Alesbian is ahomosexualwoman orgirl.[3][4][5]: 48 The word is also used as an adjective for women in relation to their experiences, regardless of theirsexual orientation; or as an adjective relating to female homosexuality.[4][5]: 22
The term lesbian is a derivative of the island ofLesbos, theGreek island home to ancient poetSappho. Relatively little in history was documented to describe women's lives in general or female homosexuality in particular. The earliest mentions of lesbianism date to around the 600s–500s BC, including Sappho's poetry.
Lesbian relationships and attractions, along with gender nonconforming behaviors more often displayed by lesbians, have been treated in different ways throughout different ages and cultures. While there is a longer documented history of lesbian behavior and relationships throughout different cultures, the idea of a 'lesbian' as a category of person distinct from other women emerged in Europe around the turn of the 19th century. Lesbians' current rights vary widely worldwide, ranging from severe abuse and legal persecution to general acceptance and legal protections.
Modern polls often estimate lesbians to be 1–3% of the population (i.e., 2–6% of women). Lesbian social movements often advocate for legal changes (such as anti-discrimination protections, child custody protections, and legal civil unions or marriages), as well as for cultural, familial, and religious acceptance of lesbian orientations and relationships.
The wordlesbian is thedemonym of the Greek island ofLesbos, home to the 6th-century BCE poetSappho.[3] Some of Sappho's surviving poetry discusses her love for other women.[6]: 47–49
Before the mid-19th century,[7] the wordlesbian referred to any aspect of Lesbos, including atype of wine.[a] A shift of the word to describe erotic relationships between women had been documented in 1870.[9] In 1875, a critic referred toBaudelaire's poem "Delphine and Hippolyte" (a poem about love between two women, and without reference to Lesbos) as "Lesbian".[10] In 1890, the termlesbian was used in the National Medical Dictionary as an adjective to describetribadism.[11]
The termslesbian,invert andhomosexual were interchangeable withsapphist around the turn of the 20th century.[9] The use oflesbian in medical literature became prominent; by 1925, the word was recorded as a noun to mean the female equivalent ofsodomite.[9][12]
Sexuality and identity
Lesbian community flag introduced in social media in 2018, with the dark orange stripe representinggender variance[13][14]Lesbian feminist flag consisting of alabrys (a double-bladed axe) within the invertedblack triangle, set against aviolet-hue background. The labrys representslesbian strength.[15]Lesbian flag derived from the colors of thelipstick lesbian flag design[16][17]
Prenatalandrogen exposure correlates withsame-sex sexual behavior in women.[18] Biological characteristics known to be affected by prenatal hormone exposure have been shown to vary by sexual orientation in women.[19][20] The finding that digit ratios (one characteristic affected by prenatal hormone exposure) differ between lesbian and heterosexual women has been replicated in cross-cultural studies.[20] Neuroimaging studies have found differences between heterosexual and homosexual women in neurological structures, including both those known to be affected by prenatal androgen exposure[21] and those not known to be affected by prenatal androgen exposure.[22][23] A later meta-analysis concluded that the small sample sizes and small number of studies meant that findings were inconclusive as of 2021.[24] Genetics plays a role; around 20% of the variance of sexual orientation in women is controlled by genes.[25]
Lesbian identity formation
When a woman realizes she is a lesbian, it may cause an "existential crisis". When a woman was raised in an environment with negative stereotypes of lesbians, she may need to work through these stereotypes and prejudices to come to terms with her orientation.[26]: 93 Lesbians in modern times share an identity that parallels those built on ethnicity, including the concept of group heritage and group pride.[27] Compared to gay men, lesbians more often developed their sexual self-concepts either alone or in intimate relationships, instead of in communities, and disclosed them less often.[26]: 153
Self-identification and behavior
Some women report a consistently lesbian orientation. Other women report varying degrees of fluidity in how they describe their sexual orientation.[28] Women who identify as lesbians and report never having been with men may be referred to as "gold star lesbians." Women who identify as lesbians and had sex with men before coming out may face ridicule from other lesbians or identity challenges with regard to defining what it means to be a lesbian.[29] Some researchers observe that self-applied identity labels and reported sexual behavior do not always align: for example, some self-identified straight women report sex with women, and some self-identified lesbians report sex with men.[5]: 22 [30]
