Lesbian

"All of us millions of lesbians and gay men were once American children." - Jean O'Leary and Bruce Voeller, New York Times

The original sense ('from Lesbos') has fallen out of use.

Dictionary of Sexology Project: Main Index

Almost a year ago, I agreed to take on this rescue for the CRT. After some consultation, it was agreed that a metanode was the best way to go. Little did I know what I was getting myself into! Writing a definitive metanode about lesbians has proved nearly impossible. There are just too many things to cover. It has taken me several months to come up with even a partial list, and longer to try to organize everything. I tried to write this in paragraph form - sort of a little lesbian summary - but it just didn't work. Instead I give you the following categorized list, with some commentary. I have not covered everything that is already written, and there is plenty more to be written. Please continue to let me know what I should add to this list. Many thanks.

• Classifications - Many of these descriptions tend to classify lesbians according to their gender or what gender they present. Others intend to blur the lines of gender and introduce a more complex concept. Some are slang, some are descriptive, some are complimentary and others are derogatory.
  
  • biker dyke and diesel dyke
  • boydyke
  • bulldagger and bulldyke
  • butch
  • drag king
  • dyke
  • femme and femme dyke
  • high-fem
  • kiki
  • lipstick dyke and lipstick lesbians
  • lug
  • orthodyke
  • tom
  • tragically hip lesbians
• Famous Lesbians - The real-life women listed here have identified as lesbian at some point; some still do. (Note that some historical figures were not identified as lesbians at the time, but society today considers them such.)
  
  • Adrienne Rich
  • Portia de Rossi
  • Alice B. Toklas
  • Audre Lorde
  • Carol Ann Duffy
  • Diane DiMassa
  • Ellen DeGeneres
  • Fairy Butch
  • Gertrude Stein
  • Jeanette Winterson
  • k.d. lang
  • Kathleen Oliver
  • Leslie Feinberg
  • Margaret Mead
  • Heather Matarazzo
  • Mary Daly
  • Melissa Etheridge
  • Sara Gilbert
  • Natalie Clifford Barney
  • Patricia Cornwell
  • Radclyffe Hall
  • Rita Mae Brown
  • Ruth Benedict
  • Sappho
  • Sarah Waters
  • Susie Bright
  • t.A.T.u. (Yes, I know they finally admitted it was a marketing ploy. See the lead paragraph for this section, though - they did claim to be lesbians for a while.)
  • Tribe 8
  • Tristan Taormino
  • Virginia Woolf
• Location, Location, Location
  • Lesbos
  • Meow Mix
  • where are all the lesbians?
• Groups
  • Daughters of Bilitis
  • dykes on bikes
  • Jewish Lesbian Daughters of Holocaust Survivors
  • lesbian conspiracy
  • Lesbian Sex Mafia

• Being told that one is better in bed than a lesbian can do a lot for a guy's ego
• Do female homosexuals have it easier than male homosexuals?
• dyke tyke
• Good Samaritan Sperm Donor to Help Lesbians
• male lesbian
• Men get turned on by lesbians much more than women get turned on by gay men
• men who make love like lesbians
• Why men like lesbians

• Gay and Lesbian Stereotypes in the Media
• Film and Television
• Aimée and Jaguar
• Bend Over Boyfriend
• Better Than Chocolate
• Bound
• But I'm A Cheerleader
• Chasing Amy
• Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
• Forbidden Love
• Fucking Amal
• Lianna
• Mulholland Drive
• Queer Movies
• Sex monster
• Sugar High Glitter City
• The Incredibly True Story of Two Girls In Love
• The L Word
• The Puppy Episode
• Xena, Warrior Princess - Not technically about lesbians, but popular among them.
• Tunes
• I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar
• I Wish I Was a Lesbian
• Oh Lesbian Oh Mother
• Why Don't Lesbians Love Me?
• Print
• Bitchy Butch: World's Angriest Dyke!
• Dykes to Watch Out For
• Hothead Paisan
• Nancy Clue: lesbian girl detective
• On Our Backs
• Susie Bright on books and sex

• outies
• Lesbians! Monkeys! Soy!
• lesbians! monkeys! soy! google!

• carpet muncher
• Hitachi Magic Wand, lesbian version
• If I jack off with (get jacked off by) my friend of the same sex, will I become gay (or lesbian)?
• lesbian couple
• lesbian porn
• Lesbian pornography
• Lesbian Techniques
• Things I've learned about lesbians from porn
• tribadism

• Evil lesbian girl
• Finding Out your Friend is a Lesbian
• How I fell in love with Alice
• I don't know how to fall in love with a woman
• I'm not a dyke just 'cause I shaved my head, but if it keeps certain people away, fuckin' A right on
• Lesbian Mother
• Live Nude Lesbians
• monkey tentacle pr0n death-frenzy with gerbils and a ball-shaving lesbian triplet carnival
• Monkeys! Lesbians! Soy!
• No Live Nude Lesbians were harmed in the rescuing of this nodeshell
• Obviously, Doctor, you've never been a Live Nude Lesbian
• Penis Van Lesbian joke
• Raised in the woods by a pack of wild dykes
• Sensei, we've got another lesbian stuck in the goddamn shredder
• Teenage lesbian punker chicks
• Your hands do the work of 10,000 highly trained lesbian jumping beans
• Zen and Lesbians

• "I was born this way" as justification for gay rights harms the gay and lesbian community
• both a lesbian and a woman
• Do Orthodox Jewish lesbian couples practice "family purity"?
• Dykeitude vs. lesbianality
• lesbian feminism
• lesbian invisibility in language
• lesbian meme
• Lesbian theory
• Must be a lesbian
• Theories on the allure of lesbianism
• Women rape too, they just don't get in trouble for it.

• black triangle
• claiming to be a lesbian
• dip me in honey and throw me to the lesbians
• dykes and rugby
• homosexuality
• Lesbian cow techniques (...or That makes a cow do what?!)
• sapphism

CRT

Les"bi*an (les"bi*an), a.

Of or pertaining to the island anciently called Lesbos, now Mitylene, in the Grecian Archipelago.

© Webster 1913

Les"bi*an, a.

Amatory; erotic; -- in allusion to the reputed sensuality of the Lesbian people and literature; as, Lesbian novels.

© Webster 1913