Lesbian Visibility Week: A Week of WLW Love
Lesbian Awareness Week occurs for the final full week of the month of April, and this year that is from the 22nd to the 27th.
History and Observance
This week-long even is relatively new, despite having been “first celebrated in mid-July in 1990, and was conceived out of lesbians' frustrations with the higher visibility of LGBT men than LBGT women… The week was coordinated by West Hollywood Lesbian Visibility Committee and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center and devoted to raising awareness of lesbian identities and topics and celebrating the lesbian community” (Heckin’ Unicorn, 2023).
After a few years, Lesbian Visibility Week became less as less widespread. In 2008 Lesbian Visibility was established, but the week long celebration was only resume in 2020, thanks to However, after 1992, the week fell off until International Lesbian Visibility Day came to be in 2008. A whole week still didn’t exist again until 2020 when Linda Riley, the publisher of DIVA Magazine, (re)founded Lesbian Awareness Week (Vargas, 2024).
Lesbian Pride Symbols and Terminology
Double Venus: The venus symbol, which is often used to denote female, is duplicated and interlocked (De Montfort)
Labrys Pride Flag: “The first well-documented design for a lesbian pride flag… designed by a gay graphic designer named Sean Campbell in 1999. The Labrys Flag features a white double-headed axe, called a labrys, superimposed on top of an inverted black triangle with a purple background” (Bauer, 2023). The Purple background is connected to Sappho who wrote about girls with wreathes of violets on their heads. The Black triangle is a symbol that was used by the Nazis to label lesbians, along with other groups, as ‘asocial’ during the holocaust. The labrys is connected to the Amazons, a mythical race of warrior women who were considered to be lesbians.
Lipstick Lesbian Pride Flag: “Created by blogger Natalie McCray in 2010, [and also known as the Pink Lesbian Pride flag], this flag features seven stripes in various shades of red and pink with a lipstick mark placed in the top left corner (Bauer, 2023). This flag fell out of use as many lesbians who were butch, or generally less femme, did not identify with the colors and design of the flag. It was further abandoned by the community when, in the late twenty teens, the creators bigoted opinions became more widely known (Bauer, 2023)
Sapphic: “an umbrella term that includes lesbian, bisexual, and pansexual trans femmes, mascs, nonbinary folks, and cis women…. "sapphic" strives to conjure an experience more akin to an intention toward attraction — one oriented less to any specific gender identity and more to the fullness of a potential lovers' humanity” (Hamou, 2022). The term originates from the ancient Greek poet Sappho of Lesbos, who wrote poetry about her love for women.
Sunset Pride Flag: “created by a nonbinary lesbian named Emily Gwen in 2018….[There were initially] seven stripes in a gradient of orange to pink…” (Bauer 2023). From top to bottom: dark orange represents gender nonconformity, coral; independence, pale orange; community, white; unique relationships to womanhood, pinkish purple for serenity and peace, darker purple-pink for love and sex, and finally deep magenta represents femininity (Bauer, 2023). This version might be one of the most widely-used versions of the lesbian flag today, whether in its seven-stripe or simplified five-stripe form (Bauer, 2023).
Toaster Oven: A reference to the episode of the sit-com ‘Ellen’, where it is mentioned to Ellen DeGenerous’ character (who does come out in the episode) that if a lesbian recruits a straight woman she is gifted a toaster oven (Devil’s Food Cake, 2011)
Violets: A symbol that comes for Sappho’s poetry about her love for women. The violet was made into a modern symbol for lesbian love by Édouard Bourdet in his 1927 play; “The Captive” (University of Washington, 2021).
WLW: An acronym that means ‘women loving women’ or ‘women (who) love women’.
A Book with Lesbian Representation
Deus Ex Mechanic* is the first book in The Cricket Chronicles, written by Ryann Fletcher. The main character Alice is the best mechanic in the Galaxy, (and also a lesbian). She unwillingly joins a pirate crew, led by the beautiful and powerful Violet. She finds herself falling for her new captain as well as reconsidering everything she knows about the Coalition.
I admit, Ryann is a friend of mine, but I absolutely love the crew of the Cricket, and this book is a wonderful representation of a sapphic romance. The cast of characters is diverse in many ways, and the writing is great. This book is definitely worth a read if you enjoy Becky Chambers’ work, and want a sweet Sapphic read.
Any hyperlinks followed with an asterisk (*) indicate that they are affiliate links. This means that if you purchase something from this link, I receive a small commission from the site. It will not change the price of the product for you.
Bibliography
Bauer, E. (2023, June 23). A brief and very online history of the Lesbian Pride Flag. Them. https://www.them.us/story/history-of-the-lesbian-pride-flag
De Montfort University Leicester . (n.d.). LGBTQ+ Symbols & Meanings. De Montfort University Leicester . https://www.dmu.ac.uk/events/pride/symbols.aspx#:~:text=The%20double%20Venus%20symbol%20takes,symbol%20for%20the%20lesbian%20community.
Devil’s Food Cake. (2011, February 14). Gay slang vol. 5: Toaster oven. The Most Cake. https://themostcake.co.uk/we-like/gay-slang-vol-5-toaster-oven/
Hamou, Y. (2022, April 27). What does it mean to be sapphic?. Them. https://www.them.us/story/what-does-sapphic-mean
Unicorn, H. (2023, December 18). When is Lesbian Visibility Week 2024 and what does it mean?. Heckin’ Unicorn. https://heckinunicorn.com/blogs/heckin-unicorn-blog/when-is-lesbian-visibility-week-2024-and-what-does-it-mean?currency=USD
Vargas, A. (2024, February 1). When is Lesbian Visibility Week 2024? all about it - parade. Parade. https://parade.com/living/what-is-lesbian-visibility-week
