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A lesbian is a woman who is romantically and sexually attracted only to other women. ^[1][2] Women who are attracted to both women and men are more often referred to as bisexual. An individual's self-identification might not correspond with her behavior, and may be expressed with either, both, or neither of these words.

Sexual orientation Part of sexology
Distinctions
Asexual Bisexual Heterosexual Homosexual Pansexual Paraphiliac
Labels
Gay Lesbian Queer Questioning
Methods
Kinsey scale Klein Grid
Study
Biology Demographics Medicine
Animal
Homosexuality in animals
See also
Intersex Transgender Transsexual
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Public policy

In Western societies, explicit prohibitions on women's homosexual behavior have been markedly weaker than those on men's homosexual behavior.

In the United Kingdom, lesbianism has never been illegal. In contrast, sexual activity between males was not made legal in England and Wales until 1967. It is said that lesbianism was left out of the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885 because Queen Victoria did not believe sex between women was possible, but this story may be .^[3] A 1921 proposal, put forward by Frederick Macquisten MP to criminalize lesbianism was rejected by the House of Lords; during the debate, Lord Birkenhead, the then Lord Chancellor argued that 999 women out of a thousand had "never even heard a whisper of these practices."^[4] In 1928, the lesbian novel The Well of Loneliness was banned for obscenity in a highly publicized trial, not for any explicit sexual content but because it made an argument for acceptance.^[5] Meanwhile other, less political novels with lesbian themes continued to circulate freely.^[6]

Jewish religious teachings condemn male homosexual behavior but say little about lesbian behavior. However, the approach in the modern State of Israel, with its largely secular Jewish majority, does not outlaw or persecute gay sexual orientation; marriage between gay couples is not sanctioned but common law status and official adoption of a gay person's child by his or her partner have been approved in precedent court rulings (after numerous high court appeals). There is also an annual Gay parade, usually held in Tel-Aviv; in 2006, the "World Pride" parade was scheduled to be held in Jerusalem.

Western-style homosexuality is rarely tolerated elsewhere in the Muslim world, with the exception of Turkey where there are no laws or discriminative policies against lesbianism. It is punishable by imprisonment, lashings, or death in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Though the law against lesbianism in Iran has reportedly been revoked or eased, prohibition of male homosexuality remains.

Sexuality

Sexual activity between women is as diverse as sex between heterosexuals or gay men. Some women in same-sex relationships do not identify as lesbian, but as bisexual, queer, or another label. As with any interpersonal activity, sexual expression depends on the context of the relationship.

Recent cultural changes in Western and a few other societies have enabled lesbians to express their sexuality more freely, which has resulted in new studies on the nature of female sexuality. Research undertaken by the U.S. Government's National Center for Health Research in 2002 was released in a 2005 report called Sexual Behavior and Selected Health Measures: Men and Women 15-44 Years of Age, United States, 2002. The results indicated that among women aged 15-44, 4.4 percent reported having had a sexual experience with another woman during the previous 12 months. When women aged 15–44 years of age were asked, "Have you ever had any sexual experience of any kind with another female?" 11 percent answered "yes".

There is a growing body of research and writing on lesbian sexuality, which has brought some debate about the control women have over their sexual lives, the fluidity of woman-to-woman sexuality, the redefinition of female sexual pleasure and the debunking of negative sexual stereotypes. One example of the latter is lesbian bed death, a term invented by sex researcher Pepper Schwartz to describe the supposedly inevitable diminution of sexual passion in long term lesbian relationships; this notion is rejected by many lesbians, who point out that passion tends to diminish in almost any relationship and many lesbian couples report happy and satisfying sex lives.

Culture

Throughout history hundreds of lesbians have been well-known figures in the arts and culture.

Before the influence of European sexology emerged at the turn of the Twentieth Century, in cultural terms female homosexuality remained almost invisible as compared to male homosexuality, which was subject to the law and thus more regulated and reported by the press. However with the publication of works by sexologists like Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, Richard von Krafft-Ebing, Havelock Ellis, Edward Carpenter, and Magnus Hirschfeld, the concept of active female homosexuality became better known.

