Editing Lesbian (section)

=== 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>