Editing Lesbian (section)

== Lesbians in western culture ==
=== Early 1900s Western Culture ===
[[File:Die Freundin April 30 1930.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Berlin's thriving lesbian community in the 1920s published ''[[Die Freundin]]'' magazine between 1924 and 1933.|alt=Reproduction of a German magazine cover with the title "Die Freundin" showing a nude woman sitting on a horse, looking behind her.]]

In the early 1900s, some well-known women denied or concealed their lesbian behavior, such as the unmarried professor [[Jeannette Augustus Marks]] at [[Mount Holyoke College]], who lived with the college president, [[Mary Emma Woolley|Mary Woolley]], for 36 years. Marks discouraged young women from "abnormal" friendships and insisted happiness could only be attained with a man.<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>{{rp|p=239}}{{efn|Other historical figures rejected being labeled as lesbians despite their behavior: [[Djuna Barnes]], author of ''[[Nightwood]]'', a novel about an affair Barnes had with [[Thelma Wood]], earned the label "lesbian writer", which she protested by saying, "I am not a lesbian. I just loved Thelma." [[Virginia Woolf]], who modeled the hero/ine in ''[[Orlando (novel)|Orlando]]'' on [[Vita Sackville-West]], with whom she was having an affair, set herself apart from women who pursued relationships with other women by writing, "These Sapphists ''love'' women; friendship is never untinged with amorosity."<ref name="Castle2003"/>{{rp|pp=4–5}}}} Other women embraced the distinction and used their uniqueness to set themselves apart from heterosexual women and gay men.<ref name="Rust2000">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Rust |first=Paula C. |title=Identity |pages=353–385 |editor-last=Zimmerman |editor-first=Bonnie |editor-link=Bonnie Zimmerman |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Lesbian Histories and Cultures |date=2000 |edition=1st |publisher=[[Garland Publishing]] |location=New York |isbn=9780203825532 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofle00bzim/page/353/mode/2up |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|p=383}}

From the 1890s to the 1930s, American heiress [[Natalie Clifford Barney]] held a weekly salon in Paris to which major artistic celebrities were invited and where lesbian topics were the focus. Combining Greek influences with contemporary French eroticism, she attempted to create an updated and idealized version of Lesbos in her salon.<ref name="Edsall2003">{{cite book |last=Edsall |first=Nicholas |date=2003 |title=Toward Stonewall: Homosexuality and Society in the Modern Western World |publisher=[[University of Virginia Press]] |isbn=0-8139-2211-9}}</ref>{{rp|p=234}} Her contemporaries included artist [[Romaine Brooks]], who painted others in her circle; writers [[Colette]], [[Djuna Barnes]], social host [[Gertrude Stein]], and novelist [[Radclyffe Hall]].

[[Berlin]] had a vibrant homosexual culture in the 1920s, and about 50 clubs catered to lesbians. {{lang|de|[[Die Freundin]]}} (''The Girlfriend'') magazine, published between 1924 and 1933, targeted lesbians. ''[[Garçonne (magazine)|Garçonne]]'' (aka {{lang|de|Frauenliebe}} (''Woman Love'')) was aimed at lesbians and male [[transvestites]].<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>{{rp|pp=241–244}} These publications were controlled by men as owners, publishers, and writers. Around 1926, [[Selli Engler]] founded ''[[Die BIF – Blätter Idealer Frauenfreundschaften]]'' (''The BIF – Papers on Ideal Women Friendships''), the first lesbian publication owned, published and written by women. In 1928, the lesbian bar and nightclub guide ''Berlins lesbische Frauen'' (''The Lesbians of Berlin'') by [[Ruth Margarete Roellig|Ruth Margarite Röllig]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brendan |date=January 10, 2012 |title=Berlin's Lesbische Frauen |url=http://www.cabaret-berlin.com/?p=546 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200528125430/http://www.cabaret-berlin.com/?p=546 |archive-date=28 May 2020 |access-date=13 June 2020 |website=Cabaret Berlin}} (originally published by ''Slow Travel Berlin'')</ref> further popularized the German capital as a center of lesbian activity. Clubs varied between large establishments that became tourist attractions, to small neighborhood cafes where local women went to meet other women. The cabaret song {{lang|de|"[[Das lila Lied]]"}} ("The Lavender Song") became an anthem to the lesbians of Berlin. Although it was sometimes tolerated, homosexuality was illegal in Germany and law enforcement used permitted gatherings as an opportunity to register the names of homosexuals for future reference.<ref name="Tamagne2004">{{cite book |last=Tamagne |first=Florence |date=2004 |title=A History of Homosexuality in Europe Berlin, London, Paris, 1919–1939 |volume=1 |publisher=Algora |isbn=0-585-49198-4 |pages=53–57}}</ref> Magnus Hirschfeld's [[Scientific-Humanitarian Committee]], which promoted tolerance for homosexuals in [[Germany]], welcomed lesbian participation, and a surge of lesbian-themed writing and political activism in the German feminist movement became evident.<ref name="Edsall2003"/>{{rp|pp=230–231}}