As female homosexuality became more visible it was described as a medical condition. In Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905), Sigmund Freud referred to female homosexuality as inversion or inverts and characterised female inverts as possessing male characteristics. Freud drew on the "third sex" ideas popularized by Magnus Hirschfeld and others. While Freud admitted he had not personally studied any such "aberrant" patients he placed a strong emphasis on psychological rather than biological causes. Freud's writings did not become well-known in English-speaking countries until the late 1920s.

This combination of sexology and psychoanalysis eventually had a lasting impact on the general tone of most lesbian cultural productions. A notable example is the 1928 novel The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall, in which these sexologists are mentioned along with the term invert, which later fell out of favour in common usage. Freud's interpretation of lesbian behavior has since been rejected by most psychiatrists and scholars, although recent biological research has provided findings that may bolster a Hirschfeld-ian "third sex" interpretation of same-sex attraction.

During the twentieth century lesbians such as Gertrude Stein and Barbara Hammer were noted in the US avant-garde art movements, along with figures such as Leontine Sagan in German pre-war cinema. Since the 1890s the underground classic The Songs of Bilitis has been influential on lesbian culture. This book provided a name for the first campaigning and cultural organization in the United States, the Daughters of Bilitis.

During the 1950s and 1960s lesbian pulp fiction was published in the US and UK, often under "coded" titles such as Odd Girl Out, The Evil Friendship by Vin Packer and the The Beebo Brinker Chronicles by Ann Bannon. British school stories also provided a haven for "coded" and sometimes outright lesbian fiction.

During the 1970s the second wave of feminist era lesbian novels became more politically oriented. Works often carried the explicit ideological messages of separatist feminism and the trend carried over to other lesbian arts. Rita Mae Brown's debut novel Rubyfruit Jungle was a milestone of this period. By the early 1990s lesbian culture was being influenced by a younger generation who had not taken part in the "Feminist Sex Wars" and this strongly informed post-feminist queer theory along with the new queer culture.

In 1972 the Berkeley, California lesbian journal Libera published a paper entitled Heterosexuality in Women: its Causes and Cure. Written in deadpan, academic prose, closely paralleling previous psychiatry-journal articles on homosexuality among women, this paper inverted prevailing assumptions about what is normal and deviant or pathological and was widely read by lesbian feminists.

Since the 1980s lesbians have been increasingly visible in mainstream cultural fields such as music (Melissa Etheridge, K.D. Lang and the Indigo Girls), television (Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O'Donnell, and Portia de Rossi), sports (Martina Navrátilová and Billie Jean King) and in comic books (Alison Bechdel and Diane DiMassa). More recently lesbian eroticism has flowered in fine art photography and the writing of authors such as Pat Califia, Jeanette Winterson and Sarah Waters and Stella Duffy. There is an increasing body of lesbian films such as Desert Hearts, Go Fish, Loving Annabelle, Watermelon Woman, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, Everything Relative, and Better than Chocolate (see List of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender-related films). Classic novels such as those by Jane Rule, Vin Packer, Ann Aldrich, and Ann Bannon have been reprinted. Moreover, prominent and controversial academic writers such as Camille Paglia and Germaine Greer also identify with lesbianism.

Media depictions

Lesbians often attract media attention, particularly in relation to feminism, love and sexual relationships, marriage and parenting. Some writers have asserted this trend can lead to exploitive and unjustified plot devices.^[7]

Cinema

See also:

The first lesbian-themed feature film was Mädchen in Uniform (1931), based on a novel by Christa Winsloe and directed by Leontine Sagan, tracing the story of a schoolgirl called Manuela von Meinhardis and her passionate love for a teacher, Fräulein von Nordeck zur Nidden. It was written and mostly directed by women. The impact of the film in Germany's lesbian clubs was overshadowed, however, by the cult following for The Blue Angel (1930).

Until the early 1990s, any notion of lesbian love in a film almost always required audiences to infer the relationships. The lesbian aesthetic of Queen Christina (1933) with Greta Garbo has been widely noted, even though the film is not about lesbians. Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940), based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier, referred more or less overtly to lesbianism, but the two characters involved were not presented positively: Mrs. Danvers was portrayed as obsessed, neurotic and murderous, while the never-seen Rebecca was described as having been selfish, spiteful and doomed to die. All About Eve (1950) was originally written with the title character as a lesbian but this was very subtle in the final version, with the hint and message apparent to alert viewers.

