You’re sitting in your day parlor, sipping a cup of tea and needlepointing a screen with your female relatives. Then, a maid enters the parlor and informs you that you have a visitor waiting for you in the drawing room. You excuse yourself and enter the drawing room where you find Elizabeth Bennett, holding a bouquet of violets that she picked just for you.
Hi, everyone! Welcome to my fantasy. For years I’ve daydreamed about what gift Elizabeth Bennett might bring me to express her true intentions (which ranged from a beautifully-written letter sealed in wax to a corgi puppy in basket), but now I know she would bring me violets. Violets are beautiful and adorable flowers in general, but they’re also one of the more famous symbols of female homosexuality, possibly dating back to a poem in which Sappho describes herself and her lover wearing garlands of violets:
If you forget me, think
of our gifts to Aphrodite
and all the loveliness that we shared
all the violet tiaras
braided rosebuds, dill and
crocus twined around your young neck
Sappho
In the early 20th century, women used to give each other violets as a way of telling each other, “Hey, I LIKE like you,” in times when it wasn’t easy or accepted to say so in a more overt manner. And, though the historic origins of the violet as a symbol of women liking women may have faded, the color purple is still often associated with homosexuality, particularly in the naming of the Lavender Menace and in the use of the term “lavender lads” to describe gay men during the “Lavender Scare” in the 1950s in the U.S.
Sadly, as we all know, it’s only recently that open displays of homosexuality have begun to be accepted by society, and obviously there are still many places in the world where they are still met with disapproval, violence, and/or legal and social persecution. But! The good thing is that even in unfriendly societies, us homos have always managed to find our way to each other (call it the silver lining in the lavender cloud, if you will). We’ve done so in a variety of ways, though visual symbols are often among the most recognizable. Some of these symbols may be familiar to you, but even if they aren’t, perhaps they’ll give you an idea of how to decorate your messenger bag or expand your tattoo sleeve.
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The Greek Symbol “Lambda”
Lambda was selected as a symbol by the Gay Activists Alliance of New York in the 1950s and was declared the international symbol for gay and lesbian rights by the International Gay Rights Congress in 1974. It’s unclear how exactly lambda was adopted by the LGBT community or what it actually means but some popular theories include: the charged energy of the gay and lesbian rights movement (since lambda symbolizes “energy” in chemistry and physics), the Roman interpretation meaning “the light of knowledge shining into the darkness of ignorance,” or “the notion of being on different wavelengths when it comes to sex and sexuality.” There’s also this idea kicking around that lambda appeared on the shields of Spartan and/or Theban warriors in ancient Greece. The Thebes version is more popular because, as legend has it, the city-state organized the Theban Army from groups of idealized lovers, which made them exceptionally fierce and dedicated soldiers–though eventually the army was completely decimated by King Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great. Lending credence to this theory is the fact that the 1962 version of “300” depicted soldiers with lambdas on their shields. I never saw the 2006 version so someone else will have to confirm or deny the perpetuity of lambda in that whole situation.
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The Rainbow Flag(s)
Gilbert Baker
In the 1970s, San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker recognized the need for a gay symbol that could be used during the Pride Parade each year. Baker drew inspiration for the first version of the iconic rainbow flag from a variety of sources and came up with a flag with eight color stripes, each representing a different aspect of gay and lesbian life: hot pink for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for the sun, green for nature, blue for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit. Baker and 30 volunteers hand-dyed and stitched the original flag, but had to remove the pink stripe for mass production due to a lack of commercially-available pink dye. When Harvey Milk was assassinated later that year, the 1979 Pride Parade Committee selected Baker’s flag as the symbol for the gay community to unite in honor of Milk’s memory.
The Original Rainbow Flag
In the 1979 San Francisco Pride Parade, the color indigo was also removed so the colors could be evenly-distributed along the parade route, leaving us with the flag we know today, with stripes of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Today, there are many, many varieties of the rainbow flag–you can stick a lambda on it, a colored triangle, a star of David, whatever you want! People seem particularly fond of the rainbow flag/rainbows in general because they are all-encompassing: a rainbow flag endorses gay rights without making a statement about the person displaying it. And this, to me, is the most rockin’ thing about rainbow flags. If you chose not to, you don’t have to say anything about yourself, your sexytime partners, your experiences, thoughts or feelings–you’re just rocking a rainbow, and under the rainbow we’re all family. Rainbow flags and stickers are often used to denote gay-friendly businesses, gay-friendly health facilities and really, who doesn’t want to paint their face in rainbow colors and go to a parade filled with like-minded rainbow-philes? No one, that’s who. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a member of the LGBT community or simply a supporter of gay rights, rainbows mean love for everyone and are therefore wonderful.