[[File:Radclyffe Hall - Sunday Express.gif|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Radclyffe Hall]]'s image appeared in many newspapers discussing the content of ''[[The Well of Loneliness]]''.|alt=Reproduction of a London newspaper, headline reading "A Book That Must Be Suppressed" and Radclyffe Hall's portrait: a woman wearing a suit jacket and bow tie with a black matching skirt. Her hair is slicked back, she wears no make-up, in one hand is a cigarette and her other hand is in her skirt pocket.]]

In 1928, Radclyffe Hall published a novel titled ''[[The Well of Loneliness]]''. The novel's plot centers around Stephen Gordon, a woman who identifies herself as an invert after reading Krafft-Ebing's ''[[Psychopathia Sexualis (Richard von Krafft-Ebing book)|Psychopathia Sexualis]]'', and lives within the homosexual subculture of Paris. The novel included a foreword by Havelock Ellis and was intended to be a call for tolerance for inverts by publicizing their disadvantages and accidents of being born inverted.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>{{rp|p=320}} Hall subscribed to Ellis and Krafft-Ebing's theories and rejected [[Freud]]'s theory that [[same-sex attraction]] was caused by childhood trauma and was curable. The publicity Hall received was due to unintended consequences; the novel was tried for [[obscenity]] in London, a spectacularly scandalous event described as "''the'' crystallizing moment in the construction of a visible modern English lesbian subculture" by professor Laura Doan.<ref name="Doan2001">{{cite book |last=Doan |first=Laura |date=2001 |title=Fashioning Sapphism: The Origins of a Modern English Lesbian Culture |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=0-231-11007-3 |pages=XIII, XV, 64–66}}</ref>

Newspaper stories frankly divulged that the book's content includes "sexual relations between Lesbian women", and photographs of Hall often accompanied details about lesbians in most major print outlets within a span of six months.<ref name="Doan2001"/> Hall reflected the appearance of a "mannish" woman in the 1920s: [[Bob cut|short cropped hair]], tailored suits (often with pants), and [[monocle]] that became widely recognized as a "uniform". When British women supported the war effort during the First World War, they became familiar with masculine clothing, and were considered patriotic for wearing uniforms and pants. Postwar masculinization of women's clothing became associated primarily with lesbianism.<ref name="Doan2001"/>

[[File:Gladys Bentley.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|[[Harlem]] resident [[Gladys Bentley]] was renowned for her [[blues]] songs about her affairs with women.|alt=A publicity photo of a stout African American woman in white tuxedo with tails and top hat, carrying a cane and her signature in the lower right corner.]]