Playwright Lillian Hellman's first play, The Children's Hour (1934) was produced on Broadway. Set in a private girls' boarding school, the headmistress and a teacher are the targets of a malicious whispering campaign of insinuation by a disgruntled schoolgirl. They soon face public accusations of having a lesbian relationship.^[8] The play was nominated for a Pulitzer prize, banned in Boston, London, and Chicago^[9] and had a record-breaking run of 691 consecutive performances in New York.^[10] A 1961 screen adaptation starred Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine. The play's deep and pervasively dark themes and lesbian undertones have been widely noted.^[11]

Mainstream films with openly lesbian content, sympathetic lesbian characters and lesbian leads began appearing during the 1990s. By 2000 some films portrayed characters exploring issues beyond their sexual orientation, reflecting a wider sense that lesbianism has to do with more than sexual desire. Notable mainstream theatrical releases included Bound (1996), Chasing Amy (1997), Kissing Jessica Stein (2001), Mulholland Drive, Monster, D.E.B.S (2004), Rent (2005, based on the Jonathan Larson musical), My Summer of Love (2004), Loving Annabelle (2006) and Imagine Me & You (2005). There have also been many non-English language lesbian films, such as Fire (India, 1996), Fucking Åmål (Sweden, 1998), Blue (Japan, 2002), Blue Gate Crossing (Taiwan, 2004) and Love My Life (Japan, 2006).

Mainstream broadcast media

The 1980s television series L.A. Law included a lesbian relationship which stirred much more controversy than lesbian TV characters would a decade later. The 1989 BBC mini series Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit was based on lesbian writer Jeanette Winterson's novel of the same title. Russian pop-duo t.A.T.u were popular in Europe during the early 2000s, gaining wide attention and TV airplay for their pop videos because they were marketed as lesbians even though they weren't.

Many SciFi series have featured lesbian characters. An episode of Babylon 5 featured an implied lesbian relationship between characters Talia Winters and Commander Susan Ivanova. featured several episodes with elements of lesbianism and made it clear that in Star Trek's 24th century such relationships are accepted without a second thought.

Actress and comedian Ellen DeGeneres came out publicly as a lesbian in 1997 and her character on the sitcom Ellen did likewise soon after during its fourth season. This was the first American sitcom with a lesbian lead character. The coming-out episode won an Emmy Award, but the series was cancelled after one more season. In 2000, the ABC Daytime drama series All My Children character Bianca Montgomery (Eden Riegel) was revealed to be lesbian. While many praised the character's prominent storyline, others criticized the almost perpetual trauma and Bianca's lack of a successful long-running relationship with another woman. In 2004's popular television show on Showtime, The L Word is focused on a group of lesbian friends living in L.A., and Ellen DeGeneres had a popular daytime talk show. In 2005, an episode of The Simpsons ("There's Something About Marrying") depicted Marge's sister Patty coming out as a lesbian. Also that year on Law & Order the final appearance of assistant district attorney Serena Southerlyn included the revelation she was a lesbian, although some viewers claimed there had been hints of this in previous episodes.

Other notable lesbian characters and appearances in the mainstream media have included:

