Bambi lesbian

The bambi lesbian flag by wuvsbian.

### Orientation type

Sexual and/or sensual; potentially referring to other aspects of attraction as well

### Gender(s)

* Women
* Non-men
* Nonbinary people
* Femmes (referring to woman-aligned, feminine-aligned, and/or feminine people)

### Attracted to

* Women (often exclusively or primarily)
* Non-men (circumstantial)
* Nonbinary people (circumstantial)
* Femmes (referring to woman-aligned, feminine-aligned, and/or feminine people) (circumstantial)

## Related terms

### Similar or related

* Bambi-sexuality
* Lesbian
* Asexual
* Stone butch

### Counterpart or opposite

Aphrodite lesbian (lesbians who prefer sexual touch over non-sexual touch)

**Bambi lesbian** is a term for lesbians who prefer sensual forms of touch (such as kissing, cuddling, hugging, and hand-holding) over sexual forms of touch. In other words, a bambi lesbian is a lesbian whose physical affection centers more around non-sexual forms of touch, rather than genital sexuality. This term is often used by asexual and ace-spec lesbians, but is not exclusive to asexuality, and may be used by allosexual lesbians as well. Bambi lesbians may or may not have sex, and may or may not experience sexual attraction; the bambi label only specifies a preference for non-sexual affection. It is a form of bambi-sexuality.

## Etymology

The etymology behind bambi-sexuality is unclear, but may have taken inspiration from Disney's *Bambi*.

"Lesbian" originally referred to people from the island Lesbos (also known as Lesvos or Mitilini), or things relating to said island. Sappho, a Greek poet from Lesbos, was the source of inspiration for the lesbian label, as well as the sapphic label. This was due to the erotic poetry and love poems she wrote about women. "Lesbian" became a word which refers to attraction and relationships between women as late as 1870.

## History

The concept of bambi-sexuality allegedly originated in the 1980s in gay and lesbian communities. The earliest known use of the term can be found in *The Alyson Almanac*, originally published in 1989, with a second edition released in 1990, giving credit to the likelihood of it having originated in the 1980s (if not earlier). It was defined thusly:

> BAMBI-SEXUALITY. Physical interaction centered more about touching, kissing, and caressing than around genital sexuality.
>
> - Alyson Publications, The Alyson Almanac: A Treasury of Information for the Gay and Lesbian Community

Bambi-sexuality may have been a precursor to asexuality and ace-spec identities, due to a lack of asexual visibility at the time. It is unclear when the term "bambi lesbian" was coined in particular, but it is possible that it was in use around this time as well. The earliest known use of this term appeared on Urban Dictionary on December 27, 2016, taking clear inspiration from bambi-sexuality:

> a lesbian more interested in cuddles and kisses than sex
>
> - delishdelish, bambi lesbian

## Flag

The first known bambi lesbian flag was proposed by Vasilisa on the Beyond MOGAI Pride Flags Tumblr blog on February 1, 2018. The flag was created by combining the pink lesbian flag with a brown color palette based on deer.

    The most commonly used bambi lesbian flag was designed by Tumblr user wuvsbian on March 8, 2018. Brown represents deer, while pink represents love between women. It appears to be based on the pink lesbian flag or that was common at the time, which was based on the lipstick lesbian flag. Two simplified versions of the flag were designed years later. The first simplified flag has five stripes, and was designed by FANDOM user Unfunny person420 on May 10, 2021. The second simplified flag has four stripes, and was designed "a few weeks prior" to May, 13, 2023, by a Discord user who wishes to be anonymous. It has only four stripes, for the explicit purpose of matching the sappho and asexual flags.

An alternative bambi lesbian flag was designed by Tumblr user farks-flags as late as August 10, 2020. It is based on apersnicketylemon's lesbian flag, and was created due to the previous flags' associations with the lipstick lesbian flag. No further symbolism was specified.

The farks-flags bambi lesbian was altered by Tumblr user tartersause, also known as Enfys or Antonymph, on May 16, 2023. Xe changed the order of the stripes to make them easier to see, and additionally assigned an individual meaning to each stripe. Brown represents history, and the importance of remembering it, recovering it, recognizing the ways it has been obscured. It also represents that "we'll be here, even when our history has been lost to time." Orange represents sapphic love and subversion of gender norms. Yellow represents preference for sensual touch over sexual touch. Pink represents joy and strength.

Another bambi lesbian flag was designed by DeviantArt user transfeminine on April 10, 2022. She stated that she made the flag for fun, with no further elaboration on its symbolism, suggesting that its design was likely chosen for aesthetic purposes.

## Gallery

The simplified bambi lesbian flag by Unfunny person420.The simplified bambi lesbian flag by an anonymous Discord user.
## Notes

1. ↑ This is speculative, due to a lack of resources regarding the term's origins.
2. ↑ tartersause is referred to with xe/xem pronouns in this article, due to xem specifying that xe uses all pronouns, but prefers neopronouns, alternating pronouns, and mirrored pronouns. Neopronouns are used for consistency.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Alyson Publications. *Alyson Almanac: A Treasury of Information for the Gay and Lesbian Community*. ed. 2, Alyson Publications, 1990. ISBN 9781555830199. "BAMBI-SEXUALITY. Physical interaction centered more about touching, kissing, and caressing than around genital sexuality."
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Teixeira, Juliana (2022-12-16). Bambi Lesbian - What is it? What does it mean?. Taimi. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Queer as Fact meets History is Gay (2018-08-08). Archived from the original on November 30, 2022. “There's also bambi lesbian, which is a type of lesbian sexuality more centered around touching and kissing and[...] non-genital focused intimacy[...] Maybe it was a precursor to larger conversations regarding asexuality or grey-ace identity. It's like, 'I really love doing all of these things, but I don't wanna touch a genital.'”
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 wuvsbian (2018-03-08). bambi lesbian. Tumblr. Archived from the original on December 4, 2021.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Cassidy (2015-06-08). LESBIAN GLOSSARY- BAMBI SEXUAL. Girlfriends Meet. Archived from the original on February 24, 2020.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Riese (2012-06-12). 20 Lesbian Slang Terms You’ve Never Heard Before. Autostraddle. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Vasilisa (2018-02-01). Bambi Lesbian. Archived from the original on August 2, 2023.
8. ↑ Lesbian Definition & Meaning. Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on September 14, 2022.
9. ↑ About Sappho. Poets.org. Archived from the original on September 14, 2022.
10. ↑ lesbian | Etymology, origin and meaning. Online Etymology Dictionary. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022.
11. ↑ lesbian | Etymology, origin and meaning. Online Etymology Dictionary. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022.
12. ↑ delishdelish (12-27-2016). bambi lesbian. Urban Dictionary. Archived from the original on December 4, 2021.
13. ↑ Unfunny person420. Changes: Bambi Lesbian. LGBTA Wiki. Archived from the original on December 4, 2021.
14. ↑ Bambi Lesbian Simplified Source.png (2023-05-16).
15. ↑ farks-flags (2020-08-10). Untitled post. Tumblr. Archived from the original on June 2, 2023.
16. ↑ tartersause (2023-05-16). untitled Tumblr post. Archived from the original on July 5, 2023.
17. ↑ transfeminine (2022-04-10). Bambi Lesbian Flag. DeviantArt. Archived from the original on August 2, 2023.