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Black Triangles
One of the oldest symbols associated with the LGBT community is the triangle, which originated as one of the symbols used in Hitler’s Nazi concentration camps as a way to label prisoners: male homosexual prisoners were made to wear a pink triangle, while women imprisoned for “arbeitsscheu” (“antisocial behavior”, including feminism, lesbianism and prostitution) were made to wear black triangles. Though there isn’t definitive evidence to prove that the black triangles were worn by lesbians in the same way that pink triangles were worn by gay male prisoners, over time the black triangle has evolved into one of the more prominent symbols of lesbianism, contemporaneously symbolizing defiance against repression and discrimination.
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Labrys
I know you all totally know what a labrys is already, but juuuust in case you don’t: a labrys is a double-headed axe. The labrys was first associated with the Greek goddesses Artemis (goddess of the hunt) and Demeter (goddess of the harvest) and used in battle by Scythian Amazon warriors. The Amazons ruled with a dual-queen system and were known for being ferocious in battle. Though the labrys originally stood for independence/strength/chopping prowess, it has also been appropriated as a symbol of lesbianism.
Note from commenter Nancy: The labrys is actually even older than Artemis as goddess of the hunt, it goes all the way back to the Minoan civilization on crete around the 15th century BCE, although we are not really sure what it meant then because it is sooo long ago! And while there were definitely women warriors in Scythia and nearby regions, it’s super speculative that they had the whole two-queen system and everything…that comes out of some quasi-history written by guys like Herodotus.
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Double Venus
The double Venus symbol takes the scientific symbol for “female” (or “Venus”) and doubles it–two females = girl and girl; Bette and Tina; Ellen and Portia, etc.
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Bisexuality Symbols
In 1998, the official Bisexuality Flag was designed by Michael Page to represent the bisexual community. The magenta stripe represents same-sex attraction and the blue stripe at the bottom represents opposite-sex attraction, while the smaller deep lavender (lavender!) stripe in the middle represents attraction to both genders. Overlapping pink and blue triangle are also used to symbolize bisexuality.
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Transgender Symbols
In 2000, Monica Helms designed the first Transgender Pride flag, which debuted at the Phoenix Pride Parade in Arizona. Helms planned the flag to represent the spectrum of trans* experience. “The light blue is the traditional color for baby boys, pink is for girls, and the white in the middle is for those who are transitioning, those who feel they have a neutral gender or no gender, and those who are intersex. The pattern is such that no matter which way you fly it, it will always be correct. This symbolizes us trying to find correctness in our own lives.” Another popular symbol used to identify members of the the transgender community comes from the same roots as the double Venus: a circle with an arrow projecting from the top-right, as per the male symbol, and a cross projecting from the bottom, as per the female symbol, with an additional striked arrow (combining the female cross and male arrow) projecting from the top-left.
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The Other Stuff
Purple Rhinoceros: In the 1970s gay activists in Boston chose the rhinoceros as their symbol because, like the gay rights movement, while the rhino is often misunderstood it is actually a docile and intelligent animal until it is attacked–at which point it’s probably going to steamroll your car. And guess what? It’s purple. Bam. Purple rhino.
Hare, Hyena and Weasel: These three animals were mentioned in an apocryphal text of the Bible, Barnabus, in which God warns against eating the flesh of the hare (associating it with anal sex), the hyena, which was at the time was believed to change gender once a year, and the weasel, which was associated with lesbian sex. Why? Who knows. Look how cute, though!
Thumb Rings: Popular culture seems to believe that if a woman wears a silver thumb ring, she’s telling the world she’s a big ole lesbian–though there seems to be some confusion over whether to wear it on the left or right thumb and what that signifies.
Purple String: In some places, wearing a piece of purple string or hemp around your wrist is a sign of liking other girls: wear it on your left wrist if you are single, right if you are in a relationship. But then sometimes girls from the UK say that this is reversed in Europe, adding to the dilemma of what to do when you go to London on vacay.