In the United States, the 1920s was a decade of social experimentation, particularly with sex. This was heavily influenced by the writings of [[Sigmund Freud]], who theorized that sexual desire would be sated unconsciously, despite an individual's wish to ignore it. Freud's theories were much more pervasive in the U.S. than in Europe. With the well-publicized notion that sexual acts were a part of lesbianism and their relationships, sexual experimentation was widespread. Large cities that provided a nightlife were immensely popular, and women began to seek out sexual adventure. Bisexuality became chic, particularly in America's first gay neighborhoods.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>{{rp|pp=63–67}}

No location saw more visitors for its possibilities of homosexual nightlife than [[Harlem]], the predominantly African American section of [[New York City]]. White "slummers" enjoyed [[jazz]], nightclubs, and anything else they wished. [[Blues]] singers [[Ma Rainey]], [[Bessie Smith]], [[Ethel Waters]], and [[Gladys Bentley]] sang about affairs with women to visitors such as [[Tallulah Bankhead]], [[Beatrice Lillie]], and the soon-to-be-named [[Joan Crawford]].<ref name="Faderman1991"/>{{rp|p=71}}<ref name="McVea2000">{{cite encyclopedia |last=McVea |first=Denise |title=Harlem |editor-last=Zimmerman |editor-first=Bonnie |editor-link=Bonnie Zimmerman |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Lesbian Histories and Cultures |date=2000 |edition=1st |publisher=[[Garland Publishing]] |location=New York |isbn=9780203825532 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofle00bzim/page/383/mode/2up |url-access=registration |pages=354-355, 383–385}}</ref> Homosexuals began to draw comparisons between their newly recognized minority status and that of African Americans.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>{{rp|p=68}} Among African American residents of [[Harlem]], lesbian relationships were common and tolerated, though not overtly embraced. Some women staged lavish wedding ceremonies, even filing licenses using masculine names with New York City.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>{{rp|p=73}} Most homosexual women were married to men and participated in affairs with women regularly.<ref name="McVea2000"/>

Across town, [[Greenwich Village]] also saw a growing homosexual community; both Harlem and Greenwich Village provided furnished rooms for single men and women, which was a major factor in their development as centers for homosexual communities.<ref name="Norton1997"/>{{rp|p=181}} The tenor was different in Greenwich Village than Harlem. [[Bohemianism|Bohemians]]—intellectuals who rejected Victorian ideals—gathered in the Village. Homosexuals were predominantly male, although figures such as poet [[Edna St. Vincent Millay]] and social host [[Mabel Dodge]] were known for their affairs with women and promotion of tolerance of homosexuality.<ref name="Faderman1981"/>{{rp|pp=82–83}} Women in the U.S. who could not visit Harlem or live in Greenwich Village for the first time were able to visit saloons in the 1920s without being considered prostitutes. The existence of a public space for women to socialize in [[Lesbian bars|bars]] that were known to cater to lesbians "became the single most important public manifestation of the subculture for many decades", according to historian [[Lillian Faderman]].<ref name="Faderman1991"/>{{rp|pp=79–80}}

=== Great Depression ===
The primary component necessary to encourage lesbians to be public and seek other women was economic independence, which virtually disappeared in the 1930s with the [[Great Depression]]. Most women in the U.S. found it necessary to marry to a "[[Beard (companion)|front]]" such as a gay man where both could pursue homosexual relationships with public discretion, or to a man who expected a traditional wife. Independent women in the 1930s were generally seen as holding jobs that men should have.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>{{rp|pp=94–96}}

The social attitude made very small and close-knit communities in large cities that centered around bars, while simultaneously isolating women in other locales. Speaking of homosexuality in any context was socially forbidden, and women rarely discussed lesbianism even amongst themselves; they referred to openly gay people as "in the Life".<ref name="Faderman1991"/>{{rp|pp=105–112}}{{efn|Historian [[Vern Bullough]] published a paper based on an unfinished study of mental and physical traits performed by a lesbian in [[Salt Lake City]] during the 1920s and 1930s. The compiler of the study reported on 23 of her colleagues, indicating there was an underground lesbian community in the conservative city. Bullough remarked that the information was being used to support the attitude that lesbians were not abnormal or maladjusted, but it also reflected that women included in the study strove in every way to conform to social gender expectations, viewing anyone who pushed the boundaries of respectability with hostility. Bullough wrote, "In fact, their very success in disguising their sexual orientation to the outside world leads us to hypothesize that lesbianism in the past was more prevalent than the sources might indicate, since society was so unsuspecting."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bullough |first1=Vern |last2=Bullough |first2=Bonnie |title=Lesbianism in the 1920s and 1930s: A Newfound Study |journal=[[Signs (journal)|Signs]] |date=July 1977 |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=895–904 |doi=10.1086/493419 |pmid=21213641 |s2cid=145652567}}</ref>}} Freudian psychoanalytic theory was pervasive in influencing doctors to consider homosexuality as a neurosis afflicting immature women. Homosexual subculture disappeared in Germany with the rise of the Nazis in 1933.<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>{{rp|pp=191–193}}

