{{Short description|Umbrella term for women loving women}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}} {{Other uses|Sapphic (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox sexuality | etymology = Sappho + -ism or -ic|derivatives=Sapphist<ref name=oed>{{cite web |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/sapphist_n?tl=true |title=Sapphist, n. Meanings, etymology and more | Oxford English Dictionary}}</ref>|subcategories={{hlist|Lesbian|gynephilic women|bisexual women|asexual women}} | pronunciation = {{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|æ|f|ɪ|k| audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-NaomiAmethyst-sapphic.wav}} | full_definition= | flag = Sapphic Flag alternate with violet.svg | flag_alt = Sapphic Flag made of three equal-sized vertical stripes of pink, white, pink, with a small five petalled flower in the centre of the white stripe | flag_name = Sapphic pride flag<ref>{{Cite web |title=Symbols |url=https://queercafe.net/symbols.htm |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=Queer Cafe}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Elástica explica: termos juvélicos |trans-title= |url=https://elastica.abril.com.br/especiais/termos-juvelicos-genero-atracao-aquileano-safica/ |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=Elástica – Todos do mesmo lado |language=pt}}</ref> | abbreviations = {{hlist|QLW|WLW<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Llewellyn |first=Anna |date=2022-11-10 |title='A Space Where Queer Is Normalized': The Online World and Fanfictions as Heterotopias for WLW |journal=Journal of Homosexuality |language=en |volume=69 |issue=13 |pages=2348–2369 |doi=10.1080/00918369.2021.1940012 |doi-access=free |pmid=34185633 |issn=0091-8369}}</ref>}} | title = Sapphic}} {{Sexual orientation}} {{LGBTQ sidebar}}
'''''Sapphism''''' is an umbrella term for '''women loving women''' ('''WLW'''): any woman attracted to women or in a relationship with another woman, regardless of their sexual orientation, and encompassing the romantic love between women. Uranian and Achillean are male equivalents of sapphism.
== Etymology == [[File:Simonet - Safo.jpg|thumb|right|250px|''Sappho'', by Enrique Simonet.]] The term ''sapphism'' has been used since the 1890s,<ref>{{cite web |title=Sapphic (adj.) |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/Sapphic |website=Etymonline.com |access-date=7 May 2024 |language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250701054230/https://www.etymonline.com/word/Sapphic|archive-date=1 July 2025}}</ref> and derives from Sappho, a Greek poet whose verses included her accounts of sexual and romantic love between women.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Torres |first=Bolívar |date=2021-06-26 |title=Identidade sáfica: como uma poeta nascida há 2 mil anos virou referência nos estudos de gênero |trans-title=Sapphic identity: How a poet born 2 thousand years ago became a reference in gender studies |url=https://oglobo.globo.com/cultura/identidade-safica-como-uma-poeta-nascida-ha-2-mil-anos-virou-referencia-nos-estudos-de-genero-25078464 |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=O Globo |language=pt|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250629164838/https://oglobo.globo.com/cultura/identidade-safica-como-uma-poeta-nascida-ha-2-mil-anos-virou-referencia-nos-estudos-de-genero-25078464|archive-date=29 June 2025}}</ref> According to Oxford English Dictionary, the word ''sapphist'' exists at least since 1789.<ref name=oed/>
She was born on the Greek island Lesbos, which also inspired the term lesbianism.<ref>{{Cite web |title=sapphism |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100441631 |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=Oxford Reference |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Doble |first=Flora |date=27 July 2020 |title=Sapphic Sexuality: Lesbian Myth and Reality in Art and Sculpture |url=https://artuk.org/discover/stories/sapphic-sexuality-lesbian-myth-and-reality-in-art-and-sculpture |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=Art UK |language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201102143615/https://artuk.org/discover/stories/sapphic-sexuality-lesbian-myth-and-reality-in-art-and-sculpture|archive-date=2 November 2020}}</ref> Sappho's work is one of the few ancient references to sapphic love.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reynolds |first=Margaret |url= |title=The Sappho Companion |date=2010-12-15 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-1-4464-1376-0 |language=en}}{{pn|date=August 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-08-14 |title=Cosas que debes saber sobre las mujeres sáficas |trans-title=Things you need to know about sapphic women |url=https://saficosmos.com/lbtq/cosas-datos-saber-que-significa-termino-mujeres-saficas/ |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=Saficosmos |language=es|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250629133913/https://saficosmos.com/lbtq/cosas-datos-saber-que-significa-termino-mujeres-saficas/|archive-date=29 June 2025}}</ref>