Several studies have found that the sexual behavior and attractions of exclusively lesbian women are significantly more likely to be aligned with their identity than those of exclusively heterosexual women. These included studies of reported attraction throughout the fertility cycle, and direct measures of arousal by different imagery.[31]
Some people identify as both lesbian as well asnon-binary orqueer,[32][33] while others eschew the label and prefer to describe themselves as queer.[34] Additionally, some women use both the terms bisexual and lesbian as self-applied identity labels.[35][36]
The importance of sex
A 1983 survey asked couples "About how often during the last year have you and your partner had sex relations?". The survey found that long-term lesbian couples named lower numbers than long-term heterosexual or homosexual male couples.[37] This conclusion became known as "lesbian bed death".[38] Numerous critiques were leveled at the study, including that the language could be misinterpreted to mean "heterosexual intercourse", and that the survey sample was limited to a biased sample of self-identified lesbians in 1983.[39]
Researchers report that lesbian and heterosexual women are just as likely to view achieving orgasm as important,[40] and that the two groups report statistically equivalent rates of overall sexual and romantic satisfaction.[41][42] The research suggests that lesbian women tend to achieve said satisfaction through higher quality rather than more frequent sex, and that they engage in different romantic andsexual scripts than heterosexual women.[42][40]
Women have been underrepresented in history as both writers and subjects, and lesbianism has been correspondingly under-recorded. Since the 1970s, efforts have been made to gather together and preserve lesbian history.[43][44]
In ancient Greece, Sappho of Lesbos wrote poetry regarding her love for other women, fragments of which survive.[45] Other Greek references include mentions in Plato'sSymposium[46][b]
A red-figure kylix depicting two women in an intimate setting. Attributed to the painter Apollodorus, c. 490–480 BCE. (Tarquinia National Museum)
In theAztec Empire, female homosexuality is described in theFlorentine Codex, a 16th-century study of the Aztec world, including its violent repression during Spanish colonization.[50] SomeIndigenous peoples of the Americas conceptualize athird gender for women who dress as, and fulfill the roles of men or a third sex in their cultures.[51][52]
In early Modern western literature, homoerotic masquerade of one gender for another to seduce an unsuspecting woman was a common plot device, seen for instance inTwelfth Night (1601),The Faerie Queene (1590), andThe Bird in a Cage (1633).[53]: 1–11, 22–24 From the 17th to the 19th centuries in the West, it was fashionable, accepted, and encouraged for a woman to express passionate love for another woman.[6]: 136
In the 19th and 20th centuries, sexologistsRichard von Krafft-Ebing from Germany and Britain'sHavelock Ellis created categorizations of female same-sex attraction, approaching it as a form of insanity.[54]: 241–242 In the 1920s,Berlin had a vibrant homosexual culture with some 50 clubs for lesbians.[6]: 241–244 In 1928,Radclyffe Hall published the novelThe Well of Loneliness, intended as a call for tolerance.[54]: 320 Professor Laura Doan described the resulting trial for obscenity as "the crystallizing moment in the construction of a visible modern English lesbian subculture".[55]In the United States, the 1920s was a decade of sexual experimentation.[56]: 63–67 Homosexual subculture disappeared in Germany with the rise of the Nazis in 1933.[6]: 191–193 Following World War II, the U.S. government began persecuting homosexuals around 1950.[57]: 277 Between 1955 and 1969, over 2,000 books of lesbian pulp fiction were published in North America.[58] From the late 1950s to the 1970s, thesexual revolution encouraged women to try varied sexual experiences.[56]: 203
Lesbians face government persecution in the Middle East, such as inYemen, where homosexuality is criminalized.[59][60]
InLatin America, lesbian subcultures increased as several countries transitioned to or reformed democratic governments. However, social harassment has remained common.[61]