=== World War II ===
[[File:Two women employees of North American Aviation, Incorporated, assembling a section of a wing for a P-51 fighter plane.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Women's experiences in the work force and the military during World War II gave them economic and social options that helped to shape lesbian subculture.|alt=Two women assembling a section of a wing for a WWII fighter plane.]]
[[File:Black triangle.svg|thumb|upright=0.7|Women who did not conform to the Nazi ideal of a woman were considered asocial, imprisoned, and identified with a [[Black triangle (badge)|black triangle]]. Lesbians were deemed asocial.|alt=An upside down black triangle.]]
[[File:Pink triangle.svg|thumb|upright=0.7|Many lesbians reclaimed the symbolism of the [[pink triangle]], though the Nazis only applied it to [[gay men]].|alt=An upside down pink triangle.]]

The onset of [[World War II]] caused a massive upheaval in people's lives as military mobilization engaged millions of men. Women were also accepted into the military in the U.S. [[Women's Army Corps]] (WACs) and U.S. Navy's [[Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service]] (WAVES). Unlike processes to screen out male homosexuals, which had been in place since the creation of the American military, there were no methods to identify or screen for lesbians; they were put into place gradually during World War II. Despite common attitudes regarding women's traditional roles in the 1930s, independent and masculine women were directly recruited by the military in the 1940s, and frailty discouraged.<ref name="Berube1990">[[Allan Berube|Berube, Allan]] (1990). ''Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II'', The Free Press. {{ISBN|0-7432-1071-9}}</ref>{{rp|pp=28–33}}

Some women arrived at the recruiting station in a man's suit, denied ever being in love with another woman, and were easily inducted.<ref name="Berube1990"/>{{rp|pp=28–33}} Sexual activity was forbidden and [[blue discharge]] was almost certain if one identified oneself as a lesbian. As women found each other, they formed into tight groups on base, socialized at service clubs, and began to use code words. Historian [[Allan Berube|Allan Bérubé]] documented that homosexuals in the armed forces either consciously or subconsciously refused to identify themselves as homosexual or lesbian, and also never spoke about others' orientation.<ref name="Berube1990"/>{{rp|p=104}}

The most masculine women were not necessarily common, though they were visible, so they tended to attract women interested in finding other lesbians. Women had to broach the subject about their interest in other women carefully, sometimes taking days to develop a common understanding without asking or stating anything outright.<ref name="Berube1990"/>{{rp|p=100}} Women who did not enter the military were aggressively called upon to take industrial jobs left by men, in order to continue national productivity. The increased mobility, sophistication, and independence of many women during and after the war made it possible for women to live without husbands, something that would not have been feasible under different economic and social circumstances, further shaping lesbian networks and environments.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>{{rp|pp=129–130}}