Sign Language for “Lesbian”: On one forum I read, a girl said that she and her friends signal “lesbian” by the American Sign Language sign,” which involves making your thumb and forefinger into an ‘L’ and sticking your chin between the two. I find this amusing and wonderful and will use it all the time.
Nautical Star Tattoo: In the 1940s, many lesbians got a nautical star tattooed on their inner wrist to advertise their sexuality. But then so did sailors and punk rockers. Not that the groups are mutually exclusive by any means (if you are lesbian sailor punk rocker, I want to meet you). What does seem to be a defining feature of tattoos indicating lesbianism is that they were often on the inner wrist, so ladies could cover them up with a watch during the day and expose them at night when they were out.
Also, dolphins: In almost every online discussion I read, some sad-sounding girl would chime in to ask, “I thought dolphins were symbols of lesbianism. What about dolphins?” Um, PREACH. Lack of historic precedent be damned, I say if we want dolphins, we can have dolphins. DOLPHINS!
LGBT symbols are ever-evolving as time, culture and civil rights allow. While it’s crucial to give a nod to the historic significance of using LGBT symbols during times and in places where one had to be covert, the use of symbols, raised some interesting questions that maybe you have thoughts about. How effective is an LGBT symbol if members of the community may not recognize what it means? At what point do “symbols” merge into the larger topic of gaydar?
It really depends on what you want, whether it be acknowledging the struggle of the past, your personal feelings about your own present, or pride in and of itself. In the end symbolism and the use of symbols is just that–it’s the user of the symbol who gives it meaning and significance. Ultimately it’s a pretty wonderful thing that in many places, we don’t have to use symbols to say what we mean and feel. But I’m just sayin’–if I see a girl with an Autostraddle ‘A’ sticker on her laptop, I’m going over to say hi.
Wearing my thumb ring on my left hand lets me tell in-the-know queers that I’m a power top in thumb wrestling.
Only in thumb wrestling.
Gotta stay versatile.
I imagine the thumb ring is the thumb’s championship belt.
Your lifestyle is an ABOMINATION to God. Jesus is the answer to your problems.
The Lambda being a gay symbol always made playing Half Life kinda funny.
Lambda’s a big thing in computer science too, so I get to use it for two things!
“What does seem to be a defining feature of tattoos indicating lesbianism is that they were often on the inner wrist, so ladies could cover them up with a watch during the day and expose them at night when they were out.”
The origin of gaydar-signalling big watches perhaps?
Where I grew up, less signaling with the big watches, more signaling with the watch on the inside of the wrist.
Since no one has said it yet, I will. OBVIOUSLY dolphins need to be one of our symbols because they’re totally just gay sharks! I follow the gospel of Brittany S. Pierce. :)
I find it ironic that when I was in the closet I innocently wore both a silver thumb ring and a piece of purple wool on my wrist everyday, without ever guessing what I was signalling. Ha.
Me too, I wore a sliver thumb ring every day from I was about 15 but not long after I got with my first girlfriend at 21 I broke it. I never knew what it was supposed to symbolise.
picture a weasel carrying a labrys sitting on top of a purple rhino, on a field of lavanders and violets, as a dolphin jumps over them. Oh, and a rainbow in the background, naturally…
I wanna see a rhino jumping over things.
Then dig up your old Nintendo and play Donkey Kong Country!
I couldn’t color or scan it nicely since I’ve been moving and everything is packed up (but then I probably wouldn’t have been bored enough to draw this if all my stuff wasn’t packed up, haha.)
I kind of want THIS tattooed on me. Nautical star be damned.
this is the greatest thing EVER
Thank you Asato
Let me know if you need help unpacking!
Unpacking is going well, but I could use some help making all the curtains… haha. Seriously though, you’re welcome! Thanks for inspiring me to do something other than space out when I had nothing to do :D
Must be made into a poster! Fantastic!
Ha, like my non-existant gaydar would even pick-up symbols. I can just see it now…
Random person: Oh hey antiant, check out my new dolphin tattoo!
Antiant: Herp a derp… uh cool, you got it inside your wrist?!?! Omfg I bet that hurt, what, with all the veins there…
Random person: Yeah, somewhat. *touches antiant’s wrist and points where it hurt*
Antiant: *uh, why is she touching me like that?!* (o_0)… *hey that kind of feels good, hmm maybe she is just being extra nice…. yeah, that’s it.” Oh, I see how that could hurt. *she must really like that show Flipper.. flipHER, I’d totally flip her! Er wait no, stfu brain*
Random person: Yes, do you? *looks into antiant’s eye’s*
Antiant: I, uh, gotta go now, kthnxbye!