Cross-gender roles and marriage between women have been recorded in over 30 traditional African societies.[62][6]: 262 In Africa, theCoalition of African Lesbians has worked since 2004 to eradicate stigma, legal discrimination, and violence against lesbians.[63] In Africa, lesbian activities have been "shaped by silence and secrecy, oppression and repression".[64]
Historical Chinese culture has not recognized female homosexuality.[65]: 29 [6]: 311
The most extensive early study of female homosexuality was the 1953Kinsey Institute analysis of the sexual experiences of more than 8,000 American women. Its methodology has been criticized,[66][67][68] but it proved popular. It reported that 28% of women had been aroused by a female, that 19% had had sexual contact with a female,[69]: 453 and that some 9% had orgasmed.[69]: 453–454 Its dispassionate discussion of homosexuality as a form of sexual behavior was revolutionary.[68]
In 1976, sexologistShere Hite did a qualitative survey of 3,019 women on their sexual experiences. Hite's questions focused on how women identified and what they preferred, rather than their prior experiences. Respondents indicated that 8% preferred sex with women, while 9% said that they identified as bisexual or had had sexual experiences with men and women without indicating a preference.[70]
Population estimates
A 2023 international survey (which excluded Africa and the Middle East) found that, on average, 3% of participants self-identified as lesbian or gay[71]
Lesbians in the U.S. form about 2.6% of the population, according to a 2000 survey.[72] Another survey showed that between 2000 and 2005, the number claiming to be in same-sex relationships increased by 30%, possibly because people were more comfortable self-identifying as homosexual.[c]
A survey by the UKOffice for National Statistics in 2010 found that 1.5% of Britons identified as gay or bisexual; other surveys had shown the number between 0.3% and 3%.[74][75]
Polls in Australia recorded a range of self-identified lesbian or bisexual women from 1.3% to 2.2% of the total population.[76]
A 2016 survey in France found 4% of women identifying as gay or bisexual.[77]
In a 2012 survey in Israel, 15.2% of women self-reported attraction to women, 8.7% reported having had a same-gender encounter, and 4.8% identified as lesbian or bisexual.[78]
A 2021 survey in Sri Lanka found that 0.5% of the population (some 1% of women) identified as lesbian.[80]
Health
Disparities
A 2023 systematic review found that lesbian and bisexual women were 1.5–2 times more likely to have asthma than heterosexual women, and somewhat more likely to have back pain, hepatitis B/C, and urinary tract infections. They were less likely to have heart attacks, diabetes, or hypertension, perhaps (for these last two) because they avoided pregnancy.[81] Since lesbians are less likely to become pregnant, they are less likely to receive protection from pregnancy hormones against breast and other cancers.[82]
American studies in the 2010s and 2020s have found that LGBT people experience higher rates of mental distress, and that this relationship is mediated by experiences of rejection and adverse childhood experiences.[83]
Factors
Lifestyle
Factors that add to risk of heart disease include the prevalence ofobesity andsmoking among lesbians. Lesbians are less concerned about weight issues than heterosexual women; and lesbians consider women with higher body masses to be more attractive than heterosexual women do.[82][84] Lesbians are more likely to exercise regularly than heterosexual women.[85]
Social
Lesbians experience negative social factors such asdiscrimination, stigma, and violence; policies that oppose their sexuality, such as access to marriage or employment; and lower incomes.[86] Partly as a result, lesbians may be less likely to be in a marriage.[87] These factors contribute to increased levels of chronic ill-health, increased misuse of alcohol and substances, reduced mobility, increased cardiovascular disease, chronic pain, and poor sleep.[86]
Lesbians may fear doctors' attitudes to their sexuality. Lesbians perceive a lower risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, and may therefore miss routine screenings such as for cervical cancer.[82]
The majority of media about lesbians has been produced by men;[26]: 389–390 women's publishing companies did not develop until the 1970s, films about lesbians made by women did not appear until the 1980s, and women-written television shows portraying lesbians written only began to be created in the 21st century. When depictions of lesbians began to surface, they were often one-dimensional, simplified stereotypes.[26]: 389–390
