Editing Dykes to Watch Out For (section)

== Characters ==
The strip ran for 25 years; the characters aged in real time, and their (unnamed) city changed in ways realistic of many US cities. Many of the characters were connected to the city's [[feminist bookstore]], which faced insuperable commercial pressures when Bounders Books and Muzak (a parody of [[Borders Books and Music]]) moved in. Eventually Madwimmin Books closed, and some of its laid-off employees went to work at Bounders. Other characters are connected via working or studying at the university, shared housing, or romantic relationships.

The central characters included:
* '''Mo Testa''' (given name Monica), the central character, a politically committed [[Lesbian feminism|lesbian feminist]] with a tendency to [[wikt:kvetch|kvetch]].  She worked at Madwimmin Bookstore, and then briefly at Bounders Books and Muzak while earning a [[library science]] degree, finally getting a job as a reference librarian.
* '''Lois MacGiver''', a [[sex-positive]] activist, [[drag king]], also a book clerk at both stores. Lois is housemate to Ginger and Sparrow, and dates single mother '''Jasmine''', mother of [[transgender]] teenager '''Janis''' (originally introduced as Jonas).
* '''Ginger Jordan''', a struggling academic and English professor at Buffalo Lake State University, whose star student '''Cynthia''' was interning at the CIA despite coming out to her parents.  Longtime housemate of Lois and Sparrow, Ginger eventually bought a house with '''Samia''', a Syrian Muslim chemist in a [[lavender marriage]] to a man.
* '''Sparrow Pidgeon''' (birth name Prudence), former [[women's shelter]] director and [[New Age]]r-turned-atheist, who identified herself as a bisexual lesbian (And later just bisexual) and became involved with a straight Jewish male activist, '''Stuart Goodman''' (jokingly thought of by the others as being "more stereotypically lesbian than many lesbians"). Sparrow and Stuart have a child, '''Jiao Raizel''' (or J.R.), and Stuart becomes a [[stay-at-home dad]]; Lois and Stuart [[homeschooling|homeschooled]] Janis and J.R.
* '''Clarice Clifford''', a workaholic [[environmental law]]yer and college girlfriend of Mo's.
* '''Toni Ortiz''', a [[Certified Public Accountant|CPA]] and [[business manager]], who had a child with Clarice; she was a stay-at-home-mom for several years while raising their son '''Rafael Clifford-Ortiz''' (or Raffi).  Toni and Clarice had a [[commitment ceremony]] in the backyard, a [[civil union]] in Vermont, and a (not legally recognized by the state) marriage at City Hall. They later explored the phenomenon of divorcing without court involvement. Clarice then moved in with Sparrow, Stuart and Lois, taking the room vacated by Ginger.
* '''Harriet''', a state human rights investigator, Mo's ex-lover, and single mother to daughter Isabel.
* '''Dr. Sydney Krukowski''', an academically involved, materialistic, [[yuppie]] [[Women's Studies]] professor with a compulsive spending habit, Mo's lover and a [[breast cancer]] survivor.
* '''Jezanna Ramsay''' (birth name Alberta), owner-manager of Madwimmin Books. After its demise, she taught English as a second language.
* '''Thea''', a Jewish lesbian with [[multiple sclerosis]] who was Sydney's lover in college.  Thea worked at Madwimmin Books, and afterwards taught art to kids.

Long-term housemates Sparrow and Ginger purchased the house they had shared first with Lois and later with Stuart. When Ginger wanted to move on, the group was able to buy her share by Sparrow taking the Executive Director position at the state [[NARAL]] office.<ref>Revealed in [http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/dtwof-episode-508#more-403 strip #508].</ref>

Only some of the characters' surnames were known, since such names appeared only when it was appropriate to the dialogue (when Ginger and Sydney, as college instructors, were addressed as "Professor Jordan" and "Dr. Krukowski", for instance) and were not established from the beginning.