Horrible words in tour comment.find out where.
so I’m being a nittpicky nerd bc I love autostraddle but I’m also a classicist: the labrys is actually even older than artemis as goddess of the hunt, it goes all the way back to the minoan civilization on crete around the 15th century BCE, although we are not really sure what it meant then because it is sooo long ago! and while there were definitely women warriors in scythia and nearby regions, it’s super speculative that they had the whole two-queen system and everything…that comes out of some quasi-history written by guys like herodotus.
but great article! I love me some lesbian herstory!
I’m so glad that you pointed this out! Though no one can be sure, it’s very probable that the labrys got its name because of its particular ceremonial importance at the palace of Knossos in Minos. For anyone who’s rusty on their mythology, the palace of Knossos was the real life basis for the story of the labyrinth that housed the minotaur. Minotaur/Minos, Labrys/Labyrinth.
I am also glad someone pointed this out. I am also going to nitpick a little more.
Charlotte is correct, but has it reversed. The labrys was an important symbol at the Minoan palace at Knossos and the suffix “-nth” meant “hall”. So the palace was referred to as “labyrinth” or “hall of the double ax”. The palace was also pretty complicated and difficult to manage if you didn’t know where you were going. So, the word labyrinth came to be associated with mazes. They also had a bit of an obsession with bulls, which is why we have a myth about a minotaur trapped in a maze there.
As far as I understood, the labrys became a symbol for gay ladies because it is associated with empowered women. There is a ton of evidence that Minoan women enjoyed a relatively high status before the arrival of the Mycenaeans. Played sports, ran temples, etc.
go go gadget useless classical civ degree.
late but it was worth the try ….. Is not useless !!!!, I will love to take a “carajillo” while we talk about this …
What does rainbow hair signify?
That there is a pot of gold at the end of… *cough cough cough*!!!! *runs before she gets slapped*
Brony status.
Methinks you mean pegasistsr
It signifies ALL OF THE GAY!!!
That you probably don’t work in an office.
I love this site! What a great article.. I so didn’t know all of those things about our history.
And I am definitely going to give more pretty ladies violets in the future ;)
How very fitting my lovely parents christened me Violette. Fun piece.
Dolphins= Gay Sharks
As lesbian symbols go, the labrys tends to be a pretty TERFy one. Which is a bummer, ’cause I really like it.
Reappropriate!
So I just happen to habitually stare at the computer while propping my chin up between my thumb and forefinger…
I’m pretty sure that the story about the Greek soldiers is a bit mixed up. I’m not sure what the Thebans are doing in there, but the Spartans are famous for encouraging their soldiers to take male lovers and pairing them in battle to make them fight more fiercely. It was also the Spartans at the battle of Thermopolae, where three hundred Spartans captained by King Laerties famously fought to the death against the invading Persians.
Google tells me that the Thebans are according to Plutarch supposed to have had an elite band of soldiers who took lovers within the group who were then defeated by Phillip II of Macedon.
It probably is a bit mixed up. I read like twelve different versions of that symbolism and this seemed the most legit, which is why I wrote it. I was a Greek myth junkie as a kid so I hear ya. Don’t even get me started on Achilles and Patroclus, it annoys me to no end that people ignore the fact most modern versions of the Iliad ignore that love story. Also, Xena.
Greek reader here,
I would generally suggest to never ever rely on Hollywood movies or series (yes, this means “Hercules” and “Xena” too) for historical or mythological facts, the script writers usually mess everything up.
So, for the “Lambda” symbol on the shields, I found nothing mentioned for the Theban warriors (more info on the Sacred band of Thebes here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Band_of_Thebes).
Concerning the Spartans, they indeed used the “Lambda” on their shields standing for “Lacedaemon”, though not on the battle of Thermopolae (480 BC), where the Spartans were captained by king Leonidas, but later on during the Peloponnesian War (431 to 404 BC). More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartan_army#Clothing.2C_arms_and_armor
On the male lovers: “Sparta, is thought to be the first city to practice athletic nudity, and some scholars claim that it was also the first to formalize pederasty. According to these sources, the Spartans believed that the love of an older, accomplished aristocrat for an adolescent was essential to his formation as a free citizen. The agoge, the education of the ruling class, was, they claim, founded on pederastic relationships required of each citizen, with the lover responsible for the boy’s training.
