Sister & Brother: Lesbians & Gay Men Write About Their Lives Together

Product Information

Portrayals of lesbians in the media suggest that society at large has been simultaneously intrigued and threatened by women who challenge feminine gender roles, as well as fascinated and appalled with women who are romantically involved with other women. Women who adopt a lesbian identity share experiences that form an outlook similar to an ethnic identity: as homosexuals, they are unified by the heterosexist discrimination and potential rejection they face from their families, friends, and others as a result of homophobia. As women, they face concerns separate from men. Lesbians may encounter distinct physical or mental health concerns arising from discrimination, prejudice, and minority stress. Political conditions and social attitudes also affect the formation of lesbian relationships and families in the open. The women, experiencing stirrings of feminist thought without a vocabulary to express them as well as a desire for each other, find intellectual and emotional support on afternoons when their husbands are away. a b c Keller, Yvonne (June 2005). " "Was It Right to Love Her Brother's Wife so Passionately?": Lesbian Pulp Novels and U.S. Lesbian Identity, 1950-1965". American Quarterly. 57 (2): 385–410. ISSN 0003-0678. OCLC 1480637.

The study estimated the total population of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals at 8.8 million, but did not differentiate between men and women. [206]

Arts

Murphy-Kasp, Paul (6 July 2019). "Pride in London: What do all the flags mean?". BBC News . Retrieved 11 July 2019. Female sexuality is often not adequately represented in 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. [42] Often artistic representations of female sexuality suggest trends or ideas on broad scales, giving historians clues as to how widespread or accepted erotic relationships between women were.

The government of the United Kingdom does not ask citizens to define their sexuality. 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%. [207] [208] Estimates of lesbians are sometimes not differentiated in studies of same-sex households, such as those performed by the U.S. census, and estimates of total gay, lesbian, or bisexual population by the UK government. Polls in Australia recorded a range of self-identified lesbian or bisexual women from 1.3% to 2.2% of the total population. [209] Health Physical The varied meanings of lesbian since the early 20th century have prompted some historians to revisit historic relationships between women before the wide usage of the word was defined by erotic proclivities. Discussion from historians caused further questioning of what qualifies as a lesbian relationship. As lesbian-feminists asserted, a sexual component was unnecessary in declaring oneself a lesbian if the primary and closest relationships were with women. When considering past relationships within appropriate historic context, there were times when love and sex were separate and unrelated notions. [40] In 1989, an academic cohort named the Lesbian History Group wrote:

a b c Farr, Rachel H.; Diamond, Lisa M.; Boker, Steven M. (2014). "Female Same-Sex Sexuality from a Dynamical Systems Perspective: Sexual Desire, Motivation, and Behavior". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 43 (8): 1477–1490. doi: 10.1007/s10508-014-0378-z. ISSN 0004-0002. PMC 4199863. PMID 25193132. 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. [185] 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. [186] In Latin America, lesbian consciousness and associations appeared in the 1970s, increasing while several countries transitioned to or reformed democratic governments. Harassment and intimidation have been common even in places where homosexuality is legal, and laws against child corruption, morality, or "the good ways" ( faltas a la moral o las buenas costumbres), have been used to persecute homosexuals. [158] From the Hispanic perspective, the conflict between the lesbophobia of some feminists and the misogyny from gay men has created a difficult path for lesbians and associated groups. [159] During the 17th through 19th centuries, a woman expressing passionate love for another woman was fashionable, accepted, and encouraged. [68] These relationships were termed romantic friendships, Boston marriages, or "sentimental friends", and were common in the U.S., Europe, and especially in England. Documentation of these relationships is possible by a large volume of letters written between women. Whether the relationship included any genital component was not a matter for public discourse, but women could form strong and exclusive bonds with each other and still be considered virtuous, innocent, and chaste; a similar relationship with a man would have destroyed a woman's reputation. In fact, these relationships were promoted as alternatives to and practice for a woman's marriage to a man. [72] [d] a b Elman, Amy (Winter 1996–97). "Triangles and Tribulations: The Gay Appropriation of Nazi Symbols" (PDF). Trouble & Strife (34): 62–66 . Retrieved 12 June 2021. An earlier version of this article appeared in Journal of Homosexuality, Vol. 30, issue 3, 1996. ( doi: 10.1300/J082v30n03_01. PMID 8743114. ISSN 0091-8369.)

I felt like a lot of the world outside of Fall River was changing, but in that Calvinist community, she was really smart. She had a lot to say and no one to say it to," Sevigny said. "That's where we wanted to build the relationship with Bridget for her -- that Bridget was finally an outlet. It felt like she deserved that love and an escape from her horrid existence." 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. [153] Relations between women who lived in harems and fears of women being sexually intimate in Turkish baths were expressed in writings by men. Women were mostly silent, and men likewise rarely wrote about lesbian relationships. It is unclear to historians if the rare instances of lesbianism mentioned in literature are an accurate historical record or intended to serve as fantasies for men. 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." [153] The cross-dressing Sand was also the subject of a few of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnets. [253] An attempt by natives of Lesbos (also called "Mytilene" in Greece) in 2008 to reclaim the word to refer only to people from the island was unsuccessful in a Greek court. Inhabitants of Lesbos claimed the use of lesbian to refer to female homosexuality violated their human rights and "disgrace[d] them around the world". [12] Women in ancient Rome were similarly subject to men's definitions of sexuality. Modern scholarship indicates that men viewed female homosexuality with hostility. They considered women who engaged in sexual relations with other women to be biological oddities that would attempt to penetrate women—and sometimes men—with "monstrously enlarged" clitorises. [49] According to scholar James Butrica, lesbianism "challenged not only the Roman male's view of himself as the exclusive giver of sexual pleasure but also the most basic foundations of Rome's male-dominated culture". No historical documentation exists of women who had other women as sex partners. [50] Early modern Europe Lesbianism and hermaphroditism, depicted here in an engraving c. 1690, were very similar concepts during the Renaissance.

Music

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. [ citation needed] In 1976, sexologist Shere Hite published a report on the sexual encounters of 3,019 women who had responded to questionnaires, under the title The Hite Report. Hite's questions differed from Kinsey's, focusing more on how women identified, or what they preferred rather than experience. 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. [202]

Brendan (January 10, 2012). "Berlin's Lesbische Frauen". Cabaret Berlin. Archived from the original on 28 May 2020 . Retrieved 13 June 2020. (originally published by Slow Travel Berlin) The Latin American lesbian movement has been the most active in Mexico but has encountered similar problems in effectiveness and cohesion. While groups try to promote lesbian issues and concerns, they also face misogynistic attitudes from gay men and homophobic views from heterosexual women. In 1977, Lesbos, the first lesbian organization for Mexicans, was formed. Several incarnations of political groups promoting lesbian issues have evolved; 13 lesbian organizations were active in Mexico City in 1997. Ultimately, lesbian associations had little influence on the homosexual and feminist movements. [161]

Subscribe to the AfterEllen Newsletter

Main articles: List of television shows with LGBT characters and Lists of American television episodes with LGBT themes La muger, que con otra muger tenía deleitaciones carnales, a las quales llamaban Patlache, que quiere decir: incuba, morían ambas por ello." ( Monarquía indiana, transl.) a b c Kimball, Geoffrey (6 December 1993). "Aztec Homosexuality: The Textual Evidence". Journal of Homosexuality. 26 (1): 7–24. doi: 10.1300/J082v26n01_02. PMID 8113605. Individuals identifying with or otherwise engaging in lesbian practices in the region can face family violence and societal persecution, including what are commonly referred to as " 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. [156] Americas 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. [171]