Editing Lesbian (section)

=== 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}}