However, other scholars question this interpretation. Xenophon explicitly denies it, as does Plutarch. Aristotle in his critique of the Spartan constitution claims that the lack of homosexuality among Spartan men explained the, in his opinion deplorable, power of Spartan women. Aristotle’s assessment is intriguingly conform with the argument of modern pyschologists that pederasty produces misogyny. Since there was no society in the ancient world in which women enjoyed higher status, greater freedom or more economic power than in Sparta, the role of Spartan women would appear to refute the allegations of widespread, institutionalized pederasty.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparta#Military_life
And on the role of women: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_ancient_Sparta
The Sacred Band of Thebes, look them up. Stood and fought to the last man at the battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC. 150 pairs of male lovers, the elite troops of Thebes.
Guys, I hate to be that person, but lambda doesn’t signify energy in chemistry or physics. It’s either the wavelength or the rate of decay, depending on the context.
Also now I want a rhino bumper sticker for my car.
lol, i’m glad some other nerd noticed!
CORGI PUPPY IN A BASKET.
Can that be a new lesbian symbol thing?
I’m going to be THAT person who totally points out that decimate means to reduce by a tenth. As such, total decimation and decimation is the same. ;)
That term originated in the Roman army as a method of discipline in disloyal units. One out of every ten soldiers would be selected at random, and the other nine would be forced to beat that soldier to death, thus making them painfully aware of what further disloyalty would cost, and also complicit in the punishment.
These days it also simply means to reduce the effectiveness/strength of something.
additionally, dolphins are one of the few species to have sex for pleasure (along with humans) and have been known to engage in homosexual behaviors. plus, WHO DOESN’T LOVE DOLPHINS?!?
I ran in to this a couple of days ago on another site and I wonder where we got the idea that only a couple of species have sex becuase they like to? I mean unless evolution has screwed some poor animal so badly that they can barely fit their genitals together, then yeah that doesn’t sound so great.
I’m prety sure that’s not a fact. My cat masturbates all the time…
I could spoil this idealism about dolphins, except maybe the rainbow ones are different.
yeah aren’t dolphins super rapey? that’s all I think about when I see them.
My pet birds have sex for fun all the time. Really all the time. It gets annoying, actually… heh, and one of them is bisexual, the other is straight. :) Yay!
I’m suspicious of most “humans are one of the only animals to do X” statements.
BONOBOS
If a rainbow dolphin and a purple rhinoceros had sex would they make a queer narwhal baby?
I don’t know you, but I like you and want to be friends based solely on the fact that you have a picture of a totes adorbs Rottweiler. :D
So what you’re saying is that the Timber’s axe is really a labrys and lesbians are chopping down bigots like axes chop down trees
This is what I think every time I run across the Timbers logo.
Well, that and “do straight people confuse my labrys tattoo with a Timbers tattoo?”
Also, I would like to point out that I have three of the symbols mentioned above tattooed on my body and still people assume I’m straight. WTF Portland queers?
Thank you for confirming my suspicion that I need a gayer haircut. I’m moving to Portland in September and I’d like to meet friendly queer strangers whenever possible.
my thumb ring is tarnished, so does that mean that my inner gay is tarnished as well? also: I’d never noticed that florida’s state flag is the rainbow flag, a fact that greatly confused me while I was watching the news one evening.
The state flag of Florida is this guy:
http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSHbzXs1kessAqDv7vBRCjqGb5EOeKOyWWMr8QKkcYGZeP2G5KpJA
Not sure who represented Florida with a rainbow flag, but it’s a bit of a cruel joke.
to add to the list of gay, lavender things:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavender_marriage
I’m straight, but I wear a thumb ring on my left hand, because it makes me look like a badass. Maybe that’s why I never get any attention from boys. I just figured I was ugly.
This article just made me want to get a black triangle tattoo even more. I thought about getting one, but didn’t know black was for lesbians – And I really don’t want a pink triangle on my ribcage.
Let’s see if I actually go through with it.
More like “I thought kittens were symbols of lesbianism. What about kittens?”
