Lesbian
A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used as an adjective for women in relation to their experiences, regardless of their sexual orientation; or as an adjective relating to female homosexuality.
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. Lesbian social movements often advocate for legal changes, 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. Some of Sappho's surviving poetry discusses her love for other women.Before the mid-19th century, the word lesbian referred to any aspect of Lesbos, including a type of wine. A shift of the word to describe erotic relationships between women had been documented in 1870. In 1875, a critic referred to Baudelaire's poem "Delphine and Hippolyte" as "Lesbian". In 1890, the term lesbian was used in the National Medical Dictionary as an adjective to describe tribadism.
The terms lesbian, invert and homosexual were interchangeable with sapphist around the turn of the 20th century. 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.
Sexuality and identity
Biological factors
Prenatal androgen exposure correlates with same-sex sexual behavior in women. Biological characteristics known to be affected by prenatal hormone exposure have been shown to vary by sexual orientation in women. The finding that digit ratios differ between lesbian and heterosexual women has been replicated in cross-cultural studies. Neuroimaging studies have found differences between heterosexual and homosexual women in neurological structures, including both those known to be affected by prenatal androgen exposure and those not known to be affected by prenatal androgen exposure. A later meta-analysis concluded that the small sample sizes and small number of studies meant that findings were inconclusive as of 2021. Genetics plays a role; around 20% of the variance of sexual orientation in women is controlled by genes.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. Lesbians in modern times share an identity that parallels those built on ethnicity, including the concept of group heritage and group pride. 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.Self-identification and behavior
Some women report a consistently lesbian orientation. Other women report varying degrees of fluidity in how they describe their sexual orientation. Women who identify as lesbians and report never having been with men may be referred to as "gold star lesbians." Women who identify as lesbians and had sex with men before coming out may face ridicule from other lesbians or identity challenges with regard to defining what it means to be a lesbian. Some researchers observe that self-applied identity labels and reported sexual behavior do not always align: for example, some self-identified straight women report sex with women, and some self-identified lesbians report sex with men.Several studies have found that the sexual behavior and attractions of exclusively lesbian women are significantly more likely to be aligned with their identity than those of exclusively heterosexual women. These included studies of reported attraction throughout the fertility cycle, and direct measures of arousal by different imagery.
Some people identify as both lesbian as well as non-binary or queer, while others eschew the label and prefer to describe themselves as queer. Additionally, some women use both the terms bisexual and lesbian as self-applied identity labels.
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. This conclusion became known as "lesbian bed death". 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.Researchers report that lesbian and heterosexual women are just as likely to view achieving orgasm as important, and that the two groups report statistically equivalent rates of overall sexual and romantic satisfaction. 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.
In history
Women have been underrepresented in history as both writers and subjects, and lesbianism has been correspondingly under-recorded. Since the 1970s, efforts have been made to gather together and preserve lesbian history.In ancient Greece, Sappho of Lesbos wrote poetry regarding her love for other women, fragments of which survive. Other Greek references include mentions in Plato's Symposium
In ancient Rome, accounts of lesbian characters include the story of Iphis and Ianthe, a myth from fabulist Phaedrus, and Lucian's Dialogues of the Courtesans..
In the Aztec Empire, female homosexuality is described in the Florentine Codex, a 16th-century study of the Aztec world, including its violent repression during Spanish colonization. Some Indigenous peoples of the Americas conceptualize a third gender for women who dress as, and fulfill the roles of men or a third sex in their cultures.
In early Modern western literature, homoerotic masquerade of one gender for another to seduce an unsuspecting woman was a common plot device, seen for instance in Twelfth Night, The Faerie Queene, and The Bird in a Cage. From the 17th to the 19th centuries in the West, it was fashionable, accepted, and encouraged for a woman to express passionate love for another woman.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, sexologists Richard von Krafft-Ebing from Germany and Britain's Havelock Ellis created categorizations of female same-sex attraction, approaching it as a form of insanity. In the 1920s, Berlin had a vibrant homosexual culture with some 50 clubs for lesbians. In 1928, Radclyffe Hall published the novel The Well of Loneliness, intended as a call for tolerance. Professor Laura Doan described the resulting trial for obscenity as "the crystallizing moment in the construction of a visible modern English lesbian subculture".
In the United States, the 1920s was a decade of sexual experimentation. Homosexual subculture disappeared in Germany with the rise of the Nazis in 1933. Following World War II, the U.S. government began persecuting homosexuals around 1950. Between 1955 and 1969, over 2,000 books of lesbian pulp fiction were published in North America. From the late 1950s to the 1970s, the sexual revolution encouraged women to try varied sexual experiences.
Lesbians face government persecution in the Middle East, such as in Yemen, where homosexuality is criminalized.
In Latin America, lesbian subcultures increased as several countries transitioned to or reformed democratic governments. However, social harassment has remained common.
Cross-gender roles and marriage between women have been recorded in over 30 traditional African societies. In Africa, the Coalition of African Lesbians has worked since 2004 to eradicate stigma, legal discrimination, and violence against lesbians. In Africa, lesbian activities have been "shaped by silence and secrecy, oppression and repression".
Historical Chinese culture has not recognized female homosexuality.
Demographics
Early reports
The most extensive early study of female homosexuality was the 1953 Kinsey Institute analysis of the sexual experiences of more than 8,000 American women. Its methodology has been criticized, but it proved popular. It reported that 28% of women had been aroused by a female, that 19% had had sexual contact with a female, and that some 9% had orgasmed. Its dispassionate discussion of homosexuality as a form of sexual behavior was revolutionary.In 1976, sexologist Shere Hite did a qualitative survey of 3,019 women on their sexual experiences. Hite's questions focused on how women identified and what they preferred, rather than their prior experiences. Respondents indicated that 8% preferred sex with women, while 9% said that they identified as bisexual or had had sexual experiences with men and women without indicating a preference.