Editing Virginia Woolf (section)

== Sexuality ==

The Bloomsbury Group held very progressive views of sexuality and rejected the austere strictness of Victorian society. The majority of its members were homosexual or bisexual.<ref>{{Cite web|date=30 April 2018|title=The Bloomsbury Group changed the face of LGBT rights and here's how|url=https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/04/30/the-bloomsbury-group-lgbt-rights/|first=Helena|last=Kealey|access-date=10 September 2021|website=PinkNews|language=en-GB}}</ref>

Woolf had several affairs with women, the most notable being with [[Vita Sackville-West]]. The two women developed a deep connection; Vita was arguably one of the few people in Virginia's adult life that she was truly close to.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sackville-West |first1=Vita |last2=Woolf |first2=Virginia |title=Love Letters: Vita and Virginia |date=4 February 2021 |publisher=Vintage Classics |isbn=9781473582408 |page=254 |edition=1st |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qtvgDwAAQBAJ |access-date=2 December 2022}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=[Virginia Woolf] told Ethel that she only really loved three people: Leonard, Vanessa, and myself, which annoyed Ethel but pleased me – Vita Sackville-West's letter to husband Harold Nicolson, dated 28 September 1939|author=|source=}}

During their relationship, both women saw the peak of their literary careers, with the titular protagonist of Woolf's acclaimed ''[[Orlando: A Biography]]'' being inspired by Sackville-West. The pair remained lovers for a decade and stayed close friends for the rest of Woolf's life.{{sfn|Haynes|2019b}}<ref name="Essen">{{Cite web|last=Essen|first=Leah Rachel von|date=1 July 2021|title=Who Was Virginia Woolf? From Her Craft to Her Lovers|url=https://bookriot.com/who-was-virginia-woolf/|access-date=10 September 2021|website=BOOK RIOT|language=en-US}}</ref> Woolf had said to Sackville-West she disliked masculinity.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sackville-West |first1=Vita |last2=Woolf |first2=Virginia |title=Love Letters: Vita and Virginia |date=4 February 2021 |publisher=Vintage Classics |isbn=9781473582408 |page=159 |edition=1st |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qtvgDwAAQBAJ |access-date=11 December 2021}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=[Virginia Woolf] dislikes the possessiveness and love of domination in men. In fact, she dislikes the quality of masculinity&nbsp;; says that women stimulate her imagination, by their grace & their art of life – Vita Sackville-West's diary, dated 26 September 1928|author=|source=}}

Among her other notable affairs were those with [[Sibyl Colefax]], [[Lady Ottoline Morrell]], and [[Mary Hutchinson (writer)|Mary Hutchinson]].<ref name="Essen" /> Some surmise that she fell in love with Madge Symonds, the wife of one of her uncles.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Virginia Woolf Biography: New Friends|url=https://www.sparknotes.com/biography/woolf/section3/|access-date=10 September 2021|website=SparkNotes|language=en}}</ref> Madge Symonds was described as one of Woolf's early loves in Sackville-West's diary.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Sackville-West|first1=Vita|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qtvgDwAAQBAJ|title=Love Letters: Vita and Virginia|last2=Woolf|first2=Virginia|date=4 February 2021 |publisher=Vintage Classics|isbn=9781473582408|publication-date=4 February 2021|pages=160|language=English}}</ref> She also fell in love with Violet Dickinson, although there is some confusion as to whether the two consummated their relationship.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Violet Dickinson|url=https://spartacus-educational.com/JdickensonV.htm|access-date=10 September 2021|website=Spartacus Educational}}</ref>

Virginia initially declined marriage proposals from her future husband, Leonard. She even went so far as to tell him that she was not physically attracted to him, but later declared that she did love him, and eventually agreed to marriage.<ref name="Essen" /> Woolf preferred female lovers to male lovers and did not seem to be sexually attracted to men.

{{blockquote|I sometimes think that if I married you, I could have everything—and then—is it the sexual side of it that comes between us? As I told you brutally the other day, I feel no physical attraction in you. – ''Letter to Leonard from Virginia dated May 1, 1912''<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-10-28|title=What Passes For Love: On the Marriage of Leonard and Virginia Woolf|url=https://lithub.com/what-passes-for-love-on-the-marriage-of-leonard-and-virginia-woolf/|access-date=2021-09-10|website=Literary Hub|language=en-US}}</ref>
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Leonard became the love of her life. Although their sexual relationship was questionable, they loved each other deeply and formed a strong and supportive marriage that led to the formation of their publishing house as well as several of her writings. Though Virginia had affairs with and attractions to women during their marriage, she and Leonard maintained a mutual love and respect.{{sfn|Haynes|2019b}}