• The majority of the characters in The L Word
• Kim Daniels in the UK TV series Sugar Rush
• Liz Cruz in Nip/Tuck
• Willow Rosenberg, Tara Maclay and Kennedy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Lindsay Peterson and Melanie Marcus in Queer as Folk
• Maia Jeffries and Jay Copeland in Shortland Street
• Lana Crawford and Georgina Harris in Neighbours
• Amanda Donohoe (as C.J.Lamb) and Michelle Green (as Abbey Perkins) in LA Law
• Dr. Kerry Weaver and Sandy López in ER
• Dr. Kerry Weaver and Kim Legaspi in ER
• Helen Stewart and Nikki Wade in Bad Girls
• Paige Michalchuk and Alex Núñez in ''
• Dorothy's college friend Jean in The Golden Girls
• Alice Pieszecki, Dana Fairbanks, Bette Porter, Shane McCutcheon, Tina Kennard, Jodi Lerner, Helena Peabody, Phyllis Kroll, Jennifer Schecter, and several others in The L Word
• Anna Friel and Nicola Stephenson on the UK series Brookside
• Spencer Carlin and Ashley Davies in South of Nowhere
• Carol, Ross' ex-wife and her life partner Susan on Friends
• Sharon Stone and Ellen Degeneres in If These Walls Could Talk 2
• Jennifer K. Buckmeyer in the made for TV special Coming Out
• Marissa Cooper and Alex Kelly on The OC
• Patty Bouvier, sister of Marge Simpson, on The Simpsons
• Naomi Julien, Della Alexander and Binnie Roberts in EastEnders
• Thelma Bates in Hex
• Jessica Sammler and Katie Singer on Once and Again
• Jasmine Thomas and Debbie Dingle, and Zoe Tate in ''Emmerdale
• Maggie Sawyer and Toby Raines (implied) in
• Beverly Harris, Nancy Bartlett and Jackie Harris in Roseanne
• Maxine Proctor (implied) in In Diana Jones
• Frankie Doyle, Angela Jeffries, Sharon Gilmore, Judy Bryant, Joan Ferguson, Audrey Forbes, Terri Malone in (TV series - 1979-1986)
• Serena Southerlyn on Law And Order
• Christina Ricci and Charlize Theron in Monster
• Xena and Gabrielle (implied) in
• Penelope Cruz and Charlize Theron in "Head in the Clouds"
• Piper Perabo and Jessica Paré in "Lost and Delirious"
• The character Nia and Venus in My Baby's Daddy
• Pittsburg Police SWAT commander Lt. Connie Reubens in The Kill Point

Comics

For more details on this topic, see LGBT comic book characters.

Until 1989 the Comics Code Authority, which imposed de facto censorship on comics sold through newsstands in the United States, forbade any suggestion of homosexuality.^[12] Overt lesbian themes were first found in underground and alternative titles which did not carry the Authority's seal of approval. The first comic with an openly lesbian character was "Sandy Comes Out" by Trina Robbins, published in the anthology Wimmen's Comix #1 in 1972.^[13] Gay Comix (1980) included stories by and about lesbians and by 1985 the influential alternative title Love and Rockets had revealed a relationship between two major characters, Maggie and Hopey.^[14] Meanwhile mainstream publishers were more reticent. A relationship between the female Marvel comics characters Mystique and Destiny was only implied at first, then cryptically confirmed in 1990 through the use of the archaic word , meaning a lover or sweetheart.^[15] Only in 2001 was Destiny referred to in plain language as Mystique's lover.^[16] In 2006 DC Comics could still draw widespread media attention by announcing a new, lesbian incarnation of the well-known character Batwoman^[17] even while openly lesbian characters such as Gotham City police officer Renee Montoya already existed in DC Comics.^[18]

Some writers and others (notably Chris Rock on Saturday Night Live) have commented that the Peanuts character Peppermint Patty is a lesbian (Peppermint Patties is a sometimes pejorative slang word for lesbians), although such an inference was never supported by the comic strip's content.

In 2006, the graphic memoir Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel, was lauded by many media as among the best books of the year. Bechdel is the author of Dykes to Watch Out For, one of the best-known and longest-running LGBT comic strips.

In manga and anime, lesbian content is called shoujo-ai (literally: girl-love) whereas lesbian sex is called yuri, which may have a derogatory meaning. A main theme of the Japanese graphic novel Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō is the developing romance between characters Alpha and Kokone.

Anime

Main article: Yuri (term)

The third season of the anime series Sailor Moon, Sailor Moon S, features a lesbian relationship between the two heroines Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune.^[19] However, the season was heavily censored when dubbed and shown on TV in the United States. Many of the scenes which would suggest this particular relationship were cut away and the two characters were depicted as cousins (this led to further controversy as many fans noticed the editing).^[20][21] In many of the mangaka group Clamp's series such as Miyuki-chan in Wonderland or Card Captor Sakura, some characters are clearly lesbians, with fan speculation about others. In Miyuki-chan in wonderland, for example, Miyuki is constantly trying to escape the attention of scantily-clad female admirers;^[22] while Tomoyo in CCS is famous for her ostensibly innocent but rather suspect obsession with playing "dress-up" with the lead character, Sakura.^[23]

Video games

For more details on this topic, see LGBT characters in video games.

