Lesbian
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A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl.<ref name="Oxford-Lesbian">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Lamos2000"/><ref name="Solarz1999">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp The word is also used as an adjective for women in relation to their experiences, regardless of their sexual orientation; or as an adjective to associate nouns with female homosexuality.<ref name="Lamos2000">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name="Solarz1999"/>Template:Rp
The term lesbian is a derivative of the island of Lesbos, the Greek island home to ancient poet Sappho. 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.
Etymology
The word lesbian is the demonym of the Greek island of Lesbos, home to the 6th-century BCE poet Sappho.<ref name="Oxford-Lesbian" /> Some of Sappho's surviving poetry discusses her love for other women.<ref name="Aldrich2006">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
Before the mid-19th century,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the word lesbian referred to any aspect of Lesbos, including a type of wine.Template:Efn A shift of the word to describe erotic relationships between women had been documented in 1870.<ref name="Stevens2000">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> In 1875, a critic referred to Baudelaire's poem "Delphine and Hippolyte" (a poem about love between two women, and without reference to Lesbos) as "Lesbian".<ref name="Cohen2001">Template:Cite book (Document made available by Columbia University Libraries. PDF downloads automatically.)</ref> In 1890, the term lesbian was used in the National Medical Dictionary as an adjective to describe tribadism.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The terms lesbian, invert and homosexual were interchangeable with sapphist around the turn of the 20th century.<ref name="Stevens2000"/> The use of lesbian in medical literature became prominent; by 1925, the word was recorded as a noun to mean the female equivalent of sodomite.<ref name="Stevens2000"/><ref name="oed">"Lesbian", Oxford English Dictionary Template:Webarchive, Second Edition, 1989. Retrieved on January 7, 2009.</ref>
Sexuality and identity
Biological factors
Template:Further Prenatal androgen exposure correlates with same-sex sexual behavior in women.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Biological characteristics known to be affected by prenatal hormone exposure have been shown to vary by sexual orientation in women.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="PrenatalInfl">Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref name="PrenatalInfl"/>
Neuroimaging studies have found differences between heterosexual and homosexual women in neurological structures, including both those known to be affected by prenatal androgen exposure<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and those not known to be affected by prenatal androgen exposure.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> A later meta-analysis concluded that the small sample sizes and small number of studies meant that findings were inconclusive as of 2021.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Genetics also play a role; around 20% of the variance of sexual orientation in women is controlled by genetics.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
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.<ref name="Schlager1998">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
Lesbians in modern times share an identity that parallels those built on ethnicity, including the concept of group heritage and group pride.<ref name="rust">Template:Cite journal</ref>
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.<ref name="Schlager1998"/>Template:Rp
Self-identification and behavior
Some women experience a consistently lesbian orientation. Other women experience varying degrees of fluidity in their orientation.<ref name="Farr2014">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Lesbians who have never been with men may be referred to as "gold star lesbians." Lesbians who 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.<ref name="Shelby">Template:Cite book</ref>
Some researchers observe that behavior and identity sometimes do not match: self-identified straight women may have sex with women, or self-identified lesbians may have sex with men.<ref name="Solarz1999"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Diamond">Template:Cite book</ref>
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 towards different imagery.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This conclusion became known as "lesbian bed death".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="nichols">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Researchers report that lesbian and heterosexual women are just as likely to view achieving orgasm as important,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> and that the two groups report statistically equivalent rates of overall sexual and romantic satisfaction.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> 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 and sexual scripts than heterosexual women.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" />
Lesbians in history
There has been extensive debate as to what qualifies a historic relationship as 'lesbian'. In 1989, an academic cohort named the Lesbian History Group wrote:
Because of society's reluctance to admit that lesbians exist, a high degree of certainty is expected before historians or biographers are allowed to use the label. Evidence that would suffice in any other situation is inadequate here... A woman who never married, who lived with another woman, whose friends were mostly women, or who moved in known lesbian or mixed gay circles, may well have been a lesbian. ... But this sort of evidence is not 'proof'. What our critics want is incontrovertible evidence of sexual activity between women. This is almost impossible to find.<ref name="Norton1997">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
Female sexuality is often not adequately represented in historical texts and documents. Until very recently, much of what has been documented about women's sexuality has been written by men, in the context of male understanding, and relevant to women's associations to men—as their wives, daughters, or mothers, for example.<ref name="Rabinowitz2002">Template:Cite book</ref>
Ancient Greece
The lives of ancient Greek women were in general little-documented.<ref name="Rabinowitz2002"/> In a notable exception, in the 500s BC, Sappho of Lesbos wrote extensive poetry regarding her love for other women, fragments of which survive.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A writing from the 600s BC, documenting Greek girls singing to each other, includes flirtatious lyrics.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Some male-written works reference lesbianism. One example, from the 300s BC, is the tale of the four-legged humans told by Aristophanes in Plato's Symposium.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Efn Another example, from the 100s CE, is the Dialogues of the Courtesans, where a female character talks about being seduced by two lesbian characters.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In visual culture, historian Nancy Rabinowitz notes that some ancient Greek red vase images portray women in affectionate or erotic scenes.<ref name="Bremmer1989">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Rabinowitz2002"/>
Ancient Rome
In first century sources, accounts of lesbian characters include the story of Iphis and Ianthe, related in the Metamorphoses;<ref name="300000Kisses"/>Template:Rp a story, related by the fabulist Phaedrus, about Prometheus exchanging the genitals of different men and women;<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and a satirical figure of a masculine woman who has sex with women, named Philaenis, related in the epigrams of Martial.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="300000Kisses"/>Template:Rp
In the ruins of Pompeii, a Roman town destroyed in 79 CE, archaeologists discovered a love poem graffitied onto a wall.<ref name="300000Kisses">Template:Cite book</ref> The poem is written with feminine declensions for both speaker and addressee, and identified archivally as Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 4.5296.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
A love spell from 3rd or 4th century CE Roman Egypt was written to enchant a woman named Gorgonia to fall in love with a woman named Sophia.<ref name="300000Kisses"/>Template:Rp
Ancient Americas
Both male and female homosexuality were known in Aztec culture. Although both were generally disapproved of, there is no evidence that homosexuality was actively suppressed until after the Spanish Conquest.<ref name="Kimball1993">Template:Cite journal</ref> Female homosexuality is described in the Florentine Codex, a 16th-century study of the Aztec world written by the Spanish Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún. It describes Aztec lesbians as masculine in appearance and behavior and never wishing to be married.<ref name="Kimball1993"/> The book Monarquía indiana by Fray Juan de Torquemada, published in 1615, briefly mentions the persecution of Aztec lesbians: "The woman, who with another woman had carnal pleasures, for which they were called Patlache, which means: female incubus, they both died for it."<ref name="Kimball1993"/>Template:Efn
Early modern Europe (pre-1400s)
The earliest law against female homosexuality appeared in France in 1270.<ref name="Norton1997"/>Template:Rp In Spain, Italy, and the Holy Roman Empire, sodomy between women was included in acts considered unnatural and punishable by burning to death, although few instances are recorded of this taking place.<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp The earliest such execution occurred in Speier, Germany, in 1477.<ref name="Norton1997"/>Template:Rp
Forty days' penance was demanded of nuns who "rode" each other or were discovered to have touched each other's breasts. An Italian nun named Sister Benedetta Carlini seduced other nuns when possessed by a Divine spirit named "Splenditello"; as punishment, she was placed in solitary confinement for the last 40 years of her life.<ref name="Norton1997"/>Template:Rp
In England, female homoeroticism was so common in literature and theater that historians suggest it was fashionable for a period during the Renaissance.<ref name="Jennings2007">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Englishwoman Mary Frith has been described as lesbian.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Ideas about women's sexuality were linked to contemporary understanding of female physiology. The vagina was considered an inward version of the penis; in lesbians, nature was thought to be trying to right itself by prolapsing the vagina to form a penis.<ref name="Jennings2007"/>Template:Rp The idea of hermaphroditism became synonymous with lesbianism. A longer, engorged clitoris was thought to be used in lesbian sex. Penetration was the focus of concern in all sexual acts, and a woman who was thought to have uncontrollable desires because of her engorged clitoris was called a "tribade" (literally, one who rubs).<ref name="Jennings2007"/>Template:Rp For a while, masturbation and lesbian sex carried the same meaning.<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp
Tribades were simultaneously considered members of the lower class trying to ruin virtuous women, and representatives of an aristocracy corrupt with debauchery. Satirical writers began to suggest that political rivals (or more often, their wives) engaged in tribadism in order to harm their reputations. Queen Anne was rumored to have a passionate relationship with her close advisor Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough. When Churchill was ousted as the queen's favorite, she purportedly spread allegations of the queen having affairs with her bedchamberwomen.<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp Marie Antoinette was also the subject of such speculation between 1795 and 1796.<ref name="Jennings2007"/>Template:Rp
Modern Western Civilizations (1500s-present day)
1500s-1600s
Homoerotic elements in early literature were pervasive, specifically the masquerade of one gender for another to seduce an unsuspecting woman. Such plot devices were used in Twelfth Night (1601), The Faerie Queene (1590), and The Bird in a Cage (1633).<ref name="Jennings2007"/>Template:Rp During the Renaissance, some women put on male personae and went undetected for years or decades. These women have been described as transvestite lesbians.<ref name="Dekker">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Lucas1988">Template:Cite journal</ref> Some historians view cases of cross-dressing women to be manifestations of women seizing social power, or their way of making sense out of their desire for women.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp
In the 1600s, Queen Christina of Sweden had a tendency to dress as a man, abdicated the throne in 1654 to avoid marriage, and was known to pursue romantic relationships with women.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>Template:Rp
Catharine Linck and other women who were accused of using dildos, such as two nuns in 16th century Spain executed for using "material instruments", were punished more severely than those who did not.<ref name="Norton1997"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp Linck was executed in Prussia in 1721.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp
1700s
Two marriages between women were recorded in Cheshire, England, in 1707 (between Hannah Wright and Anne Gaskill) and 1708 (between Ane Norton and Alice Pickford) with no comment about both parties being female.<ref name="Jennings2007"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp
In 1709, English aristocrat Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, wrote to Anne Wortley: "Nobody was so entirely, so faithfully yours ... I put in your lovers, for I don't allow it possible for a man to be so sincere as I am."<ref name="Faderman1981"/>Template:Rp
The Swiss woman Anne Grandjean, disguised as male, married and relocated with her wife to Lyons, but was exposed by a woman with whom she had had a previous affair and sentenced to time in the stocks and prison.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp
In the 1700s, English poet Anna Seward had a devoted friendship with Honora Sneyd. Sneyd was the subject of many of Seward's poems. When Sneyd married despite Seward's protest, Seward's poems became angry, and she continued to write about Sneyd long after her death.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>Template:Rp
Also in the 1700s, Deborah Sampson fought in the American Revolution under the name Robert Shurtlieff, and pursued relationships with women.<ref name="Katz1976">Template:Cite book</ref>
Also in the 1700s, English writer and philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft was attached to a woman named Fanny Blood. Writing to another woman, Wollstonecraft declared, "The roses will bloom when there's peace in the breast, and the prospect of living with my Fanny gladdens my heart:—You know not how I love her."<ref name="Faderman1981"/>Template:RpTemplate:Efn
The two women had a relationship that was hailed as devoted and virtuous, after eloping and living 51 years together in Wales.
