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]
Use
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]
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
Look up sapphic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
^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.
^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). ISBN978-1-003-27120-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of December 2024 (link)
^Dyer, Harriet (2021). The Little Book of LGBTQ+: An A–Z of Gender and Sexual Identities. Summersdale Publishers. ISBN978-1-78783-974-8.
^Nygård, Ida Sofie Sverkeli (2021). Sapphic Representations in Contemporary Young Adult Literature (master's thesis). Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. hdl:11250/2992128.
^Hackett, Robin (2004). Sapphic Primitivism: Productions of Race, Class, and Sexuality in Key Works of Modern Fiction. Rutgers University Press. ISBN978-0-8135-3347-6.