Ancient lesbian writers include Sappho.[d] Ancient stories interpreted as examples of lesbianism include theBook of Ruth,[89]: 22–23 [88]: 108 Camilla andDiana,Artemis andCallisto, andIphis and Ianthe.[89]: 24–27 For ten centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, lesbianism disappeared from literature.[88]: 11 Foster points to the particularly strict view thatEve—representative of all women—caused the downfall of mankind;original sin among women was a particular concern, especially because women were perceived as creating life.[89]: 30–31 During this time, women were largely illiterate and discouraged from intellectual pursuit, and men shaped ideas about sexuality.[88]: 6
In the 15th and 16th centuries, French and English depictions of relationships between women, writers' attitudes spanned from amused tolerance to arousal. Physical relationships between women were often encouraged, as long as they did not supersede heterosexual relationships; there was a cultural belief that lesbian sex and relationships could not be as fulfilling as heterosexual sex and relationships.[54]: 26–29 At worst, if a woman became enamored of another woman, she became a tragic figure. Male intervention into relationships between women was necessary only when women acted as men and demanded the same social privileges.[54]: 29 In the 18th century, writings mentioning lesbianism included the 1749 English eroticaFanny Hill[90] and the 1778 eroticaL'Espion Anglais.[91]
Lesbianism became almost exclusive to French literature in the 19th century, based on male fantasy and the desire to shock bourgeois moral values.[54]: 264, 268 Honoré de Balzac, inThe Girl with the Golden Eyes (1835), employed lesbianism in his story about three people living amongst the moral degeneration of Paris, and again in later works. His work influenced novelistThéophile Gautier'sMademoiselle de Maupin, which provided the first description of a physical type that became associated with lesbians: tall, wide-shouldered, slim-hipped, and athletically inclined.[89]: 51–65 Charles Baudelaire repeatedly used lesbianism as a theme in his poems "Lesbos","Femmes damnées 1" ("Damned Women"), and"Femmes damnées 2".[88]: 435 Reflecting French society, as well as employing stock character associations, many of the lesbian characters in 19th-century French literature were prostitutes or courtesans: personifications of vice who died early, violent deaths in moral endings.[54]: 281–283 Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1816 poem "Christabel" and the novellaCarmilla (1872) bySheridan Le Fanu both present lesbianism associated with vampirism.[54]: 277, 288–289
Gradually, women began to write, and began to write about lesbian relationships. Until the 1920s, most major works involving lesbianism were penned by men. Foster suggests that women would have encountered suspicion about their own lives had they used same-sex love as a topic, and that some writers includingLouise Labé,Charlotte Charke, andMargaret Fuller either changed the pronouns in their literary works to male, or made them ambiguous.[89]: 116–127 AuthorGeorge Sand was portrayed as a character in several works in the 19th century; writerMario Praz credited the popularity of lesbianism as a theme to Sand's appearance in Paris society in the 1830s.[54]: 263 [e]
As the paperback book came into fashion, lesbian themes were relegated topulp fiction. Many of the pulp novels typically presented very unhappy women, or relationships that ended tragically. Marijane Meaker later wrote that she was told to make the relationship end badly inSpring Fire because the publishers were concerned about the books being confiscated by the U.S. Postal Service.[96]Patricia Highsmith, writing as Claire Morgan, wroteThe Price of Salt in 1951 and refused to follow this directive.[88]: 1024–1025 In the 1970s, lesbian feminist magazines such asThe Furies[97] andSinister Wisdom began publication.[98] Well-known writers who wrote on lesbian topics or about lesbian-themed plots includedRita Mae Brown,Dorothy Allison,[26]: 377–379 Audre Lorde, andCherríe Moraga.[26]: 379
Lesbianism arrived early in filmmaking. The same constructs as in literature were placed on women in film. Women could challenging their feminine roles. Actresses appeared as men in male rolesas early as 1914 inA Florida Enchantment. InMorocco (1930)Marlene Dietrich kisses a woman on the lips, andKatharine Hepburn plays a man inChristopher Strong in 1933 and again inSylvia Scarlett in 1936.[99]: 27–28 Overt female homosexuality was introduced in the 1929 filmPandora's Box. German films depicting homosexuality were distributed throughout Europe, but 1931'sMädchen in Uniform was thought unsuitable for the U.S.[100]: 58
Lesbianism, or homosexuality, was never spoken about inThe Children's Hour, but it is transparent whyShirley MacLaine's character hangs herself.