Lesbians were not included under [[Paragraph 175]] of the [[Strafgesetzbuch|German Criminal Code]], which made homosexual acts between males a crime. The [[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]] (USHMM) stipulates that this is because women were seen as subordinate to men, and the Nazi state feared lesbians less than gay men. Many lesbians were arrested and imprisoned for "asocial" behaviour,{{efn|"Prior to 1939, lesbians were among those imprisoned as 'asocials', a broad category applied to all people who evaded Nazi rule."<ref name=Elman />}} a label which was applied to women who did not conform to the ideal Nazi image of a woman ([[Kinder, Küche, Kirche|child raising, kitchen work, churchgoing]] and passivity). These women were [[Nazi concentration camp badge#Table of camp inmate markings|identified]] with an [[Black triangle (badge)|inverted black triangle]].<ref name="Lesbians-USHMM">{{Cite web |date=March 31, 2021 |title=Lesbians Under the Nazi Regime |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/lesbians-under-the-nazi-regime |access-date=12 June 2021 |website=[[Holocaust Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]]}}</ref> Although lesbianism was not specifically criminalized by Paragraph 175, some lesbians reclaimed the black triangle symbol as gay men reclaimed the [[pink triangle]], and many lesbians also reclaimed the pink triangle.<ref name="Elman">{{Cite journal |last=Elman |first=Amy |date=Winter 1996–97 |title=Triangles and Tribulations: The Gay Appropriation of Nazi Symbols |url=http://www.troubleandstrife.org/issues/Issue34_FullScan.pdf |journal=Trouble & Strife |issue=34 |pages=62–66 |access-date=12 June 2021 |quote=An earlier version of this article appeared in ''[[Journal of Homosexuality]]'', Vol. 30, issue 3, 1996.}} ({{doi|10.1300/J082v30n03_01}}. {{PMID|8743114}}. {{ISSN|0091-8369}}.)</ref>

=== Postwar ===
[[File:The Ladder, October 1957.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|The 1957 first edition of ''[[The Ladder (magazine)|The Ladder]]'', mailed to hundreds of women in the San Francisco area, urged women to take off their masks.|alt=A drawn illustrated magazine cover of a woman in half shadow with short, wavy hair holding a harlequin mask under the title "The Ladder" and the date "October 1957" underneath it.]]

Following World War II, a nationwide movement pressed to return to pre-war society as quickly as possible in the U.S.<ref name="Adam1987">{{cite book |last1=Adam |first1=Barry |title=The Rise of a Gay and Lesbian Movement |date=1987 |publisher=G. K. Hall & Co. |isbn=0-8057-9714-9 |pages=56, 59}}</ref> When combined with the increasing national paranoia about [[communism]] and psychoanalytic theory that had become pervasive in medical knowledge, homosexuality became an undesired characteristic of employees working for the U.S. government in 1950. Homosexuals were thought to be vulnerable targets to [[blackmail]], and the government purged its employment ranks of open homosexuals, beginning a widespread effort to gather intelligence about employees' private lives.<ref name="Edsall2003"/>{{rp|p=277}} State and local governments followed suit, arresting people for congregating in bars and parks, and enacting laws against [[cross-dressing]] for men and women.<ref name="Adam1987"/>

The U.S. military and government conducted many interrogations, asking if women had ever had sexual relations with another woman and essentially equating even a one-time experience to a criminal identity, thereby severely delineating heterosexuals from homosexuals.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>{{rp|pp=150–155}} In 1952, homosexuality was listed as a pathological emotional disturbance in the [[American Psychiatric Association]]'s ''[[Diagnostic and Statistical Manual]]''.<ref name="Edsall2003"/>{{rp|p=247}} The view that homosexuality was a curable sickness was widely believed in the medical community, general population, and among many lesbians themselves.<ref name="esterberg">{{cite journal |last1=Esterberg |first1=Kristin Gay |title=From illness to action: Conceptions of homosexuality in ''The Ladder'', 1956–1965 |journal=[[Journal of Sex Research]] |date=1990 |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=65–80 |doi=10.1080/00224499009551542}}</ref>

Attitudes and practices to ferret out homosexuals in public service positions extended to Australia<ref name="Willett2000">{{cite book |last=Willett |first=Graham |date=2000 |title=Living Out Loud: A History of Gay and Lesbian Activism in Australia |publisher=[[Allen & Unwin]] |isbn=1-74115-113-9 |pages=10–11}}</ref> and Canada.<ref name="Warner2002">{{cite book |last=Warner |first=Tom |date=2002 |title=Never Going Back: A History of Queer Activism in Canada |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |isbn=0-8020-8460-5 |page=27}}</ref> A section to create an offence of "gross indecency" between females was added to a bill in the United Kingdom [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] and passed there in 1921, but was rejected in the [[House of Lords]], apparently because they were concerned any attention paid to sexual misconduct would also promote it.<ref name="Jennings2007"/>{{rp|pp=109–114}}

