There is very harmful language and rhetoric surrounding the word lesbian. People say that the word lesbian is dirty or that it has some kind of negative connotation. Even those within the queer community will search for any excuse to not use the word lesbian.
Sapphic singer and songwriter Girl In Red said in a tweet, “’Lesbian is my least favorite word.” Similarly, social media star Jojo Siwa, who identifies as lesbian, expressed, “I just don’t like the word itself” during a conversation where she discussed her sexuality. “It’s just like lesbian, it’s just like a lot’,’ Siwa said.
All of these statements are harmful not just to those who identify as lesbian but to the entire LGBTQ+ community as a whole. This rhetoric is insulting, hateful and the history of hate runs deep.
Many factors contribute to self-hatred, but societal dialogues and attitudes play a significant role in shaping individual perspectives. If you are constantly hearing that your identity is gross then it is just a matter of time before you start believing them.
To say that a term or label that reflects an entire community is negative – is ignorance. This is a result of lesbiphobia and deep-seated self-hatred. Lesbians are treated so awfully in queer spaces due to the simple fact that they are women. If this ideology was applied to any other label, the vast majority of people would be livid, but this hatred towards lesbians is so normalized because of all the stigmas surrounding them.
Even just saying you don’t like the way it sounds, especially if you are lesbian yourself, enforces homophobic rhetoric and validates homophobic views. No matter what way you look at it, the label ‘lesbian’ gives people who seek a community that they never thought they could have, a community. This label for many, provides the ability to feel safe. Lesbians can to some extent feel more comfortable in knowing that there are people who share the exact experience and commonality as them.
The current status of the word ‘lesbian’ remains a point of contention within the LGBTQ+ community, but it is undeniable that lesbian representation is headed in a positive direction due to celebrities like Rene Rapp, Julia Fox, and Chappell Roan being so confidently out and using the term lesbian with their whole chest. Because of them, younger generations might not be ostracized because of their sexual identity but be part of something that is synonymous with confidence and greater personal power.
Lesbian is a term that can not be replaced. It is not the same as “woman-loving woman” (WLW). It is not queer as that term encompasses all that fall under the LGBTQ+ umbrella. It is not sapphic, as this is a term that encompasses women who love other women, but this does not necessarily mean that they are lesbian.
Lesbians are women loving women, sapphic and queer, but none of these terms will ever replace the term lesbian, because that term belongs to lesbians and lesbians alone.