The first film to address lesbianism with depth wasThe Killing of Sister George in 1968, filmed in London's lesbianGateways club. Film historianVito Russo considers the film to treat a multifaceted, openly lesbian character who other lesbians force into silence.[100]: 170–173 Personal Best in 1982, andLianna in 1983 treated lesbian relationships more sympathetically, though with unhappy relationships.Personal Best was criticized for its plot device of one woman returning to a relationship with a man, implying that lesbianism is a phase.[99]: 185–186 More ambiguous portrayals were seen inSilkwood (1983),The Color Purple (1985), andFried Green Tomatoes (1991).[101]
The first stage production to feature a lesbian kiss and open depiction of two women in love is the 1907Yiddish playGod of Vengeance (Got fun nekome) bySholem Asch. Rivkele, a young woman, and Manke, a prostitute in her father's brothel, fall in love. On March 6, 1923, during a performance of the play in a New York City theatre, producers and cast were informed that they had been indicted by a Grand Jury for violating the Penal Code that defined the presentation of "an obscene, indecent, immoral and impure theatrical production." They were arrested the following day when they appeared before a judge. Two months later, they were found guilty in a jury trial. The producers were fined $200 and the cast received suspended sentences. The play is considered by some to be "the greatest drama of the Yiddish theater".[102][103]God of Vengeance was the inspiration for the 2015 playIndecent byPaula Vogel, which features lesbian characters Rifkele and Manke.[104][105]Indecent was nominated for multiple 2017Tony Awards.[106]
Broadway musicalThe Prom featured lesbian characters Emma Nolan and Alyssa Greene. In 2019, the production was nominated for six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and received the Drama Desk Award forOutstanding Musical. A performance fromThe Prom was included in the 2018Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and made history by showing the firstsame-sex kiss in the parade's broadcast.[107][108]Jagged Little Pill featured lesbian character Jo, who is dealing with her religious mother's disapproval.[109]
Television began to address homosexuality much later than film. The first time a lesbian was portrayed on network television was the NBC dramaThe Eleventh Hour in the early 1960s, ending with the lesbian being "converted" to heterosexuality.[110]: 7–9 Lesbian invisibility in TV continued into the 1970s.[110]: 13–44 Police drama series could include a gaystock character to serve as a victims of blackmail or anti-gay violence, or as a criminal.[100]: 186–189 Lesbians were included as villains, motivated to murder by their desires, internalized homophobia, or fear of being exposed as homosexual. One episode ofPolice Woman earned protests by theNational Gay Task Force before it aired for portraying a trio of murderous lesbians who killed retirement home patients for their money.[110]: 68 NBC edited the episode because of the protests.[110]: 69 In the mid-1970s, lesbians began to appear as police officers or detectives.[110]: 75–76 In 1991, a bisexual lawyer character onL.A. Law shared the first significantlesbian kiss[g] on primetime television, stirring controversy.[110]: 89
Ellen DeGeneres with her Emmy Award in 1997. Her coming out in the media, as well as her sitcom, "ranks, hands down, as the single most public exit in gay history", changing media portrayals of lesbians in Western culture.[112]
In the mid-1980s through the 1990s, sitcoms frequently employed a "coming out" episode, where a friend of one of the stars admits she is a lesbian, forcing the cast to deal with the issue, as inDesigning Women,The Golden Girls, andFriends.[110]: 202–204 Recurring openly lesbian characters were seen onMarried... with Children,Mad About You, andRoseanne with ahighly publicized episode.[26]: 394, 399 The sitcom with the most significant impact to the image of lesbians wasEllen, which generated enormous publicity from the 1997 coming out episode;Ellen DeGeneres appeared on the cover ofTime magazine with the headline "Yep, I'm Gay". The episode won DeGeneres an Emmy, but conservative organizations opposed it, and the show was cancelled.[110]: 245–249 A popular show for adolescents wasBuffy the Vampire Slayer. In the fourth season,Tara andWillow admit their love for each other, without fanfare.[110]: 183–184 In the 2000s came network television series devoted solely to gay characters.Showtime's American rendition ofQueer as Folk ran from 2000 to 2005 with a lesbian couple as main characters. Aggressive advertising made the show the highest rated on the network.[110]: 150–152
Chic and popular culture
The August 1993 cover ofVanity Fair that marked the arrival of lesbian chic as a social phenomenon in the 1990s