Henry Fielding wrote a pamphlet titled The Female Husband in 1746, based on the life of Mary Hamilton, who was arrested after marrying a woman while masquerading as a man, and was sentenced to public whipping and six months in jail.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp
The Irish Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby were nicknamed the Ladies of Llangollen. Butler and Ponsonby eloped in 1778, to the relief of Ponsonby's family (concerned about their reputation had she run away with a man)<ref name="Faderman1981"/>Template:Rp to live together in Wales for 51 years and be thought of as eccentrics.<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp Their story was considered "the epitome of virtuous romantic friendship" and inspired poetry by Anna Seward and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.<ref name="Jennings2007"/>Template:Rp
1800s-early 1900s
Re-examining romantic friendships
During the 17th through 19th centuries in the West, a woman expressing passionate love for another woman was fashionable, accepted, and encouraged.<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp These relationships were termed romantic friendships, Boston marriages, or "sentimental friends".<ref name="Rothblum1993">Template:Cite book</ref> These relationships were documented by large volumes of letters written between women. Any sexual components of the relationships were not publicly discussed. Romantic friendships were promoted as alternatives to and practice for a woman's marriage to a man.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>Template:Rp
In a rare instance of sexuality being the focus of a romantic friendship, two Scottish schoolteachers in the early 19th century were accused by a student of visiting in the same bed, kissing, and making the bed shake. The student's grandmother reported the teachers to the authorities, who were skeptical that their actions were sexual in nature, or that they extended beyond the bounds of normal friendship: "Are we to say that every woman who has formed an intimate friendship and has slept in the same bed with another is guilty? Where is the innocent woman in Scotland?"<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp
Around the turn of the 20th century, the development of higher education provided opportunities for women. In all-female surroundings, a culture of romantic pursuit was fostered in women's colleges. Older students mentored younger ones, called on them socially, took them to all-women dances, and sent them flowers, cards, and poems that declared their undying love for each other.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>Template:Rp These were called "smashes" or "spoons", and they were written about quite frankly in stories for girls aspiring to attend college in publications such as Ladies Home Journal, a children's magazine titled St. Nicholas, and a collection called Smith College Stories, without negative views.<ref name="Foster1956"/>Template:Rp Enduring loyalty, devotion, and love were major components to these stories, and sexual acts beyond kissing were consistently undescribed.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>Template:Rp
Faderman calls this period "the last breath of innocence" before 1920 when characterizations of female affection were connected to sexuality, marking lesbians as a unique and often unflatteringly portrayed group.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>Template:Rp Specifically, Faderman connects the growth of women's independence and their beginning to reject strictly prescribed roles in the Victorian era to the scientific designation of lesbianism as a type of aberrant sexual behavior.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp
Notable relationships
In the 1800s, English Diarist Anne Lister, captivated by Butler and Ponsonby, recorded her affairs with women between 1817 and 1840. Some of it was written in code, detailing her sexual relationships with Marianna Belcombe and Maria Barlow.<ref name="Castle2003">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
In the 1800s, Edward De Lacy Evans was born female in Ireland, but took a male name during the voyage to Australia and lived as a man for 23 years in Victoria, marrying three times.<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp
American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) wrote over 300 letters and poems to Susan Gilbert, who later became her sister-in-law, and later engaged in another romantic correspondence with Kate Scott Anthon.<ref name="Foster1956">Foster, Jeannette H. (1956). Sex Variant Women in Literature, Naiad Press edition, 1985. Template:ISBN</ref>Template:Rp
American freeborn Black women Addie Brown and Rebecca Primus left evidence of their passion in letters: "No kisses is like youres".<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp They wrote openly about their sexual affection for one another, and despite their working-class economic status their writings survived, both of which are unusual for the time.
In 1870, American Alice Baldy wrote to Josie Varner, "Do you know that if you touch me, or speak to me there is not a nerve of fibre in my body that does not respond with a thrill of delight?"<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp
In the early 1900s, the unmarried professor Jeannette Augustus Marks at Mount Holyoke College, lived with the college president, Mary Woolley, for 36 years. Even while unmarried and living with a woman, Marks discouraged young women from "abnormal" friendships and insisted happiness could only be attained with a man.<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:RpTemplate:Efn
In 1909, Percy Redwood created a scandal in New Zealand when she was found to be Amy Bock, who had married a woman from Port Molyneaux; newspapers argued whether it was a sign of insanity or an inherent character flaw.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
History of sexology (late 1800s-early 1900s)
In research on "inversion", German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld categorized what was normal sexual behavior for men and women, and therefore categorized to what extent men and women deviated from these "ideal types".<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp Sexologists Richard von Krafft-Ebing from Germany and Britain's Havelock Ellis wrote some of the earliest and more enduring categorizations of female same-sex attraction, approaching it as a form of insanity and debating whether change was possible.<ref name="Faderman1981">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
The work of Krafft-Ebing and Ellis was widely read and helped to create public consciousness of female homosexuality.Template:Efn In the absence of any other material to describe their emotions, homosexuals accepted the designation of different or perverted, and used their outlaw status to form social circles in Paris and Berlin. Lesbian began to describe elements of a subculture.<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp
Early 1900s
From the 1890s to the 1930s, American heiress Natalie Clifford Barney held a weekly salon of artistic celebrities in Paris, where lesbian topics were the focus. Combining Greek influences with contemporary French eroticism, she attempted to create an updated and idealized version of Lesbos in her salon.<ref name="Edsall2003">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Salon attendees included prominent lesbian artists such as novelist Radclyffe Hall,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp artist Romaine Brooks; writer Colette, writer Djuna Barnes, and social host Gertrude Stein.<ref name = "Wickes">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
Berlin had a vibrant homosexual culture in the 1920s, and about 50 clubs catered to lesbians. Template:Lang Magazines like (The Girlfriend) and Garçonne (aka Template:Lang (Woman Love)) were aimed at lesbians and male transvestites.<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp These publications were controlled by men as owners, publishers, and writers. Around 1926, Selli Engler founded Die BIF – Blätter Idealer Frauenfreundschaften (The BIF – Papers on Ideal Women Friendships), the first lesbian publication owned, published and written by women. In 1928, the lesbian bar and nightclub guide Berlins lesbische Frauen (The Lesbians of Berlin) by Ruth Margarite Röllig<ref>Template:Cite web (originally published by Slow Travel Berlin)</ref> further popularized the German capital as a center of lesbian activity. Clubs varied between large tourist attractions to small neighborhood cafes. The cabaret song Template:Lang ("The Lavender Song") became an anthem to the lesbians of Berlin. Although it was sometimes tolerated, homosexuality was illegal in Germany and law enforcement used permitted gatherings as an opportunity to register the names of homosexuals for future reference.<ref name="Tamagne2004">Template:Cite book</ref> Magnus Hirschfeld's Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, which promoted tolerance for homosexuals in Germany, welcomed lesbian participation, and a surge of lesbian-themed writing and political activism in the German feminist movement became evident.<ref name="Edsall2003"/>Template:Rp
In 1928, Radclyffe Hall published the novel The Well of Loneliness. The novel's plot centers around Stephen Gordon, an invert woman. The novel was intended to be a call for tolerance for inverts by publicizing their disadvantages and lack of control over the condition.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>Template:Rp The novel's trial for obscenity was described as "the crystallizing moment in the construction of a visible modern English lesbian subculture" by professor Laura Doan.<ref name="Doan2001">Template:Cite book</ref>
Newspaper stories frankly divulged that the book's content includes "sexual relations between Lesbian women", and photographs of Hall often accompanied details about lesbians in most major print outlets within a span of six months.<ref name="Doan2001"/> Hall reflected the appearance of a "mannish" woman in the 1920s: short cropped hair, tailored suits (often with pants), and monocle that became widely recognized as a "uniform".<ref name="Doan2001"/>
In the United States, the 1920s was a decade of social experimentation, particularly with sex. This was heavily influenced by the writings of Sigmund Freud, who theorized that sexual desire would be sated unconsciously, despite an individual's wish to ignore it.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp Freud said that while most people have phases of homosexual attraction or experimentation, he attributed exclusive same-sex attraction to stunted development resulting from trauma or parental conflicts.<ref name="Edsall2003"/>Template:RpTemplate:Efn Freud's theories were much more pervasive in the U.S. than in Europe. Large cities that provided a nightlife were immensely popular, and women began to seek out sexual adventure. Bisexuality became chic, particularly in America's first gay neighborhoods.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp
