the Lesbians are taking back their word

This cracks me up: inhabitants of the island Lesbos are annoyed that gay women everywhere call themselves lesbians, since all people on Lesbos are the real Lesbians. They had it first, and they’re trying to take it back! I knew the etymology of the word ‘lesbian’, but I never really thought about what happened to that little Grecian island. Apparently, it’s still very much populated today. So, if lesbians aren’t Lesbians but are, in fact, merely gay women, what should they call themselves? My vote is for something related to Sappho, since she was the poet from Lesbos that wrote about loving other women in the first place. Sapphoens, sapphians, etc. As far as I know, there isn’t some island called Sappho or Sapphos, so hopefully no poor non-gay island inhabitant somewhere will get upset.

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One Comment

  1. Posted 2 May 2008 at 10:04 PM | Permalink

    I saw articles about this. XD It’s crazy; the people from Lesbos waited far too late. With the meaning of “lesbian” embedded in the minds of English speakers as homosexual women, their cause is a hopeless one.

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