A History of Lesbianism

[High_Gravity]

That's right. We don't bring the cock idea into the equation rubber or otherwise.

Oh, thats cool for you but I have seen some younger women who claim to be bisexual and Lesbian use them, their probably not really sure on their sexuality yet though they were college age.

I don't think we can come to any conclusion about the sexuality of people based on what toys they play with.

You are correct.

 

[yidnar]

How they came into the world,
the women-loving-women
came in three by three
and four by four
the women-loving-women
can in ten by ten
and ten by ten again
until there were more
than you could count

they took care of each other
the best they knew how
and of each other's children,
if they had any.

How they lived in the world,
the women-loving-women
learned as much as they were allowed
and walked and wore their clothes
the way they liked
whenever they could. They did whatever
they knew to be happy or free
and worked and worked and worked.
The women-loving-women
in America were called dykes
and some liked it
and some did not.

the made love to each other
the best way they knew how
and for the right reasons.


Judy Grahn

Which came first ?? the tongue or the clitoris ??

 

[yidnar]

Garden Fountain

I should turn to stone;
carve myself into the image
of a Goddess
so that you have no choice
but to gaze upon me
in awe and reverence.
I should place a spell on you
so that all you see is me,
in every ripple in the pond,
every voluptuous cloud,
in every strange woman's face.
You will pine for me
as you touch my cold body;
long for a pulse,
a breath,
a kiss.
But instead, I will give you
a salty, glistening fountain,
flowing from my grey granite eyes.

 

[Ernie S.]

Lesbians are cool, I support them.

I'm constantly trying to convert them.

I like to watch them.

Never got into watching. Sex is like football to me. I'd much rather play than watch.

 

[High_Gravity]

I'm constantly trying to convert them.

I like to watch them.

Never got into watching. Sex is like football to me. I'd much rather play than watch.

 

[strollingbones]

people take their sexuality too seriously....relax and have fun......there arent many rules....you know the few there are......leave the kids and pets out of it.....consenting adults get to freely play

 

[High_Gravity]

people take their sexuality too seriously....relax and have fun......there arent many rules....you know the few there are......leave the kids and pets out of it.....consenting adults get to freely play

You pretty much nailed it.

 

[Sky Dancer]

Witch-Wife

She is neither pink nor pale,
And she never will be all mine;
She learned her hands in a fairy-tale,
And her mouth on a valentine.

She has more hair than she needs;
In the sun `tis a woe to me!
And her voice is a string of coloured beads,
Or steps leading into the sea.

She loves me all that she can,
And her ways to my ways resign;
But she was not made for any man,
And she never will be all mine.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

 

[Sky Dancer]

For The Straight Folks Who Don't Mind Gays But Wish They Weren't So Blatant

By Pat Parker (1944-1989)

You know, some people got a lot of nerve.
Sometimes I don’t believe the things I see and hear.

Have you met the woman who’s shocked by two women kissing
and in the same breath, tells you she is pregnant?
BUT gays, shouldn’t be so blatant.

Or this straight couple sits next to you in a movie and
you can’t hear the dialogue because of the sound effects.
BUT gays shouldn’t be so blatant.

And the woman in your office spends an entire lunch hour
talking about her new bikini drawers and how much
her husband likes them.
BUT gays shouldn’t be so blatant.

Or the “hip” chick in your class rattling like a mile a minute
while you’re trying to get stoned in the john, about the
camping trip she took with her musician boyfriend.
BUT gays shouldn’t be so blatant.

You go in a public bathroom and all over the walls there’s John loves
Mary, Janice digs Richard, Pepe loves Delores, etc., etc.
BUT gays shouldn’t be so blatant.

Or your go to an amusement park and there’s a tunnel of love
and pictures of straights painted on the front and grinning
couples are coming in and out.
BUT gays shouldn’t be so blatant.

Fact is, blatant heterosexuals are all over the place.
Supermarkets, movies, on your job, in church, in books, on television every day
day and night, every place-even- in gay bars and they want gay
men and woman to go and hide in the closet.

So to you straight folks I say, “Sure, I’ll go if you go too”
BUT I’m polite so, after you.

