Lesbian

{{Short description|Homosexual woman or girl}} {{Other uses}} {{pp-vandalism|small=yes}} {{pp-move}} [[File:Lesbians at 2022 Montreal Pride protest march.jpg|thumb|right|Two lesbians holding a lesbian pride flag at the 2022 Fierté Montréal march<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Ziya |title=Montreal's makeshift Pride march was more meaningful than any parade |url=https://xtramagazine.com/power/montreal-pride-fierte-228354 |website=Xtra Magazine |date=August 11, 2022 |access-date=September 5, 2024 |language=en-CA}}</ref>]] [[File:Double Venus symbol (bold).svg|thumb|Symbol for female homosexuality consisting of two intersecting female symbols<ref name="Stevens-748-quote">{{harvnb|Stevens|2000|p=748|loc=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"</ref>]] {{Sexual orientation}}

A '''lesbian''' is a homosexual woman or girl.<ref name="Oxford-Lesbian">{{Cite web |title=Lesbian |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100100998 |website=Oxford Reference: A Dictionary of Psychology |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=10 December 2018 |archive-date=10 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410214103/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100100998 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Lamos2000"/><ref name="Solarz1999">{{cite book |editor1-last=Solarz |editor1-first=Andrea L. |title=Lesbian Health: Current Assessment and Directions for the Future |date=1999 |edition=1st |publisher=National Academy Press |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=978-0309060936}}</ref>{{rp|p=48}} The word is also used as an adjective for women in relation to their experiences, regardless of their sexual orientation; or as an adjective relating to female homosexuality.<ref name="Lamos2000">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Lamos |first=Colleen |title=Lesbian |pages=453–454 |editor-last=Zimmerman |editor-first=Bonnie |editor-link=Bonnie Zimmerman |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Lesbian Histories and Cultures |date=2000 |edition=1st |publisher=Garland Publishing |location=New York |isbn=9780203825532 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofle00bzim/page/453/mode/2up |url-access=registration|quote="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."}}</ref><ref name="Solarz1999"/>{{rp|p=22}}

The term lesbian is a derivative of the island of Lesbos, the Greek island home to ancient poet Sappho. 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 around the 600s–500s BC, including Sappho's poetry.

Lesbian relationships and attractions, along with gender nonconforming behaviors more often displayed by lesbians, have been treated in different ways throughout different ages and cultures. While there is a longer documented history of lesbian behavior and relationships throughout different cultures, the idea of a 'lesbian' as a category of person distinct from other women emerged in Europe around the turn of the 19th century. Lesbians' current rights vary widely worldwide, ranging from severe abuse and legal persecution to general acceptance and legal protections.

Modern polls often estimate lesbians to be 1–3% of the population (i.e., 2–6% of women). Lesbian social movements often advocate for legal changes (such as anti-discrimination protections, child custody protections, and legal civil unions or marriages), as well as for cultural, familial, and religious acceptance of lesbian orientations and relationships.

== Etymology == [[File:Amanda Brewster Sewell, Sappho, 1891.jpg|left|alt=Painting of a woman dressed in Greek robes holding a lyre, with three partially nude women sitting in front of her on a long marble bench.|thumb|''Sappho'' by Amanda Brewster Sewell, 1891. Sappho of Lesbos gave the term ''lesbian'' the connotation of erotic desire between women.]]

The word ''lesbian'' is the demonym of the Greek island of Lesbos, home to the 6th-century BCE poet Sappho.<ref name="Oxford-Lesbian" /> Some of Sappho's surviving poetry discusses her love for other women.<ref name="Aldrich2006">{{cite book |last1=Aldrich |first1=Robert |title=Gay Life and Culture: A World History |date=2006 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |isbn=0-7893-1511-4}}</ref>{{rp|pp=47–49}}

Before the mid-19th century,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gollmann |first=Wilhelm |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AzkzAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA201 |title=The Homeopathic Guide, In All Diseases of the Urinary and Sexual Organs, Including the Derangements Caused by Onanism and Sexual Excesses |publisher=Rademacher & Sheek |others=Charles Julius Hempel; J. Emerson Kent |year=1855 |location=Philadelphia |page=201}}</ref> the word ''lesbian'' referred to any aspect of Lesbos, including a type of wine.{{efn|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".<ref>{{cite news |title=Lesbos locals lose lesbian appeal |date=22 July 2008 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7520343.stm |work=BBC News Europe |access-date=3 February 2009 |archive-date=4 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110304110436/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7520343.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>}} A shift of the word to describe erotic relationships between women had been documented in 1870.<ref name="Stevens2000">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Stevens |first=Christy |title=Symbols |pages=748, 776–777 |editor-last=Zimmerman |editor-first=Bonnie |editor-link=Bonnie Zimmerman |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Lesbian Histories and Cultures |date=2000 |edition=1st |publisher=Garland Publishing |location=New York |isbn=9780203825532 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofle00bzim/page/747/mode/2up |url-access=registration}}</ref> In 1875, a critic referred to Baudelaire's poem "Delphine and Hippolyte" (a poem about love between two women, and without reference to Lesbos) as "Lesbian".<ref name="Cohen2001">{{Cite book |title=The Literary Channel: The Inter-National Invention of the Novel |date=2001 |url=https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/download/fedora_content/download/ac:157283/CONTENT/Sharon_Marcus_-_Comparative_Sapphism.pdf |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0691050010 |editor-last=Cohen |editor-first=Margaret |location=Princeton, New Jersey |pages=251–285 |chapter=Chapter Ten: Comparative Sapphism, Sharon Marcus |editor-last2=Dever |editor-first2=Carolyn |archive-date=2014-11-29 |access-date=2014-11-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129075722/https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/download/fedora_content/download/ac:157283/CONTENT/Sharon_Marcus_-_Comparative_Sapphism.pdf |url-status=live}} (Document made available by Columbia University Libraries. PDF downloads automatically.)</ref> In 1890, the term ''lesbian'' was used in the National Medical Dictionary as an adjective to describe tribadism.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lesbian Terms & Code In Women's LGBTQ History |url=https://www.sushi-rider.com/friends-of-dorothy/lesbian-terminology-timeline.html |website=Girl Friends of Dorothy |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250209183840/https://www.sushi-rider.com/friends-of-dorothy/lesbian-terminology-timeline.html |archive-date=9 February 2025 |access-date=5 July 2025}}</ref>

The terms ''lesbian'', ''invert'' and ''homosexual'' were interchangeable with ''sapphist'' around the turn of the 20th century.<ref name="Stevens2000"/> The use of ''lesbian'' in medical literature became prominent; by 1925, the word was recorded as a noun to mean the female equivalent of ''sodomite''.<ref name="Stevens2000"/><ref name="oed">"Lesbian", [http://dictionary.oed.com/ Oxford English Dictionary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060625103623/http://dictionary.oed.com/ |date=2006-06-25 }}, Second Edition, 1989. Retrieved on January 7, 2009.</ref>

== Sexuality and identity ==

[[File:Lesbian Pride Flag 2019.svg|thumb|upright=0.8|Lesbian community flag introduced in social media in 2018, with the dark orange stripe representing gender variance<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2019 |title=Lesbian Flag, Sadlesbeandisaster |url=https://majesticmess.com/encyclopedia/lesbian-flag-sadlesbeandisaster/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608151937/https://majesticmess.com/encyclopedia/lesbian-flag-sadlesbeandisaster/ |archive-date=8 June 2019 |access-date=24 August 2019 |website=Majestic Mess}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Murphy-Kasp |first=Paul |date=6 July 2019 |title=Pride in London: What do all the flags mean? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-london-48885240/pride-in-london-what-do-all-the-flags-mean |access-date=11 July 2019 |website=BBC News |archive-date=17 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200617211013/https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-london-48885240/pride-in-london-what-do-all-the-flags-mean |url-status=live}}</ref>]]

[[File:Labrys Lesbian Flag.svg|thumb|upright=0.8|Lesbian feminist flag consisting of a labrys (a double-bladed axe) within the inverted black triangle, set against a violet-hue background. The labrys represents lesbian strength.<ref name="BendixAE">{{Cite news |last=Bendix |first=Trish |date=8 September 2015 |title=Why don't lesbians have a pride flag of our own? |url=https://www.afterellen.com/people/452039-dont-lesbians-pride-flag |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909150736/https://www.afterellen.com/people/452039-dont-lesbians-pride-flag |archive-date=9 September 2015 |access-date=23 July 2019 |website=AfterEllen}}</ref>|alt=]]

[[File:Lesbian Pride pink flag.svg|thumb|upright=0.8|Lesbian flag derived from the colors of the lipstick lesbian flag design<ref>{{Cite news |last=Andersson |first=Jasmine |date=4 July 2019 |title=Pride flag guide: what the different flags look like, and what they all mean |work=The i Paper |url=https://inews.co.uk/news/pride-flag-guide-what-the-different-flags-look-like-and-what-they-all-mean/ |access-date=24 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824081636/https://inews.co.uk/news/pride-flag-guide-what-the-different-flags-look-like-and-what-they-all-mean/ |archive-date=24 August 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Rawles |first=Timothy |date=July 12, 2019 |title=The many flags of the LGBT community |work=San Diego Gay & Lesbian News |url=https://sdgln.com/social/2019/07/12/many-flags-lgbt-community |access-date=24 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190712231000/https://sdgln.com/social/2019/07/12/many-flags-lgbt-community |archive-date=July 12, 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref>]]