No location saw more visitors for its possibilities of homosexual nightlife than Harlem, the predominantly African American section of New York City. White "slummers" enjoyed jazz and nightclubs. Blues singers Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, and Gladys Bentley openly sang about affairs with women.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp<ref name="McVea2000">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Homosexuals began to draw comparisons between their newly recognized minority status and that of African Americans.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp Among African American residents of Harlem, lesbian relationships were common and tolerated, though not overtly embraced. Some women staged lavish wedding ceremonies, even filing licenses using masculine names with New York City.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp Most homosexual women were married to men and participated in affairs with women regularly.<ref name="McVea2000"/>
Across town, Greenwich Village also saw a growing homosexual community; both Harlem and Greenwich Village provided furnished rooms for single men and women, which was a major factor in their development as centers for homosexual communities.<ref name="Norton1997"/>Template:Rp The Village attracted Bohemian intellectuals who rejected Victorian ideals. Homosexuals were predominantly male, although figures such as poet Edna St. Vincent Millay and social host Mabel Dodge were known for their affairs with women and promotion of tolerance of homosexuality.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>Template:Rp Women in the U.S. who could not visit Harlem or live in Greenwich Village were first able to visit saloons in the 1920s without being considered prostitutes. The existence of a public space for women to socialize in bars that catered to lesbians "became the single most important public manifestation of the subculture for many decades", according to historian Lillian Faderman.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp
Great Depression
The primary component necessary to encourage lesbians to be public and seek other women was economic independence, which virtually disappeared in the 1930s with the Great Depression. Independent women in the 1930s were generally seen as holding jobs that men should have. Most lesbians in the U.S. found it necessary to marry, engaging either in traditional marriages or "front" marriages to a gay man where both could discreetly pursue homosexual relationships.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp
The hostile social attitude led to the formation of small, close-knit, bar-centric communities in large cities. Women in other locales typically remained isolated. Speaking of homosexuality in any context was socially forbidden. Slang terms referred to openly gay people as "in the Life".<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:RpTemplate:Efn
Homosexual subculture disappeared in Germany with the rise of the Nazis in 1933.<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp
American First Lady from 1933 to 1945, Eleanor Roosevelt, exchanged rings with and wrote daily letters to journalist Lorena Hickok, expressing her love for Hickok, using endearments, and expressing a desire to kiss her.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>Template:Rp
World War II
The onset of World War II caused a massive upheaval in people's lives as military mobilization engaged millions of men. Women were also accepted into the military in the U.S. Women's Army Corps (WACs) and U.S. Navy's Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). Unlike processes to screen out male homosexuals, which had been in place since the creation of the American military, there were no methods to identify or screen for lesbians; they were put into place gradually during World War II. Despite common attitudes regarding women's traditional roles in the 1930s, independent and masculine women were directly recruited by the military in the 1940s, and frailty discouraged.<ref name="Berube1990">Berube, Allan (1990). Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II, The Free Press. Template:ISBN</ref>Template:Rp
Some women arrived at the recruiting station in a man's suit, denied ever being in love with another woman, and were easily inducted.<ref name="Berube1990"/>Template:Rp Sexual activity was forbidden and blue discharge was almost certain if one identified oneself as a lesbian. As women found each other, they formed into tight groups on base, socialized at service clubs, and began to use code words. Historian Allan Bérubé documented that homosexuals in the armed forces either consciously or subconsciously refused to identify themselves as homosexual or lesbian, and also never spoke about others' orientation.<ref name="Berube1990"/>Template:Rp
The most masculine women were not necessarily common, though they were visible, so they tended to attract women interested in finding other lesbians. Women had to broach the subject about their interest in other women carefully, sometimes taking days to develop a common understanding without asking or stating anything outright.<ref name="Berube1990"/>Template:Rp
Women who did not enter the military were aggressively called upon to take industrial jobs left by men, in order to continue national productivity. The increased mobility, sophistication, and independence of many women during and after the war made it possible for women to live without husbands, something that would not have been feasible under different economic and social circumstances, further shaping lesbian networks and environments.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp
In Germany, there was no explicit law against lesbianism. Lesbians who were Jewish, Roma, or politically dissident, were persecuted primarily for these other characteristics.<ref name="Lesbians-USHMM"/> Prior to 1939, lesbians were imprisoned as 'asocials', which was "a broad category applied to all people who evaded Nazi rule."<ref name=Elman /> Asocials were identified with an inverted black triangle.<ref name="Lesbians-USHMM">Template:Cite web</ref> In the 1990s in the U.S., some lesbians used the black triangle symbol as an identifier, and the pink triangle was also used for the combined lesbian-gay movement.<ref name="Elman">Template:Cite journal (Template:Doi. Template:PMID. Template:ISSN.)</ref>
Postwar
Following World War II, a nationwide movement pressed to return to pre-war society as quickly as possible in the U.S.<ref name="Adam1987">Template:Cite book</ref> Partially due to the increasing national paranoia about communism and the pervasiveness of psychoanalytic theory, the U.S. government began persecuting homosexuals around 1950. The government fired open homosexuals and began a widespread effort to gather intelligence about employees' private lives.<ref name="Edsall2003"/>Template:Rp The U.S. military and government conducted interrogations of women's sexual histories.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp State and local governments followed suit, arresting people for congregating in bars and parks, and enacting laws against cross-dressing for both sexes.<ref name="Adam1987"/>
Postwar practices to eliminate homosexuals from public service positions also began to Australia,<ref name="Willett2000">Template:Cite book</ref> Canada,<ref name="Warner2002">Template:Cite book</ref> and the UK.<ref name="Jennings2007"/>Template:Rp A section to create an offence of "gross indecency" between females was added to a bill in the United Kingdom House of Commons and passed there in 1921, but was rejected in the House of Lords, apparently because they were concerned any attention paid to sexual misconduct would also promote it.<ref name="Jennings2007"/>Template:Rp
Concurrently with government persecution, in 1952, homosexuality was listed as a pathological emotional disturbance in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.<ref name="Edsall2003"/>Template:Rp The view that homosexuality was a curable sickness was widely believed in the medical community, general population, and among many lesbians themselves.<ref name="esterberg">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Very little information was available about homosexuality beyond medical and psychiatric texts. Community meeting places consisted of bars that were commonly raided by police, with those arrested exposed in newspapers. In response, eight women in San Francisco met in their living rooms in 1955 to socialize and have a safe place to dance. When they decided to make it a regular meeting, they became the first organization for lesbians in the U.S., titled the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB). In 1956, the DOB began publishing a magazine titled The Ladder.<ref name="Gallo2006">Template:Cite book</ref> The Ladder was mailed to hundreds—eventually thousands—of DOB members discussing the nature of homosexuality, sometimes challenging the idea that it was a sickness, with readers offering their own reasons why they were lesbians and suggesting ways to cope with the condition or society's response to it.<ref name="esterberg" /> British lesbians followed with the publication of Arena Three beginning in 1964, with a similar mission.<ref name="Jennings2007"/>Template:Rp
Butch and femme dichotomy
Early working-class lesbian subculture in the U.S. and Canada developed rigid gender roles. These roles dated back to Harlem and Greenwich Village in the 1920s.<ref name="Jennings2007"/> In this subculture, a couple was defined as "dichotomous individuals, if not male and female, then butch and femme".<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp Although many municipalities enacted laws against cross-dressing, some women (butches) would socialize in bars dressed in men's clothing and mirroring traditional masculine behavior. Others (femmes) wore traditionally feminine clothing. Butch and femme modes of socialization were so integral within lesbian bars that women who refused to choose between the two would be ignored, or at least unable to date anyone, and butch/butch or femme/femme romantic relationships were unacceptable.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp
By the 1950s and 1960s, the roles were pervasive and not limited to North America: from 1940 to 1970, butch/femme bar culture flourished in Britain, though there were fewer class distinctions than in lesbian communities in the U.S.<ref name="Jennings2007"/>Template:Rp <ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp Butch and femme were considered coarse by American lesbians of higher social standing during this period.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp
Fiction
