Introduction to LGBT Studies English 245 & Women’s Studies 245 Evolution of a Lesbian Identity

Sappho, born about 620 b.c., was one of the nine lyric poets in the ancient Greek canon. She, along with another of these poets, Alcaeus, was from the Greek island of Lesbos. Painting by John Godward, 1904 By Jules Delaunay, about 1885

Sappho listening to Alcaeus sing one of his poems to the music of his lyre on the island of Lesbos By Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1870

Erinna and Sappho by Simeon Solomon, about 1860 Her songs were passionate, loving and often reflective. Most often the object of her affection was another female.

Sappho’s homoerotic poetry was very popular and socially acceptable in her time. Since the late 19 th century, her name and her island home became synonymous with female same-sex love, giving us the terms lesbian and sapphic to describe female homosexuality painting of Sappho by Edouard-Henri-Avril

Yea, almost the implacable Aphrodite Paused, and almost wept; such a song was that song. Yea, by her name too Called her, saying, "Turn to me, O my Sappho;" Yet she turned her face from the Loves, she saw not Tears for laughter darken immortal eyelids, Heard not about her Fearful fitful wings of the doves departing, Saw not how the bosom of Aphrodite Shook with weeping, saw not her shaken raiment, Saw not her hands wrung; Saw the Lesbians kissing across their smitten Lutes with lips more sweet than the sound of lute-strings, Mouth to mouth and hand upon hand, her chosen, Fairer than all men; Excerpt from Sapphics by Algernon Charles Swinburne, 1866 (first known use of the word “Lesbian”):

Havelock Ellis ( ) was a British physician and sexologist who wrote Sexual Inversion, the first English language book on what has come to be known as homosexuality, published in While he was the first professional to use the term homosexual, he did not like it for its ambiguity. His theory of inversion sought to explain same-sex attraction as a confusion of gender roles. He that women that were “true inverts” spent their lives desiring women. By so recognizing that such a group of women existed, Ellis helped arouse public consciousness and to create a lesbian identity.

The concept of women loving women was either tolerated or largely ignored in patriarchal societies from Grecian times until the 19 th century. Women with such tendencies were considered to be masculinized or hermaphrodites with oversized clitorises which– like penises– were believed to cause such desires, such as shown in this 1690 engraving. Persecution of women who were found having sex with other women was usually limited to those of the working class; middle and upper class women in romantic relationships together were accepted and tolerated. Patriarchy: a system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it.

Catharina Linck was beheaded and her body burned by order of King Frederick William I in 1761 for usurping a man’s role. Born a poor orphan, she had passed as a man for most of her life, serving in the Prussian army during various campaigns. When the mother of her young wife found that her daughter’s husband made love by using a leather strap-on dildo, she was dragged before authorities, tried and sentenced to death.

Wealthy aristocratic ladies Eleanor Butler & Sarah Ponsonby eloped in 1778 and lived happily together on their estate in Wales for 51 years. Theirs was considered “the epitome of a virtuous romantic friendship.”

Gladys Bentley was a famous Black lesbian, cross-dressing blues singer and performer in Harlem in the 1920’s. Openly lesbian, she wore men’s attire for many years and claimed to have been married to a white woman. When Sen. McCarthy’s anti-gay persecution movement mounted in the 1950s she started wearing dresses and publicly married a man.

World War II radically changed women’s role in American life. Entering the workforce in large numbers, women took on what had been only men’s roles. Able to financially support themselves, women loved their independence from men.

The U.S. government sought to restore pre-war social standards following the end of WWII. Led by Sen. McCarthy, a drive began to purge homosexuals from the government and society. In 1952 the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association listed homosexuality- including men and women- as a mental illness. The Daughters of Bilitis was formed by a group of lesbian women to combat the derogatory image painted of them. The first issue of their magazine, The Ladder, told its readers to take their masks off and find the strength of their community.

Butch-femme culture Today! 1960’s

The Radical Lesbian Manifesto: "A lesbian is the rage of all women condensed to the point of explosion". Part of the Second Wave of Feminism 1970s Lesbian as a political identity grew to describe a social philosophy among women