===Biological factors===

Prenatal androgen exposure correlates with same-sex sexual behavior in women.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Journal of Neuroendocrinology |last=Roselli |first=C.E. |title=Neurobiology of gender identity and sexual orientation |date=2018 |volume=30 |issue=7 |article-number=e12562 |doi=10.1111/jne.12562 |pmid=29211317 |pmc=6677266 }}</ref> Biological characteristics known to be affected by prenatal hormone exposure have been shown to vary by sexual orientation in women.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology |last=McFadden |first=Dennis |title=Sexual orientation and the auditory system |volume=32 |issue=2 |date=April 2011 |pages=201–213 |doi=10.1016/j.yfrne.2011.02.001 |pmid=21310172 |pmc=3085661 }}</ref><ref name="PrenatalInfl">{{cite journal |vauthors=Breedlove SM |title=Prenatal Influences on Human Sexual Orientation: Expectations versus Data |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |volume=46 |issue=6 |pages=1583–1592 |date=August 2017 |pmid=28176027 |pmc=5786378 |doi=10.1007/s10508-016-0904-2}}</ref> The finding that digit ratios (one characteristic affected by prenatal hormone exposure) differ between lesbian and heterosexual women has been replicated in cross-cultural studies.<ref name="PrenatalInfl"/> Neuroimaging studies have found differences between heterosexual and homosexual women in neurological structures, including both those known to be affected by prenatal androgen exposure<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ponseti |first1=Jorge |last2=Siebner |first2=Hartwig R. |last3=Klöppel |first3=Stefan |last4=Wolff |first4=Stephan |last5=Granert |first5=Oliver |last6=Jansen |first6=Olav |last7=Mehdorn |first7=Hubertus M. |last8=Bosinski |first8=Hartmut A. |journal=PLOS ONE |title=Homosexual Women Have Less Grey Matter in Perirhinal Cortex than Heterosexual Women |year=2007 |volume=2 |issue=8 |pages=e762 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0000762 |pmid=17712410 |pmc=1942120 |bibcode=2007PLoSO...2..762P |doi-access=free }}</ref> and those not known to be affected by prenatal androgen exposure.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Manzouri |first1=A. |last2=Savic |first2=I. |journal=Human Brain Mapping |title=Cerebral sex dimorphism and sexual orientation |year=2017 |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=1175–1186 |doi=10.1002/hbm.23908 |pmid=29227002 |pmc=6866632 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Savic |first1=Ivanka |last2=Lindstrom |first2=Per |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |title=PET and MRI show differences in cerebral asymmetry and functional connectivity between homo- and heterosexual subjects |volume=105 |issue=27 |year=2008 |pages=9403–9408 |url=https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.0801566105 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0801566105 |issn=1091-6490 |doi-access=free|pmc=2453705 }}</ref> A later meta-analysis concluded that the small sample sizes and small number of studies meant that findings were inconclusive as of 2021.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Frigerio |first1=A. |last2=Ballerini |first2=L. |last3=Valdés Hernández |first3=M. |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |year=2021 |title=Structural, Functional, and Metabolic Brain Differences as a Function of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation: A Systematic Review of the Human Neuroimaging Literature/ |volume=50 |issue=8 |pages=3329–3352 |doi=10.1007/s10508-021-02005-9 |pmid=33956296 |pmc=8604863}}</ref> Genetics plays a role; around 20% of the variance of sexual orientation in women is controlled by genes.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Långström |first1=N |last2=Rahman |first2=Q |last3=Carlström E |first3=E |last4=Lichtenstein |first4=P |title=Genetic and environmental effects on same-sex sexual behavior: a population study of twins in Sweden |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |year=2020 |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=75–80 |doi=10.1007/s10508-008-9386-1 |pmid=18536986 |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-008-9386-1 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

===Lesbian identity formation===

When a woman realizes she is a lesbian, it may cause an "existential crisis". When a woman was raised in an environment with negative stereotypes of lesbians, she may need to work through these stereotypes and prejudices to come to terms with her orientation.<ref name="Schlager1998">{{cite book |editor-last=Schlager |editor-first=Neil |date=1998 |title=Gay & Lesbian Almanac |publisher=St. James Press |isbn=1-55862-358-2}}</ref>{{rp|p=93}} Lesbians in modern times share an identity that parallels those built on ethnicity, including the concept of group heritage and group pride.<ref name="rust">{{cite journal |last1=Rust |first1=Paula C. |title=The Politics of Sexual Identity: Sexual Attraction and Behavior among Lesbian and Bisexual Women |journal=Social Problems |date=November 1992 |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=366–386 |doi=10.2307/3097016 |jstor=3097016 |issn=0037-7791 |url=https://academic.oup.com/socpro/article-abstract/39/4/366/1630177?redirectedFrom=fulltext |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Compared to gay men, lesbians more often developed their sexual self-concepts either alone or in intimate relationships, instead of in communities, and disclosed them less often.<ref name="Schlager1998"/>{{rp|p=153}}

=== Self-identification and behavior ===

Some women report a consistently lesbian orientation. Other women report varying degrees of fluidity in how they describe their sexual orientation.<ref name="Farr2014">{{Cite journal |last1=Farr |first1=Rachel H. |last2=Diamond |first2=Lisa M. |last3=Boker |first3=Steven M. |date=2014 |title=Female Same-Sex Sexuality from a Dynamical Systems Perspective: Sexual Desire, Motivation, and Behavior |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |volume=43 |issue=8 |pages=1477–1490 |doi=10.1007/s10508-014-0378-z |issn=0004-0002 |pmc=4199863 |pmid=25193132}}</ref> Women who identify as lesbians and report never having been with men may be referred to as "gold star lesbians." Women who identify as lesbians and had sex with men before coming out may face ridicule from other lesbians or identity challenges with regard to defining what it means to be a lesbian.<ref name="Shelby">{{Cite book |last1=R Dennis Shelby |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SNQJBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA34 |title=Lesbian Women and Sexual Health: The Social Construction of Risk and Susceptibility |last2=Kathleen Dolan |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=978-1317718192 |page=34 |access-date=April 11, 2018}}</ref>

Several studies have found that the sexual behavior and attractions of exclusively lesbian women are significantly more likely to be aligned with their identity than those of exclusively heterosexual women. These included studies of reported attraction throughout the fertility cycle, and direct measures of arousal by different imagery.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Diamond |first1=Lisa M. |last2=Dickenson |first2=Janna A. |last3=Blair |first3=Karen L. |date=2022-01-01 |title=Menstrual Cycle Changes in Daily Sexual Motivation and Behavior Among Sexually Diverse Cisgender Women |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-021-02171-w |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |language=en |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=577–588 |doi=10.1007/s10508-021-02171-w |pmid=35028805 |issn=1573-2800 |quote=Women with exclusive same-gender orientations reported increased motivation for same-gender sexual contact during the higher-fertility phase of the cycle, but women with exclusive other-gender orientations did not show a parallel increase in other-gender sexual motivation during the higher-fertility phase. ... As noted earlier, the same pattern of difference between women with exclusive same-gender attractions versus bisexual attractions also emerged in the small pilot study of 20 women conducted by Diamond and Wallen (2011). ... Although this suggests important similarities between bisexual women and those with exclusive same-gender orientations, other research (reviewed by Chivers, 2017) has found that self-identified lesbians show more "category-specific" patterns of genital arousal than other groups of women, meaning that they show significantly greater arousal to the stimuli that they report preferring (women) than to their nonpreferred stimuli (men).|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Some lesbians also identify as non-binary or queer.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Connell |first1=Cati |title=The Lesbian-Identified Lesbian: Lesbian Feminisms for a Post-Binary Future |journal=Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society |date=1 January 2026 |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=401–425 |doi=10.1086/737443}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hord |first1=Levi CR |title=Specificity without identity: Articulating post-gender sexuality through the "non-binary lesbian" |journal=Sexualities |date=September 2022 |volume=25 |issue=5–6 |pages=615–637 |doi=10.1177/1363460720981564}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bernales |first1=Maura Ryan |title=The lezurrection: lesbian identity in queer times |journal=Journal of Lesbian Studies |date=2 October 2025 |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=465–484 |doi=10.1080/10894160.2024.2401261}}</ref>

Some researchers observe that self-applied identity labels and reported sexual behavior do not always align: for example, some self-identified straight women report sex with women, and some self-identified lesbians report sex with men.<ref name="Solarz1999"/>{{rp|p=22}}<ref name="Diamond">{{Cite book |last=Lisa M. Diamond |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4C1ktwsIrgwC&pg=PA105 |title=Sexual Fluidity |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0674033696 |pages=105–106 |access-date=July 20, 2014}}</ref> One woman identified as a "bisexual lesbian" to indicate she would still date men.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Faulkner |first1=Sandra L. |last2=Hecht |first2=Michael L. |title=The negotiation of closetable identities: A narrative analysis of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered queer Jewish identity |journal=Journal of Social and Personal Relationships |date=September 2011 |volume=28 |issue=6 |pages=843 |doi=10.1177/0265407510391338}}</ref> Some women use both the terms bisexual and lesbian as self-applied identity labels.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rust |first1=Paula C. |title=Two Many and Not Enough: The Meanings of Bisexual Identities |journal=Journal of Bisexuality |date=12 July 2000 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=31–68 |doi=10.1300/J159v01n01_04}}</ref>

===Sexual activity===

A 1983 survey asked couples "About how often during the last year have you and your partner had sex relations?". The survey found that long-term lesbian couples named lower numbers than long-term heterosexual or homosexual male couples.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Blumstein |first1=Philip |title=American Couples: Money, Work, Sex |last2=Schwartz |first2=Pepper |publisher=William Morrow and Company |year=1983 |isbn=9780688037727 |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/americancouplesm0000blum/page/n5/mode/2up}}</ref> This conclusion became known as "lesbian bed death".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=White |first=Ro |title=The Gay B C's of Sex: L Is for Lesbian Bed Death |url=https://www.autostraddle.com/lesbian-bed-death-definition/ |access-date=September 14, 2025 |magazine=Autostraddle |date=August 4, 2022}}</ref> Numerous critiques were leveled at the study, including that the language could be misinterpreted to mean "heterosexual intercourse", and that the survey sample was limited to a biased sample of self-identified lesbians in 1983.<ref name="nichols">{{cite journal |last1=Nichols |first1=Margaret |title=Lesbian sexuality/female sexuality: Rethinking 'lesbian bed death' |journal=Sexual and Relationship Therapy |date=2004 |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=363–371 |doi=10.1080/14681990412331298036 |s2cid=143879852}}</ref>

