A look into the history of Bi / Pan Lesbians
Content Warning: Sexual Violence, Violence Towards LGBTQ+ People, Reclamation of Slurs, Queer History
Thank you to this week's guest writer, Ace! We would also like to extend a thank you to the replies of this tweet, which aided our research on the topic. ❤️
Exclusionism is the death of queer communities.
“Bi lesbian? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose? Lesbians like WOMEN.”
The term “lesbian” has been attributed to women who love women (WLW) for decades, while the terms bisexual and pansexual are old terms that were popularized as the queer community grew into an unavoidable movement in the late 1900s. As these words were not yet frequently used, lesbians did not differentiate themselves from bi or pan women, and any WLW was considered a lesbian. This, like much of queer history, was lost with the many queer folk who were killed during the AIDs epidemic and subsequent censorship of the movement as a whole.
So, yes, “lesbian” means WLW. But what does that really mean? Let us review some definitions:
Lesbian /ˈlezbēən/:
noun: lesbian; plural noun: lesbians
a gay woman.
adjective: lesbian
relating to gay women or to homosexuality in women.
"a lesbian relationship"
Bisexual /ˌbīˈsekSH(o͞o)əl/:
adjective
sexually attracted not exclusively to people of one particular gender; attracted to both men and women.
noun
a person who is sexually attracted not exclusively to people of one particular gender.
Pansexual /panˈsekSH(əw)əl/:
adjective: pansexual; adjective: pan-sexual
not limited in sexual choice with regard to biological sex, gender, or gender identity.
noun: pansexual; plural noun: pansexuals; noun: pan-sexual; plural noun: pan-sexuals
a pansexual person.
Sapphic /ˈsafik/:
adjective: sapphic; adjective: Sapphic
relating to lesbians or lesbianism. "sapphic lovers"
relating to Sappho, her poetry, or verse in a meter associated with her.
noun
plural noun: sapphics; plural noun: sapphic
verse in a meter associated with Sappho.
Split Attraction Model (SAM):
Attraction can be split into categories:
Platonic
Sensual
Romantic
Sexual
Aesthetic
These are used to help someone better define their sexuality and attraction (or lack thereof).
Now, with the given definitions, let us get into the history lesson. It starts with the Greek poet Sappho. Sappho is the origin of the word sapphic, and where she lived, Lesbos (also called Lesvos or Mitilini,) is the origin of the word lesbian. While most of her work is gone or incomplete, what is left has a great deal of homosexual undertones.
“I loved you, Atthis, long ago
even when you seemed to me
a small graceless child.
But you hate the very thought of me, Atthis,
And you flutter after Andromeda.
Honestly, I wish I were dead.
Weeping many tears, she left me and said,
“Alas, how terribly we suffer, Sappho.
I really leave you against my will.”
And I answered: “Farewell, go and remember me.
You know how we cared for you.
If not, I would remind you
...of our wonderful times.
For by my side you put on
many wreaths of roses
and garlands of flowers
around your soft neck.
And with precious and royal perfume
you anointed yourself.
On soft beds you satisfied your passion.
And there was no dance,
no holy place
from which we were absent.”
In this, Sappho is describing a relationship she had with Atthis, the daughter of the second king of Athens. Even her completed poem about the goddess Aphrodite is heavily indicative of her affection towards women.
Moving into recent years, the terms ‘bi lesbian’ and ‘pan lesbian’ have increased in use and popularity. However, they are nothing new; bi/pan lesbianism has existed for decades. One example of bi/pan lesbianism existing prior to the 2000s comes from an article in the newspaper Lavender Woman, written by one Trish Miller, which reads:
“To me, a lesbian is a woman-oriented woman; bisexuals can be lesbians. A lesbian does not have to exclusively be woman-oriented…. When lesbians degrade other lesbians for not going to bars, not coming out, being bisexual or not sexually active, and so on, we oppress each other.” This piece was written in 1973, when lesbian separatism was still a newly-emerging phenomenon. During this point in time, The Furies Collective would recommend that lesbians separate themselves from women who still benefited from male privilege and heterosexuality. It is understandable why Miller needed to point out that lesbianism “does not have to exclusively be woman-oriented.” Because, at its core, lesbiansim is so much more than “being a woman.”
Another example comes from Dajenya; whose poem was published in the book Bisexual Politics: Theories, Queries, and Visions back in 1995; as well on her own website, where you can find more of her work. The poem itself was written years prior, in 1991. In her poem, she clearly states that she is not just a lesbian or just a bisexual, but indeed a bisexual lesbian. With lesbian separatism now a staple of modern queer culture, she explains that there were people claiming her work was making lesbians less visible, which was not the case. Dajena was doing her best to make herself visible, to avoid hiding a part of herself. As she had said, she and many others are allowed to claim their lesbianism and bisexuality, no matter how confusing it may be to others.