Regardless of the lack of information about homosexuality in scholarly texts, another forum for learning about lesbianism was growing. A paperback book titled Women's Barracks describing a woman's experiences in the Free French Forces was published in 1950. It told of a lesbian relationship the author had witnessed. After 4.5 million copies were sold, it was consequently named in the House Select Committee on Current Pornographic Materials in 1952.<ref name="Stryker2001">Template:Cite book</ref> Its publisher, Gold Medal Books, followed with the novel Spring Fire in 1952, which sold 1.5 million copies. Gold Medal Books was overwhelmed with mail from women writing about the subject matter, and followed with more books, creating the genre of lesbian pulp fiction.<ref name="Stryker2001"/>
Between 1955 and 1969, over 2,000 books were published using lesbianism as a topic, and they were sold in corner drugstores, train stations, bus stops, and newsstands all over the U.S. and Canada. Literary scholar, Yvonne Keller created several subclasses for lesbian pulp fiction, to help highlight the differences between the types of pulp fiction being released.<ref name=Keller>Template:Cite journal</ref> Virile adventures were written by authors using male pseudonyms, and almost all were marketed to heterosexual men. During this time, another subclass emerged called "Pro-Lesbian". The emergence of pro-lesbian fiction began with authors seeing the voyeuristic and homophobic nature of virile adventures. With only a handful of lesbian pulp fiction authors were women writing for lesbians, including Ann Bannon, Valerie Taylor, Paula Christian, and Vin Packer/Ann Aldrich. These authors focused on the relationship between the women instead of writing sexually explicit material, defying the standards of the "virile adventure" model.<ref name=Keller />
The differences between virile adventures and pro-lesbian covers and titles were distinct enough that Bannon, who also purchased lesbian pulp fiction, later stated that women identified the material iconically by the cover art.<ref name="forbidden">Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives. Dir. Fernie, L., Weissman. Videocassette. Women Make Movies Home Video, 1994.</ref> Pro-lesbian covers were innocuous and hinted at their lesbian themes, and virile adventures ranged from having one woman partially undressed to sexually explicit covers, to demonstrate the invariably salacious material inside.<ref name=Keller /> In addition to this, coded words and images were used on the covers. Instead of "lesbian", terms such as "strange", "twilight", "queer", and "third sex", were used in the titles.<ref name="Zimet1999">Template:Cite book</ref> Many of the books used cultural references: naming places, terms, describing modes of dress and other codes to isolated women. As a result, pulp fiction helped to proliferate a lesbian identity simultaneously to lesbians and heterosexual readers.<ref name="nestle">Nestle, Joan (1983). "Desire So Big It Had to Be Brave", Lesbian Herstory Archives.</ref>
Second-wave feminism / Late 1960s-1980s
The social rigidity of the 1950s and early 1960s encountered a backlash as social movements to improve the standing of African Americans, the poor, women, and gays all became prominent. The gay rights movement and the feminist movement connected after a violent confrontation occurred in New York City in the 1969 Stonewall riots.<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp
From the late 1950s to the 1970s, the sexual revolution took place, and many women took advantage of their new social freedom to try new experiences. Women who previously identified as heterosexual tried sex with women, though many maintained their heterosexual identity.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp
From the 1960s to the 1980s, the movement of second-wave feminism developed. Lesbianism as a political identity grew to describe a social philosophy among women, often overshadowing sexual desire as a defining trait. Different groups and authors defined "lesbian" as "the rage of all women condensed to the point of explosion".,<ref name="Schlager1998"/>Template:Rp "a woman-identified woman who does not fuck men. It does not mean compulsory sexual activity with women.",<ref name="Jennings2007"/>Template:Rp or "a woman whose primary erotic, psychological, emotional and social interest is in a member of her own sex[...].".<ref name="Martin1991">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Women who subscribed to this philosophy dubbed themselves lesbian-feminists. In the ideal society, named Lesbian Nation, "woman" and "lesbian" were interchangeable.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp
Separatist feminists expressed their disdain with an inherently sexist and patriarchal society, and concluded the most effective way to overcome sexism and attain the equality of women would be to deny men any power or pleasure from women. Many believers strove to separate themselves physically and economically from traditional male-centered culture.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp As equality was a priority for lesbian-feminists, disparity of roles between men and women or butch and femme were viewed as patriarchal. Lesbian-feminists also eschewed the perceived chauvinism of gay men; many lesbian-feminists refused to work with men, or take up their causes.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp
Although lesbian-feminism was a significant shift, not all lesbians agreed with it. Lesbian-feminism was a youth-oriented movement: its members were primarily college educated, with experience in New Left and radical causes, but they had not seen any success in persuading radical organizations to take up women's issues.<ref name="Schlager1998"/>Template:Rp Many older lesbians who had acknowledged their sexuality in more conservative times felt maintaining their ways of coping in a homophobic world was more appropriate.<ref name="From Accommodation to Liberation: A">Template:Cite journal</ref> Lesbians who believed they were born homosexual, and used the descriptor "lesbian" to define sexual attraction, often considered the separatist opinions of lesbian-feminists to be detrimental to the cause of gay rights.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp
In 1970, the Daughters of Bilitis folded over which direction to focus on: feminism or gay rights issues.<ref name="From Accommodation to Liberation: A"/>
From 1974 to 1993, the organization Salsa Soul Sisters, today known as the African Ancestral Lesbians United for Societal Change, was a lesbian womanist organization operating in New York City.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
In October 1980, the First Black Lesbian Conference was held, an outgrowth from the First National Third World Lesbian and Gay Conference.<ref>Kyper, John. "Black Lesbians Meet in October." Coming Up: A Calendar of Events 1 (Oct. 1980): 1. Web.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Third-wave feminism / 1980s-2000s
Template:Further In the 1980s, a significant movement rejected the desexualization of lesbianism by cultural feminists, causing a heated controversy called the feminist sex wars.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>Template:Rp Butch and femme roles returned, although not as strictly followed as they were in the 1950s. They became a mode of chosen sexual self-expression for some women in the 1990s. Once again, women felt safer claiming to be more sexually adventurous, and sexual flexibility became more accepted.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
In 1997, Marxist political activist Angela Davis came out a lesbian in an interview with Out magazine.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Lesbians of color
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"Lesbians of color" is an umbrella term for Black, Latina, Asian, Arab, Native American, and other non-white lesbians. Lesbians of color have often been a marginalized group,<ref name="Myers">Template:Cite book</ref> and experienced racism in addition to homophobia and misogyny.<ref name="Zimmerman2000">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Page needed
Some scholars have noted that past lesbian communities were primarily white and American, and that some lesbians of color had difficulties integrating into these communities at large. Many lesbians of color have stated that they were often systematically excluded from lesbian spaces based on the fact that they are women of color.<ref name="RuthR">Template:Cite book</ref> The early lesbian feminist movement was criticized for excluding race and class issues from their spaces and for a lack of focus on issues that did not benefit white women.<ref name=Myers />
Additionally, lesbians of color face unique sets of challenges within their respective racial communities, as communities of color often view homosexuality as a "white" lifestyle and see the acceptance of homosexuality as a setback in achieving equality.<ref name="Zimmerman2000"/>Template:Page needed Lesbians of color, especially those of immigrant populations, often hold the sentiment that their orientation adversely affects assimilation into the dominant culture.<ref name=Myers /> Within racial communities, the decision to come out can be costly, as the threat of loss of support from family, friends, and the community at large is probable. Lesbians of color are often exposed to a range of adverse consequences, including microaggression, discrimination, menace, and violence.<ref name=RuthR />
Audre Lorde, Barbara Smith, and Cherrie Moraga are cited as major theorists within the various lesbians of color movements for their insistence on inclusion and equality, from both racial communities and white lesbian communities.<ref name=Myers />
The many intersections surrounding lesbians of color can often contribute to an increased need for mental health resources. Lesbians of color are more likely to experience a number of psychological issues due to the various experiences of sexism, racism, and homophobia.<ref name="BridgesSK">Template:Cite journal</ref> Mental health providers often use heteronormative standards to gauge the health of lesbian relationships, and the relationships of lesbian women of color are often subjects of judgment because they are seen as the most deviant.<ref name=BridgesSK />
Native North America
Some Indigenous peoples of the Americas conceptualize a third gender for women who dress as, and fulfill the roles usually filled by, men in their cultures.<ref name="Vowel-1">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="NCIA">Template:Cite journal</ref> In other cases they may use different terms for feminine women and masculine women.<ref name="Estrada">Template:Cite journal</ref> These identities are rooted in the context of the ceremonial and cultural lives of the particular Indigenous cultures, and "simply being gay and Indian does not make someone a Two-Spirit."<ref name="NYT2">Template:Cite news</ref> These ceremonial and social roles, which are conferred and confirmed by the person's elders, "do not make sense" when defined by non-Native concepts of sexual orientation and gender identity.<ref name=NCIA/> Rather, they must be understood in an Indigenous context, as traditional spiritual and social roles held by the person in their Indigenous community.<ref name=NYT2/><ref name=NCIA/><ref name="Pember">Template:Cite web</ref>