==== Underground socializing ====
Very little information was available about homosexuality beyond medical and psychiatric texts. Community meeting places consisted of bars that were commonly raided by police once a month on average, with those arrested exposed in newspapers. In response, eight women in San Francisco met in their living rooms in 1955 to socialize and have a safe place to dance. When they decided to make it a regular meeting, they became the first organization for lesbians in the U.S., titled the [[Daughters of Bilitis]] (DOB). The DOB began publishing a magazine titled ''[[The Ladder (magazine)|The Ladder]]'' in 1956. Inside the front cover of every issue was their mission statement, the first of which stated was "Education of the variant". It was intended to provide women with knowledge about homosexuality—specifically relating to women and famous lesbians in history. By 1956, the term "lesbian" had such a negative meaning that the DOB refused to use it as a descriptor, choosing "variant" instead.<ref name="Gallo2006">{{cite book |last=Gallo |first=Marcia |date=2006 |title=Different Daughters: A History of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Rise of the Lesbian Rights Movement |publisher=Seal Press |isbn=1-58005-252-5 |page=3}}</ref>

The DOB spread to Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, and ''The Ladder'' was mailed to hundreds—eventually thousands—of DOB members discussing the nature of homosexuality, sometimes challenging the idea that it was a sickness, with readers offering their own reasons why they were lesbians and suggesting ways to cope with the condition or society's response to it.<ref name="esterberg" /> British lesbians followed with the publication of ''[[Arena Three (magazine)|Arena Three]]'' beginning in 1964, with a similar mission.<ref name="Jennings2007"/>{{rp|pp=153–158}}

[[File:Thirdsex bookcover 1959.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Though marketed to heterosexual men, [[lesbian pulp fiction]] provided an identity to isolated women in the 1950s.|alt=A brightly painted book cover with the title "The Third Sex", with a sultry blonde wearing a red outfit showing cleavage and midriff seated on a sofa, while a redhead with short hair places her hand on the blonde's shoulder and leans over her, also displaying cleavage wearing a white blouse with rolled-up sleeves.]]

==== Butch and femme dichotomy ====
{{Further|Butch and femme}}

As a reflection of categories of sexuality so sharply defined by the government and society at large, early lesbian subculture developed rigid gender roles between women, particularly among the [[working class]] in the United States and Canada. For working class lesbians who wanted to live as homosexuals, "A functioning couple ... meant dichotomous individuals, if not male and female, then butch and femme", and the only models they had to go by were "those of the traditional female-male [roles]".<ref name="Faderman1991"/>{{rp|pp=167–168}} Although many municipalities enacted laws against [[cross-dressing]], some women would socialize in bars as [[Butch and femme|butches]]: dressed in men's clothing and mirroring traditional masculine behavior. Others wore traditionally feminine clothing and assumed the role of femmes. Butch and femme modes of socialization were so integral within lesbian bars that women who refused to choose between the two would be ignored, or at least unable to date anyone, and butch women becoming romantically involved with other butch women or femmes with other femmes was unacceptable.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>{{rp|pp=167–168}}

Butch women were not a novelty in the 1950s; even in [[Harlem]] and [[Greenwich Village]] in the 1920s some women assumed these personae. In the 1950s and 1960s, the roles were pervasive and not limited to North America: from 1940 to 1970, butch/femme bar culture flourished in Britain, though there were fewer class distinctions.<ref name="Jennings2007"/>{{rp|pp=141–143}} They further identified members of a group that had been marginalized; women who had been rejected by most of society had an inside view of an exclusive group of people that took a high amount of knowledge to function in.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>{{rp|pp=170–174}} Butch and femme were considered coarse by American lesbians of higher social standing during this period.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>{{rp|pp=175–178}}

