10 Fun Facts You Didn't Know About Lesbians

By Anna Pulley Fri., Aug. 10 2012 at 10:43 AM

Sappho's sapphic love scandalized even the goats she kept around as decorative props!

I watched Farewell, My Queen recently, mostly because I thought there'd be lesbian action in it. Spoiler: There's not! Unless you count one fervent forehead touching and a lot of lingering eye contact. But the film did make me realize how little I knew about Marie Antoinette, aside from the myth of the "let them eat cake" business. It didn't take me long to discover the pornographic pamphlets (it was for research!) that mocked Antoinette's extravagant lifestyle and accused her of all kinds of wrongdoings, including lesbianism, pedophilia, and incest.

Fun fact 1: Lesbianism at that time was known as performing the "German vice" and since Antoinette was Austrian (close enough?) this obviously proved she was totes banging chicks! With "royal dildos!" The Germans (unsurprisingly) countered this insult by calling lesbianism the "French vice" because the Pee-Wee Herman comeback never goes out of style, apparently.

Despite having a good decade of rug munchery under my belt, clearly I had a lot to learn about lesbianism, so I did some digging, and here are some gems I found.

(Ed. note: Most of these come from The Gay Almanac, unless otherwise linked/noted)

2. A labrys is a double-edged hatchet or axe that is commonly associated with lesbians, for those who've never seen the movie Bound. I thought that lady lovin' ladies liked the labrys because it sounded like labia. But no! The labrys gets its fame from Demeter, Goddess of Earth, who used it as a scepter in religious ceremonies. Where else she may have used that scepter isn't explicitly stated.

3. According to U.S. Census data, the state with the most gay couples is California (who didn't see that coming?) with around 90,000. Yet, California is one of the few liberal states where same-sex marriage is illegal. It's like the gay equivalent of that Rime of the Ancient Mariner poem: Lezzies lezzies everywhere, but not a one to gay marry!

Tags:

butch, census, facts, labrys, lesbian, lgbt, queer, trivia

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4tniner

WHAT kind of SHlT is THIS to be posted in an unrestricted media site ?

Fox News has certainly left themselves open to legal action by allowing this.

Just one more reason to EXTERMINATE the DEVIANTS.

annathule

@4tniner @4tniner Ahhh, in case you hadn't noticed, this is the SF Weekly blog!! They sorta live here, we don't. Button it up and have some respect. And be careful who you ask to have exterminated - some of your best friends or family could be in the "lavender hippo" way - ya know? HAHAHAHA!!

judwell

The dumbest, most useless, poorest written article I have read , ever, anywhere. A fourth grade student from an average public school would do better. WHO CARES about any of this - puns? First book store that changed its name and then - closed? If any of this is of interest to lesbians, their lives must be empty and pitiful. Blech!

ariadavid

Just a side note while the labrys has been associated with Demeter it also largely associated with the cult of Diana (Artemis) which I feel might have made a better story for this article given the sexual associations between the two goddesses. Demeter is more associated with being the Goddess of the Harvest and the Kitchen and female fecundity. Largely heterosexual female preoccuptations. Diana however is the more pro-lesbian figure of the Greco-Roman traditions. Goddess of the Hunt and of the Moon she was said to be a Virgin that despised the idea of copulating with a man so much that she had one devoured by wolves just for checking her out.

gaybutnothappy

And none of them are happy, you just shook your head because you know its true.

Refriedbean

1 Like

I read the whole article and I'm still looking for the "fun" things.

imgivingyoupearlsher

1 Like

fast fact.

none of the lesbians mentioned in the article would have been conceived without some guys unit

satellitepilot

Other than being annoyed with the authors poor attempt at wit and humor -pretty informative.

mmacias25

Cool article.

misterfids

Mouth-Mechanic, Gash-Lasher, Hole-Mole-Molly & Dickophobe were words I knew before I was 10... and the all time best name for a band was the Tucson Butch Band...

Lickety-Split

hedy99

Very funny. Reminds me of the days when someone referred to Bela Abzug as a "Closet King"

pmmgbob

OK, even I -- a lifelong Lesbro -- didn't know all of these things!

agnesmildred

2 Like

In Brasil, the centuries-old term for 'bull dyke' is Sapatão (pronounced Sah-Pah-T-Oawn) or "Big Shoe/boot". Sapato, in both Portuguese & Spanish is "Shoe". The diminutive would be "ito" in Spanish & "inho" in Portuguese. "Sapatinho", little shoe. Interestingly, in both Spanish & Portuguese the polite term for gay people, also very old (over 100 yrs.) is "Entendido", or, almost respectfully: "One who UNDERSTANDS" (from the verb root "entender" - "to understand"). I have always felt that that meant a homosexual is far more capable of empathizing with other human conditions whatever they may be. They inherently "understand" what it is like to be "like the other". It is a very beautiful term, imho.