I've heard a few conflicting opinions on the use of this term, and I realize this may have been asked before, but I'm wondering what the women on here think about 'lesbian'? I personally don't like it, for several reasons: - It sounds too clinical - It's much more of a roller coaster to say than 'gay' or 'queer' - That bilabial plosive in the middle hits me hard when I say it - It defines us - as it's almost always used as a noun, when in comparison 'gay' is almost always used as an adjective. Which I kind of feel defeats the point of our sexuality not defining us? As a result I cannot say "Lesbian" without the feeling you get when you eat raw celery and are left to deal with the stringy bits at the end. But I also feel a little guilty because I know that others are more than proud to refer to themselves as a 'lesbian' and this is making me wonder whether I just need to feel more confident in myself in order to feel comfortable with the word? But then I'm not sure about that either, because even though I'm still not quite happy with calling myself 'gay' out loud/in the mirror, I still wildly prefer it to 'lesbian'. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
I find it considerably weird that there's different words for the same thing in different genders, but that's about it. I don't feel any sort of stigma or anything like that, though.
I like that girls get their own word for it. I think it's kinda cool. I've seen a thread before about this though, and many other people said they didn't like it either, so you're not just weird. ^^
Not that I have use it or anything, but to me it kind of sounds like an ugly word. xD It's not a nice sounding word like "fur" or "her" that you can say effortlessly. I guess it's the "un" at the end. But at the end of the day, it's just a word.
I use to hate the word probably because as you said it's used as a noun versus an adjective. But that was also a time when I was not as comfortable in my own skin. The more confident I came with myself the easier it came for me to use that word in reference to myself.
Yeah, I wish it were an adjective. But since it isnt, I get to smash "lez" on to other words to make a descriptor. Such as, I got these great lezboots at goodwill last week. I look hot in my lezvest. I can't decide if Home Depot or Lowe's is my favorite lezstore . I also like wordplay including the word lesbian. Mainly, lezbihonest about how much I crush on Emma Watson, and, how about tonight lez watch a movie, winkwink. But, yeah, I feel more comfortable saying I'm gay than I am a lesbian. Throwing the word a in there makes it less a descriptor (e.g., I am freckled) and more a statement that I'm a whole different thing (e.g., I'm a Romulan).
I have actually always liked the word lesbian more than the word gay. I don't know what it is, it just seems like a happier word to me (ironically).
My only issue with it is that it is often applied to me by other people based on my look and demeanor - but I'm neither attracted to women nor do I identify myself as a woman, so literally no part of the definition of lesbian applies to me.
I personally don't like to be labelled a lesbian. Growing up, that term has been used in a very pejorative way so when I found out that I was attracted to girls and that most people would call me a lesbian, it made me feel very, very uncomfortable. However, I'm slowly getting used to it. I still prefer to say that I'm gay rather than I'm a lesbian. Not that I'm out to anyone haha
The noun defining thing is a big thing. I think everything with less syllables is friendlier. Some times i describe myself as "lezzie" which solves both problems lol. I also like to add lez- as a prefix to things as katchoo said. Though I read about the story behind the word lesbian and it makes it seem a lot more fun: the famous ancient Greek female poet Sappho took a group of hot girls the island of Lesbos admire them and write love poems about them. They were lesbians as in, they lived in Lesbos... and they were also a group of only women fooling around with each other on a secluded island... So lesbians. That story makes the word far more fun to me. I have also frequently called myself a bicycle as katchoo was also saying. The "sexual" in bisexual also gets me. Maybe this weird word-phobia is the reason I can't decide on a label haha.
I've never liked it much, and I think it's a combination of what others have said about it being a noun and the fact that I go to an all-girls' school and the word lesbian is used a lot, not even in a derogatory way, but I've just come to think of it as a sort of 'straight people' word. Although, I do kind of like it a bit because reminds me of Fun Home which is the first queer book I read (because Alison comes out to her parents in a letter saying 'I am a lesbian', and it used to totally thrill me when I first realized I was queer). So yeah, mixed feelings, but I'd never use it for myself (although that means nothing considering it wouldn't be accurate for me on any count).
I think it would be quite a shame if homosexual girls didn't have their own generic label, as gay is mostlyb used by/associated with guys.
There aren't really any alternatives I could use, but I don't have a problem with it. Also, in German it is far more often used as an adjective than as a noun.