Tribal law can differ from colonial law. For example, the Navajo Nation's Diné Marriage Act of 2005, which bans recognition of specifically same-sex marriages performed outside the Nation, remains in place as of 2025 despite ongoing disputes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Middle East
Arabic-language historical records have used various terms to describe sexual practices between women.<ref name="Amer">Template:Cite journal</ref> A common one is "sahq", which refers to rubbing. Lesbian practices and identities are largely absent from the historical record. The common term to describe lesbianism in Arabic today is essentially the same term used to describe men, and thus the distinction between male and female homosexuality is to a certain extent linguistically obscured in contemporary queer discourse.<ref name=Amer /> Overall, the study of contemporary lesbian experience in the region is complicated by power dynamics in the postcolonial context, shaped even by what some scholars refer to as "homonationalism", the use of politicized understanding of sexual categories to advance specific national interests on the domestic and international stage.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Women in the Middle East have been historically segregated from men. In the 7th and 8th centuries, some extraordinary women dressed in male attire when gender roles were less strict. The Caliphal court in Baghdad featured women who dressed as men, including false facial hair, but they competed with other women for the attentions of men.<ref name="Murray1997">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Amer"/>
In the ninth century, the Muslim philosopher al-Kindi, who was born and educated in modern-day Iraq, explicitly discusses lesbianism: "Lesbianism is due to a vapor which, condensed, generates in the labia heat and an itch which only dissolve and become cold through friction and orgasm. When friction and orgasm take place, the heat turns into coldness because the liquid that a woman ejaculates in lesbian intercourse is cold whereas..."<ref name="Amer 215–236">Template:Cite journal</ref>
In the tenth century, the erotic writings Jawami ` al-ladhdha (Encyclopedia of Pleasure), by Abul Hasan Ali ibn Nasr al-Katib, was written also in modern-day Iraq. It describes a committed relationship between a Christian woman and an Arab woman in pre-Islamic Iraq, and the mourning process one went through when the other died.<ref name="Amer 215–236"/>
According to the 12th-century writings of Sharif al-Idrisi, highly intelligent women were more likely to be lesbians; their intellectual prowess put them on a more even par with men.<ref name="Murray1997"/>
While male-written accounts of lesbianism in the Middle East exist, a 1978 treatise about repression in Iran asserted that women were completely silenced: "In the whole of Iranian history, [no woman] has been allowed to speak out for such tendencies ... To attest to lesbian desires would be an unforgivable crime."<ref name="Murray1997"/>
A lesbian anthropologist in 1991 visited Yemen and reported that women in the town she visited were unable to comprehend her romantic relationship to another woman. Women in Pakistan are expected to marry men; those who do not are ostracized. Women may have intimate relations with other women as long as their wifely duties are met, their private matters are kept quiet, and the woman with whom they are involved is somehow related by family or logical interest to her lover.<ref name="Murray1997"/>
Individuals identifying with or otherwise engaging in lesbian practices in the region can face family violence and societal persecution, including "honor killings". The justifications provided by murderers relate to a person's perceived sexual immorality, loss of virginity (outside of acceptable frames of marriage), and target female victims primarily.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Lesbians also face government persecution in the Middle East. In Yemen, homosexuality is criminalized, and women can face lashings, up to three years in prison or the death penalty for consensual lesbian sex.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2017, the Egyptian government arrested and tortured out lesbian and activist Sarah Hegazi after she flew a rainbow flag at a concert.<ref name="Hegazi">Template:Cite news</ref>
Latin America
In Latin America, lesbian subcultures increased as several countries transitioned to or reformed democratic governments. However, social harassment has been common even in places where homosexuality is legal. Laws against child corruption, morality, or "the good ways" (faltas a la moral o las buenas costumbres) have been used to persecute homosexuals.<ref name="Mogrovejo2004">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. Template:ISBN. pp. 85–103, 281-294</ref> Lesbian groups and advocacy have faced repression in many countries where dictators have seized power, including Argentina.<ref name="Mogrovejo2004"/>
Argentinian lesbian group Nuestro Mundo (NM) was created in 1969.<ref name="Mogrovejo2004"/>
Mexican lesbian group Lesbos was founded in 1977. In 1997, 13 lesbian organizations were active in Mexico City.<ref name="Mogrovejo2004"/>
In Chile, the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet forbade the creation of lesbian groups until 1984. The first lesbian group Ayuquelén ("joy of being" in Mapuche) was first founded in 1984, prompted by the very public homophobic murder of a woman. Ayuquelén worked to remove the sodomy laws then in place in Chile.<ref name="Mogrovejo2004"/>
In Nicaragua in 1986, the Sandinista National Liberation Front expelled gay men and lesbians from its midst. State persecution prevented the formation of associations until AIDS became a concern, when educational efforts forced sexual minorities to band together. The first lesbian organization was Nosotras, founded in 1989. An effort to promote visibility from 1991 to 1992 provoked the government to declare homosexuality illegal in 1994, effectively ending the movement until 2004, when Grupo Safo – Grupo de Mujeres Lesbianas de Nicaragua was created, four years before homosexuality became legal again.<ref name="Mogrovejo2004"/>
Africa
Founded in 2004 in Namibia, the Coalition of African Lesbians is a pan-Africanist, radical feminist network of fourteen nonprofits across ten African countries, working to eradicate stigma, legal discrimination, and violence against lesbians.<ref name="autogenerated1">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Cross-gender roles and marriage between women has also been recorded in over 30 traditional African societies.<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp Women may marry other women, raise their children, and be generally thought of as men in societies in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Kenya. The Hausa people of Sudan have a term equivalent to lesbian, kifi, that may also be applied to males to mean "neither party insists on a particular sexual role".<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp
Near the Congo River, a female who participates in strong emotional or sexual relationships with another female among the Nkundo people is known as yaikya bonsángo (a woman who presses against another woman). Lesbian relationships are also known in matrilineal societies in Ghana among the Akan people. In Lesotho, females engage in what is commonly considered sexual behavior to the Western world: they kiss, sleep together, rub genitals, participate in cunnilingus, and maintain their relationships with other females vigilantly. Since the people of Lesotho believe sex requires a penis, they do not consider their behavior sexual, nor label themselves lesbians.<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp
In Tanzania, lesbians are known as or called "Msagaji" (singular), "Wasagaji" (plural), which in Swahili means grinder or grinding because of the perceived nature of lesbian sex that would involve the mutual rubbing of vulvas.<ref name="Murray2000">Template:Cite book</ref>
Corrective rape is reported to be on the rise in South Africa.<ref name="Actionaid">Template:Cite web</ref> The crime is sometimes supervised by members of the woman's family or local community,<ref name="Bartle">Template:Cite journal</ref> and is a major contributor to HIV infection in South African lesbians.<ref name="Actionaid" /> "Corrective rape" is not recognized by the South African legal system as a hate crime despite the fact that the South African Constitution states that no person shall be discriminated against based on their social status and identity, including sexual orientation.<ref name="Mieses">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="RapeCNN">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="CNN">Template:Cite news</ref> Legally, South Africa protects gay rights extensively, but the government has not taken proactive action to prevent corrective rape, and women do not have much faith in the police and their investigations.<ref name="Di">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Mabuse">Template:Cite news</ref> Local South African organizations including nonprofit "Luleki Sizwe" and The Triangle Project, between 500 (per Triangle Project) and 3600 (Luleki Sizwe) South Africans suffer from corrective rape every year,<ref name="Contemporary Sexuality">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Di" /> the vast majority of lesbians live in fear of corrective rape, and victims are less likely to report the crime because of their society's homophobia.<ref name="Di" />
Asia
China before westernization was another society that segregated men from women. Historical Chinese culture has not recognized a concept of sexual orientation, or a framework to divide people based on their same-sex or opposite-sex attractions.<ref name="SullivanJackson2001">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Although there was a significant culture surrounding homosexual men, there was none for women. Outside their duties to bear sons to their husbands, women were perceived as having no sexuality at all.<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp
This did not mean that women could not pursue sexual relationships with other women, but that such associations could not impose upon women's relationships to men. Rare references to lesbianism were written by Ying Shao, who identified same-sex relationships between women in imperial courts who behaved as husband and wife as dui shi (paired eating). "Golden Orchid Associations" in Southern China existed into the 20th century and promoted formal marriages between women, who were then allowed to adopt children.<ref name="Norton1997"/>Template:Rp Westernization brought new ideas that all sexual behavior not resulting in reproduction was aberrant.<ref name="SullivanJackson2001"/>Template:Rp