Lesbian visibility has improved since the early 1980s, partly due to public figures who have attracted public and press discussion of their sexuality. The primary figure earning this attention wasMartina Navratilova, as she denied being lesbian, admitted to being bisexual, had very public relationships withRita Mae Brown andJudy Nelson, and acquired as much press about her sexuality as she did her athletic achievements.[113]
Other public figures acknowledged their homosexuality, such as musiciansk.d. lang andMelissa Etheridge.Madonna pushed sexual boundaries in her performances. In 1993, heterosexual supermodelCindy Crawford posed for a cover ofVanity Fair in a provocative arrangement that showed Crawford pretending to shave k.d. lang's face.[114] The image "became an internationally recognized symbol of the phenomenon of lesbian chic".[113]
The year 1994 marked a rise in lesbian visibility, particularly appealing to women with feminine appearances. Between 1992 and 1994,Mademoiselle,Vogue,Cosmopolitan,Glamour,Newsweek, andNew York magazines featured stories about women who admitted sexual histories with other women.[112] Lesbian visibility increased again in 2009 when sexually fluid female celebrities, such asCynthia Nixon andLindsay Lohan, commented openly about their relationships with women, and reality television addressed same-sex relationships. Psychiatrists and feminist philosophers wrote that the rise in women acknowledging same-sex relationships was due to growing social acceptance, but conceded that "only a certain kind of lesbian—slim and elegant or butch in just the right androgynous way—is acceptable to mainstream culture."[115]
Legal rights
Criminalization of sexual activity
Thirty-eight countries penalize sex between women, or have unclear laws that may be applied to lesbian sex. Penalties explicitly listed for lesbian sexual activity include lashings (as in Iran and Brunei) or prison sentences (as in Oman, Gambia, and Malawi), or lashes and fines (as in Mauritania).[116]
Family issues were significant concerns for lesbians when gay activism became more vocal in the 1960s and 1970s. Custody issues in particular were of interest since often courts would not award custody to mothers who were openly homosexual, even though the general procedure acknowledged children were awarded to the biological mother.[26]: 125–126 [53]: 182
Several studies performed as a result of custody disputes compared outcomes for children of single lesbian mothers and single nonlesbian mothers. They found that children's mental health, happiness, overall adjustment, sexual orientation, and sex roles, were similar between both groups.[26]: 125–126
The ability to adopt domestically or internationally children or provide a home as a foster parent is a political and family priority for many lesbians, as is improving access toartificial insemination.[26]: 128–129
Marriage
Two women at their Buddhist wedding ceremony. Taiwan legalized same-sex marriage in 2019.
In a 2023 international survey covering thirty countries, 56% of respondents wanted same-sex marriage to be legal. In 19 of the 20 countries in the survey that have same-sex marriage, support for the practice is above 50%; in 9 of the other 10 countries, over half of respondents favor some legal recognition for same-sex couples.[71] As of 2025,same-sex marriage is legal in thirty-nine countries.[117]
^An attempt by natives of Lesbos (also called "Mytilene" in Greece) in 2008 to reclaim the word to refer only to people from the island was unsuccessful in a Greek court. Inhabitants of Lesbos claimed the use oflesbian to refer to female homosexuality violated their human rights and "disgrace[d] them around the world".[8]
^"[H]e begins by treating of the origin of human nature. The sexes were originally three, men, women, and the union of the two; and they were made round—having four hands, four feet, two faces on a round neck, and the rest to correspond. Terrible was their strength and swiftness; and they were essaying to scale heaven and attack the gods. Doubt reigned in the celestial councils; the gods were divided between the desire of quelling the pride of man and the fear of losing the sacrifices. At last Zeus hit upon an expedient. Let us cut them in two, he said; then they will only have half their strength, and we shall have twice as many sacrifices. He spake, and split them as you might split an egg with an hair; and when this was done, he told Apollo to give their faces a twist and re-arrange their persons, taking out the wrinkles and tying the skin in a knot about the navel. The two halves went about looking for one another, and were ready to die of hunger in one another's arms. Then Zeus invented an adjustment of the sexes, which enabled them to marry and go their way to the business of life. Now the characters of men differ accordingly as they are derived from the original man or the original woman, or the original man-woman. Those who come from the man-woman are lascivious and adulterous; those who come from the woman form female attachments; those who are a section of the male follow the male and embrace him, and in him all their desires centre."