Researchers report that lesbian and heterosexual women are just as likely to view achieving orgasm as important,<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Yurcaba |first=Jo |date=April 9, 2024 |title=New research helps explain why lesbians report more orgasms than straight women |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-health-and-wellness/new-research-helps-explain-lesbians-report-orgasms-straight-women-rcna146661 |access-date=August 2, 2025 |work=NBC}}</ref> and that the two groups report statistically equivalent rates of overall sexual and romantic satisfaction.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Frederick |first1=David A. |last2=Gillespie |first2=Brian Joseph |last3=Lever |first3=Janet |last4=Berardi |first4=Vincent |last5=Garcia |first5=Justin R. |date=2021-11-01 |title=Debunking Lesbian Bed Death: Using Coarsened Exact Matching to Compare Sexual Practices and Satisfaction of Lesbian and Heterosexual Women |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-021-02096-4 |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |language=en |volume=50 |issue=8 |pages=3601–3619 |doi=10.1007/s10508-021-02096-4 |pmid=34725751 |issn=1573-2800}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Castleman |first=Michael |date=February 28, 2023 |title=Debunking the Myth of 'Lesbian Bed Death' |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/all-about-sex/202302/debunking-the-myth-of-lesbian-bed-death |access-date=August 2, 2025 |work=Psychology Today}}</ref> The research suggests that lesbian women tend to achieve said satisfaction through higher quality rather than more frequent sex, and that they engage in different romantic and sexual scripts than heterosexual women.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" />

== In history ==

Women have been underrepresented in history as both writers and subjects, and lesbianism has been correspondingly under-recorded. Since the 1970s, efforts have been made to gather together and preserve lesbian history.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Loveland |first1=Barry |last2=Doran |first2=Malinda Triller |date=2016 |title=Out of the Closet and Into the Archives: A Partnership Model for Community-Based Collection and Preservation of LGBTQ History |url=https://journals.psu.edu/phj/article/view/63299 |journal=Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies |volume=83 |issue=3 |pages=418–419 |doi=10.5325/pennhistory.83.3.0418 |issn=0031-4528 |eissn=2153-2109 |url-access=subscription|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Lesbian Herstory Archives: A Constant Affirmation That You Exist |url=http://www.autostraddle.com/the-lesbian-herstory-archives-a-constant-affirmation-that-you-exist-139931/ |magazine=Autostraddle |date=19 June 2012 |author=Vanessa |access-date=19 July 2025 |archive-date=1 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101192922/https://www.autostraddle.com/the-lesbian-herstory-archives-a-constant-affirmation-that-you-exist-139931/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

In ancient Greece, Sappho of Lesbos wrote poetry regarding her love for other women, fragments of which survive.<ref>{{cite web |last=Dunn |first=Daisy |date=30 July 2024 |title=The First Lesbian: How Sappho's Poetry Paved the Way for Modern Queer Literature |url=https://lithub.com/the-first-lesbian-how-sapphos-poetry-paved-the-way-for-modern-queer-literature/ |website=LitHub |access-date=5 July 2025}}</ref> Other Greek references include mentions in Plato's Symposium.<ref>{{cite book |last=Plato |title=The Symposium |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1600/1600-h/1600-h.htm |location=Project Gutenberg |publisher=Project Gutenberg |page= |isbn= |access-date=}}</ref>{{efn|"[H]e begins by treating of the origin of human nature. The sexes were originally three, men, women, and the union of the two; and they were made round—having four hands, four feet, two faces on a round neck, and the rest to correspond. Terrible was their strength and swiftness; and they were essaying to scale heaven and attack the gods. Doubt reigned in the celestial councils; the gods were divided between the desire of quelling the pride of man and the fear of losing the sacrifices. At last Zeus hit upon an expedient. Let us cut them in two, he said; then they will only have half their strength, and we shall have twice as many sacrifices. He spake, and split them as you might split an egg with an hair; and when this was done, he told Apollo to give their faces a twist and re-arrange their persons, taking out the wrinkles and tying the skin in a knot about the navel. The two halves went about looking for one another, and were ready to die of hunger in one another's arms. Then Zeus invented an adjustment of the sexes, which enabled them to marry and go their way to the business of life. Now the characters of men differ accordingly as they are derived from the original man or the original woman, or the original man-woman. Those who come from the man-woman are lascivious and adulterous; those who come from the woman form female attachments; those who are a section of the male follow the male and embrace him, and in him all their desires centre."}}

thumb|A red-figure kylix depicting two women in an intimate setting. Attributed to the painter Apollodorus, c. 490–480 BCE. (Tarquinia National Museum)|218x218px

In ancient Rome, accounts of lesbian characters include the story of Iphis and Ianthe,<ref name="300000Kisses">{{cite book |last1=Hewitt |first1=Sean |last2=Hall |first2=Luke Edward |date=2023 |title=300,000 Kisses: Tales of Queer Love from the Ancient World |url= |location= |publisher=Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Crown Publishing Group |page=23 |isbn=978-0-593-58244-2}}</ref>{{rp|p=79–86}} a myth from fabulist Phaedrus,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_WS3w5rJP1IC&pg=PA156 |title=Sexual Diversity and Catholicism: Toward the Development of Moral Theology |isbn=9780814659397 |access-date=29 November 2014 |last1=Coray |first1=Joseph Andrew |year=2001 |publisher=Liturgical Press |archive-date=12 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412032845/https://books.google.com/books?id=_WS3w5rJP1IC&pg=PA156 |url-status=live}}</ref> and Lucian's Dialogues of the Courtesans.<ref>{{cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=LUCIAN:Dialogues of the Courtesans Section 5: LEAENA AND CLONARIUM |url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/pwh/lucian-court.asp |website=Internet History Sourcebooks Project |location= |publisher=Fordham University |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241003133203/https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/pwh/lucian-court.asp |archive-date=October 3, 2024 |access-date=May 21, 2025}}</ref>.

In the Aztec Empire, female homosexuality is described in the Florentine Codex, a 16th-century study of the Aztec world, including its violent repression during Spanish colonization.<ref name="Kimball1993">{{cite journal |last1=Kimball |first1=Geoffrey |title=Aztec Homosexuality: The Textual Evidence |journal=Journal of Homosexuality |date=6 December 1993 |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=7–24 |doi=10.1300/J082v26n01_02 |pmid=8113605}}</ref> Some Indigenous peoples of the Americas conceptualize a third gender for women who dress as, and fulfill the roles of men or a third sex in their cultures.<ref name="Vowel-1">{{Cite book |last=Vowel |first=Chelsea |title=Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues in Canada |date=2016 |publisher=Highwater Press |isbn=978-1553796800 |location=Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |chapter=All My Queer Relations - Language, Culture, and Two-Spirit Identity}}</ref><ref name="NCIA">{{Cite journal |last1=Pruden |first1=Harlan |last2=Edmo |first2=Se-ah-dom |date=2016 |title=Two-Spirit People: Sex, Gender & Sexuality in Historic and Contemporary Native America |url=http://www.ncai.org/policy-research-center/initiatives/Pruden-Edmo_TwoSpiritPeople.pdf |journal=National Congress of American Indians Policy Research Center |access-date=2018-09-01 |archive-date=2023-07-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230708104610/https://www.ncai.org/policy-research-center/initiatives/Pruden-Edmo_TwoSpiritPeople.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In early Modern western literature, homoerotic masquerade of one gender for another to seduce an unsuspecting woman was a common plot device, seen for instance in ''Twelfth Night'' (1601), ''The Faerie Queene'' (1590), and ''The Bird in a Cage'' (1633).<ref name="Jennings2007">{{cite book |last=Jennings |first=Rebecca |date=2007 |title=A Lesbian History of Britain |publisher=Greenwood World Publishing |isbn=978-1-84645-007-5}}</ref>{{rp|pp=1–11, 22–24}} From the 17th to the 19th centuries in the West, it was fashionable, accepted, and encouraged for a woman to express passionate love for another woman.<ref name="Aldrich2006">{{cite book |last1=Aldrich |first1=Robert |title=Gay Life and Culture: A World History |date=2006 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |isbn=0-7893-1511-4}}</ref>{{rp|p=136}}

[[File:Charles Buchel - Radclyffe Hall.jpg|thumb|left|A portrait of English lesbian writer Radclyffe Hall|218x218px]]

In the 19th and 20th centuries, sexologists Richard von Krafft-Ebing from Germany and Britain's Havelock Ellis created categorizations of female same-sex attraction, approaching it as a form of insanity.<ref name="Faderman1981">{{Cite book |last=Faderman |first=Lillian |author-link=Lillian Faderman |date=1981 |title=Surpassing the Love of Men: Romantic Friendship and Love Between Women from the Renaissance to the Present |publisher=Quill |isbn=0-688-00396-6}}</ref>{{rp|p=241–242}} In the 1920s, Berlin had a vibrant homosexual culture with some 50 clubs for lesbians.<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>{{rp|pp=241–244}} In 1928, Radclyffe Hall published the novel ''The Well of Loneliness'', intended as a call for tolerance.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>{{rp|p=320}} Professor Laura Doan described the resulting trial for obscenity as "''the'' crystallizing moment in the construction of a visible modern English lesbian subculture".<ref name="Doan2001">{{cite book |last=Doan |first=Laura |date=2001 |title=Fashioning Sapphism: The Origins of a Modern English Lesbian Culture |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=0-231-11007-3 |pages=XIII, XV, 64–66}}</ref> In the United States, the 1920s was a decade of sexual experimentation.<ref name="Faderman1991">{{Cite book |last=Faderman |first=Lillian |author-link=Lillian Faderman |date=1991 |url=https://archive.org/details/oddgirlstwilight00fade |title=Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth Century America |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=0140171223 |edition=paperback}}</ref>{{rp|pp=63–67}} Homosexual subculture disappeared in Germany with the rise of the Nazis in 1933.<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>{{rp|pp=191–193}} Following World War II, the U.S. government began persecuting homosexuals around 1950.<ref name="Edsall2003">{{cite book |last=Edsall |first=Nicholas |date=2003 |title=Toward Stonewall: Homosexuality and Society in the Modern Western World |publisher=University of Virginia Press |isbn=0-8139-2211-9}}</ref>{{rp|p=277}} Between 1955 and 1969, over 2,000 books of lesbian pulp fiction were published in North America.<ref name=Keller>{{cite journal |last1=Keller |first1=Yvonne |title="Was It Right to Love Her Brother's Wife so Passionately?": Lesbian Pulp Novels and U.S. Lesbian Identity, 1950-1965 |journal=American Quarterly |date=June 2005 |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=385–410 |doi=10.1353/aq.2005.0028 |jstor=40068271 |s2cid=144844572 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40068271 |issn=0003-0678 |oclc=1480637}}</ref> From the late 1950s to the 1970s, the sexual revolution encouraged women to try varied sexual experiences.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>{{rp|p=203}}