I have always enjoyed this gif mostly because I will one day be bold enough to stop wasting my time wondering:
The purple handprint is also a good one! I didn’t even know about it until recently but the story behind it is pretty awesome.
That rainbow dolphin is so Lisa Frank I can’t handle it.
Wow, talk about a blast from the past, I feel old now.
I find it hilariously coincidental that I’ve been wearing the same silver thumb ring for almost a decade AND my partner has a tattoo on the inside of her wrist…both of us on the left side. I hadn’t heard of either of these signs, but obvs they must be true.
Aren’t lilies also a thing? I could swear lilies were also a thing.
Lilies are totally a thing! In Japanese comics, the word for lily (yuri) is used to describe media that features lesbian relationships. I have one tattooed on my arm!
HA !!! I have 2 big lilies on my back and shoulder, one is lavender {did not know the (gay) meaning before this} …. I want the black triangle now
Yesss, I’m so happy to see violets on this list. No one seems to believe me when I say they’re a sapphic symbol. Totally want to get a violet tat one of these days. In fact, when I got keys to my girlfriend’s apartment made, I picked one in a enameled violet print. VIOLETS FOR ERRYBODY.
I have a violet tat on my wrist. Hopefully, thanks to Autostraddle, people* will finally get it.
*and by ‘people’, I of course mean “hot queer ladies who read Autostraddle”, aka the only people I care to meet. :)
all of this is just really great news
Actually, as far as the star tattoo myth goes, it wasn’t necessarily a nautical star they got, and not necessarily on the inner wrist. It had to be blue, though, and able to be covered by a watch. I have a blue star tattoo on my wrist, I did a ton of research before getting it to make sure I didn’t end up doing it wrong, thereby signalling to all those in the know that I’m down for cannibalism or something.
Let’s make the dolphin a thing guys. I would love to have the dolphin as our animal
Dolphins are a bi symbol, actually! They’re known for disregarding gender/sex in their choice of sexual partners.
It’s nice to see an acknowledgement of symbols of bisexuality.
Also, DOLPHINS! Squee.
I’m just going to use the ASL gesture whenever I’m wiping anything off my face, henceforth.
It seems there is a trend to use the logo of LGBT resource sites as signs for “gaydar” as only girls who were would really know what it meant unlike the pride flag so its more discreet. The below was originally taken from this website, http://www.Quiivr.com (which by the way has full episodes of Lip Service Season 1 & 2 all on one page free to watch!) pretty popular in some colleges and in Vancouver:
http://lesbodar.tumblr.com/lesbiansticker
So tattoo “Autostraddle” onto yourself and you’re golden?
Seen this around town and anyone can openly use it. Oh here is what the Lesbian/Dyke sticker looks like from http://lesbodar.tumblr.com/lesbiansticker:
The teaser text thing for this article (Roses are red, violets are gay, if you want a queer symbol, we’ve got an array.) was my favorite thing about it, which is a big compliment to the teaser, not a diss to the article.
I know a lot of people go for the HRC equal sign because their grandma thinks it stands for “some hippie thing.”
I actually have a thumb ring (har har, what a coincidence) of the HRC equal sign.
I love the Double Venus symbol and have it on about 4 pieces of jewelry that I wear;
on another note, uber intelligence is such a turn on for me and the IQ juices running through these comments are unreal. just…wow.
I knew I wanted a star tattoo even when I was younger and when I read (before I got the tattoo) the trivia about it’s meaning for lesbians, a light bulb just went bright on top of my head. But since my jerk of an ex gf has a nautical star tattoo on her left ankle, I punked it up and instead got a blue 1.75″x1.75″ tribal tattoo at my right inner wrist. #outandproud
When I was in 7th grade, we had a teacher who everyone thought was a lesbian. Being the little lesbian that I was, I asked why they thought that, and someone responded “duh, because she is wearing her lesbian ring….all lesbians wear the ring, didn’t you know?!” needless to say, I spent the 6th months staring at her hands trying to determine which ring exactly it was….now I know!
I have a sudden desire to to get more tattoos… I have a bright blue nautical star on my left ankle, when people who might not be cool with it ask I just tell them its because Dad was a sailor. Which is true, and also might explain a lot about me ;)
Also I know its not the best film in the world (or most recent), but nobody read the list of lesbian symbols and thought of Bound??
the book The Color Purple was somehow left out of the part about the color purple. I don’t know how, because it has an obvious title and features a pretty damn lesbian relationship.
also I wear a silver thumb ring and had no idea!! XD
brb designing my future tattoo of a rainbow rhino emblazoned with a lavender lambda, carrying a labrys.
