Lesbian

Lesbian is a term for someone who experiences strong queer attraction to women and/or feminine aligned people, often exclusively. This attraction may be sexual, romantic, queerplatonic, or any other form of attraction that is significant to oneself. Lesbian individuals may identify as sapphic, gay, a combination, or another term entirely.

The MLM/NBLM counterpart to lesbian is turian.

Etymology
The word lesbian is derived from the name of the Greek island of Lesbos, home to the 6th-century BCE poet Sappho who was believed to experience homosexual attraction. Her name is also the root for "sapphic" and the outdated term "sapphist."

Pronunciation
/Leh-z-bee-ehn/



Definitions

 * Queer attraction to women (the experience shared by all lesbians). However, a lesbian does not have to identify with this specific experience to be a lesbian. - Lesbian Label History Carrd, 2021
 * A woman whose enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction is to other women. Some lesbians may prefer to identify as gay (adj.) or as gay women. - GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation)
 * of, relating to, or characterized by sexual or romantic attraction to other women or between women - Merriam-Webster
 * [Has been described as] women who have sex with women ... women who self identify as lesbian ... and women whose sexual preference is for women. - Committee on Lesbian Health Research Priorities, 1999

History
The term "lesbian" as well as the culture itself has deep and extensive roots. Lesbian, originally, referred to a resident of the island of Lesbos in Greece. This was the island on which the ancient Greek poet Sappho resided. While Sappho's true sexual orientation is not known, it is known that she wrote of her love for women, and given cultural context and ambiguous translations, was also most likely attracted to men on some level. She may be described as pansexual, bisexual, and of course, lesbian or sapphic by many in the modern day.

Her poetry was studied and referenced by lesbians throughout history. In 20th century Paris, a community refered to simply as "Paris Lesbos" grew, leading to a rise in violets as a symbol of lesbian love. The terms "Sapphist" and "lesbian," both from her name, referred to women who loved, were attracted to, and/or had sex with women from the 18th century. Before that, "tribade"--also derived from Greek--was used as early as 1601 in reference to lesbian sex, though this fell out of fashion.

It is of note that, for centuries, sapphic was not a seperate umbrella term to lesbian but simply the adjective form. For example, a lesbian is a sapphic person, not "a sapphic." In the modern day, it is often assumed that "sapphic" refers to WLW, and that "lesbian" refers to sapphics not attracted to men. While it is true that many sapphics are WLW, and many lesbians are not attracted to men, neither requires one to be. In historic usage, and to some now, sapphic and lesbian are and were entirely interchangeable.

Terminology
Various terms rose over time to refer to lesbians and their culture, each with its own history; for example, butch, stud, and femme, as well as the reclaimed slur and identity dyke--all four of which were popularized by lesbian bar and prison culture. In their most condensed definition, these terms refer to:


 * Butch: A masculine queer individual, especially a lesbian
 * Stud: A black masculine lesbian often rooted in hip-hop culture and aesthetics
 * Femme: A feminine queer individual, especially a lesbian
 * Dyke: Anyone associated with queerness and womanhood and especially butch lesbians

More detail can be found on their respective pages.

Lavender Menace

 * A lesbian is the rage of all women condensed to the point of explosion. - The Woman-Identified Woman

In 1970, soon after the Stonewall riots, co-founder of feminist organization National Organization for Women (NOW) Betty Friedan referred to lesbians as a "Lavender Menace" to women's liberation. In the midst of the firing of an openly lesbian NOW editor, many lesbians and allies quit in protest, branching off from the organization. As a response, lesbians Karla Jay and and Ellen Shumsky wrote the revolutionary and now famous lesbian manifesto "The Woman-Identified Woman." They, along with a group of about 40 women all wearing hand made Lavender Menace shirts, stormed the stage of the Second Congress to Unite Women, and turned the focus from ignorance of the plight of any non-heterosexual non-white woman to a discussion and acknowledgement of the fear of lesbianism. The Lavender Menace, then, became an identity for revolutionary and feminist lesbians, as well as a group pushing for lesbian, BIPOC, and lower class liberation.

Subsets

 * Lesboy
 * Lesbiangender
 * Lilae Lesbian
 * Bi Lesbian
 * Aphrodite Lesbian