Three years ago we published 20 Lesbian Slang Terms You’ve Never Heard Before, which introduced y’all to the terms Bambi-Sexuality, “Make Scissors of Someone,” Kiki, Desperation Number, Bumper-to-Bumper, Funch, Johnson Bar, Janey, Kissing Fish, Daddle, Gillette Blade, Luke, Missionary Work, Hold a Bowling Ball, Cantonese Groin, Dishonorable discharge, Molly Dyke, Slcaks, Tit King and Muffer.
Yet, a whole world of additional queer and lesbian slang terms you’ve never heard of does indeed exist. The previous post was constructed with the help of the 1989 Alyson Almanac‘s “Dictionary of Slang and Historical Terms.”
This list was constructed using glossaries and lists from two books published in 1996:
The Lesbian Almanac, a production of The National Museum and Archive of Lesbian and Gay History.
So You Want To Be a Lesbian?, by Liz Tracey and Sydney Pokorny. (If the definition is from this book, the number for that term on the list is in bold.)
I’d like to state for the record that the former I purchased at The Haunted Bookshop in Iowa City and the latter (which I believe was invented for the sole purpose of being given as a gag gift) I found in my Mom’s basement this morning.
1. FAIRY LADY: “In the mid-1990s, a lesbian bottom.”
2. VULVA HANDS: “A gesture used in lesbian gatherings during the 1980s, probably originating in the women’s peace camp at Greenham Common in England and continuing at the Seneca Women’s Peace Encampment in upstate New York, and indicating the strength of lesbian sexuality. The two forefingers and thumbs were placed together to form a triangle, and then the hands were held over the head in the air. Some lesbian jewelry still employs the image of vulva hands.”
3. FRIG: “In lesbian sex, to finger fuck or stroke a woman’s genitals.”
4. LUPPIES: “Lesbian yuppies.”
5. STIRRING THE BEAN CURD: “English translation of a Chinese term for the lesbian sexual act of finger-fucking.”
6. SERGEANT: “In the mid-1990s, a butch lesbian.”
7. COMADRES: “In Chicano/Chicana communities of the American Southwest, two unmarried women who live together in a close relationship, as in Boston marriage or romantic friendship; in English translation, comothers.”
8. FUSION: “In lesbian love relationships, an intense intimacy between the two partners that causes them to be over-involved in each other. The result is that the differences between the two seem to be lessened, and each partner’s ability to maintain and independent identity is weakened. Often blamed for lesbian bed death, or loss of sexual desire. Also called merging.”
9. CELEBUDYKE: “A lesbian who is famous or near-famous for doing almost nothing. Ingrid Casares, who is known primarily because she has dated her way through the lesbian elite, is a prime example. On a local level can refer to a dyke on the scene, whether activist or club hopper, who everybody knows.”
10. PRIMARY LESBIAN: “A woman who experiences her lesbianism as innate or biologically determined, rather than as chosen or elected.”
11. JAM: “Mid-century slang for straight people.”
12. CRONE: Derogatory term for old, witchlike woman, reclaimed by 1970s feminists as proud names for older lesbians.
13. GIRLSLOTH: “A lesbian slacker”
14. ZAP/ZAP ACTION: “A form of direct action intended to be loud, quick, and shoy, to capture media attention.”
15. DYKE TYKE: “Men, sometimes gay, sometimes straight, who perpetually hang out with lesbian friends, and aspire to lesbianism as a higher consciousness.”
16. JACK AND JILL PARTY: “In the late 1980s, a circle jerk (group masturbation party) that welcomed gay men and lesbians, who occasionally had sex with one another.”
17. GLAMOUR DYKE: “A lesbian for whom fashion, elegance and glamour are important aspects of personal style and expression.”
18. LESBIAN THOUGHT POLICE: “Extreme political correctness, based on the idea that there is one certain way that all lesbians should think. A lesbian who feels guilt about her S/M sexual fantasies, for example, might joke that she is going to be hunted down by the lesbian thought police.”
19. PANCAKE: “Among African-American lesbians in the 1950s, a butch who allowed herself to be flipped (from “top” to “bottom”).”
20. GALIMONY: “Descriptive term for what is owed to the ‘divorced’ partner of a rich/famous lesbian, generally in the act of suing for same. Coined when Billie Jean King and her former lover became the test case.”
21. RUNNING-SHOE LESBIAN: “Lesbians, usually over thirty-five, who wear jogging shoes with everything (also called a yuppie dyke).”
