We’ll be the first to admit that we don’t know all there is about lesbianism. The truth is, there are a lot of lesbian facts that we don’t know.
But being a lesbian doesn’t necessarily mean that we know everything there is about being a lesbian. That’s one myth we can’t seem to burst: that all lesbians are the same.
What’s more, lesbianism and its struggle has a long and colorful history. Here are a few things we’ve discovered about ourselves today:
Lesbian Fact #1
The term “lesbian” came from the Greek word Lesbos. This was an island in Greece where Sappho wove her women-loving-women poetry.
But the terminology’s history is a bit more colourful. It came to a point in 1925 when the word lesbian became the female version of sodomite.
That’s right. From a poetic island in Greece, Lesbos, it became a city that God destroyed, Sodom.
Lesbian Fact #2
As of today, no research has ever proven what causes lesbianism. However, there were some inconclusive studies that show increased levels of steroids provide a greater chance that your unborn child will be a lesbian.
Is it possible they can also tell us what kind of steroid it was so that we can hoard that stuff?
Lesbian Fact #3
Now this one is really cute: a lavender rhino was the lesbian symbol in the ‘70s.
The thinking was that purple connotes gay. And that rhinos are pretty peaceful animals– unless they’re provoked, and then they charge you.
Though the symbol was cute, obviously, it didn’t pan out.
Lesbian Fact #4
While butch and dyke are the more common, colloquial terms for lesbians, all throughout history there have been an array of different names.
Cat and apache were popular in the 1930s. Here are a few more throughout the years.
1940s: Collar-and-tie, dandysette, shim, major, mantee, mason.
1960s: Pansy without a stem, jasper.
1970s: No-nuts.
Lesbian Fact #5
The first lesbian magazine was Vice Versa, which was known as “the gayest American magazine.” It was a project of a certain Lisa Ben, an anagram for lesbian.
It was also the pseudonym of an RKO Studios secretary in LA, who started writing the articles for the magazine because she was “told by her boss that he didn’t care what she was typing, but he wanted her to look busy so people at the studio would think he was important.”
Lesbian Fact #6
The term “closet” can only be traced back as far as the 1960s.
Lesbian Fact #7
Purple is a combination of blue and red, which symbolizes LGBT as the combination of both male and female. How’s that for cute?
A little knowledge goes a long way. Some lesbian facts, on the other hand, can help us know a little bit of ourselves.