^The study estimated the total population of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals at 8.8 million, but did not differentiate between men and women.[73]
^Sappho has served as a subject of many works of literature by writers such asJohn Donne,Alexander Pope,Pierre Louÿs, and several anonymous writers, that have addressed her relationships with women and men. She has been used as an embodiment of same-sex desire, and as a character in fictions loosely based on her life.[88]: 125, 208, 252, 319, 566
^A fifth novel in 1928, American author Djuna Barnes'Ladies Almanack, is aroman à clef ofa lesbian literary and artistic salon in Paris and circulated at first within those circles; Susan Sniader Lanser calls it a "sister-text" to Hall's landmark work,[94] as Barnes includes a character based on Radclyffe Hall and passages that may be a response toThe Well of Loneliness[95]
^21 Jump Street included a kiss between series regularHolly Robinson Peete and guest star Katy Boyer in "A Change of Heart" (1990) but it did not inspire the critical or popular attention later such kisses would engender.[111]: 235
^Stevens 2000, p. 748, Symbols: "Finally, two interlocking female symbols are also often used to signify lesbianism. [...] [Venus's] sign, which once represented life, love, and sexuality, is now both a botanical and zoological symbol of femaleness, as well as the astronomical symbol of the planet Venus. Lesbian and feminist communities have also adopted the symbol, using two interlocking Venus emblems to represent lesbianism or, alternatively, the sisterhood of women"
^abLamos, Colleen (2000)."Lesbian". InZimmerman, Bonnie (ed.).Encyclopedia of Lesbian Histories and Cultures (1st ed.). New York:Garland Publishing. pp. 453–454.ISBN9780203825532.The equivocal grammatical status of "lesbian," as both noun and adjective, captures the historical difficulty and the controversy over its definition. Whereas the former names a substantive category of persons—female homosexuals—the latter refers to a contingent attribute. The use of the term to denominate a particular kind of woman, one whose sexual desire is directed toward other women, originated in the late nineteenth century with the formulation of types of sexual deviance, especially homosexuality. ...Taking "lesbian" as an adjective, however, implies that female same-sex desire is a detachable modifier, a relative characteristic rather than an essential, or core, substance. Describing an object or activity as lesbian may simply reflect its contingent affiliation or association with female homoeroticism. Such an understanding of the term was common in Western society before the twentieth century and remains so in non-Western cultures that do not sharply distinguish female homosexuality from heterosexuality.
^Diamond, Lisa M.; Dickenson, Janna A.; Blair, Karen L. (2022-01-01)."Menstrual Cycle Changes in Daily Sexual Motivation and Behavior Among Sexually Diverse Cisgender Women".Archives of Sexual Behavior.51 (1):577–588.doi:10.1007/s10508-021-02171-w.ISSN1573-2800.PMID35028805.Women with exclusive same-gender orientations reported increased motivation for same-gender sexual contact during the higher-fertility phase of the cycle, but women with exclusive other-gender orientations did not show a parallel increase in other-gender sexual motivation during the higher-fertility phase. ... As noted earlier, the same pattern of difference between women with exclusive same-gender attractions versus bisexual attractions also emerged in the small pilot study of 20 women conducted by Diamond and Wallen (2011). ... Although this suggests important similarities between bisexual women and those with exclusive same-gender orientations, other research (reviewed by Chivers, 2017) has found that self-identified lesbians show more "category-specific" patterns of genital arousal than other groups of women, meaning that they show significantly greater arousal to the stimuli that they report preferring (women) than to their nonpreferred stimuli (men).
^Hord, Levi CR (September 2022). "Specificity without identity: Articulating post-gender sexuality through the "non-binary lesbian"".Sexualities.25 (5–6):615–637.doi:10.1177/1363460720981564.
^Faulkner, Sandra L.; Hecht, Michael L. (September 2011). "The negotiation of closetable identities: A narrative analysis of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered queer Jewish identity".Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.28 (6):829–847.doi:10.1177/0265407510391338.