The liberty of being employed in silk factories starting in 1865 allowed some women to style themselves tzu-shu nii (never to marry) and live in communes with other women. Other Chinese called them sou-hei (self-combers) for adopting hairstyles of married women. These communes passed because of the Great Depression and were subsequently discouraged by the communist government for being a relic of feudal China.<ref name="Norton1997"/>Template:Rp In contemporary Chinese society, tongzhi (same goal or spirit) is the term used to refer to homosexuals; most Chinese are reluctant to divide this classification further to identify lesbians.<ref name="SullivanJackson2001"/>Template:Rp
In Japan, the term Template:Lang, a Japanese pronunciation of "lesbian", was used during the 1920s. Westernization brought more independence for women and allowed some Japanese women to wear pants.<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>Template:Rp The cognate tomboy is used in the Philippines, and particularly in Manila, to denote women who are more masculine.<ref name="SullivanJackson2001"/>Template:Rp Virtuous women in Korea prioritize motherhood, chastity, and virginity; outside this scope, very few women are free to express themselves through sexuality, although there is a growing organization for lesbians named Template:Lang.<ref name="SullivanJackson2001"/>Template:Rp The term pondan is used in Malaysia to refer to gay men, but since there is no historical context to reference lesbians, the term is used for female homosexuals as well.<ref name="SullivanJackson2001"/>Template:Rp As in many Asian countries, open homosexuality is discouraged in many social levels, so many Malaysians lead double lives.<ref name="SullivanJackson2001"/>Template:Rp
In India, a 14th-century Indian text mentioning a lesbian couple who had a child as a result of their lovemaking is an exception to the general silence about female homosexuality. According to Ruth Vanita, this invisibility disappeared with the release of a film titled Fire in 1996, prompting some theaters in India to be attacked by religious extremists. Terms used to label homosexuals are often rejected by Indian activists for being the result of imperialist influence, but most discourse on homosexuality centers on men. Women's rights groups in India continue to debate the legitimacy of including lesbian issues in their platforms, as lesbians and material focusing on female homosexuality are frequently suppressed.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Demographics
Kinsey Report
The most extensive early study of female homosexuality was provided by the Institute for Sex Research, who published an in-depth report of the sexual experiences of American women in 1953. More than 8,000 women were interviewed by Alfred Kinsey and the staff of the Institute for Sex Research for Kinsey Reports. The reports' methodology was criticized during and after its publication.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web John Tukey criticizes sample procedure</ref><ref name="Bullough1998" />
Despite the criticism, the reports were unexpectedly popular. They reported that 28% of women had been aroused by another female, and 19% had a sexual contact with another female.,<ref name="Kinsey1953">Institute for Sex Research (Kinsey, et al.) (1953). Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, Saunders.</ref>Template:RpTemplate:Efn and that around nine percent of the women had orgasmed.<ref name="Kinsey1953"/>Template:Rp
The report's dispassionate discussion of homosexuality as a form of human sexual behavior was revolutionary. Up to this study, only physicians and psychiatrists studied sexual behavior, and almost always the results were interpreted with a moral view.<ref name="Bullough1998">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Hite Report
In 1976, sexologist Shere Hite did a qualitative survey of 3,019 women on their sexual experiences, and published it as The Hite Report. Hite's questions differed from Kinsey's, focusing more on how women identified and what they preferred, rather than their prior experiences. Respondents to Hite's questions indicated that 8% preferred sex with women and 9% answered that they identified as bisexual or had sexual experiences with men and women, though they refused to indicate preference.<ref name="Hite1976">Hite, Shere (1976). The Hite Report: A Nationwide Study on Female Sexuality , MacMillan. Template:ISBN. pp. 261, 262, 274</ref>
Hite found it "striking" that many women who had no lesbian experiences indicated they were interested in sex with women, particularly because the question was not asked.<ref name="Hite1976"/> Hite found the two most significant differences between respondents' experience with men and women were the focus on clitoral stimulation, and more emotional involvement and orgasmic responses.<ref name="Hite1976"/>
Population estimates
Lesbians in the U.S. are estimated to be about 2.6% of the population, according to a 2000 survey.<ref name="almanac">Wright, John, ed. "Homosexuality in the U.S., 1998–2000", The New York Times Almanac (2009), Penguin Reference. Template:ISBN, p. 314.</ref> Another American survey showed that between 2000 and 2005, the number of people claiming to be in same-sex relationships increased by 30%—five times the rate of population growth in the U.S. The study attributed the jump to people being more comfortable self-identifying as homosexual to the federal government.Template:Efn
A survey by the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) in 2010 found that 1.5% of Britons identified themselves as gay or bisexual, and the ONS suggests that this is in line with other surveys showing the number between 0.3% and 3%.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="more-or-less-2010-10-01">Template:Cite web</ref>
Polls in Australia recorded a range of self-identified lesbian or bisexual women from 1.3% to 2.2% of the total population.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Health
Physical
Medical research and care sometimes use the term women who have sex with women (WSW) instead of lesbian.<ref name="King2008">Holmes, King, Sparling, P., et al., eds. (2008). Sexually Transmitted Diseases, McGraw-Hill Medical. Template:ISBN. pp. 219, 221, 226, 229.</ref>
In a 2006 American survey of 2,345 lesbian and bisexual women, only 9.3% had ever been asked their sexual orientation by a physician. A third of the women had received a negative reaction from a medical professional after identifying themselves as lesbian or bisexual.<ref name="mravack">Template:Cite journal</ref>
When women do seek medical attention, medical professionals often fail to take a complete medical history. A patient's complete history helps medical professionals identify higher risk areas. In a 1995 U.S. survey of 6,935 self-identified lesbians, 77% had had one or more lifetime male sexual partners, and 6% had that contact within the previous year.<ref name="Diamant">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Efn
Cancer
The risk factors for developing ovarian cancer rates are higher in lesbians than heterosexual women, perhaps because many lesbians lack the protective factors of pregnancy, abortion, contraceptives, breast feeding, and miscarriages.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Many lesbians neglect to see a physician because they do not participate in heterosexual activity and require no birth control, which is the initiating factor for most women to seek consultation with a gynecologist when they become sexually active.<ref name="Rosser2000">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>Template:Rp As a result, many lesbians are not screened for cancer regularly with Pap smears.<ref name="HHS">Template:Cite web</ref>
Lifestyle factors
Factors that add to risk of heart disease include obesity and smoking, both of which are more prevalent among lesbians. Studies show that lesbians are generally less concerned about weight issues than heterosexual women; and lesbians consider women with higher body masses to be more attractive than heterosexual women do. Research is needed to determine specific causes of obesity and smoking in lesbians.<ref name="HHS" /><ref name="mravack" />
Lesbians are more likely to exercise regularly than heterosexual women. Lesbians, unlike heterosexual women, do not generally exercise for aesthetic reasons.<ref name="haines" />
Sexual health
Some sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are communicable between women, including human papillomavirus (HPV), trichomoniasis, syphilis, and herpes simplex virus (HSV). Transmission of specific STIs among women who have sex with women depends on the sexual practices women engage in. Any object that comes in contact with cervical secretions, vaginal mucosa, or menstrual blood, including fingers or penetrative objects may transmit STIs.<ref>Women Who Have Sex with Women (WSW), Centers for Disease Control, 2006 (MMWR August 4, 2006 / Vol. 55 / No. RR—11). Retrieved on January 9, 2009. Template:Webarchive</ref> Orogenital contact may indicate a higher risk of acquiring HSV,<ref name="Frenkl2008">Template:Cite journal</ref> even among women who have had no sex with men.<ref name="King2008"/>
Bacterial vaginosis (BV) occurs more often in lesbians, but it is unclear if BV is transmitted by sexual contact; it occurs in celibate as well as sexually active women. BV often occurs in both partners in a lesbian relationship;<ref name="Risser2008">Template:Cite journal</ref> a recent study of women with BV found that 81% had partners with BV.<ref name="King2008"/>
Lesbians do not frequently transmit human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), although transmission is possible through vaginal and cervical secretions. The highest rate of transmission of HIV to lesbians is from intravenous drug use or sex with women who have sexual intercourse with bisexual men.<ref name="Rosser2000"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Mental
Lesbian women report feeling significantly different and isolated during adolescence.<ref name="cochran">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Schlager1998"/>Template:Rp These emotions have been cited as appearing on average at 15 years old in lesbians and 18 years old in bisexual women.<ref name="rust2">Template:Cite journal</ref>
More than half the respondents to a 1994 survey of health issues in lesbians reported they had suicidal thoughts, and 18% had attempted suicide.<ref name="Solarz1999"/>Template:RpTemplate:Update inline 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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Depression is reported among lesbians at a rate similar to heterosexual women.<ref name="Solarz1999"/>Template:Rp Depression is a more significant problem among women who feel they must hide their sexual orientation from friends and family, or experience compounded ethnic or religious discrimination, or endure relationship difficulties with no support system.<ref name="Schlager1998"/>Template:Rp Generalized anxiety disorder is more likely to appear among lesbian and bisexual women than heterosexual women.<ref name="cochran" />Template:Efn