SaGa Frontier (a PlayStation title produced by Squaresoft) has a lesbian character named Asellus. Another character named Gina is a young girl who tailors Asellus' outfits, often discusses her deep attraction to Asellus and becomes her bride in one of the game's many endings. However, much related dialogue and some content has been edited out of the English language version.^[24] The Playstation title (a prequel to Fear Effect) reveals that Hana Tsu Vachel, a main character in both games, had a sexual relationship with a female character named Rain Qin. Strawberry Panic! is a mild Japanese lesbian game. Tristia of the Deep-Blue Sea, Neosphere of the Deep-Blue Sky, Red Thread and Ayakashi Ninden Kunoichiban are widely known in Japan.

Feminism

Historically, many lesbians have been involved in women's rights. Late in the 19th century, the term Boston marriage was used to describe romantic unions between women living together, often while contributing to the suffrage movement.

During the 1990s, dozens of chapters of Lesbian Avengers were formed to press for lesbian visibility and rights.

Same sex marraige has now been legalized in Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Canada, and South Africa but it is still not permitted by many countries. Continuing this tradition of inclusive acceptance, in 2004 Massachusetts became the first American state to legalize same-sex marriages.^[25]

Transwomen and trans-inclusion

The relationship between lesbianism and lesbian-identified transgender or transsexual women has often been a turbulent one, with historically adversarial attitudes, but this seemed to be changing with the growing popularity of queer politics and analysis.

Some lesbian groups openly welcome transsexual women and may even welcome any member who identifies as lesbian, but some groups still do not welcome transwomen. The Lesbian Avengers have historically had a very inclusive policy.

Disputes in defining the term lesbian along with enforced exclusions from lesbian events and spaces have been numerous. Some who hold an exclusionist attitude often make reference to strong, typically second-wave feminist ideas such as those of Sheila Jeffreys, and Mary Daly, who has described post-operative male-to-female (MTF) transsexuals as constructed women. They may attribute transsexualism to mechanisms of patriarchy or do not recognize a MTF transsexual's identification as female and lesbian. By defining lesbian through these views, they subsequently defend the exclusion of women with transsexual or transgender-backgrounds.

Inclusionists claim these attitudes are inaccurate and derive from fear and distrust, or that the motivations and attitudes of transgender or transsexual lesbians are not well understood, and so they defend the inclusion of transwomen into lesbianism and lesbian spaces.

Both views are common. One incident due to this divisiveness arose during the early 1990s in Australia, when the wider lesbian community raised money to purchase a building devoted to lesbian women called The Lesbian Space Project. Before the organisation bought the building, a debate over inclusion of transwomen polarised the lesbian community, the building was later closed, the funds were invested and now generate money for an annual Australian lesbian grants program called LInc (Lesbians Incorporated).

An example often cited among the transgender and transsexual communities is the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, a well-known and primarily lesbian event restricted to womyn-born womyn. Camp Trans, an organization oriented towards transwomen, was started as a result.

See also

• Butch and femme
• Soft butch
• Tomboy
• Lesbian literature
• Lesbian science fiction
• Lesbian until graduation
• Lipstick lesbian
• Lesbianism in erotica
• List of LGBT-related organizations
• List of gay, lesbian or bisexual people
• List of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender-related films
• The Ladder
• Lesbian teen fiction
• Terminology of homosexuality
• Tribadism
• Drag king
• U-Haul lesbian
• Lesbophobia
• Lesbian Separatism
• Lesbian Feminism

References

External links

• Criticism of Lesbian Bed Death
• Australia backs lesbian IVF treatment - BBC News Online
• Lesbians protest IVF ban plan - BBC News Online
• Lesbian couples raise teenagers just as decent as heterosexuals
• The National Center for Lesbian Rights
• Old Lesbians Organizing for Change (OLOC)
• An article on World Pride 2006, to be held in Jerusalem, Israel
• World Pride 2006 Site
• Gay and Lesbian Widow Support Site
• All Things Lesbian
• Your Gay and Lesbian Community Center
• The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society
• SHOE Leading Lesbian Online Community
• Upton United Reformed Gay Church
• Sayoni - An organisation for Asian Queer Women

Media depictions

• AfterEllen.Com Lesbian and Bisexual Women in Entertainment and the Media
• The Encyclopedia of Lesbian Movie Scenes Warning: contains explicit content
• It's February; Pucker Up, TV Actresses The New York Times, February 10 2005.

Magazines

• Curve Magazine
• On Our Backs
• Diva

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