Actually, that’s right, but in the reverse. A symbol of Knossos was the labrys. The -nth ending means “hall”. The palace of Knossos was therefore called “labrynth” or “hall of the double ax”. Labrynth came to mean a maze because the palace of Knossos was very complicated to navigate. Then toss in the Minoan obsession with bulls, as seen by the horns of consecration all up in that place, and you have the myth of the Minotaur trapped in the labrynth of Knossos.
The labrys became a symbol for empowered females because the Minoan ruins show evidence to support that women had a fairly high status there. Competing in sports, running temples, and possibly being the first rulers (although that is likely just mytos).
go go gadget useless classical civ degree.
Sorry I can’t work the internets. This was meant to post once as a response to another comment.
Sometimes I can’t work the internets either. ;)
I have also heard dolphin as a euphamism for dildos/strap ons that hippie dykes
frequently use.
What about the seahorse? I came out in 1975 at age 19. One of the first bits of “old” Lesbian trivia I learned about and personally saw was middle-aged and old Lesbians wearing seahorse necklaces or earrings or with seahorse tattoos. I was told this was a common Lesbian symbol from the 50’s and 60’s (possibly earlier – not sure how far it went back) and that the seahorse had been adopted for the gender-bending nature it symbolized. It was not a tradition with my younger post-Stonewall generation – we wore lambdas, labryses, or double-women symbols. I distinctly remember the women that wore seahorses as being middle aged or old, a little rough around the edges and “butch.” They told horrifying stories of personally experiencing bar raids in the Gay & Lesbian bars in Toledo – until only a few years earlier – and people being arrested just for being LGBT. In fact there was an old Lesbian bar in Toledo called “The Seahorse” – which had a history of having been raided. This was something already incomprehensible to those of us who came out in the mid-70s. I remember being shocked because I had just come out and it was the first time I had heard of the practice. I’m not sure if the seahorse symbol was a Midwestern thing or found across the US. Or perhaps it was localized to Toledo (and other port cities) since Toledo was an international port city on Lake Erie?? Or maybe it was associated with port cities? I say this because I just googled it and the only info I could find was on answers.com in which someone from Baltimore posted:
“I don’t know if it is everywhere, but it was in Baltimore during at least part of the 20th century.”
Oh my god. I had an “older” girlfriend in the 90s, she would haven been born in the 60s and she wore a seahorse necklace. I never, ever thought about it meaning anything. Twenty years later there’s still a lot left to ponder about that relationship, and now I will add wondering if the necklace meant anything to her, or if it was just coincidence.
I was far, far away from the US, but in a place where being lbgtq was still illegal and very much an underground thing that could get you beaten up.
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What about “raptor” as a slang term for lesbian? I’ve come across that on reddit a bunch and I think the origins are Jurassic Park. Also are albatrosses not a thing?
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As a lesbian that has ferrets (weasels) this was a great read.
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umm number one, hello my fellow members of the alphabet mafia. two, gay jesus, miss hayley kiyoko, has a perfume called hue and the genz gays have collectively agreed to wear it.
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This is great, Thanks for sharing! This is so pure, As a member of the LGBT community, I truly feel the love and care. I feel so worthy and important. The tattoo was there when I feel unloved and worthless. I recently had a greek god tattoo sleeve and it was so stunning. Check out: https://wannabeink.com/products/zeus-vs-hades-greek-god-temporary-sleeve-tattoos
What about ear rings traditionally having one earing on your right ear symbolised you were part of the LGBT community. Then there’s the whole hanky code thing but that’s another story ;)
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It’s Pride Month, and getting tattoos like this is a great way to celebrate. The rainbow tattoo was fantastic. I’m thinking about combining it with a unicorn design. While browsing https://wannabeink.com/collections/full-sleeve-temporary-tattoos. I came across some of this inspiration. I believe it is preferable to try it with a temporary tattoo.
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End of seventies, begin of sixties I remember we only wore one earring as a sign that you are a lesbian.
Of course lots of people had to ask if I’ve lost the other one.
I only still wear one earring.
Does anyone else recognise this?