Studies have shown that heterosexual men and lesbians have different standards for what they consider attractive in women. Lesbians who view themselves with male standards of female beauty may experience lower self-esteem, eating disorders, and higher incidence of depression.<ref name="haines">Template:Cite journal</ref>
A population-based study completed by the National Alcohol Research Center found that lesbians and bisexual women are less likely than heterosexual women to abstain from alcohol, and have a higher likelihood of reporting problems with alcohol, as well as not being satisfied with treatment for substance abuse programs.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Primary source inline Many lesbian communities are centered in bars, and drinking is an activity that correlates to community participation for lesbians and bisexual women.<ref name="Solarz1999"/>Template:RpTemplate:Update inline
Media representation
The majority of media about lesbians has been produced by men;<ref name="Schlager1998"/>Template:Rp 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.<ref name="Schlager1998"/>Template:Rp
Literature
Ancient lesbian writers include Sappho.Template:Efn Ancient stories interpreted as examples of lesbianism include the Book of Ruth,<ref name="Foster1956"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Castle2003"/>Template:Rp Camilla and Diana, Artemis and Callisto, and Iphis and Ianthe.<ref name="Foster1956"/>Template:Rp
For ten centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, lesbianism disappeared from literature.<ref name="Castle2003"/>Template:Rp Foster points to the particularly strict view that Eve—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.<ref name="Foster1956"/>Template:Rp During this time, women were largely illiterate and discouraged from intellectual pursuit, and men shaped ideas about sexuality.<ref name="Castle2003"/>Template:Rp
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.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>Template:Rp 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.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>Template:Rp
In the 18th century, writings mentioning lesbianism included the 1749 English erotica Fanny Hill<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the 1778 erotica L'Espion Anglais.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Lesbianism became almost exclusive to French literature in the 19th century, based on male fantasy and the desire to shock bourgeois moral values.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>Template:Rp Honoré de Balzac, in The 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 novelist Théophile Gautier's Mademoiselle de Maupin, which provided the first description of a physical type that became associated with lesbians: tall, wide-shouldered, slim-hipped, and athletically inclined.<ref name="Foster1956"/>Template:Rp Charles Baudelaire repeatedly used lesbianism as a theme in his poems "Lesbos", Template:Lang ("Damned Women"), and Template:Lang.<ref name="Castle2003"/>Template:Rp
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.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>Template:Rp Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1816 poem "Christabel" and the novella Carmilla (1872) by Sheridan Le Fanu both present lesbianism associated with vampirism.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>Template:Rp
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 including Louise Labé, Charlotte Charke, and Margaret Fuller either changed the pronouns in their literary works to male, or made them ambiguous.<ref name="Foster1956"/>Template:Rp Author George Sand was portrayed as a character in several works in the 19th century; writer Mario Praz credited the popularity of lesbianism as a theme to Sand's appearance in Paris society in the 1830s.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>Template:RpTemplate:Efn
In the 20th century, Katherine Mansfield, Amy Lowell, Gertrude Stein, H.D., Vita Sackville-West, Virginia Woolf, and Gale Wilhelm wrote popular works that had same-sex relationships as themes.<ref name="Norton1997"/>Template:Rp In 1928, The Well of Loneliness and three other novels with lesbian themes were published in England: Elizabeth Bowen's The Hotel, Woolf's Orlando, and Compton Mackenzie's satirical novel Extraordinary Women.<ref>Lanser, 1979, p. 39.</ref> Unlike The Well of Loneliness, none of these other novels were banned.<ref name="Foster1956"/>Template:RpTemplate:Efn
As the paperback book came into fashion, lesbian themes were relegated to pulp 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 in Spring Fire because the publishers were concerned about the books being confiscated by the U.S. Postal Service.<ref>Packer, Vin (Marijane Meaker). Spring Fire, Introduction. 2004, Cleis Press.</ref> Patricia Highsmith, writing as Claire Morgan, wrote The Price of Salt in 1951 and refused to follow this directive.<ref name="Castle2003"/>Template:Rp
In the 1970s, lesbian feminist magazines such as The Furies<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Sinister Wisdom began publication.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Well-known writers who wrote on lesbian topics or about lesbian-themed plots included Rita Mae Brown, Dorothy Allison,<ref name="Schlager1998"/>Template:Rp Audre Lorde, and Cherríe Moraga.<ref name="Schlager1998"/>Template:Rp
Film
Lesbianism, or the suggestion of it, began early in filmmaking. The same constructs of how lesbians were portrayed—or for what reasons—as what had appeared in literature were placed on women in the films. Women challenging their feminine roles was a device more easily accepted than men challenging masculine ones. Actresses appeared as men in male roles because of plot devices as early as 1914 in A Florida Enchantment featuring Edith Storey. In Morocco (1930) Marlene Dietrich kisses another woman on the lips, and Katharine Hepburn plays a man in Christopher Strong in 1933 and again in Sylvia Scarlett (1936). Hollywood films followed the same trend set by audiences who flocked to Harlem to see edgy shows that suggested bisexuality.<ref name="Benshoff2006">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
Overt female homosexuality was introduced in the 1929 film Pandora's Box. German films depicting homosexuality were distributed throughout Europe, but 1931's Mädchen in Uniform was not distributed in the U.S. because of the depiction of an adolescent's love for a female teacher in boarding school.<ref name="Russo1987">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
After the introduction of the Hays Code in the U.S. in 1930, most references to homosexuality in American films were censored. The originally-lesbian play The Children's Hour was converted into a heterosexual love triangle and retitled These Three. The 1933 biopic Queen Christina veiled most of the speculation about Christina of Sweden's affairs with women.<ref name="Russo1987"/>Template:Rp Censors removed a lesbian scene from the 1951 film The Pit of Loneliness, saying that it was "Immoral, would tend to corrupt morals".<ref name="Russo1987"/>Template:Rp The code was relaxed somewhat after 1961, and the next year William Wyler remade The Children's Hour with Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine. After MacLaine's character admits her love for Hepburn's, she hangs herself; this set a precedent for miserable endings in films addressing homosexuality.<ref name="Russo1987"/>Template:Rp
Gay characters also were often killed off at the end, such as the death of Sandy Dennis' character at the end of The Fox in 1968. If not victims, lesbians were depicted as villains or morally corrupt, such as portrayals of brothel madames by Barbara Stanwyck in Walk on the Wild Side from 1962 and Shelley Winters in The Balcony in 1963. Lesbians as predators were presented in Rebecca (1940), women's prison films like Caged (1950), or in the character Rosa Klebb in From Russia with Love (1963).<ref name="Russo1987"/>Template:Rp Lesbian vampire themes have reappeared in Dracula's Daughter (1936), Blood and Roses (1960), Vampyros Lesbos (1971), and The Hunger (1983).<ref name="Russo1987"/>Template:Rp Basic Instinct (1992) featured a bisexual murderer played by Sharon Stone; it was one of several films that set off a storm of protests about the depiction of gay people as predators.<ref name="Benshoff2006"/>Template:Rp
The first film to address lesbianism with significant depth was The Killing of Sister George in 1968, which was filmed in The Gateways Club, a longstanding lesbian pub in London. Film historian Vito Russo considers the film a complex treatment of a multifaceted, openly lesbian character who is forced into silence about her orientation by other lesbians.<ref name="Russo1987"/>Template:Rp Personal Best in 1982, and Lianna in 1983 treated lesbian relationships more sympathetically and showed lesbian sex scenes, though in neither film are the relationships happy ones. Personal Best was criticized for engaging in the clichéd plot device of one woman returning to a relationship with a man, implying that lesbianism is a phase, as well as treating the lesbian relationship with "undisguised voyeurism".<ref name="Benshoff2006"/>Template:Rp More ambiguous portrayals of lesbian characters were seen in Silkwood (1983), The Color Purple (1985), and Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), despite explicit lesbianism in the source material.<ref>The Celluloid Closet. Dir. Epstein, R., Friedman, J. DVD, Home Box Office, 1996.</ref>
An era of independent filmmaking brought different stories, writers, and directors to films. Desert Hearts (1985) was directed by lesbian Donna Deitch, and is loosely based on Jane Rule's novel Desert of the Heart. It received mixed critical commentary, but earned positive reviews from the gay press.<ref name="Benshoff2006"/>Template:Rp The late 1980s and early 1990s ushered in a series of films treating gay and lesbian issues seriously, made by gays and lesbians, nicknamed New Queer Cinema.<ref name="Benshoff2006"/>Template:Rp Films using lesbians as a subject included Rose Troche's avant garde romantic comedy Go Fish (1994) and the first film about African American lesbians, Cheryl Dunye's The Watermelon Woman, in 1995.<ref name="Benshoff2006"/>Template:Rp
Later lesbian films included The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995), When Night Is Falling (1995), Better Than Chocolate (1999), and the social satire But I'm a Cheerleader (1999).<ref name="Benshoff2006"/>Template:Rp A twist on the lesbian-as-predator theme was the added complexity of motivations of lesbian characters in the Oscar-winning biopic of Aileen Wuornos, Monster (2003).
