- This article is about homosexual women, not inhabitants of Lesbos
A lesbian (lowercase l) is a homosexual woman. Lesbians prefer romantic and
sexual relationships with other women.
Etymology
The word "lesbian" originally referred to an inhabitant of the island of Lesbos, in
ancient Greece. The term has come to have its current meaning due to the ancient Greek lyric poet Sappho, who lived on the island; some of her poems concerned love between women. Whether Sappho was herself a
lesbian, in the modern meaning of the term, or simply a poet who described lesbians, is open to question; whilst she did indeed
write poems about love between women, there is some dispute as to just how far to interpret her writings in this fashion. This
association with Sappho led to the term sapphism being used as another term for lesbianism.
Many terms have been used to describe lesbianism over the past 200 years, such as amor lesbicus, urningism, sapphism, tribadism, and others.
Lesbianism and its relationship to feminism
In relation to feminism, and arising in relation to the Radical
feminism movement, lesbian separatism became popular: groups of lesbian women coming together and living in communal
societies together. Some lesbian women found this sort of society to be liberating; however others, such as Kathy Rudy, in Radical Feminism, Lesbian
Separatism and Queer Theory, remark that stereotypes and hierarchies
reinforcing those stereotypes developed in her experience of living in a lesbian separatist collective, which ultimately led her
to leave the group.
Children
In some countries, the right of lesbian women to have access to assisted birth technologies such as IVF in order to have children, has been the subject of debate: in Australia, the High Court rejected a
Roman Catholic Church move to ban access to IVF
treatments for lesbian and single women. However, the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard
had sought to amend legislation to prevent the access of these groups to IVF,
raising indignation from the gay and lesbian community.
The law
Explicit prohibitions on women's homosexual behavior are in Western societies sometimes markedly less than on men's.
Lesbianism has been legal in the United Kingdom since the Victorian Era,
when male homosexuality was not, and at least occasionally produced a prison sentence. Jewish religious teachings condemn male,
but not female, homosexuality.
Lesbian sex
Sexual activity between women is as diverse as sex between heterosexuals and gay men. Like all interpersonal activity, sexual
expression must be seen within the context of the relationship between the people involved. It is only within the last generation
that women (at least in the western world) have found the economic power to take control of their own lives, including their
romantic and sexual relationships. As the role of women change, so will how women express themselves emotionally and physically
with other women.
There is a growing body of research work and writing on lesbian sex and with it much debate over the control women have over
their sexual lives in a society still seen to be patriarchal, the fluidity of female sexuality, the redefinition of female sexual
pleasure, and the debunking of old stereotypes (such as "lesbian bed death"). "Lesbian Bed Death" is a phrase that has been in
use within the lesbian community for many decades, to describe the lack of sexual passion in a long term relationship between two
women. While it is a phrase that is often used in a joking manner between lesbians (and others) there have also been sexologists
using the term. Sex researcher Pepper Schwartz published findings
indicating that lesbian couples have less sex than couples of any other sexual orientation.
However, her findings have been criticised by many; it is argued that this can happen to any long term relationship whether
heterosexual or not. Within part of the lesbian community, the phenomenon is usually rejected and is the subject of humour. Some
lesbians who do accept diminishing sexual passion consider it to be an inevitable part of any long-term lesbian relationship.
Many lesbian couples however, do enjoy a fulfilling sex life.
Media attention
Lesbian couples have been attracting attention by others, in relation to feminism, sexual relationships, marriage and
parenting, and other areas.
In television, the number of lesbian couples portrayed is generally less than the number of gay couples - notable lesbian
couples in television include Tara Maclay and Willow Rosenberg in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lindsay Peterson and Melanie Marcus in Queer as Folk. However, the trend may be changing, for
example, see The L Word.
Pornography and male preconceptions about lesbians
It has been noted that attitudes by most men to lesbian sex and its depiction in pornography are usually tolerant, or
perceived to be desirable, in sharp contrast with widespread aversion to images of male gay sex. One explanation for this could
be that some men have the mistaken belief that lesbians are only having sex with one another because of the lack of a suitable
man, and would be delighted to engage in group sex were such a man to become available - this is generally not the case.
A more likely explanation for male tolerence can be found in a quote from Paul
Reiser on the television show Mad About You, "Because it's naked, it's fun, and I agree with both of them."
Attitudes of heterosexual women to lesbianism
Many heterosexual women also have a more positive attitute to depictions of lesbian sex than most heterosexual men have to
depictions of male gay sex. It has been suggested that this is because heterosexual women are "more bisexual" on average than
heterosexual men. However, this is a controversial theory: many other heterosexual women have attitudes to lesbianism that range
from mildly to extremely negative.
See also
External links
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