Romantic and sexual orientation: Difference between revisions

[[File:Winning Orange-Pink Lesbian Pride Flag.png|thumb|A lesbian flag that won a contest for designing a lesbian flag in 2018, in which trans and nonbinary lesbians were welcome.<ref>''The search for the official lesbian flag.'' July 28, 2018. https://official-lesbian-flag.tumblr.com/post/176134630994/been-doing-some-research-and-looking-at-results [https://web.archive.org/web/20210604113320/https://official-lesbian-flag.tumblr.com/post/176134630994/been-doing-some-research-and-looking-at-results Archived] on 17 July 2023</ref>]]

Simply put, people who identify as lesbians are usually women who feel attraction to other women. Historically and today, many lesbians have a gender identity and expression that they feel does not fit into the Western [[gender binary]] or patriarchal, heterosexual norms of womanhood. Some see "lesbian" as their gender identity as well as their sexuality.<ref name="Gender Census 2018">{{Cite web |title=Gender Census 2018 Identity words (public) |author=Cassian |date=21 June 2018 |access-date=27 July 2020 |url= https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12cN-ooc5EuLIaqbmfqbjZffYldTzWRAHc-qZaRJ2xsQ/edit#gid=1402706910|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230521064702/https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12cN-ooc5EuLIaqbmfqbjZffYldTzWRAHc-qZaRJ2xsQ/edit |archive-date=17 July 2023 }}</ref><ref name="Gender Census 2019">{{Cite web |title=Gender Census 2019 - the public spreadsheet |author=Cassian |date=30 March 2019 |access-date=27 July 2020 |url= https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ePCyWMdorSHAaxNcd1Iv64oLvkdgeoZldTdGZZTHlvY/edit#gid=498446722|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522223529/https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ePCyWMdorSHAaxNcd1Iv64oLvkdgeoZldTdGZZTHlvY/edit |archive-date=17 July 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=23 July 2019|url=https://www.deviantart.com/pantomorph/art/lesbian-gender-pride-flag-806822407|title=lesbian gender pride flag|author=pantomorph|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201207155627/https://www.deviantart.com/pantomorph/art/lesbian-gender-pride-flag-806822407|archive-date=17 July 2023}}</ref> Some lesbians who use the words [[butch]], [[stone]], or [[dyke]] for themselves express and experience their gender identities through [[masculinity]], [[androgyny]], sexual difference, and nonconformity.<ref name=Feinberg>{{cite book|last1=Feinberg|first1=Leslie|title=Stone Butch Blues: A Novel|date=1993|edition=1st|publisher=Firebrand Books|location=|isbn=1563410303}}</ref><ref name=Halberstam>{{Cite book|last1=Halberstam|first1=Judith|authorlink=Judith Halberstam|title=Female Masculinity|year=1998|edition=1st|page=[https://archive.org/details/femalemasculinit00judi/page/111 111]|publisher=Duke University Press|location=|chapter=Lesbian Masculinity: Even Stone Butches Get the Blues|isbn=0822322269|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/femalemasculinit00judi/page/111|archive-url=False|archive-date=17 July 2023}}</ref><ref name="Krantz">{{cite journal|last1=Krantz|first1=Susan E.|title=Reconsidering the Etymology of Bulldike|journal=American Speech|date=1995|volume=70|issue=2|pages=217–221|doi=10.2307/455819|issn=00031283|url=https://scholarworks.uno.edu/engl_facpubs/41|jstor=455819|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322153405/https://scholarworks.uno.edu/engl_facpubs/41/|archive-date=17 July 2023}}</ref> Lesbians can be [[woman#cisgender women|cisgender women]], [[woman#transgender women|transgender women]], nonbinary/genderqueer women, and anyone else who feels that their identities [[gender alignment|align]] with womanhood or that they have some kind of connection to womanhood.<ref name="Carney">{{Cite web |title=In Defense of Non-Binary Lesbianism |last=Carney |first=Sasha |work=Broad Recognition |date=4 November 2019 |access-date=14 June 2020 |url= https://www.broadsatyale.com/in-defense-of-non-binary-lesbianism/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230515210021/http://www.broadsatyale.com/in-defense-of-non-binary-lesbianism/ |archive-date=17 July 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The struggles of rejecting the gender binary |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/magazine/gender-nonbinary.html |date=4 June 2019 |work=The New York Times Magazine |access-date=1 February 2020 |last=Bergner |first=Daniel|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604135436/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/magazine/gender-nonbinary.html |archive-date=17 July 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/44110/1/andrea-lawlor-paul-takes-the-form-of-a-mortal-girl-book-interview |authorlink=Andrea Lawlor |title=Andrea Lawlor explores the wild possibilities of sexual-shapeshifting |publisher=Dazed |date=18 April 2019 |access-date=1 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204160540/https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/44110/1/andrea-lawlor-paul-takes-the-form-of-a-mortal-girl-book-interview |archive-date=17 July 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/lesbian-slang-terms-definitions#slide-8 |title=17 lesbian slang terms every baby gay needs to learn |publisher=Refinery 29 |date=30 March 2018 |access-date=1 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230619215450/http://www.refinery29.com/en-us/lesbian-slang-terms-definitions |archive-date=17 July 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Ormiston |first=Wendy |title=Stone butch celebration: A Transgender-inspired revolution in academia |pages=198-216 |date=July 1996 |doi=10.17763/haer.66.2.46r7n64515203412 |journal=Harvard Educational Review |volume=66 |issue=2}}</ref>