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sapphos-darlings · 17 days

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There's something I've been thinking a lot recently, about how lesbianism is truly a unique sexual orientation even among other minority ones, and how that affects our art and writing that should be about self-expression. Lesbians are so far in the margins, being first women, then a minority of women by being same-sex attracted, and then a minority of those ssa women by being exclusively ssa. That's not even mentioning other factors that might intersect, such as race or ability. This can leave us feeling isolated and scrambling for support and allies, and in my opinion, one can compromise too much while struggling to be understood, and even lose important parts of yourself in the quest for solidarity and inclusivity.

So, what I want to say to my fellow lesbian writers and artists:

Be bold.

Be honest.

Be unapologetic.

Question your motives and biases again to make sure you're not holding yourself back. Don't let yourself become your own lesbophobic call-out-poster or a narrowminded critic. Don't chew up your ideas, opinions and creativity just so some hypothetical audience would have easier time swallowing it.

Don't shrink back and lie to make your art appeal to others. Dare to prefer women and lesbians. Dare to put lesbians first. Dare to center lesbians. Dare to center lesbians like you and focus on topics that are important to you.

Personally for me becoming the loud and self-centered lesbian writer has meant that I've started to write lesbian/lesbian couples without feeling the need to "be fair" in terms of representation. I've started to write about explicitly homosexual experiences, where women love women not "despite their sex" but because of it, and are sure and happy about that.

I no longer cloak lesbian sexuality in "soft sapphic vibes" or leave it without a clear definition. I've started to exclude men from the women's stories. I've shed the need to include heterosexuals in main roles, even other women.

I started to exclude hyper feminine tropes just because I don't like them. I started writing masculine women and butches without worrying they are "too much". I create lesbian characters who are flawed, in pain, evil, complex and unlikable, and put them in thrillers and horror without worrying about crossing a line into that dreaded "too much".

I've pushed down many invisible walls by examining the ways I've people-pleased and shied away from how strong and unique the lesbian experience is.

Behind all those walls are stories I really long to tell, the kind that resonate with me, the kind I want to have in this world.

And I know no one else is going to depict lesbians like we do ourselves. No one else is going to tell our stories like we do, or paint us like we do, so let's stop wasting time pleasing others and start telling our own stories - unfiltered and proud.

#wlw #lesbian positivity #lesbian pride #lesbian safe #lesbian writers #lesbian artists #lesbian #c: Lavender

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genderoutlaws · 10 months

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I just saw on Minnie Bruce Pratt’s website there’s an update that she’s in palliative care currently, her sons set up a google doc for people to send her words of encouragement and I think this is a great opportunity to send love to our queer elders! Her website is her name .net

thank you for letting me know ♥️

here’s the link

#asks #anonymous #minnie bruce pratt #queer elders #lesbian writers #femmes

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uwmspeccoll · 2 months

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International Women's Day

In celebration of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day (March 8), we’re showcasing one of writer, educator, intersectional feminist, poet, civil rights activist, and former New York public school librarian Audre Lorde’s (1934–1992) early collections of poetry. From a Land Where Other People Live was published in 1973 by Detroit’s groundbreaking Broadside Press. This independent press was founded in 1965 by poet, University of Detroit librarian, and Detroit’s first poet laureate Dudley Randall (1914-2000) with the mission to publish the leading African American poetry of the time in a well-designed format that was also "accessible to the widest possible audience." A comprehensive catalog of Broadside Press’s impressive roster of artists (including Gwendolyn Brooks, Nikki Giovanni, and Alice Walker, to name a few), titled Broadside Authors and Artists: An Illustrated Biographical Directory, was published in 1974 by educator and fellow University of Detroit librarian Leaonead Pack Drain-Bailey (1906-1983).

Lorde described herself in an interview with Callaloo Literary Journal in 1990 as “a Black, Lesbian, Feminist, warrior, poet, mother doing [her] work”. She dedicated her life to “confronting and addressing injustices of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia.” From a Land Where Other People Live is a powerfully intimate expression of her personal struggles with identity and her deeply rooted critiques of social injustice. The work was nominated for the National Book Award for poetry in 1974, the same year that Broadside Press published New York Head Shop and Museum, another volume of Lorde’s poetry featured in our collection. You can find more information on her writings and on the organization inspired by her life and work by visiting The Audre Lorde Project.

More posts on Broadside Press publications

More Women’s History Month posts

More International Women’s Day posts

-- Ana, Special Collections Graduate Fieldworker

#Women’s History Month #International Women’s Day #Audre Lorde #Broadside Press #Dudley Randall #Detroit #Poetry #From a Land Where Other People Live #Independent presses #Feminist writers #Lesbian writers #Black writers #women writers #women poets #Ana

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forthelostones · 29 days

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when i was in high school i was androgynous and wanted to be called they/them. i would bind my chest and walk around with short hair and it was a really nice feeling. 7 years later i would be perceived as a femme. i’m not sure i feel close to that title because even when i have long hair, i still wear androgynous clothing. i think because i’m a black women my fear of being double masculinized has gotten stronger as i’ve aged. i’m 5’11 and 290 ibs, i would say i’m fit, but i take up a lot of space and it feels like being feminine will alleviate that.