Theatre
The first stage production to feature a lesbian kiss and open depiction of two women in love is the 1907 Yiddish play God of Vengeance (Got fun nekome) by Sholem 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".<ref name="Curtin1987">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> God of Vengeance was the inspiration for the 2015 play Indecent by Paula Vogel, which features lesbian characters Rifkele and Manke.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Indecent was nominated for multiple 2017 Tony Awards.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Broadway musical The 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 for Outstanding Musical. A performance from The Prom was included in the 2018 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and made history by showing the first same-sex kiss in the parade's broadcast.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Jagged Little Pill featured lesbian character Jo, who is dealing with her religious mother's disapproval.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Television
Television began to address homosexuality much later than film. Local talk shows in the late 1950s first addressed homosexuality by inviting panels of experts (usually not gay themselves) to discuss the problems of gay men in society. Lesbianism was rarely included. The first time a lesbian was portrayed on network television was the NBC drama The Eleventh Hour in the early 1960s, which ended with the lesbian character being "converted" to heterosexuality.<ref name="Tropiano2002">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
Lesbian invisibility in TV continued into the 1970s, even as male homosexuality and coming-out reveals became the subject of dramas (The Bold Ones, Marcus Welby, M.D., Medical Center). These shows allowed homosexuality to be discussed clinically, with the main characters guiding troubled gay characters or correcting homophobic antagonists, while simultaneously comparing homosexuality to psychosis, criminal behavior, or drug use.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>Template:Rp
Another stock plot device in the 1970s was the gay character in a police drama. They served as victims of blackmail or anti-gay violence, but more often as criminals. Beginning in the late 1960s with N.Y.P.D., Police Story, and Police Woman, the use of homosexuals in stories became much more prevalent.<ref name="Russo1987"/>Template:Rp Lesbians were included as villains, motivated to murder by their desires, internalized homophobia, or fear of being exposed as homosexual. One episode of Police Woman earned protests by the National Gay Task Force before it aired for portraying a trio of murderous lesbians who killed retirement home patients for their money.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>Template:Rp NBC edited the episode because of the protests, but a sit-in was staged in the head of NBC's offices.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>Template:Rp
In the middle of the 1970s, gay men and lesbians began to appear as police officers or detectives. Other shows, such as the 1982Cagney & Lacey made conscious attempts to soften the two ground-breaking two female detective characters so they would not appear to be lesbians.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>Template:Rp In 1991, a bisexual lawyer character on L.A. Law shared the first significant lesbian kissTemplate:Efn on primetime television, stirring a controversy despite being labeled "chaste" by The Hollywood Reporter.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>Template:Rp
Though television did not begin to use recurring homosexual characters until the late 1980s, some early situation comedies used a stock character that author Stephen Tropiano calls "gay-straight": supporting characters who were quirky, did not comply with gender norms, or had ambiguous personal lives, that "for all purposes "'should' be gay". These included Zelda from The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Miss Hathaway from The Beverly Hillbillies, and Jo from The Facts of Life.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>Template:Rp 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. Designing Women, The Golden Girls, and Friends used this device.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>Template:Rp
Recurring openly lesbian characters were seen on Married... with Children, Mad About You, and Roseanne, in which a highly publicized episode.<ref name="Schlager1998"/>Template:Rp By far the sitcom with the most significant impact to the image of lesbians was Ellen, which generated enormous publicity from the 1997 coming out episode; Ellen DeGeneres appeared on the cover of Time magazine with the headline "Yep, I'm Gay". Parties were held in many U.S. cities to watch the episode, and the opposition from conservative organizations was intense. WBMA-LP, the ABC affiliate in Birmingham, Alabama, refused to air the first run of the episode, citing conservative values of the local viewing audience. Even as "The Puppy Episode" won an Emmy for writing, network executives cancelled the Ellen show.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>Template:Rp
Dramas following L.A. Law began incorporating homosexual themes, particularly with continuing storylines on Relativity, Picket Fences, ER, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, all of which tested the boundaries of sexuality and gender roles.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>Template:Rp A popular show directed at adolescents was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the fourth season of Buffy, Tara and Willow admit their love for each other without any special fanfare and the relationship is treated as are the other romantic relationships on the show.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>Template:Rp
In the 2000s came network television series devoted solely to gay characters. Showtime's American rendition of Queer as Folk ran from 2000 to 2005; two of the main characters were a lesbian couple. Showtime promoted the series as "No Limits", and Queer as Folk addressed homosexuality graphically. The aggressive advertising paid off as the show became the network's highest rated, doubling the numbers of other Showtime programs after the first season.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>Template:Rp In 2004, Showtime introduced The L Word, a dramatic series devoted to a group of lesbian and bisexual women, which ran for six seasons and was then temporarily rebooted in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Chic and popular culture
Lesbian visibility has improved since the early 1980s. This is in part due to public figures who have drawn speculation and/or comment from the public and the press about their sexuality. The primary figure earning this attention was Martina Navratilova, who served as tabloid fodder for years as she denied being lesbian, admitted to being bisexual, had very public relationships with Rita Mae Brown and Judy Nelson, and acquired as much press about her sexuality as she did her athletic achievements.<ref name="Hamer1994">Hamer, Diane, Budge, Belinda, eds. (1994). The Good, The Bad, and the Gorgeous: Popular Culture's Romance with Lesbianism, Pandora. Template:ISBN. pp. 1, 57–77, 87–90.</ref>
Other public figures acknowledged their homosexuality, such as musicians k.d. lang and Melissa Etheridge. Madonna pushed sexual boundaries in her performances. In 1993, heterosexual supermodel Cindy Crawford posed for a cover of Vanity Fair in a provocative arrangement that showed Crawford pretending to shave k.d. lang's face.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The image "became an internationally recognized symbol of the phenomenon of lesbian chic".<ref name="Hamer1994"/>
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, and New York magazines featured stories about women who admitted sexual histories with other women.<ref name="Streitmatter2009">Template:Cite book</ref>
One analyst reasoned the recurrence of lesbian chic was due to the often-used homoerotic subtexts of gay male subculture being considered off-limits because of AIDS in the late 1980s and 1990s, joined with the distant memory of lesbians as they appeared in the 1970s: unattractive and militant. In short, lesbians became more attractive to general audiences when they ceased having political convictions.<ref name="Hamer1994"/> All the attention on feminine and glamorous women created what culture analyst Rodger Streitmatter characterizes as an unrealistic image of lesbians packaged by heterosexual men; the trend influenced an increase in the inclusion of lesbian material in pornography aimed at men.<ref name="Streitmatter2009"/>
A resurgence of lesbian visibility was noted in 2009 when sexually fluid female celebrities, such as Cynthia Nixon and Lindsay 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 also conceded that "only a certain kind of lesbian—slim and elegant or butch in just the right androgynous way—is acceptable to mainstream culture."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Legal Rights
Custody and Parenting
Template:Further 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.<ref name="Schlager1998"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Jennings2007"/>Template:Rp
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.<ref name="Schlager1998"/>Template:Rp
The ability to adopt domestically or internationally children or provide a home as a foster parent is also a political and family priority for many lesbians, as is improving access to artificial insemination.<ref name="Schlager1998"/>Template:Rp
Marriage
Before the 1970s, the idea that same-sex adults formed long-term committed relationships was unknown to many people. In the 1990s in the U.S., the majority of lesbians (between 60% and 80%) reported being in a long-term relationship.<ref name="Schlager1998"/>Template:Rp Sociologists credit the high number of paired women to women's higher propensity to commit to relationships. Unlike heterosexual relationships that tend to divide work based on sex roles, lesbian relationships divide chores evenly between both members. Studies have also reported that emotional bonds are closer in lesbian and gay relationships than heterosexual ones.<ref name="Schlager1998"/>Template:Rp
As of 2025, same-sex marriage is legal in thirty-nine countries.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Persecution of Sexual Activity
At least thirty-eight countries "criminalize same-sex conduct regardless of sex or expressly criminalize sexual conduct between women".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
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- African-American LGBTQ community
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- History of lesbianism
- History of lesbianism in the United States
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- LGBT themes in speculative fiction
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- List of lesbian periodicals
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Notes
References
Further reading
- Books
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- Journals
- Audio
External links
- Lesbian Herstory Archives
- June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives
- Bay Area Lesbian Archives (San Francisco/Oakland, California)
- Lesbian Archive at Glasgow Women's Library (Scotland)
- Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project
- Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project (OLOHP)
- Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project collection at Smith College
- Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project collection at University of Oregon Libraries
- Oral Herstorians Collection, Lesbian Feminist Activist Oral Herstory Project, Sinister Wisdom
- Lesbians in the Twentieth Century, 1900–1999, Esther Newton, OutHistory, 2008 (Lesbian History project, University of Michigan)
- Dyke, A Quarterly, published 1975–1979 (online annotated archive, live website)
- Vintage Images, Isle of Lesbos (Sappho.com)
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