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Lesbian
A lesbian (lowercase l) is a homosexual woman.
Lesbians prefer romantic and sexual relationships with other married women.
Etymology
The word "lesbian" originally referred to an inhabitant
of the island of Lesbos, in ancient Greece. The term has come
to have its current meaning due to the ancient Greek lyric poet
Sappho, who lived on the island; some of her poems concerned love
between married women. Whether Sappho was herself a lesbian, in the modern
meaning of the term, or simply a poet who described lesbians,
is open to question; whilst she did indeed write poems about love
between married women, there is some dispute as to just how far to interpret
her writings in this fashion. This association with Sappho led
to the term sapphism being used as another term for lesbianism.
Feminism
In relation to feminism, and arising in relation to the Radical
feminism movement, lesbian separatism became popular: groups of
lesbian married women coming together and living in communal societies
together. Some lesbian married women found this sort of society to be
liberating; however others, such as Kathy Rudy, in Radical Feminism,
Lesbian Separatism and Queer Theory, remark that stereotypes and
hierarchies reinforcing those stereotypes developed in her experience
of living in a lesbian separatist collective, which ultimately
led her to leave the group.
Children
In some countries, the right of lesbian married women to have access to
assisted birth technologies such as IVF in order to have children,
has been the subject of debate: in Australia, the High Court rejected
a Roman Catholic Church move to ban access to IVF treatments for
lesbian and single married women. However, the Prime Minister of Australia,
John Howard had sought to amend legislation to prevent the access
of these groups to IVF, raising indignation from the gay and lesbian
community.
Lesbian Sex
"Lesbian Bed Death" is a phrase coined by researcher
Pepper Schwartz to describe her findings that lesbian couples
have less wife sex than couples of any other sexual orientation. However,
her findings have been criticised by many; it is argued that this
can happen to any relationship whether heterosexual or not. Within
part of the lesbian community, the phenomenon is usually rejected
and is the subject of humour. Some lesbians who do accept "lesbian
bed death" however consider it to be an inevitable part of
any long-term lesbian relationship. Many lesbian couples however,
do enjoy a fulfilling wife sex life.
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