll ever see butch t-shirts hitting the high street'.

H said: '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.

''Femme' is a word that means something to LGBT people and some customers who see that t-shirt aren't always going to be aware of this.

'Designers need to just research the words they put on t-shirts in the future before they print them.

'Ask people from the relevant groups if you think this is a bit questionable.

'I think by printing this on t-shirts, retailers haven't thought it out well enough to be doing it to attract the LGBT community. They just haven't thought about it.

H has called on designers for stores such as Urban Oufitters to research the history of words before putting them on t-shirts

The retail worker found a multitude of slogan t-shirts on sale by retailers such as Urban Outfitters (left) and Topshop (right)

H has been complaining to stores online because Femme is an LGBT term for a feminine lesbian

'I use the term 'femme' to describe myself and if I saw someone wearing one of these t-shirts, I would presume they were gay. The people I know who own this are mainly lesbians.

'Personally, I would say this is appropriation but you need to be careful using it because people just put their guard up as soon as that is used.

Topshop has assured H their t-shirts are meant to be fashionable and not offensive

'The shops have taken the identity of LGBTQ people and turned it into a fashion accessory for people who don't understand what it is to be femme.

'I've contacted Topshop and they said it's meant to be fashionable, not offensive. The other places haven't even got back to me.'

Another Twitter user, Pip Williams, posted her rejected review for the Topshop t-shirt on her profile.

In the review, she states: 'I love this shirt and feel super great wearing it as a queer femme BUT I'm really uncomfortable that a high street brand is marketing an identity that's specifically LGBT+ as a slogan.'

However she shared a picture that appeared to show that the shop's online site rejected her review as not appropriate.

H&M were contacted but refused to provide a comment. Mango, Topshop and Urban Outfitters were contacted for comment.