In Latin America, lesbian subcultures increased as several countries transitioned to or reformed democratic governments. However, social harassment has remained common.<ref name="Mogrovejo2004">Mogrovejo, Norma (2004). "Relevancia de las lesbianas en América Latina: la recuperación de nuestra historia". In Drucker, Péter; Mercad, Enrique (in Spanish). ''Arco iris diferentes''. Siglo XXI. {{ISBN|978-968-23-2486-4}}. pp. 85–103, 281-294</ref>

Cross-gender roles and marriage between women have been recorded in over 30 traditional African societies.<ref name="Roscoe Murray 2021">{{cite book |last1=Roscoe |first1=Will |last2=Murray |first2=Stephen O. |last3=Epprecht |first3=Marc |title=Boy-Wives and Female Husbands |publisher=SUNY Press |publication-place=Albany |date=2021 |orig-year=1998 |isbn=978-1-4384-8410-5 |at=New Foreword}} (open access)</ref><ref name="Aldrich2006"/>{{rp|p=262}} In Africa, the Coalition of African Lesbians has worked since 2004 to eradicate stigma, legal discrimination, and violence against lesbians.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{Cite journal |last1=Ngubane |first1=Musa |last2=Frank |first2=Liz |date=2004 |title=Standing up for their rights: Coalition of African Lesbians formed in Windhoek |url=http://electra.lmu.edu:2048/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/standing-up-their-rights-coalition-african/docview/194911079 |journal=Sister Namibia |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=10 |id={{ProQuest|194911079}}}}</ref> In Africa, lesbian activities have been "shaped by silence and secrecy, oppression and repression".<ref name="Currier 2017">{{cite journal |last1=Currier |first1=Ashley |last2=Migraine-George |first2=Thérèse |title="Lesbian"/female same-sex sexualities in Africa |journal=Journal of Lesbian Studies |volume=21 |issue=2 |date=3 April 2017 |doi=10.1080/10894160.2016.1146031 |pages=133–150 |pmid=27768541 }}</ref>

Accounts of homoerotic relationships between women exist from various dynasties in premodern China; academics emphasize that the way society conceived of these relationships was not the same as in modern society.<ref name="SullivanJackson2001">{{cite book |editor1-last=Sullivan |editor1-first=Gerard |editor2-last=Jackson |editor2-first=Peter |date=2001 |title=Gay and Lesbian Asia: Culture, Identity, Community |publisher=Harrington Park Press |isbn=1-56023-146-7}}</ref>{{rp|p=29}}<ref>{{cite journal |title= Leftover peaches: Female homoeroticism during the Western Han dynasty |last=Venters |first=Laurie |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10894160.2024.2334137 |date=May 13, 2024 |journal=Journal of Lesbian Studies}}</ref>

==Demographics==

===Early reports===

The most extensive early study of female homosexuality was the 1953 Kinsey Institute analysis of the sexual experiences of more than 8,000 American women. Its methodology has been criticized,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Leonhardt |first=David |author-link=David Leonhardt |date=July 28, 2000 |title=John Tukey, 85, Statistician; Coined the Word 'Software' |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/28/us/john-tukey-85-statistician-coined-the-word-software.html |archive-date=March 6, 2023 |access-date=August 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306012549/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/28/us/john-tukey-85-statistician-coined-the-word-software.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2003 |title=Biography 15.1, ''John W. Tukey'' (1915–2000) |url=http://www.swlearning.com/quant/kohler/stat/biographical_sketches/bio15.1.html |access-date=2023-04-07 |website=South-Western Educational Publishing |archive-date=2015-02-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227025040/http://www.swlearning.com/quant/kohler/stat/biographical_sketches/bio15.1.html |url-status=dead}} John Tukey criticizes sample procedure</ref><ref name="Bullough1998" /> but it proved popular. It reported that 28% of women had been aroused by a female, that 19% had had sexual contact with a female,<ref name="Kinsey1953">Institute for Sex Research (Kinsey, ''et al.'') (1953). ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Female'', Saunders.</ref>{{rp|p=453}} and that some 9% had orgasmed.<ref name="Kinsey1953"/>{{rp|pp=453–454}} Its dispassionate discussion of homosexuality as a form of sexual behavior was revolutionary.<ref name="Bullough1998">{{cite journal |last1=Bullough |first1=Vern L. |title=Alfred Kinsey and the Kinsey report: Historical overview and lasting contributions |journal=Journal of Sex Research |date=1998 |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=127–131 |doi=10.1080/00224499809551925}}</ref>

In 1976, sexologist Shere Hite did a qualitative survey of 3,019 women on their sexual experiences. Hite's questions focused on how women identified and what they preferred, rather than their prior experiences. Respondents indicated that 8% preferred sex with women, while 9% said that they identified as bisexual or had had sexual experiences with men and women without indicating a preference.<ref name="Hite1976">{{cite book |author-link=Shere Hite |last=Hite |first=Shere |date=1976 |title=The Hite Report: A Nationwide Study on Female Sexuality |publisher=MacMillan |isbn=0-02-551851-8 |pages=261, 262, 274}}</ref>

===Population estimates===

* A 2023 international survey (which excluded Africa and the Middle East) found that, on average, 3% of participants self-identified as lesbian or gay<ref name="Moreau 2023">{{cite news |last1=Moreau |first1=Julie |title=Global survey finds 9% of adults identify as LGBTQ |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/global-survey-finds-9-adults-identify-lgbtq-rcna87288 |access-date=8 January 2026 |work=NBC News |date=1 June 2023}}</ref> * Lesbians in the U.S. form about 2.6% of the population, according to a 2000 survey.<ref name="almanac">Wright, John, ed. "Homosexuality in the U.S., 1998–2000", ''The New York Times Almanac'' (2009), Penguin Reference. {{ISBN|0-14-311457-3}}, p. 314.</ref> Another survey showed that between 2000 and 2005, the number claiming to be in same-sex relationships increased by 30%, possibly because people were more comfortable self-identifying as homosexual.{{efn|The study estimated the total population of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals at 8.8 million, but did not differentiate between men and women.<ref>Gates, Gary [October 2006]. "Same-sex Couples and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Population: New Estimates from the American Community Survey", [http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/home.html The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213183201/http://www.law.ucla.edu/WilliamsInstitute/home.html |date=2009-02-13 }}, University of California Los Angeles, pp. 1–25.</ref>}} * A survey by the UK Office for National Statistics in 2010 found that 1.5% of Britons identified as gay or bisexual; other surveys had shown the number between 0.3% and 3%.<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 September 2010 |title=Measuring Sexual Identity : Evaluation Report, 2010 |url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/ethnicity/measuring-sexual-identity---evaluation-report/2010/index.html |publisher=Office for National Statistics |access-date=21 August 2012 |archive-date=26 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626204329/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/ethnicity/measuring-sexual-identity---evaluation-report/2010/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="more-or-less-2010-10-01">{{Cite web |last=Harford |first=Tim |date=1 October 2010 |title=More or Less examines Office for National Statistics figures on gay, lesbian and bisexual people |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tznbk |publisher=BBC |access-date=21 August 2012 |archive-date=5 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151105183125/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tznbk |url-status=live }}</ref> * Polls in Australia recorded a range of self-identified lesbian or bisexual women from 1.3% to 2.2% of the total population.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wilson |first1=Shaun |date=December 2004 |title=Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender identification and attitudes to same-sex relationships in Australia and the United States |journal=People and Place |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=12–22 |url=https://tapri.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/v12n4_2wilson.pdf |archive-date=2022-02-17 |access-date=2022-02-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217010533/https://tapri.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/v12n4_2wilson.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Additionally, a 2024 ABS release stated the percentage of reported non-heterosexual orientations in cisgender women was 3.7%.<ref>{{cite web|title= Estimates and characteristics of LGBTI+ populations in Australia.|url=https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/estimates-and-characteristics-lgbti-populations-australia/latest-release|publisher=Australian Bureau of Statistics|date=2022}}</ref> * A 2016 survey in France found 4% of women identifying as gay or bisexual.<ref>{{cite web|title=Paris, ville lumière, ville de débauche ? L'OBSERVATOIRE DE LA VIE SEXUELLE DES PARISIENS|date=19 December 2016|url=http://www.ifop.com/media/poll/3596-1-study_file.pdf|website=IFOP|language=fr|access-date=30 October 2017|archive-date=22 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170722030448/http://www.ifop.com/media/poll/3596-1-study_file.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> * In a 2012 survey in Israel, 15.2% of women self-reported attraction to women, 8.7% reported having had a same-gender encounter, and 4.8% identified as lesbian or bisexual.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mor |first1=Zohar |last2=Davidovich |first2=Udi |title=Sexual Orientation and Behavior of Adult Jews in Israel and the Association With Risk Behavior |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |date=August 2016 |volume=45 |issue=6 |pages=1563–1571 |doi=10.1007/s10508-015-0631-0 |pmid=26754157 |s2cid=25933408 |oclc=5966345530}}</ref> * In a 2013 survey in the Philippines, 1.8% of women identified as lesbian.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2013|title=Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey|url=https://www.drdf.org.ph/sites/default/files/YAFS4%20Key%20Findings/YAFS4%20Key%20Findings.pdf|website=Demographic Research and Development Foundation|page=18|access-date=2020-11-02|archive-date=2020-10-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029193428/https://www.drdf.org.ph/sites/default/files/YAFS4%20Key%20Findings/YAFS4%20Key%20Findings.pdf}}</ref> * A 2021 survey in Sri Lanka found that 0.5% of the population (some 1% of women) identified as lesbian.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://equalityfund.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Mapping.pdf-Research-report.pdf |title=Mapping LGBTQ Identities in Sri Lanka |publisher=Equal Ground |access-date=June 6, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211007220334/https://equalityfund.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Mapping.pdf-Research-report.pdf |archive-date=October 7, 2021}}</ref>