These are only a few written examples; there are many real life examples that prove the terms for bi/pan lesbians have existed for many decades prior to its resurgence on platforms like Twitter. But, for some reason, the terminology fell out of modern queer usage. So what happened? Due to the rampant lesbian separatism in and around the 1970s, many were pushed out of the lesbian community. The main ideas of this movement consist of “relateing only with women who cut their ties to male privilege," as well as “suggesting that as long as women still benefit from heterosexuality, receive its privileges and security, they will at some point have to betray their sisters, especially Lesbian sisters who do not receive those benefits." It had all started in 1970 when seven women confronted the North American Conference of Homophile Organizations about the relevance of the gay rights movement to the lesbian community. Del Martin, feeling as if enough had not been done, wrote the essay If That’s All There Is, and within decried that gay rights organizations were sexist. After 1970 and the influential essay, multiple groups had formed, such as The Furies Collective, The Gutter Dykes, and The Radicalesbians.
Lesbian separatism has become rampant again in online queer communities. Many have been and are claiming that being a bi/pan lesbian “opens the door for other lesbians to be attacked by seeming available to men.” This way of thinking is extremely bi/pan-phobic and bi/pan lesbians do not exist to harm or invalidate fellow lesbians. It is also transphobic to exclude nonbinary people. While it is often assumed that nonbinary people fall under the lesbian umbrella, people tend to sweep them under the rug, and even misgender them and force them away from the lesbian label. Femme aligned or not, nonbinary folk can fall under the lesbian label.
But how exactly does a bi/pan lesbian work? They can be attracted to women, non-binary people, and men. The important thing to remember is that bi/pan lesbianism does not always include men. It can for some, but it is not a universal experience. Using the SAM, we can easily see how one would identify as a bi/pan lesbian. Again, there are multiple types of attraction. A person could be romantically and sexually attracted to women, while also being sensually and aesthetically attracted to men. This could be an example of bi/pan lesbianism. Another could be a person who is romantically attracted to non-binary people, and aesthetically attracted to women. Being Two-Spirit also means someone could be a bi/pan lesbian and/or gay.
With that information let us see why bi/pan lesbians are thrown so much vitriol online. One reason is because of the revitalization of lesbian separatism. Another is that bi/pan lesbians were pushed from the community so long ago that the sudden resurgence online has people thinking that it is only for attention. That it is “people who want to find any reason to be oppressed.” A lot of online lesbians have a deep distaste for bi/pan lesbians, claiming that they are bi-phobic and lesbo-phobic.
It is unfortunate, but bisexuals (specifically those who are femininely aligned) face some of the highest rates of sexual violence. According to the CDC, 74.9% of bisexual women in 2010 had faced some form of sexual violence; while 46.4% of lesbian women and 43.3% of heterosexual women faced the same violence. It is hard to believe that someone would label themselves as something with all these risks just for the attention.
With this information we can conclude that bi/pan lesbians have existed for decades, well before the “appearance” of them in the late 2010s/early 2020s. Contrary to popular belief (and many angry Twitter threads) this is not a new phenomenon and, in fact, has been a part of the queer community for longer than most of these keyboard warriors have been alive.
Resources
Dictionary.com
LGBTQ+ Terminology
Split Attraction Model
5 Types of Attraction
Poems of Sappho, Translated by Julia Dubnoff
Wikipedia
GLBTQ Archive
Tungl
JSTOR: Lavender Woman
A Fan-Made Website for Bi/Pan Lesbians
Dajenya’s Website (and a publication of her work!)
CDC NISVS 2010 Survey
National Library of Medicine
More about lesbian separatism and lesbian feminism
The Ladder Vol. 15 No. 3 and 4
Two-Spirit Definition/Explanation
Ye Olde Queers: Further Reading
Harvard Library: Bi Women Newsletter
Anything That Moves
LGBT on JSTOR
Understanding issues facing older LGBT adults
Making Gay History: The Podcast (Featuring Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin)
The Trans Advocate
Uncommon Ground Media
Great article! I'm most familiar with bi/pan lesbianism in regards to the split-attraction model, but I liked hearing the short summary of lesbian separatism and history behind it. I've also heard of people identifying as bi/pan lesbians because their sexuality is fluid (for example: they're attracted to multiple genders sometimes, and exclusively one gender other times).
I don't get why some people online are so concerned about the labels queer folks use to identify themselves. I don't use SAM to describe myself, and I don't really understand it personally, but I'm very happy for the people who have accurate ways to describe themselves. It doesn't affect my life in the slightest, so why should I be upset?