–Pat Parker

 

[Sky Dancer]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ncS4V6ka8A]Sweet Woman - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Sky Dancer]

CAROL, IN THE PARK, CHEWING ON STRAWS

She has taken a woman lover
whatever shall we do
she has taken a woman lover
how lucky it wasnt you
And all the day through she smiles and lies
and grits her teeth and pretends to be shy,
or weak, or busy. Then she goes home
and pounds her own nails, makes her own
bets, and fixes her own car, with her friend.
She goes as far
as women can go without protection
from men.
On weekends, she dreams of becoming a tree;
a tree that dreams it is ground up
and sent to the paper factory, where it
lies helpless in sheets, until it dreams
of becoming a paper airplane, and rises
on its own current; where it turns into a
bird, a great coasting bird that dreams of becoming
more free, even, than that -- a feather, finally, or
a piece of air with lightning in it.
she has taken a woman lover
whatever can we say
She walks around all day
quietly, but underneath it
she's electric;
angry energy inside a passive form.
The common woman is as common
as a thunderstorm.

 

[Sky Dancer]

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886):

1.

Her breast is fit for pearls,
Bu t I was not a 'Diver' -
Her brow is fit for thrones
But I have not a crest.
Her heart is fit for home-
I - a Sparrow - build there
Sweet of twigs and twine
My perennial nest.

2.

Her sweet Weight on my Heart a Night
Had scarcely deigned to lie -
When, stirring, for Belief's delight,
My Bride had slipped away

If 'twas a Dream - made solid - just
The Heaven to confirm -
Or if Myself were dreamed of Her -
The power to presume -

With Him remain - who unto Me -
Gave - even as to All -
A Fiction superseding Faith -
By so much - as 'twas real

7.

Now I knew I lost her -
Not that she was gone-
But Remoteness travelled
On her Face and Tongue.

Alien, though adjoining
As a Foreign Race
Traversed she though pausing
Latitudeless Place

Elements Unaltered
Universe the same
But Love's transmigration
Somehow this had come

Henceforth to remember
Nature took the Day
I had paid so much for-
His is Penury
Not who toils for Freedom
Or for Family
But the Restitution
Of Idolatry.

8.

Frigid and sweet Her parting Face -
Frigid and fleet my Feet-
Alien and vain whatever Clime
Acrid whatever Fate.

Given to me without the Suit
Riches and Name and Realm-
Who was She to withold from me
Penury and Home?

9.

To see her is a Picture
To hear her is a Tune
To know her an Intemperance
As innocent as June

To know her not - Affliction -
To own her for a Friend
A warmth as near as if the Sun
Were shining in your Hand.

 

[High_Gravity]

I hope you continue this thread Sky, I met a Lesbian couple when I was visiting my friend in Houston and they were very friendly good people.

 

[Sky Dancer]

You see her in old photographs or paintings with legs solidly planted,

wearing a top hat and a man’s jacket,

staring defiantly out of the frame,

her hair slicked back or clipped over her ears;

or you meet her in the street in t-shirt and boots,

squiring a brassily elegant woman

Newton, The Mythic Mannish Lesbian, 1984, p. 281


http://sitemaker.umich.edu/lesbian.history/framed__butches_in_pictures_1920-1970

 

[Sky Dancer]

John D’Emilio, a prominent historian of gay and lesbian culture, explains how economic changes influenced sexual identities:

"I want to argue that gay men and lesbians have not always existed. Instead, they are a product of history and have come into existence in a specific historical era. Their emergence is associated with the relations of capitalism; it has been the historical development of capitalism - more specifically, its free labor system – that has allowed large numbers of men and women in the twentieth century to call themselves gay."

Therefore, three major events that affected gay and lesbian identity were changes in the family, the emergence of the single person, and the rise of sexology.


Beginnings: Attempting a Lesbian History Project - OutHistory

 

[Sky Dancer]

Anna Rüling
(Theo Anna Sprüngli)
August 15, 1880 (Hamburg) - May 8, 1953 (Delmenhorst)

First Known Lesbian Activist

"In middle-class circles they believe, oddly enough, that among them homosexuality has no place, and from these circles the most annoying enemies recruit each other to oppose the movement to free Uranian people. I would like to give as an example, that my father, when by chance he came to speak about homosexuality, explained with conviction, "nothing of the sort can happen in my family." The facts prove the opposite. I need to add nothing to that statement."

With this century-old utterance, Anna Rüling became the first known Lesbian activist.


Anna Rueling (Rling): 100 Years of Lesbian Activism: Speech of the First Known Lesbian Activist