Lesbian

**Lesbian** is a term that describes exclusive attraction to women, womaligned nonbinary people, and unaligned nonbinary people; experienced exclusively by women, womaligned nonbinary people, and unaligned nonbinary people. This term is inclusive of butch, femme, non-binary, anonbinary, xenic, and multigender people. The only genders that are not included in lesbianism are man, or genders that are partially, sometimes, or aligned with manhood. Masculine expressions that are not tied to manhood are a large part of the lesbian community; Thus, it is important to establish a separation between masculinity and being a man as a gender identity.

Lesbianism can also be defined as, exclusive sapphic attraction, both definitions are ok and correct however some believe the non-men attracted to non-men doesn't fit as it impiles that non lesbian aro/ace non men are included in lesbianism, but some argue otherwise since '' non-men **attracted** to non-men '' impiles that they exprience attraction, due to this definitions controversy the other is probably better to use.

Not all non-binary people feel comfortable being included under lesbian attraction, and that should be respected and validated.

## History

### Ancient Mesopotamia

The Code of Hammurabi (c. 1700 BC) mentioned a term *Sal-zikrum* which translates to 'man-woman', referencing women who were allowed to marry other women, and were also able to inherit the same amount as their brothers, another temrm *Sal-nu-bar* referred to women who were allowed to marry, but were forbidden to have children, so they brought other women with them to have children for them, however, they could have children of their own, but they have to keep it as a secret, or cast them out as Sargon's mother did, lastly, an ancient Assyrian text indicated that two women, who were possibly two widows of a dead father, had raised their "daughter" together

### Ancient Egypt

Homosexuality in ancient Egypt between women is less recorded, or impiled, in documents and other artifacts as compared to homosexuality among men, but it does appear in such documents, e.g. in the *Dream Book* of Carlsberg papyrus XIII: "If a woman dreams that a woman has intercourse with her, she will come to a bad end". Depictions of women during the New Kingdom suggest they enjoyed, in a relaxed and intimate atmosphere with the company of other women who were wearing revealing clothes or naked, some cosmetics-related items, which may have been owned and used by women, feature nude and suggestive depictions of women.

### Ancient Greece

The evidence about female homosexuality in the ancient Greece is limited, with it being barely mentioned in extant Greek literature. Most surviving sources from this period come from Athens, and they are without exception written by men. At least among these Athenian men, the discussion and depiction of female homosexual activity seems to have been taboo. Kenneth Dover suggests that, due to the role played by the phallus in ancient Greek men's conceptions of sexuality, female homosexual love was not explicitly defined as a sexuality or category by the authors of our surviving sources.

There are a few references to female homosexuality in ancient Greek literature. Two poets from the archaic period, Sappho and Alcman, have been interpreted as writing about female homosexual desire. Alcman wrote hymns known as *partheneia*, which discuss attraction between young women. Though it is ambiguous, historians have considered the attraction in question to be sexual. At roughly the same time, Sappho's poems discuss her love for both men and women. For instance, in Sappho's Ode to Aphrodite, the poet asks Aphrodite for aid in wooing another woman. It is noticeable that the fragment describes Sappho both giving to and receiving sexual contact from the same partner, in contrast with the rigid active/passive partner dichotomy observed in Greek male homosexual relationships.

Female-female relationships or sexual activities were occasionally depicted on Greek art.

### Roman Empire and early Christianity

The lesbian love story between Iphis and Ianthe, in Book IX of Ovid's the *Metamorphoses*, is most vivid. When Iphis' mother becomes pregnant, her husband declares that he will kill the child if it is a girl. She bears a girl and attempts to conceal her sex by giving her a name that is of ambiguous gender: Iphis. When the "son" is thirteen, the father chooses a golden-haired maiden named Ianthe as the "boy's" bride. The love of the two girls is written sympathetically:

*They were of equal age, they both were lovely, Had learned the ABC from the same teachers, And so love came to both of them together, In simple innocence, and filled their hearts, With equal longing.*

However, as the marriage draws ever closer, Iphis recoils, calling her love "monstrous and unheard of". The goddess Isis hears the girl's moans and turns her into a boy.

## Flags

### Lipstick Lesbian Flag (Problematic)

The Lipstick Lesbian flag, created on July 28th 2010, by This Lesbian Life, is a 7 stripe pink, white, and red flag with a hot pink lipstick mark in the top left corner. This flag is considered widely problematic by the lesbian community, due to the creator's roots in transphobia, biphobia, ableism against people with eating disorders, and racism towards asians and fetishization of hispanics, as well as the butchphobic implications of representing the lesbian community with a flag that is specifically targeted towards feminine lesbians. Thus, this flag is not representative of the full lesbian community, and it is not recommended to use it.

Some have attempted to "reclaim" it by removing the lipstick mark and instead, using the flag as just the stripes. This doesn't work, since the flag is still created by the same person, even without the lipstick mark, and it still implies the exclusion of butches, as well as lesbians who do not present themselves as feminine.

It's also important to mention how this flag imitates the Cougar flag, which imitates the Bear flag. The main difference between the Cougar flag and the lipstick lesbian flag, however, is that the white stripe is placed in the center; This is the first instance of the Lesbian Flag Structure being used, which becomes important to lesbian culture later on, as this 7 striped, two (or more) colored gradient with white in the middle becomes a symbol used by the lesbian community to recognize one another, even when divided into subcategories; an example of this could include the butch lesbian flag, the bambi lesbian flag, the sun and moon lesbian flags, and so on, and so forth. While the lipstick flag is problematic, it is influential to the lesbian community, and this is important to acknowledge, even if the flag has been retired from use (for good reason!).