==== Fiction ====
{{See also|Lesbian literature}}
Regardless of the lack of information about homosexuality in scholarly texts, another forum for learning about lesbianism was growing. A paperback book titled ''[[Women's Barracks]]'' describing a woman's experiences in the [[Free French Forces]] was published in 1950. It told of a lesbian relationship the author had witnessed. After 4.5 million copies were sold, it was consequently named in the [[House Select Committee on Current Pornographic Materials]] in 1952.<ref name="Stryker2001">{{cite book |last=Stryker |first=Susan |date=2001 |title=Queer Pulp: Perverted Passions from the Golden Age of the Paperback |publisher=Chronicle Books, LLC. |isbn=0-8118-3020-9 |pages=49, 54–57}}</ref> Its publisher, [[Gold Medal Books]], followed with the novel ''[[Spring Fire]]'' in 1952, which sold 1.5 million copies. Gold Medal Books was overwhelmed with mail from women writing about the subject matter, and followed with more books, creating the genre of [[lesbian pulp fiction]].<ref name="Stryker2001"/>

Between 1955 and 1969, over 2,000 books were published using lesbianism as a topic, and they were sold in corner drugstores, train stations, bus stops, and newsstands all over the U.S. and Canada. Literary scholar, Yvonne Keller created several subclasses for lesbian pulp fiction, to help highlight the differences between the types of pulp fiction being released.<ref name=Keller>{{cite journal |last1=Keller |first1=Yvonne |title="Was It Right to Love Her Brother's Wife so Passionately?": Lesbian Pulp Novels and U.S. Lesbian Identity, 1950-1965 |journal=[[American Quarterly]] |date=June 2005 |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=385–410 |doi=10.1353/aq.2005.0028 |jstor=40068271 |s2cid=144844572 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40068271 |issn=0003-0678 |oclc=1480637}}</ref> Virile adventures were written by authors using male pseudonyms, and almost all were marketed to heterosexual men. During this time, another subclass emerged called "Pro-Lesbian". The emergence of pro-lesbian fiction began with authors seeing the voyeuristic and homophobic nature of virile adventures. With only a handful of lesbian pulp fiction authors were women writing for lesbians, including [[Ann Bannon]], [[Valerie Taylor (novelist)|Valerie Taylor]], [[Paula Christian]], and [[Marijane Meaker|Vin Packer/Ann Aldrich]]. These authors deliberately defied the standard of virile adventures by focusing on the relationship between the pair, instead of writing sexually explicit material like virile adventures.<ref name=Keller />

The differences between virile adventures and pro-lesbian covers and titles were distinct enough that Bannon, who also purchased lesbian pulp fiction, later stated that women identified the material iconically by the cover art.<ref name="forbidden">''[[Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives]]''. Dir. Fernie, L., Weissman. Videocassette. Women Make Movies Home Video, 1994.</ref> Pro-lesbian covers were innocuous and hinted at their lesbian themes, and virile adventures ranged from having one woman partially undressed to sexually explicit covers, to demonstrate the invariably salacious material inside.<ref name=Keller /> In addition to this, coded words and images were used on the covers. Instead of "lesbian", terms such as "strange", "twilight", "queer", and "third sex", were used in the titles, and cover art was invariably salacious.<ref name="Zimet1999">{{cite book |last=Zimet |first=Jaye |date=1999 |title=Strange Sisters: The Art of Lesbian Pulp Fiction, 1949–1969 |publisher=Viking Studio |isbn=0-14-028402-8 |pages=17–24}}</ref> Many of the books used cultural references: naming places, terms, describing modes of dress and other codes to isolated women. As a result, pulp fiction helped to proliferate a lesbian identity simultaneously to lesbians and heterosexual readers.<ref name="nestle">[[Joan Nestle|Nestle, Joan]] (1983). "Desire So Big It Had to Be Brave", [[Lesbian Herstory Archives]].</ref>

===Second-wave feminism===
The social rigidity of the 1950s and early 1960s encountered a backlash as social movements to improve the standing of African Americans, the poor, women, and gays all became prominent. Of the latter two, the gay rights movement and the feminist movement connected after a violent confrontation occurred in New York City in the 1969 [[Stonewall riots]].<ref name="Aldrich2006"/>{{rp|pp=212–216}} What followed was a movement characterized by a surge of gay activism and feminist consciousness that further transformed the definition of lesbian.