==Health==

=== Disparities ===

A systematic review conducted in 2023 found that lesbian and bisexual women were 1.5 to 2 times more likely to have asthma than heterosexual women. Additionally, they were somewhat more likely to experience back pain, hepatitis B/C, and urinary tract infections. However, they were less likely to suffer from heart attacks, diabetes, or hypertension, possibly because they avoided pregnancy in the case of the latter two conditions.<ref name="Haarmann Folkerts 2023">{{cite journal |last1=Haarmann |first1=Lena |last2=Folkerts |first2=Ann-Kristin |last3=Lieker |first3=Emma |last4=Eichert |first4=Kai |last5=Neidlinger |first5=Marlene |last6=Monsef |first6=Ina |last7=Skoetz |first7=Nicole |last8=Träuble |first8=Birgit |last9=Kalbe |first9=Elke |title=Comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis on physical health conditions in lesbian- and bisexual-identified women compared with heterosexual-identified women |journal=Women's Health |volume=19 |date=2023 |article-number=17455057231219610 |pmid=38146632 |pmc=10752089 |doi=10.1177/17455057231219610}}</ref> Due to lifestyle and social factors, lesbians may be at elevated risk of some types of cancers.<ref name="HHS"/>

American studies in the 2010s and 2020s have found that LGBT people experience higher rates of mental distress, and that this relationship is mediated by experiences of rejection and adverse childhood experiences.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Moagi |first1=Miriam |last2=van der Wath |first2=Anna |date=20 Jan 2021 |title=Mental health challenges of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people: An integrated literature review |journal=Health Sa = Sa Gesondheid |volume=26 |page=1487 |publisher=NIH National Library of Medicine |doi=10.4102/hsag.v26i0.1487 |pmid=33604059 |pmc=7876969}}</ref>

=== Factors === ==== Lifestyle ====

Factors that add to risk of heart disease include the prevalence of obesity and smoking among lesbians. Lesbians are less concerned about weight issues than heterosexual women; and lesbians consider women with higher body masses to be more attractive than heterosexual women do.<ref name="HHS"/><ref name="mravack">{{cite journal |last1=Mravack |first1=Sally A. |date=July 2006 |title=Primary Care for Lesbians and Bisexual Women |journal=American Family Physician |volume=74 |issue=2 |pages=279–286 |pmid=16883925}}</ref> Lesbians are more likely to exercise regularly than heterosexual women.<ref name="haines">{{cite journal |last1=Haines |first1=Megan E. |last2=Erchull |first2=Mindy J. |last3=Liss |first3=Miriam |last4=Turner |first4=Dixie L. |last5=Nelson |first5=Jaclyn A. |last6=Ramsey |first6=Laura R. |last7=Hurt |first7=Molly M. |title=Predictors and Effects of Self-Objectification in Lesbians |journal=Psychology of Women Quarterly |date=2008 |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=181–187 |doi=10.1111/j.1471-6402.2008.00422.x |s2cid=145638302}}</ref>

==== Social ====

Lesbians experience negative social factors such as discrimination, stigma, and violence; policies that oppose their sexuality, such as access to marriage or employment; and lower incomes.<ref name="Lampe Barbee 2024"/> Partly as a result, lesbians may be less likely to be in a marriage.<ref name="Compton Baumle 2018">{{cite book |last1=Compton |first1=D'Lane R. |last2=Baumle |first2=Amanda K. |title=International Handbook on Gender and Demographic Processes |chapter=Demographics of Gay and Lesbian Partnerships and Families |publisher=Springer Netherlands |volume=8 |date=2018 |isbn=978-94-024-1288-8 |doi=10.1007/978-94-024-1290-1_18 |pages=267–285}}</ref> These factors contribute to increased levels of chronic ill-health, increased misuse of alcohol and substances, reduced mobility, increased cardiovascular disease, chronic pain, and poor sleep.<ref name="Lampe Barbee 2024">{{cite journal |last1=Lampe |first1=Nik M. |last2=Barbee |first2=Harry |last3=Tran |first3=Nathaniel M. |last4=Bastow |first4=Skyler |last5=McKay |first5=Tara |title=Health Disparities Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Older Adults: A Structural Competency Approach |journal=The International Journal of Aging and Human Development |volume=98 |issue=1 |date=2024 |pmid=37122150 |pmc=10598237 |doi=10.1177/00914150231171838 |pages=39–55}}</ref>

Lesbians may fear doctors' attitudes to their sexuality. Lesbians perceive a lower risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, and may therefore miss routine screenings such as for cervical cancer.<ref name="HHS">{{cite web |url=http://womenshealth.gov/faq/lesbian-health.cfm |title=Frequently Asked Questions: Lesbian Health |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090129175054/http://www.womenshealth.gov/faq/lesbian-health.cfm |archive-date=29 January 2009 |website=womenshealth.gov |publisher=U.S. Department of Health and Human Services |access-date=12 January 2009}}</ref>

==Media representation== {{Further|Media portrayal of lesbians}}

The majority of media about lesbians has been produced by men;<ref name="Schlager1998"/>{{rp|pp=389–390}} women's publishing companies did not develop until the 1970s, films about lesbians made by women did not appear until the 1980s, and women-written television shows portraying lesbians written only began to be created in the 21st century. When depictions of lesbians began to surface, they were often one-dimensional, simplified stereotypes.<ref name="Schlager1998"/>{{rp|pp=389–390}}

===Literature===

Ancient lesbian writers include Sappho.{{efn|Sappho has served as a subject of many works of literature by writers such as John Donne, Alexander Pope, Pierre Louÿs, and several anonymous writers, that have addressed her relationships with women and men. She has been used as an embodiment of same-sex desire, and as a character in fictions loosely based on her life.<ref name="Castle2003">{{cite book |editor-last=Castle |editor-first=Terry |editor-link=Terry Castle |date=2003 |title=The Literature of Lesbianism: A Historical Anthology from Ariosto to Stonewall |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=0-231-12510-0}}</ref>{{rp|pp=125, 208, 252, 319, 566}} }} Ancient stories interpreted as examples of lesbianism include the Book of Ruth,<ref name="Foster1956">Foster, Jeannette H. (1956). ''Sex Variant Women in Literature'', Naiad Press edition, 1985. {{ISBN|0-930044-65-7}}</ref>{{rp|pp=22–23}}<ref name="Castle2003"/>{{rp|p=108}} Camilla and Diana, Artemis and Callisto, and Iphis and Ianthe.<ref name="Foster1956"/>{{rp|pp=24–27}} For ten centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, lesbianism disappeared from literature.<ref name="Castle2003"/>{{rp|p=11}} Foster points to the particularly strict view that Eve—representative of all women—caused the downfall of mankind; original sin among women was a particular concern, especially because women were perceived as creating life.<ref name="Foster1956"/>{{rp|pp=30–31}} During this time, women were largely illiterate and discouraged from intellectual pursuit, and men shaped ideas about sexuality.<ref name="Castle2003"/>{{rp|p=6}}

In the 15th and 16th centuries, French and English depictions of relationships between women, writers' attitudes spanned from amused tolerance to arousal. Physical relationships between women were often encouraged, as long as they did not supersede heterosexual relationships; there was a cultural belief that lesbian sex and relationships could not be as fulfilling as heterosexual sex and relationships.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>{{rp|pp=26–29}} At worst, if a woman became enamored of another woman, she became a tragic figure. Male intervention into relationships between women was necessary only when women acted as men and demanded the same social privileges.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>{{rp|pp=29}} In the 18th century, writings mentioning lesbianism included the 1749 English erotica ''Fanny Hill''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/on-a-hunt-for-19th-century-erotica |title=On a Hunt for 19th-Century Erotica, We Found Lesbians |publisher=History News Network |date=28 October 2025}}</ref> and the 1778 erotica ''L'Espion Anglais''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.alpennia.com/blog/lesbian-historic-motif-podcast-episode-181-anandrine-sect |date=24 October 2020 |title=Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 181 - The Anandrine Sect |quote="The Anandrine Sect itself is first introduced—as far as I can find—in the pornographic work L'espion Anglais (The English Spy) written in 1778. This is a collection of salacious anecdotes, one of which involves an adolescent country girl who, having inclinations toward sex with women, is sent off to Paris to be initiated into an Anandrine sect. Her sponsor describes the group thus: “A tribade,” she told me, “is a young virgin who, not having had any relations with men, and convinced of the excellence of her sex, finds in it true pleasure, pure pleasure, dedicates herself wholly to it, and renounces the other sex, as perfidious as it is seductive. Or, it is a woman of any age who, having fulfilled the wish of nature and country for the propagation of the human race, gets over her mistake, detests, abjures crude pleasures, and devotes herself to training pupils for the goddess." [...] [The initiation ceremony] takes place in a classical temple featuring statues of the goddess Vesta, of Sappho, and other symbolic figures."}}</ref>

[[File:Lautrec in bed 1893.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|''In Bed'' by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1893). The Parisian artist employed the association between lesbianism and prostitution.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>{{rp|pp=281–283}}|alt=A painting of two short-haired women in a massive bed, covered to their chins in blankets under a red top cover. One woman is looking sleepily at the other.]]