#### Lesbians Opinions (Lipstick Lesbian Flag)

\*All opinions are taken from a survey that the admins of the wiki released in September of 2021.

''I absolutely despise this flag, lesbianism isn't just for females, lesbianism should be accepting and welcoming, a place to share our love of non-men. The flag should never be used by non-terfs, non-racists, non-transphobics etc. Just use the sunset lesbian flag or the multiple other safe flags'' -- an anonymous lesbian

''definitely sucks that this version was a popularized version. I dont believe we should adopt this back or use this as an official flag at all. the creator was awful and so is the meaning behind parts of the flag.'' -- an anonymous lesbian

''this flags creator is a toxic person, i am an asian lesbian with an ed so i am offended by her actions, this flag shouldn't be used because of the harm she has caused, the people she hurt are still effected, she is a terf, who made disgusting racial remarks towards my people'' -- @PorcelainYouth, wikia admin

### Labrys Flag (Problematic)

The labrys lesbian flag was made in 1999, although it possibly first appeared online in 2012, and the symbol can date back to 1998. The flag is less commonly used nowadays due to the black triangle symbol coming from Nazi Germany, and the fact that was made by a man, and also due to its common usage by terfs, Thus, many lesbians, especially Jewish lesbians, are rightfully offended by this flag.

There are other versions without the triangle, ones that complately remove it or change it to another shape, however they have also been deemed problematic due to the fact that some think it doesn't change the fact a man made it or that its ''to close to the original''

One Jewish lesbian, @werewolf\_tdick on twitter stated on Twitter that ''Removing the triangle on the purple flag doesn't remove the fact a man made it and you can erase its nazi ties. Us jewish lesbians dont want it used you clearly cant respect us.''

@werewolf\_tdick has made their own version of the larbys flag, which has no nazi imagery and is made by an actual lesbian, he encourages people to use unharmful versions of the larbys flag, espcially versions made by jewish lesbians

#### Lesbians opinions (labrys flag)

\*All opinions are, once again, taken from a survey that the admins of the wiki released in September of 2021.

''I didn’t do much research on this flag, I don’t have a big opinion on it. If it was made by a man though I automatically deem it as invalid. no matter what.'' -- an anonymous lesbian

''Especially as a jewish lesbian, my god do I hate it. I hope to god no-one uses the flag'' -- an anonymous lesbian

''no good, shouldn’t be used but I do think we should let people know not to use it!'' -- an anonymous lesbian

''Its a horrible flag, a man should not be making a flag for an identity surrounding non men, and a flag to represent shouldn't harm this flag actively harms jewish lesbians, and as for terf usage i don't think thats a problem every flags gonna be used by terfs, but considering the other things about this flag it shouldn't be used'' -- @PorcelainYouth, wikia admin

### Non Problematic Flags

#### Sunset Flag

The sunset flag was made by Emily Gwen in 2018 by splicing together the butch lesbian flag and the lipstick lesbian flag to represent both butches and femmes in the community. Her current twitter is @theemilygwen. The orange stripes were taken from the butch flag, and the pink stripes were taken from the lipstick lesbian flag. This is the most well-known lesbian flag, and is generally agreed upon as the community's representative flag.

This flag is not problematic and is 100% safe to use - it represents the whole community and was also made by a lesbian. This flag doesn't exclude butches, nonbinary and transgender lesbians. It's inclusive and well known by the public.

#### Strawberry Lesbian flag

The strawberry lesbian flag is a variation of the sunset flag made by @strwbryfemme on Twitter, who is also an admin on this wiki. It's essentially the same as the sunset flag, with the main difference being how the pink stripes were taken from the femme lesbian flag fawn made, as luna was uncomfortable with the association between femme lesbians and the problematic lipstick lesbian flag. Purr made both a 7 stripe one and a 5 stripe version, depicted beside this text; in purr own words, stel ''made this flag a few months or so ago, due to feeling uncomfortable with the lipstick lesbian flag being included in the bottom three stripes of the sunset lesbian flag; therefore, I replaced the bottom three stripes with the pink taken from the femme lesbian'' original post

#### Butch Lesbian Flag

This flag has no known meaning; it was made on June 27th 2017 by Tumblr user butchspace. However, another blue-and-purple butch flag was designed by an unknown person on or before August 25, 2016. That being said, both of these flags again, have no meanings and little is known about them except for the fact that they are lesbian exclusive butch flags. It is important to note that butch and femme are lesbian exclusive identities, and are vital pieces of lesbian history and culture as we know it today.

## Sources

### Meaning sources

Lesbianism Wikipedia

LGBTQI Life

### History sources

History of Lesbianism Wikipedia

The History of Lesbian History

History of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Social Movements

### Flag sources

Our flag survey

How did we get here?

Original Lipstick Lesbian flag post

Lipstick Lesbian creator being racist, ableist, biphobic

Lipstick Lesbian Callout

Lipstick Lesbian creator being butchphobic

Lipstick Lesbian Crestor being butchphobic, biphobic

Lipstick Lesbian Creator being butchphobic again

Original Sunset lesbian flag post

Unproblematic Larbys thread