Sapphism

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Sapphism is an umbrella term for any woman attracted to women or in a relationship with another woman, regardless of their sexual orientations, and encompassing the romantic love between women.

Sapphic
Pronunciation/ˈsæfɪk/
EtymologySappho -ism or -ic
Abbreviations
Subcategories
Other terms
DerivativesSapphist[2]
Flag
Sapphic Flag made of three equal-sized verticle stripes of pink, white, pink, with a small five petalled flower in the centre of the white stripe
Sapphic pride flag[3][4]
Flag nameSapphic pride flag[3][4]

The term is inclusive of individuals who are lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, aromantic, asexual, or queer. There are also sapphic people who are non-binary or genderqueer.[5][6][7]

Etymology

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Sappho, by Enrique Simonet.

The term sapphism has been used since the 1890s,[8] and derives from Sappho, a Greek poet whose verses mainly focused on love between women and her own homosexual passions.[9] She was born on the Greek island Lesbos, which also inspired the term lesbianism.[10][11]

Sappho's work is one of the few ancient references to sapphic love. Her poetry, significant in quality, is a rare example of female sexuality separated from reproduction in history.[12][13]

The term sapphic encompasses the experiences of lesbians and bisexual women, for example, among other plurisexual and multiromantic individuals.[14][15] Asexual and aromantic women who are attracted to a woman are also sapphic.[16][17]

Some sapphic individuals may be non-binary or genderqueer, using the term more broadly.[18][19] There are also equivalent terms for relationships between men (Achillean, named in reference of Achilles and Patroclus,[20] or Vincian, referencing sexuality of Leonardo da Vinci),[21] between a man and a woman (duaric), and involving at least one non-binary person (diamoric or enbian).[22][23]

Sapphic is also used in LGBT literature for works involving at least one relationship between women, regardless if they are lesbian or not.[24][25][26]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Llewellyn, Anna (10 November 2022). "'A Space Where Queer Is Normalized': The Online World and Fanfictions as Heterotopias for WLW". Journal of Homosexuality. 69 (13): 2348–2369. doi:10.1080/00918369.2021.1940012. ISSN 0091-8369. PMID 34185633.
  2. ^ https://www.oed.com/dictionary/sapphist_n?tl=true
  3. ^ "Symbols". Queer Cafe. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  4. ^ "Elástica explica: termos juvélicos". Elástica – Todos do mesmo lado (in Portuguese). Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  5. ^ Sisko, Adriana (1 January 2021). "My Gender is Lesbian": Community Building and the Endurance of the Lesbian in Queer Times. Theses and Dissertations--Gender and Women's Studies (Thesis). doi:10.13023/etd.2021.481.
  6. ^ Hord, Levi CR (September 2022). "Specificity without identity: Articulating post-gender sexuality through the "non-binary lesbian"". Sexualities. 25 (5–6): 615–637. doi:10.1177/1363460720981564. ISSN 1363-4607.
  7. ^ Robles, Breanna Raquel (2019). "A Soft Epilogue: LGBTQ Fanworks as Reparative Reading". California State University.
  8. ^ "Sapphic (adj.)". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  9. ^ Torres, Bolívar (26 June 2021). "Identidade sáfica: como uma poeta nascida há 2 mil anos virou referência nos estudos de gênero" [Sapphic identity: How a poet born 2 thousand years ago became a reference in gender studies]. O Globo (in Portuguese). Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  10. ^ "sapphism". Oxford Reference. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  11. ^ Doble, Flora (27 July 2020). "Sapphic Sexuality: Lesbian Myth and Reality in Art and Sculpture". Art UK. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  12. ^ Reynolds, Margaret (15 December 2010). The Sappho Companion. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4464-1376-0.
  13. ^ "Cosas que debes saber sobre las mujeres sáficas" [Things you need to know about sapphic women]. Saficosmos (in Spanish). 14 August 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  14. ^ Janssen, Diederik F. (5 June 2023). "Monosexual/Plurisexual: A Concise History". Journal of Homosexuality. 71 (8): 1839–1862. doi:10.1080/00918369.2023.2218957. ISSN 0091-8369. PMID 37272900.
  15. ^ Breetveld, Robin Rose (2023). Bisexual (Un)belonging: Exploring the Socio-spatial Negotiation of Plurisexual Individuals in LGBT and Queer Spaces (doctoral thesis). University of Kent. doi:10.22024/UniKent/01.02.105513.
  16. ^ Winer, Canton; Carroll, Megan; Yang, Yuchen; Linder, Katherine; Miles, Brittney (February 2024). "'I Didn't Know Ace Was a Thing': Bisexuality and Pansexuality as Identity Pathways in Asexual Identity Formation". Sexualities. 27 (1–2): 267–289. doi:10.1177/13634607221085485. ISSN 1363-4607.
  17. ^ Klein, Ula Lukszo (2023). "Sapphic Relations". In Eron, Sarah; Aljoe, Nicole N.; Kaul, Suvir (eds.). The Routledge Companion to Eighteenth-Century Literatures in English. Routledge. pp. 287–298. doi:10.4324/9781003271208-30 (inactive 14 December 2024). ISBN 978-1-003-27120-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of December 2024 (link)
  18. ^ Dyer, Harriet (2021). The Little Book of LGBTQ : An A–Z of Gender and Sexual Identities. Summersdale Publishers. ISBN 978-1-78783-974-8.
  19. ^ Hamou, Yasmine (27 April 2022). "What Does It Mean to Be Sapphic?". Them. Condé Nast. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  20. ^ Barron, Victoria (21 February 2023). Perfectly Queer: An Illustrated Introduction. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. ISBN 978-1-83997-409-0.
  21. ^ Wrightson-Hester, Aimee-Rose; Anderson, Georgia; Dunstan, Joel; McEvoy, Peter M.; Sutton, Christopher J.; Myers, Bronwyn; Egan, Sarah; Tai, Sara; Johnston-Hollitt, Melanie; Chen, Wai; Gedeon, Tom; Mansell, Warren (21 July 2023). "An Artificial Therapist (Manage Your Life Online) to Support the Mental Health of Youth: Co-Design and Case Series". JMIR Human Factors. 10 (1): e46849. doi:10.2196/46849. PMC 10403793. PMID 37477969.
  22. ^ Hardell, Ash (8 November 2016). The ABC's of LGBT . Mango Media. ISBN 978-1-63353-408-7.
  23. ^ Lacsko, Madeleine [in Portuguese]. "Termos juvélicos: 100 novas orientações sexuais para você decorar ou ser cancelado". Gazeta do Povo (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 29 November 2023. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  24. ^ Nygård, Ida Sofie Sverkeli (2021). Sapphic Representations in Contemporary Young Adult Literature (master's thesis). Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. hdl:11250/2992128.
  25. ^ Peyre, Henri (1979). "On the Sapphic Motif in Modern French Literature". Dalhousie French Studies. 1: 3–33. ISSN 0711-8813. JSTOR 40836208.
  26. ^ Hackett, Robin (2004). Sapphic Primitivism: Productions of Race, Class, and Sexuality in Key Works of Modern Fiction. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-3347-6.