Lesbianism became almost exclusive to French literature in the 19th century, based on male fantasy and the desire to shock bourgeois moral values.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>{{rp|pp=264, 268}} Honoré de Balzac, in ''The Girl with the Golden Eyes'' (1835), employed lesbianism in his story about three people living amongst the moral degeneration of Paris, and again in later works. His work influenced novelist Théophile Gautier's ''Mademoiselle de Maupin'', which provided the first description of a physical type that became associated with lesbians: tall, wide-shouldered, slim-hipped, and athletically inclined.<ref name="Foster1956"/>{{rp|pp=51–65}} Charles Baudelaire repeatedly used lesbianism as a theme in his poems "Lesbos", {{lang|fr|"Femmes damnées 1"}} ("Damned Women"), and {{lang|fr|"Femmes damnées 2"}}.<ref name="Castle2003"/>{{rp|p=435}} Reflecting French society, as well as employing stock character associations, many of the lesbian characters in 19th-century French literature were prostitutes or courtesans: personifications of vice who died early, violent deaths in moral endings.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>{{rp|pp=281–283}} Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1816 poem "Christabel" and the novella ''Carmilla'' (1872) by Sheridan Le Fanu both present lesbianism associated with vampirism.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>{{rp|pp=277, 288–289}}

Gradually, women began to write, and began to write about lesbian relationships. Until the 1920s, most major works involving lesbianism were penned by men. Foster suggests that women would have encountered suspicion about their own lives had they used same-sex love as a topic, and that some writers including Louise Labé, Charlotte Charke, and Margaret Fuller either changed the pronouns in their literary works to male, or made them ambiguous.<ref name="Foster1956"/>{{rp|pp=116–127}} Author George Sand was portrayed as a character in several works in the 19th century; writer Mario Praz credited the popularity of lesbianism as a theme to Sand's appearance in Paris society in the 1830s.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>{{rp|pp=263}}{{efn|The cross-dressing Sand was the subject of a few of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnets.<ref name="Castle2003"/>{{rp|pp=426–427}} Charlotte Brontë's ''Villette'' in 1853 initiated a genre of boarding school stories with homoerotic themes.<ref name="Castle2003"/>{{rp|p=429}}}}

In the 20th century, Katherine Mansfield, Amy Lowell, Gertrude Stein, H.D., Vita Sackville-West, Virginia Woolf, and Gale Wilhelm wrote popular works that had same-sex relationships as themes.<ref name="Norton1997">{{cite book |last1=Norton |first1=Rictor |title=The Myth of the Modern Homosexual: Queer History and the Search for Cultural Unity |date=1997 |publisher=Cassell |location=London |isbn=0-304-33892-3}}</ref>{{rp|p=182}} In 1928, ''The Well of Loneliness'' and three other novels with lesbian themes were published in England: Elizabeth Bowen's ''The Hotel'', Woolf's ''Orlando'', and Compton Mackenzie's satirical novel ''Extraordinary Women''.<ref>Lanser, 1979, p. 39.</ref> Unlike ''The Well of Loneliness'', none of these other novels were banned.<ref name="Foster1956"/>{{rp|pp=281–287}}{{efn|A fifth novel in 1928, American author Djuna Barnes' ''Ladies Almanack'', is a ''roman à clef'' of a lesbian literary and artistic salon in Paris and circulated at first within those circles; Susan Sniader Lanser calls it a "sister-text" to Hall's landmark work,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lanser |first1=Susan Sniader |title=Speaking in Tongues: 'Ladies Almanack' and the Language of Celebration |journal=Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies |date=1979 |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=39–48 |doi=10.2307/3346147 |jstor=3346147}}</ref> as Barnes includes a character based on Radclyffe Hall and passages that may be a response to ''The Well of Loneliness''<ref name="Barnes1992">Barnes, Djuna. With an introduction by Susan Sniader Lanser. (1992). ''Ladies Almanack'', New York University Press. {{ISBN|0-8147-1180-4}}. p. xxxi</ref>}}

As the paperback book came into fashion, lesbian themes were relegated to pulp fiction. Many of the pulp novels typically presented very unhappy women, or relationships that ended tragically. Marijane Meaker later wrote that she was told to make the relationship end badly in ''Spring Fire'' because the publishers were concerned about the books being confiscated by the U.S. Postal Service.<ref>Packer, Vin (Marijane Meaker). ''Spring Fire'', Introduction. 2004, Cleis Press.</ref> Patricia Highsmith, writing as Claire Morgan, wrote ''The Price of Salt'' in 1951 and refused to follow this directive.<ref name="Castle2003"/>{{rp|pp=1024–1025}} In the 1970s, lesbian feminist magazines such as ''The Furies''<ref>{{cite web |publisher=National Park Services |url=https://www.nps.gov/places/furies-collective.htm |title=The Furies Collective |quote=The collective’s publications set the terms of debate over the ideology, strategies and tactics, and actual accomplishments of lesbian feminist separatism in the early years of newly militant gay and lesbian activism. Their first issue of The Furies proclaimed, “We believe The FURIES will make important contributions to the growing movement to destroy sexism. As a collective, in addition to outside projects, we are spending much time building an ideology which is the basis for action.” According to historian Lillian Faderman, “the Furies newspaper, which was sold at the women’s bookstores that were mushrooming across America, inspired thousands of lesbian feminists to form their own collectives in cities, farms, forests, and mountains all over America and in Europe, too.”}}</ref> and ''Sinister Wisdom'' began publication.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sinisterwisdom.com/history |title=History, SINISTER WISDOM, founded 1976 |publisher=Sinister Wisdom |archive-url= |archive-date=}}</ref> Well-known writers who wrote on lesbian topics or about lesbian-themed plots included Rita Mae Brown, Dorothy Allison,<ref name="Schlager1998"/>{{rp|p=377–379}} Audre Lorde, and Cherríe Moraga.<ref name="Schlager1998"/>{{rp|p=379}}

===Film=== {{Main|List of feature films with lesbian characters}}

Lesbianism arrived early in filmmaking. The same constructs as in literature were placed on women in film. Women could challenging their feminine roles. Actresses appeared as men in male rolesas early as 1914 in ''A Florida Enchantment''. In ''Morocco'' (1930) Marlene Dietrich kisses a woman on the lips, and Katharine Hepburn plays a man in ''Christopher Strong'' in 1933 and again in ''Sylvia Scarlett'' in 1936.<ref name="Benshoff2006">{{cite book |last1=Benshoff |first1=Harry |last2=Griffin |first2=Sean |date=2006 |title=Queer Images: A History of Gay and Lesbian Film in America |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |isbn=0-7425-1971-6}}</ref>{{rp|pp=27–28}} Overt female homosexuality was introduced in the 1929 film ''Pandora's Box''. German films depicting homosexuality were distributed throughout Europe, but 1931's ''Mädchen in Uniform'' was thought unsuitable for the U.S.<ref name="Russo1987">{{cite book |last=Russo |first=Vito |author-link=Vito Russo |date=1987 |title=The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies |publisher=Harper & Row |isbn=0-06-096132-5}}</ref>{{rp|p=58}}

[[File:Childrens Hour trailer.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Lesbianism, or homosexuality, was never spoken about in ''The Children's Hour'', but it is transparent why Shirley MacLaine's character hangs herself.|alt=Still shot from the film "The Children's Hour", showing Shirley MacLaine looking down at the left and Audrey Hepburn to her right staring at her, in a bedroom. The words "Can an ugly rumor destroy what's beautiful?" obscure much of MacLaine's face.]]

The 1930 Hays Code resulted in censoring of most references to homosexuality in American films. The originally-lesbian play ''The Children's Hour'' was converted into a heterosexual love triangle and retitled ''These Three''. The 1933 biopic ''Queen Christina'' veiled speculation about Christina of Sweden's affairs with women.<ref name="Russo1987"/>{{rp|p=58}} Censors removed a lesbian scene from the 1951 film ''The Pit of Loneliness''.<ref name="Russo1987"/>{{rp|p=102}} The code was relaxed somewhat after 1961, and the next year William Wyler remade ''The Children's Hour'', though with a tragic ending that set a precedent for endings of films about homosexuality.<ref name="Russo1987"/>{{rp|p=139}} If not victims, lesbians were depicted as villains or morally corrupt, such as brothel madames by Barbara Stanwyck in ''Walk on the Wild Side'' from 1962 and Shelley Winters in ''The Balcony'' in 1963. Lesbians as predators were presented in ''Rebecca'' (1940), women's prison films like ''Caged'' (1950), or ''From Russia with Love'' (1963).<ref name="Russo1987"/>{{rp|pp=143–156}} Lesbian vampire themes reappeared in ''Dracula's Daughter'' (1936), ''Blood and Roses'' (1960), ''Vampyros Lesbos'' (1971), and ''The Hunger'' (1983).<ref name="Russo1987"/>{{rp|p=49}} ''Basic Instinct'' (1992) featured a bisexual murderer played by Sharon Stone; it set off protests about the depiction of gay people as predators.<ref name="Benshoff2006"/>{{rp|pp=150–151}}

The first film to address lesbianism with depth was ''The Killing of Sister George'' in 1968, filmed in London's lesbian Gateways club. Film historian Vito Russo considers the film to treat a multifaceted, openly lesbian character who other lesbians force into silence.<ref name="Russo1987"/>{{rp|pp=170–173}} ''Personal Best'' in 1982, and ''Lianna'' in 1983 treated lesbian relationships more sympathetically, though with unhappy relationships. ''Personal Best'' was criticized for its plot device of one woman returning to a relationship with a man, implying that lesbianism is a phase.<ref name="Benshoff2006"/>{{rp|pp=185–186}} More ambiguous portrayals were seen in ''Silkwood'' (1983), ''The Color Purple'' (1985), and ''Fried Green Tomatoes'' (1991).<ref>''The Celluloid Closet''. Dir. Epstein, R., Friedman, J. DVD, Home Box Office, 1996.</ref>

An era of independent filmmaking brought different stories, writers, and directors to films. ''Desert Hearts'' (1985) was directed by lesbian Donna Deitch, loosely based on Jane Rule's novel ''Desert of the Heart''. It received a mixed reception.<ref name="Benshoff2006"/>{{rp|pp=194–195}} The late 1980s and early 1990s ushered in New Queer Cinemam treating lesbian issues seriously.<ref name="Benshoff2006"/>{{rp|p=237}} Films included Rose Troche's avant garde romantic comedy ''Go Fish'' (1994) and the first film about African American lesbians, Cheryl Dunye's ''The Watermelon Woman'', in 1995.<ref name="Benshoff2006"/>{{rp|pp=241–242}} Later films included ''The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love'' (1995), ''Antonia's Line'' (1995), ''When Night Is Falling'' (1995), ''Better Than Chocolate'' (1999), and the social satire ''But I'm a Cheerleader'' (1999).<ref name="Benshoff2006"/>{{rp|p=270}}