The [[sexual revolution]] in the 1970s introduced the differentiation between identity and sexual behavior for women. Many women took advantage of their new social freedom to try new experiences. Women who previously identified as heterosexual tried sex with women, though many maintained their heterosexual identity.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>{{rp|p=203}} 

With the advent of [[Feminist Movement in the United States (1963–1982)|second-wave feminism]], lesbianism [[Political lesbianism|as a political identity]] grew to describe a social philosophy among women, often overshadowing sexual desire as a defining trait. The militant feminist organization [[Radicalesbians]] in 1970 published "[[The Woman-Identified Woman]]", which declared "A lesbian is the rage of all women condensed to the point of explosion".<ref name="Schlager1998"/>{{rp|p=70}}{{efn|A similar statement appeared in a militant feminist pamphlet in [[Leeds, England]], stating "Our definition of a political lesbian is a woman-identified woman who does not fuck men. It does not mean compulsory sexual activity with women."<ref name="Jennings2007"/>{{rp|p=177}} See: [[Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group]]}} 
DOB founders [[Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon]] similarly relegated sexual acts as unnecessary, defining a lesbian as "a woman whose primary erotic, psychological, emotional and social interest is in a member of her own sex[...].".<ref name="Martin1991">{{cite book |last1=Martin |first1=Del |author1-link=Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon |last2=Lyon |first2=Phyllis |author2-link=Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon |date=1991 |title=Lesbian / Woman |publisher=Volcano Press |isbn=0-912078-91-X}}</ref>{{rp|p=7}}
In 1980, poet and essayist [[Adrienne Rich]] in [[Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence]]", proposed that all relationships between women have some lesbian element, regardless if they involve a lesbian identity or sexual elements. Her examples included mothers and daughters, women who work together, and women who nurse each other, for example.<ref name="Rich1980">{{cite journal |last1=Rich |first1=Adrienne |title=[[Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence]] |journal=[[Signs (journal)|Signs]] |date=July 1980 |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=631–660 |doi=10.1086/493756 |s2cid=143604951}}</ref>

Militant feminists expressed their disdain with an inherently sexist and patriarchal society, and concluded the most effective way to overcome sexism and attain the equality of women would be to deny men any power or pleasure from women. For women who subscribed to this philosophy—dubbing themselves [[Lesbian feminism|lesbian-feminists]]—lesbian was a term chosen by women to describe any woman who dedicated her approach to social interaction and political motivation to the welfare of women. Sexual desire was not the defining characteristic of a lesbian-feminist, but rather her focus on politics. Independence from men as oppressors was a central tenet of lesbian-feminism, and many believers strove to separate themselves physically and economically from traditional male-centered culture. In the ideal society, named Lesbian Nation, "woman" and "lesbian" were interchangeable.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>{{rp|pp=218–219}}

Although lesbian-feminism was a significant shift, not all lesbians agreed with it. Lesbian-feminism was a youth-oriented movement: its members were primarily college educated, with experience in [[New Left]] and radical causes, but they had not seen any success in persuading radical organizations to take up women's issues.<ref name="Schlager1998"/>{{rp|p=11}} Many older lesbians who had acknowledged their sexuality in more conservative times felt maintaining their ways of coping in a homophobic world was more appropriate. The [[Daughters of Bilitis]] folded in 1970 over which direction to focus on: feminism or gay rights issues.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Esterberg |first1=Kristin G. |title=From Accommodation to Liberation: A Social Movement Analysis of Lesbians in the Homophile Movement |journal=[[Gender & Society]] |date=September 1994 |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=424–443 |doi=10.1177/089124394008003008 |s2cid=144795512}}</ref>

As equality was a priority for lesbian-feminists, disparity of roles between men and women or butch and femme were viewed as patriarchal. Lesbian-feminists eschewed gender role play that had been pervasive in bars, as well as the perceived chauvinism of gay men; many lesbian-feminists refused to work with gay men, or take up their causes.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>{{rp|pp=210–211}} Lesbians who held more [[essentialist]] views that they were [[Biology and sexual orientation#Political aspects|born homosexual]], and used the descriptor "lesbian" to define sexual attraction, often considered the separatist, angry opinions of lesbian-feminists to be detrimental to the cause of gay rights.<ref name="Faderman1991"/>{{rp|pp=217–218}}