^Nichols, Margaret (2004). "Lesbian sexuality/female sexuality: Rethinking 'lesbian bed death'".Sexual and Relationship Therapy.19 (4):363–371.doi:10.1080/14681990412331298036.S2CID143879852.
^Hewitt, Sean; Hall, Luke Edward (2023).300,000 Kisses: Tales of Queer Love from the Ancient World. Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Crown Publishing Group. p. 23.ISBN978-0-593-58244-2.
^Vowel, Chelsea (2016). "All My Queer Relations - Language, Culture, andTwo-Spirit Identity".Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues in Canada. Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: Highwater Press.ISBN978-1553796800.
^Mogrovejo, Norma (2004). "Relevancia de las lesbianas en América Latina: la recuperación de nuestra historia". In Drucker, Péter; Mercad, Enrique (in Spanish).Arco iris diferentes. Siglo XXI.ISBN978-968-23-2486-4. pp. 85–103, 281-294
^Roscoe, Will; Murray, Stephen O.; Epprecht, Marc (2021) [1998].Boy-Wives and Female Husbands. Albany:SUNY Press. New Foreword.ISBN978-1-4384-8410-5. (open access)
^Compton, D'Lane R.; Baumle, Amanda K. (2018). "Demographics of Gay and Lesbian Partnerships and Families".International Handbook on Gender and Demographic Processes. Vol. 8. Springer Netherlands. pp. 267–285.doi:10.1007/978-94-024-1290-1_18.ISBN978-94-024-1288-8.
^"Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 181 - The Anandrine Sect". 24 October 2020.The Anandrine Sect itself is first introduced—as far as I can find—in the pornographic work L'espion Anglais (The English Spy) written in 1778. This is a collection of salacious anecdotes, one of which involves an adolescent country girl who, having inclinations toward sex with women, is sent off to Paris to be initiated into an Anandrine sect. Her sponsor describes the group thus: "A tribade," she told me, "is a young virgin who, not having had any relations with men, and convinced of the excellence of her sex, finds in it true pleasure, pure pleasure, dedicates herself wholly to it, and renounces the other sex, as perfidious as it is seductive. Or, it is a woman of any age who, having fulfilled the wish of nature and country for the propagation of the human race, gets over her mistake, detests, abjures crude pleasures, and devotes herself to training pupils for the goddess." [...] [The initiation ceremony] takes place in a classical temple featuring statues of the goddess Vesta, of Sappho, and other symbolic figures.
^Norton, Rictor (1997).The Myth of the Modern Homosexual: Queer History and the Search for Cultural Unity.London: Cassell.ISBN0-304-33892-3.
^"The Furies Collective".National Park Services.The collective's publications set the terms of debate over the ideology, strategies and tactics, and actual accomplishments of lesbian feminist separatism in the early years of newly militant gay and lesbian activism. Their first issue of The Furies proclaimed, "We believe The FURIES will make important contributions to the growing movement to destroy sexism. As a collective, in addition to outside projects, we are spending much time building an ideology which is the basis for action." According to historian Lillian Faderman, "the Furies newspaper, which was sold at the women's bookstores that were mushrooming across America, inspired thousands of lesbian feminists to form their own collectives in cities, farms, forests, and mountains all over America and in Europe, too."
^abcdefghijTropiano, Stephen (2002).Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV. Applause Theater and Cinema Books.ISBN1-55783-557-8.
^Capsuto, Steven (2000).Alternate Channels: The Uncensored Story of Gay and Lesbian Images on Radio and Television (1st ed.). New York:Ballantine Books.ISBN0-345-41243-5.
^abStreitmatter, Rodger (2009).From 'Perverts' to 'Fab Five': The Media's Changing Depiction of Gay Men and Lesbians.Routledge. pp. 77–78, 81, 104.ISBN978-0-7890-3670-4.
^abHamer, Diane, Budge, Belinda, eds. (1994).The Good, The Bad, and the Gorgeous: Popular Culture's Romance with Lesbianism, Pandora.ISBN0-04-440910-9. pp. 1, 57–77, 87–90.
Cogan, Jeanine C.; Erickson, Joanie M., eds. (1999).Lesbians, Levis and Lipstick: The Meaning of Beauty in Our Lives.The Haworth Press.ISBN0-7890-0661-8.
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