=== Theatre === The first stage production to feature a lesbian kiss and open depiction of two women in love is the 1907 Yiddish play ''God of Vengeance'' (''Got fun nekome'') by Sholem Asch. Rivkele, a young woman, and Manke, a prostitute in her father's brothel, fall in love. On March 6, 1923, during a performance of the play in a New York City theatre, producers and cast were informed that they had been indicted by a Grand Jury for violating the Penal Code that defined the presentation of "an obscene, indecent, immoral and impure theatrical production." They were arrested the following day when they appeared before a judge. Two months later, they were found guilty in a jury trial. The producers were fined $200 and the cast received suspended sentences. The play is considered by some to be "the greatest drama of the Yiddish theater".<ref name="Curtin1987">{{Cite book |last=Curtin |first=Kaier |title=We Can Always Call Them Bulgarians: The Emergence of Lesbians and Gay Men on the American Stage |date=1987 |publisher=Alyson Publications |isbn=0-932870-36-8 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |pages=25–42 |chapter=The First Lesbian Character Ever Seen on an English-language Stage |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/wecanalwayscallt0000curt/page/25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Curtin |first=Kaier |date=Spring 1988 |title=Yiddish Lesbian Play Rocks Broadway |url=https://www.lilith.org/articles/yiddish-lesbian-play-rocks-broadway/ |url-status=dead |magazine=Lilith |issue=5748 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200411105243/https://www.lilith.org/articles/yiddish-lesbian-play-rocks-broadway/ |archive-date=11 April 2020 |access-date=11 April 2020}}</ref> ''God of Vengeance'' was the inspiration for the 2015 play ''Indecent'' by Paula Vogel, which features lesbian characters Rifkele and Manke.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gold |first=Sylviane |date=15 October 2015 |title='Indecent' Opens Yale Repertory Theater Season |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/nyregion/indecent-opens-yale-repertory-theater-season.html |url-status=live |access-date=11 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151019021848/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/nyregion/indecent-opens-yale-repertory-theater-season.html |archive-date=19 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=29 April 2017 |title='Indecent': A Play About A Yiddish Play That Was Ahead Of Its Time |url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/526157986 |access-date=11 April 2020 |website=NPR |archive-date=3 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603052634/https://www.npr.org/transcripts/526157986 |url-status=live }}</ref> ''Indecent'' was nominated for multiple 2017 Tony Awards.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tonyawards.com/press/2017-tony-award-nominations/ |title=2017 TONY AWARD® NOMINATIONS |date=2 May 2017}}</ref>

Broadway musical ''The Prom'' featured lesbian characters Emma Nolan and Alyssa Greene. In 2019, the production was nominated for six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical. A performance from ''The Prom'' was included in the 2018 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and made history by showing the first same-sex kiss in the parade's broadcast.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vagianos |first=Alanna |date=November 22, 2018 |title=Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Features Same-Sex Kiss In Historic Moment |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/macys-parade-2018-gay-kiss_n_5bf6d42fe4b0eb6d930c8577 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701041220/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/macys-parade-2018-gay-kiss_n_5bf6d42fe4b0eb6d930c8577 |archive-date=1 July 2019 |access-date=11 April 2020 |work=HuffPost}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Wild |first=Stephi |date=23 November 2018 |title=THE PROM Makes History With First LGBTQ Kiss on Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade |work=BroadwayWorld |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/THE-PROM-Makes-History-With-First-LGBTQ-Kiss-on-Macys-Thanksgiving-Day-Parade-20181123 |access-date=11 April 2020 |archive-date=3 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603001159/https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/THE-PROM-Makes-History-With-First-LGBTQ-Kiss-on-Macys-Thanksgiving-Day-Parade-20181123 |url-status=live}}</ref> ''Jagged Little Pill'' featured lesbian character Jo, who is dealing with her religious mother's disapproval.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kircher |first=Madison Malone |date=June 13, 2020 |title=''Jagged Little Pill''{{'}}s Lauren Patten Will Not Admit That She Steals the Show |url=https://www.vulture.com/2020/06/jagged-little-pills-lauren-patten-steals-the-show.html |access-date=15 October 2020 |website=Vulture |archive-date=2 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210702141033/https://www.vulture.com/2020/06/jagged-little-pills-lauren-patten-steals-the-show.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Television=== {{Main|List of lesbian characters in television}}

Television began to address homosexuality much later than film. The first time a lesbian was portrayed on network television was the NBC drama ''The Eleventh Hour'' in the early 1960s, ending with the lesbian being "converted" to heterosexuality.<ref name="Tropiano2002">{{cite book |last=Tropiano |first=Stephen |date=2002 |title=Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV |publisher=Applause Theater and Cinema Books |isbn=1-55783-557-8}}</ref>{{rp|pp=7–9}} Lesbian invisibility in TV continued into the 1970s.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>{{rp|pp=13–44}} Police drama series could include a gay stock character to serve as a victims of blackmail or anti-gay violence, or as a criminal.<ref name="Russo1987"/>{{rp|pp=186–189}} Lesbians were included as villains, motivated to murder by their desires, internalized homophobia, or fear of being exposed as homosexual. One episode of ''Police Woman'' earned protests by the National Gay Task Force before it aired for portraying a trio of murderous lesbians who killed retirement home patients for their money.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>{{rp|p=68}} NBC edited the episode because of the protests.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>{{rp|pp=69}} In the mid-1970s, lesbians began to appear as police officers or detectives.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>{{rp|pp=75–76}} In 1991, a bisexual lawyer character on ''L.A. Law'' shared the first significant lesbian kiss{{efn|''21 Jump Street'' included a kiss between series regular Holly Robinson Peete and guest star Katy Boyer in "A Change of Heart" (1990) but it did not inspire the critical or popular attention later such kisses would engender.<ref name="Capsuto2000">{{cite book|last1=Capsuto |first1=Steven |title=Alternate Channels: The Uncensored Story of Gay and Lesbian Images on Radio and Television |date=2000 |edition=1st |publisher=Ballantine Books |location=New York |isbn=0-345-41243-5}}</ref>{{rp|p=235}}}} on primetime television, stirring controversy.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>{{rp|p=89}}

thumb|upright=0.8|Ellen DeGeneres with her Emmy Award in 1997. Her coming out in the media, as well as her sitcom, "ranks, hands down, as the single most public exit in gay history", changing media portrayals of lesbians in Western culture.<ref name="Streitmatter2009"/>|alt=A photograph of Ellen DeGeneres with her 1997 Emmy Award.

In the mid-1980s through the 1990s, sitcoms frequently employed a "coming out" episode, where a friend of one of the stars admits she is a lesbian, forcing the cast to deal with the issue, as in ''Designing Women'', ''The Golden Girls'', and ''Friends''.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>{{rp|pp=202–204}} Recurring openly lesbian characters were seen on ''Married... with Children'', ''Mad About You'', and ''Roseanne'' with a highly publicized episode.<ref name="Schlager1998"/>{{rp|pp=394, 399}} The sitcom with the most significant impact to the image of lesbians was ''Ellen'', which generated enormous publicity from the 1997 coming out episode; Ellen DeGeneres appeared on the cover of ''Time'' magazine with the headline "Yep, I'm Gay". The episode won DeGeneres an Emmy, but conservative organizations opposed it, and the show was cancelled.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>{{rp|pp=245–249}} A popular show for adolescents was ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''. In the fourth season, Tara and Willow admit their love for each other, without fanfare.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>{{rp|pp=183–184}} In the 2000s came network television series devoted solely to gay characters. Showtime's American rendition of ''Queer as Folk'' ran from 2000 to 2005 with a lesbian couple as main characters. Aggressive advertising made the show the highest rated on the network.<ref name="Tropiano2002"/>{{rp|pp=150–152}}

==Chic and popular culture==

[[File:Vanity Fair Cover Lang Crawford.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|The August 1993 cover of ''Vanity Fair'' that marked the arrival of lesbian chic as a social phenomenon in the 1990s|alt=Cover of Vanity Fair magazine from August 1993 showing k.d. lang reclining in a barber chair with eyes closed and holding a compact mirror. She has shaving foam on her chin and is wearing an open-collar white shirt, black and white striped tie, dark color pinstripe vest and cuffed pants, and black lace boots. Supermodel Cindy Crawford is holding a straight razor to lang's chin while lang's head rests on her breast. Crawford is wearing a one-piece black bathing suit and high heel black boots, with head thrown back as her long hair cascades down her back.]]