i’m not sure if i identity with some of my androgynous qualities from the past due to the fact that most people see black women as masculine automatically due to misogynoir. i’m not sure what i identity as. [in some regards labels and identities feel like a feature of white supremacy so i am reluctant to ‘chose’]

my presenting self is a spectrum in my opinion. somedays i wear this or that but don’t like to label myself as a stem. i think that confinement restricts me more. idk.

recently i started going to the gym and only lifting weights. and while it may place me in a category from the outside it feels like a very genderless or title-less edition to my life/identity.

all this to say as i’m writing i am considering the possibility of exploring identities out of the femme space. because while that resonates with me, so many other things do too. this is in my professional writing as well.

if any lesbians want to share their story with identity and maybe the loop that they go through please feel free to tell me. i want to learn more and work towards literature that has inclusive language and identities.

#jstar!yapz #butch lesbian #butch dyke #black lesbian #black stud #masc lesbian #femme4masc #femme4butch #femme lesbian #high femme #stone butch #butch appreciation #lesbian books #lesbian novels #lesbian writers

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13-frinfransstudios · 4 months

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Can i-

Can I be gay? On my writing account?

My PROFESSIONAL writing account?

C-can I be SOOOOO GAAAAYY you puke rainbow dusts??

Should I be suuuuppeerrr veerryy offiiicciaallyy professionallyy gaaayy??

Im so sapphic rn

Very sapphic

Sapphicismist

can i sapphic myself here?

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heartlessromantics · 5 months

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Too loyal, too available, too vulnerable— I gave you too much before you could prove that you could handle all of me.

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songoftrillium · 4 months

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Since youtube is regularly causing my computer to BSoD, I've decided to wean myself off the website and start reading again.

I'm looking for werewolf book recommendations! I need to fill out my library anyways.

#book recommendations #writers on tumblr #writers of tumblr #queer writers #werewolf writers #horror writing #werewolves #queer werewolves #werewolf wednesday #ace writer #asexual writers #lesbian writers #transgender writers

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blackqueernotables · 11 months

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Alexis De Veaux: author and poet.

#alexis de veaux #lgbt #black lgbt #lgbt writers #black queer notables #lgbt authors #black lesbians #lesbian writers

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importantwomensbirthdays · 8 months

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Jeanette Winterson

youtube

Jeanette Winterson was born in 1959 in Manchester, England. Winterson has written more than twenty books. She wrote her first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, when she was 23. Winterson has won several awards, including the Whitbread First Novel Award and the EM Forster Award, and has received an OBE and a CBE for services to literature.

#writers #woman writers #authors #literature #lgbt #lesbian #lesbian writers #lgbt writers #Youtube

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keepthisholykiss · 1 year

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Lesbian Visibility Week (and Day!) Writers Day 3: Amy Lowell

Venus Transiens

Tell me, Was Venus more beautiful Than you are, When she topped The crinkled waves, Drifting shoreward On her plaited shell? Was Botticelli’s vision Fairer than mine; And were the painted rosebuds He tossed his lady Of better worth Than the words I blow about you To cover your too great loveliness As with a gauze Of misted silver? For me, You stand poised In the blue and buoyant air, Cinctured by bright winds, Treading the sunlight. And the waves which precede you Ripple and stir The sands at my feet.

Day One: Renée Vivien Day Two: Natalie Clifford Barney Amy Lowell is a vitally important writer for lesbian history that has largely been pushed aside because of a combination of lesbophobia and fatphobia. She wrote poetry, gave lectures, and was notably in a Boston Marriage with actress Ada Dwyer Russell. Lowell was a friend to many in the prominent literary circles of New England however she and Ada faced a specific (and somewhat new) breed of homophobia where writers would invite her to dinners and befriend her, only to write all other attendees about how horrible she was (for being a homosexual). While no one writer or historical figure is without flaws, for example Lowell was a staunch pro-military anti-peace proponent among other issues, writer’s attitudes toward Lowell made her an outcast to historical study. She is often understudied or left out of important American literature texts because of this disregard of her work which was beautifully written. She is known to have commented on her love of Ada by saying her entire world was reborn when they met. Their relationship of thirteen years had plenty of issues as well however Lowell’s work found new breath for the time they were together. When Lowell died she requested that Ada burn her letters and notes to her so that her memory would not be tainted by her sexuality. As a result, studying her proves very difficult when it comes to accounts of her identity. She passed at the age of 51 in 1925.

#amy lowell #lesbian visibility week #lesbian writers #poetry #queer poets #tw homophobia #lesbian history

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josephineaetos · 7 months

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Short, sweet f!Byleth/Edelgard fanfic in the spiritual aftermath of a Blue Lions ending, some darkness at the beginning, mentions of Byleth/Edelgard/Dorothea/Petra.

#fire emblem #three houses #fire emblem three houses #byleth #fe3h #fanfiction #personal #writers of tumblr #edelgard #fe3h edelgard #blue lions #dorothea arnault #petra macneary #lesbian writers #lesbian fiction

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booksbonesborderline · 7 months

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