Lesbian
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A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl.[3][4][5]: 48 The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexuality or same-sex attraction.[4][5]: 22
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 at least the 500s BC.
Lesbians' current rights vary widely worldwide, ranging from severe abuse and legal persecution to general acceptance and legal protections.
- ^ Jones, Ziya (August 11, 2022). "Montreal's makeshift Pride march was more meaningful than any parade". Xtra Magazine. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
- ^ Stevens 2000, p. 748, Symbols: "Finally, two interlocking female symbols are also often used to signify lesbianism. [...] [Venus's] sign, which once represented life, love, and sexuality, is now both a botanical and zoological symbol of femaleness, as well as the astronomical symbol of the planet Venus. Lesbian and feminist communities have also adopted the symbol, using two interlocking Venus emblems to represent lesbianism or, alternatively, the sisterhood of women"
- ^ "Lesbian". Oxford Reference: A Dictionary of Psychology. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 10 April 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
- ^ a b Lamos, Colleen (2000). "Lesbian". In Zimmerman, Bonnie (ed.). Encyclopedia of Lesbian Histories and Cultures (1st ed.). New York: Garland Publishing. pp. 453–454. ISBN 9780203825532.
The equivocal grammatical status of "lesbian," as both noun and adjective, captures the historical difficulty and the controversy over its definition. Whereas the former names a substantive category of persons—female homosexuals—the latter refers to a contingent attribute. The use of the term to denominate a particular kind of woman, one whose sexual desire is directed toward other women, originated in the late nineteenth century with the formulation of types of sexual deviance, especially homosexuality. ...Taking "lesbian" as an adjective, however, implies that female same-sex desire is a detachable modifier, a relative characteristic rather than an essential, or core, substance. Describing an object or activity as lesbian may simply reflect its contingent affiliation or association with female homoeroticism. Such an understanding of the term was common in Western society before the twentieth century and remains so in non-Western cultures that do not sharply distinguish female homosexuality from heterosexuality.
- ^ a b Solarz, Andrea L., ed. (1999). Lesbian Health: Current Assessment and Directions for the Future (1st ed.). Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. ISBN 978-0309060936.