Lesbian visibility has improved since the early 1980s, partly due to public figures who have attracted public and press discussion of their sexuality. The primary figure earning this attention was Martina Navratilova, as she denied being lesbian, admitted to being bisexual, had very public relationships with Rita Mae Brown and Judy Nelson, and acquired as much press about her sexuality as she did her athletic achievements.<ref name="Hamer1994">Hamer, Diane, Budge, Belinda, eds. (1994). ''The Good, The Bad, and the Gorgeous: Popular Culture's Romance with Lesbianism'', Pandora. {{ISBN|0-04-440910-9}}. pp. 1, 57–77, 87–90.</ref>

Other public figures acknowledged their homosexuality, such as musicians k.d. lang and Melissa Etheridge. Madonna pushed sexual boundaries in her performances. In 1993, heterosexual supermodel Cindy Crawford posed for a cover of ''Vanity Fair'' in a provocative arrangement that showed Crawford pretending to shave k.d. lang's face.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bennetts |first=Leslie |date=August 1, 1993 |title=k.d. lang Cuts It Close |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/1993/08/kd-lang-cover-story |access-date=13 September 2018 |website=Vanity Fair |archive-date=25 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125062739/https://www.vanityfair.com/style/1993/08/kd-lang-cover-story |url-status=live }}</ref> The image "became an internationally recognized symbol of the phenomenon of lesbian chic".<ref name="Hamer1994"/>

The year 1994 marked a rise in lesbian visibility, particularly appealing to women with feminine appearances. Between 1992 and 1994, ''Mademoiselle'', ''Vogue'', ''Cosmopolitan'', ''Glamour'', ''Newsweek'', and ''New York'' magazines featured stories about women who admitted sexual histories with other women.<ref name="Streitmatter2009">{{cite book |last=Streitmatter |first=Rodger |date=2009 |title=From 'Perverts' to 'Fab Five': The Media's Changing Depiction of Gay Men and Lesbians |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-7890-3670-4 |pages=77–78, 81, 104}}</ref> Lesbian visibility increased again in 2009 when sexually fluid female celebrities, such as Cynthia Nixon and Lindsay Lohan, commented openly about their relationships with women, and reality television addressed same-sex relationships. Psychiatrists and feminist philosophers wrote that the rise in women acknowledging same-sex relationships was due to growing social acceptance, but conceded that "only a certain kind of lesbian—slim and elegant or butch in just the right androgynous way—is acceptable to mainstream culture."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Fischer |first1=Mary A. |title=Why women are leaving men for other women |url=https://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/personal/04/23/o.women.leave.menfor.women/ |work=CNN |date=April 23, 2009 |access-date=April 23, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100320013847/https://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/personal/04/23/o.women.leave.menfor.women/ |archive-date=March 20, 2010}}</ref>

==Legal rights==

===Criminalization of sexual activity===

Thirty-eight countries penalize sex between women, or have unclear laws that may be applied to lesbian sex. Penalties explicitly listed for lesbian sexual activity include lashings (as in Iran and Brunei) or prison sentences (as in Oman, Gambia, and Malawi), or lashes and fines (as in Mauritania).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://features.hrw.org/features/features/lgbt_laws/ |title=#OUTLAWED "THE LOVE THAT DARE NOT SPEAK ITS NAME" |publisher=Human Rights Watch}}</ref>

===Custody and parenting===

Family issues were significant concerns for lesbians when gay activism became more vocal in the 1960s and 1970s. Custody issues in particular were of interest since often courts would not award custody to mothers who were openly homosexual, even though the general procedure acknowledged children were awarded to the biological mother.<ref name="Schlager1998"/>{{rp|pp=125–126}}<ref name="Jennings2007"/>{{rp|p=182}}

Several studies performed as a result of custody disputes compared outcomes for children of single lesbian mothers and single nonlesbian mothers. They found that children's mental health, happiness, overall adjustment, sexual orientation, and sex roles, were similar between both groups.<ref name="Schlager1998"/>{{rp|pp=125–126}}

The ability to adopt domestically or internationally children or provide a home as a foster parent is a political and family priority for many lesbians, as is improving access to artificial insemination.<ref name="Schlager1998"/>{{rp|pp=128–129}}

===Marriage=== thumb|Two women at their Buddhist wedding ceremony. Taiwan legalized same-sex marriage in 2019.

In a 2023 international survey covering thirty countries, 56% of respondents wanted same-sex marriage to be legal. In 19 of the 20 countries in the survey that have same-sex marriage, support for the practice is above 50%; in 9 of the other 10 countries, over half of respondents favor some legal recognition for same-sex couples.<ref name="Moreau 2023"></ref> As of 2025, same-sex marriage is legal in thirty-nine countries.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/fact-sheet/same-sex-marriage-around-the-world/ |publisher=PEW Research Center |title=Same-Sex Marriage Around the World |date=2 June 2025 |archive-url= |archive-date=}}</ref>

==See also==

{{divcol|colwidth=30em}} * African-American LGBTQ community * {{annotated link|Domestic violence in lesbian relationships}} * {{annotated link|Dyke (slang)|Dyke}} * {{annotated link|Dyke march}} * {{annotated link|Female bonding}} * {{annotated link|Homosexual behavior in animals}} * {{annotated link|Homosociality}} * {{annotated link|Lesbian bar}} * {{annotated link|Lesbian erasure}} * {{annotated link|Lesbian erotica}} * {{annotated link|Lesbian Visibility Week}} * LGBT themes in speculative fiction * {{annotated link|Lipstick lesbian}} * List of lesbian periodicals * {{annotated link|Queerplatonic relationship}} * {{annotated link|Yuri (genre)|Yuri}} {{div col end}}

==Notes==

==References==

==Further reading==

;Books {{refbegin|30em}} * {{Cite book |last1=Castle |first1=Terry |author-link=Terry Castle |title=The Apparitional Lesbian: Female Homosexuality and Modern Culture |date=1995 |edition=1st |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=0-231-07652-5 |ref=none}} * {{Cite book |editor-last1=Cogan |editor-first1=Jeanine C. |editor-last2=Erickson |editor-first2=Joanie M. |title=Lesbians, Levis and Lipstick: The Meaning of Beauty in Our Lives |date=1999 |publisher=The Haworth Press |isbn=0-7890-0661-8 |ref=none}} * {{Cite book |editor1-last=Cooper |editor1-first=Sara E. |title=Lesbian Images in International Popular Culture |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1560237969 |ref=none}} * {{Cite book |editor1-last=Jay |editor1-first=Karla |editor1-link=Karla Jay |url=https://archive.org/details/dykelifefromgrow00jayk |title=Dyke Life: From Growing Up To Growing Old, A Celebration Of The Lesbian Experience |date=1995 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0465039074 |ref=none}} * {{Cite book |last1=Kennedy |first1=Elizabeth Lapovsky |author-link=Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy |last2=Davis |first2=Madeline D. |url=https://archive.org/details/bootsofleathersl00kenn_0 |title=Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community |date=1993 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-90293-2 |ref=none}} * {{Cite book |editor1-last=McHugh |editor1-first=Kathleen A. |editor2-last=Johnson-Grau |editor2-first=Brenda |editor3-last=Sher |editor3-first=Ben Raphael |url=https://archive.org/details/MakingInvisibleHistoriesVisibleTheJuneL.MazerLesbianArchive |title=The June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives: Making Invisible Histories Visible |date=2014 |publisher=UCLA Center for the Study of Women (Regents of the University of California) |isbn=978-0-615-99084-2 |ref=none}} * {{Cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Bonnie J. |author-link=Bonnie J. Morris |url=http://www.sunypress.edu/p-6263-the-disappearing-l.aspx |title=The Disappearing L: Erasure of Lesbian Spaces and Culture |date=2016 |edition=1st |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-1-4384-6177-9 |archive-date=2017-06-27 |access-date=2017-06-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170627083347/http://www.sunypress.edu/p-6263-the-disappearing-l.aspx |url-status=live |ref=none}} * {{Cite book |last1=Richards |first1=Dell |url=https://archive.org/details/lesbianlistslook00rich_0 |title=Lesbian Lists: A Look at Lesbian Culture, History, and Personalities |date=1990 |edition=1st |publisher=Alyson Publications |isbn=155583163X |ref=none}} * {{cite book |last1=Vicinus |first1=Martha |title=Intimate Friends: Women Who Loved Women, 1778-1928 |date=2004 |edition=1st |url=https://archive.org/details/intimatefriendsw0000vici/mode/2up |url-access=registration |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago, Illinois |isbn=978-0226855639 |ref=none}} {{refend}}

;Journals {{refbegin|30em}} * {{Cite journal |last1=Katz |first1=Sue |date=2017 |title=Working class dykes: class conflict in the lesbian/feminist movements in the 1970s |journal=The Sixties: A Journal of History, Politics and Culture |publisher=Routledge |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=281–289 |doi=10.1080/17541328.2017.1378512 |issn=1754-1328 |doi-access=free |ref=none}} * {{Cite journal |last1=Moreno-Domínguez |first1=Silvia |last2=Raposo |first2=Tania |last3=Elipe |first3=Paz |date=2019 |title=Body Image and Sexual Dissatisfaction: Differences Among Heterosexual, Bisexual, and Lesbian Women |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |volume=10 |article-number=903 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00903 |issn=1664-1078 |pmc=6520663 |pmid=31143139 |doi-access=free |s2cid=147707651 |ref=none}} {{refend}}

;Audio * {{Cite web |last=Guy Raz |date=August 7, 2010 |title='Late-Life Lesbians' Reveal Fluidity Of Sexuality |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129050832 |website=All Things Considered |publisher=NPR |ref=none}}

==External links==

{{Sister project links|Lesbianism|commonscat=yes|n=no|s=no|b=no|v=no|d=yes}} * [https://lesbianherstoryarchives.org/ Lesbian Herstory Archives] * [https://www.mazerlesbianarchives.org/ June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives] * [https://www.bayarealesbianarchives.org/ Bay Area Lesbian Archives] (San Francisco/Oakland, California) * [https://womenslibrary.org.uk/explore-the-library-and-archive/the-archive-collection/the-lesbian-archive/ Lesbian Archive] at Glasgow Women's Library (Scotland) * [https://slfaherstoryproject.org/ Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project] * [https://www.olohp.org/ ''Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project''] (OLOHP) **[https://findingaids.smith.edu/agents/corporate_entities/1078 ''Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project''] collection at Smith College * [https://scua.uoregon.edu/repositories/2/resources/8789 Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project collection] at University of Oregon Libraries * [https://www.sinisterwisdom.org/oralherstorians Oral Herstorians Collection], Lesbian Feminist Activist Oral Herstory Project, ''Sinister Wisdom'' * [https://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/lesbians-20th-century/intro ''Lesbians in the Twentieth Century, 1900–1999''], Esther Newton, ''OutHistory'', 2008 (Lesbian History project, University of Michigan) * [https://seesaw.typepad.com/dykeaquarterly/ ''Dyke, A Quarterly''], published 1975–1979 (online annotated archive, live website) * [https://web.archive.org/web/20021203222212/http://www.sappho.com/vintage/index.html Vintage Images], ''Isle of Lesbos'' (''Sappho.com'')

Category:Lesbianism * Category:Lesbians Category:Terms for women Category:LGBTQ studies Category:Sexual orientations