== Use == The term ''sapphic'' encompasses the experiences of lesbian, bisexual, gynephilic, plurisexual, and multiromantic women, as well as women who are attracted to women but decline a label, experience a fluid sexuality, or are questioning their sexuality.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Janssen |first=Diederik F. |date=2023-06-05 |title=Monosexual/Plurisexual: A Concise History |journal=Journal of Homosexuality |language=en |volume=71 |issue=8 |pages=1839–1862 |doi=10.1080/00918369.2023.2218957 |pmid=37272900 |issn=0091-8369 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis |title=Bisexual (Un)belonging: Exploring the Socio-spatial Negotiation of Plurisexual Individuals in LGBT+ and Queer Spaces |publisher=University of Kent |year=2023 |degree=doctoral |first=Robin Rose |last=Breetveld |doi=10.22024/UniKent/01.02.105513 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Asexual and aromantic women who are attracted to women can also be sapphic.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Winer |first1=Canton |last2=Carroll |first2=Megan |last3=Yang |first3=Yuchen |last4=Linder |first4=Katherine |last5=Miles |first5=Brittney |date=February 2024 |title='I Didn't Know Ace Was a Thing': Bisexuality and Pansexuality as Identity Pathways in Asexual Identity Formation |journal=Sexualities |language=en |volume=27 |issue=1–2 |pages=267–289 |doi=10.1177/13634607221085485 |issn=1363-4607 |url=https://osf.io/agnd8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Klein |first=Ula Lukszo |chapter=Sapphic Relations |date=2023 |editor1-last=Eron |editor1-first=Sarah |editor2-last=Aljoe |editor2-first=Nicole N. |editor3-last=Kaul |editor3-first=Suvir |title=The Routledge Companion to Eighteenth-Century Literatures in English |pages=287–298 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781003271208-30 |isbn=978-1-003-27120-8}}</ref>
Some sapphic individuals may be non-binary.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dyer |first=Harriet |url= |title=The Little Book of LGBTQ+: An A–Z of Gender and Sexual Identities |date=2021 |publisher=Summersdale Publishers |isbn=978-1-78783-974-8 |language=en}}{{pn|date=August 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hamou |first=Yasmine |date=2022-04-27 |title=What Does It Mean to Be Sapphic? |url=https://www.them.us/story/what-does-sapphic-mean |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=Them.us |publisher=Condé Nast |language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250608170455/https://www.them.us/story/what-does-sapphic-mean|archive-date=8 June 2025}}</ref> There are also equivalent terms for relationships between men (Uranian, Achillean),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barron |first=Victoria |url= |title=Perfectly Queer: An Illustrated Introduction |date=2023-02-21 |publisher=Jessica Kingsley Publishers |isbn=978-1-83997-409-0 |language=en}}{{pn|date=August 2025}}</ref> between a man and a woman (duaric)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lacsko |first=Madeleine |author-link=:pt:Madeleine Lacsko |title=Termos juvélicos: 100 novas orientações sexuais para você decorar ou ser cancelado |url=https://www.gazetadopovo.com.br/vozes/madeleine-lacsko/termos-juvelicos-100-novas-orientacoes-sexuais-para-voce-decorar-ou-ser-cancelado/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129012524/https://www.gazetadopovo.com.br/vozes/madeleine-lacsko/termos-juvelicos-100-novas-orientacoes-sexuais-para-voce-decorar-ou-ser-cancelado/ |archive-date=2023-11-29 |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=Gazeta do Povo |date=3 May 2022 |language=pt}}</ref> and involving at least one non-binary person (diamoric or enbian).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hardell |first=Ash |author-link=Ash Hardell |url= |title=The ABC's of LGBT+ |date=2016-11-08 |publisher=Mango Media |isbn=978-1-63353-408-7 |language=en}}{{pn|date=August 2025}}</ref>
''Sapphic'' is also used in lesbian literature for works involving at least one relationship between women, regardless of whether they are lesbian or not.<ref>{{Cite thesis |title=Sapphic Representations in Contemporary Young Adult Literature |publisher=Western Norway University of Applied Sciences |year=2021 |degree=master's |first=Ida Sofie Sverkeli |last=Nygård |hdl=11250/2992128 |hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Peyre |first=Henri |author-link=Henri Peyre |date=1979 |title=On the Sapphic Motif in Modern French Literature |journal=Dalhousie French Studies |volume=1 |pages=3–33 |jstor=40836208 |issn=0711-8813}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hackett |first=Robin |url= |title=Sapphic Primitivism: Productions of Race, Class, and Sexuality in Key Works of Modern Fiction |date=2004 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-3347-6 |language=en}}{{pn|date=August 2025}}</ref>
== See also == {{Wiktionary|sapphic}} {{div col|colwidth=15em}} * Achillean, the male equivalent of sapphism * Androphilia and gynephilia * Bisexuality * Boston marriage * Female bonding * Gay * Golden Orchid Society * History of lesbianism * Homosexuality * Lesbianism * LGBTQ slang * Queerplatonic relationship * Romance (love) * Romantic friendship * Sexual diversity * Terminology of homosexuality * Tribadism * Womance * Women who have sex with women (WSW) {{div col end}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Gender and sexual identities}} {{Sappho}} Category:Queer Category:Lesbianism Category:Bisexuality Category:LGBTQ terminology Category:Sapphism Category:Plurisexuality Category:Pansexuality Category:Sexual orientations