#saphic history

[loverslantern]

Chappell Roan at the VMAs was everything. People keep confusing her outfit with Joan of Arc but she was actually Julie D’aubigny, which is so much more impactful. Let me explain.

In simple terms she was very good at fencing and she even did opera singing. But what really connects her to what Chappell did is her love story. Julie was a queer woman, she often dressed in men’s clothing but did not attempt to come off as a man.

At some point she had a relationship with a woman, yes a romantic one. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the girl was shipped off to a convent to prevent the two from being in contact. And to frame it simply Julie followed after her, snuck in pretending to be apart of the whole thing, created this whole elaborate plan to sneak her lover out which included getting a dead nuns body and placing it in the girls bed followed by burning the building down, therefore faking the girls death.

They ran away together. But, a couple months later the girl went back to her family. Julie’s plan was found out and she was charged as a man on a variety of crimes, she was sentenced to death by burning.

Now let’s put this all together.

1. Chappell was consistently using swords

2. In the performance she looked back and shot a flaming arrow at a building burning it down which goes back to the burning of the convent.

3. The song performed was Good Luck, Babe! And Julie’s lover going back to her family is so Good Luck, Babe! coded. Like literally ur lover followed you to a conversion thing, setting up this whole thing so that you can run away together and love freely and then you go back home to ur family and she dies at the stake. Although not surprising for the time period it’s still so crazy and soooo poetic.

4. Julie d'Aubigny has this whole tragic queer story and Chappells music centers around that sort of thing, and what’s more impactful than a literal gay performer dressing as a gay performer who was killed for being gay?

Do you guys see what I mean??? So, while I love the edits I’m seeing please keep in mind that it is not Joan of Arc. In fact, I think it’s super important that this is corrected considering how real and tragic Julie’s story was.

[cha-mij]

"they were the BEST of friends"

[eala-dhubh]

Depictions of Female Tragedy in Art

Murder In The House by Jakub Schikander 1890

Death at Sunset for Sappho by Miguel Carbonell 1880

The Lunatic of Étretat by Hugues Merle 1871

Princess Tarakanova by Konstantin Flavitsky 1864

The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse 1880

The Martyr of the Solway by John Everett Millais 1871

[tsp-narrator-ask]

“Greetings my dear readers! We are continuing the “happy pride month” posts with some help of my friend @the-artist-from-hell , also known as “juni!�� They will be taking over the explanation from now on but still posting the pride facts and history here because this is there more prominent blog- I mean MY blog… yes-

“Any ways moving on! Take it away juniper!”

‘Alright then! Thanks shrimp!

Today we are learning about the “L” in LGBTQ! the L Of course stands for lesbian! Did you know that the label “lesbian(s)” is derived from the Greek island of “Lesbos”?

“What does some Greek island have to do with lesbians?” you may ask- well Because it’s well known for a famous past resident from 600 B.C named “Sappho” ((that’s also where we get the idea of the word “sapphic” when describing romance between feminine people)) she was known for being a great female poet who was openly attracted to woman… her writing was very erotic, and may I add this wasn’t common to see at that time- especially in writing from a woman.

Sappho lived in a time when women were not thought to be intellectuals nor sexual beings—especially without the participation of a man. How two women could be erotically connected was baffling to those at the time. Yet, despite this controversy Sappho was respected as a writer.

So now you know! And remember have fun this pride! Stay safe! And maybe read some lgbtq inspired poetry in memory of the great Sappho!

-signing off Juni’🏳️‍🌈

[notsofriendlyfriendlyreminder]

Sadie: Oh you know, I love Jackey, but I used to think that maybe, living with a woman would be better.

Abigail: Exactly! And I love John, but he does drive me crazy. I think you understand me better!

Sadie: Yea!

Abigail: Yea!

Sadie: ...

Abigail: ...

Tilly: ... I think... I think you should borrow few books from Mary-Beth

[posi-pan]

Watched a video titled "Problems with the bisexual spectrum" (would've preferred if they used multisexual but that's not the point) and scrolled down through the comment section. While the majority of the comments were mspecs appreciating the vid and sharing their own experiences and thoughts, I noticed a pattern of pansexuals (+ people who used to label themselves as pansexual) sharing how they were constantly harassed, judged, and mocked for using the label. The constant harassment eventually culminating itself into self-hatred

Some ended their piece by reassuring they learned to stopped caring about what exclusionist think, and happily continue labeling as pan (or later go on to discover that another label fits them better) but others ended it by saying that while they know pan is a valid label, the harassment consequently made them uncomfortable of pansexuality, and would rather not have anything to do with it at all.

I had a similar experience years ago. Witnessing multiple non-bi mspecs constantly mocked and forced to use the bisexual label, "Bi vs Pan" posts painting pansexuality in the most negative light imaginable being highly supported, exclusionist, without fail, commenting either "I don't see anything 🤔" whenever a pan flag is showed off or "I guess 'X' doesn't exist now 😔" whenever a fictional char is headcannoned as pan, just made me resent myself and pansexuality, forcing myself to simply use 'saphic'

Those comments made me realized just how common of an occurrence this was, and I felt dejected after thinking about them for too long. Like, we go through that whole proccess of self-loathing and constant pressure to ID as something else, and yet no one outside our community seems to care?

Whenever a prominent LGBT+ figure/site talks about pansexuality (IF they even talk about it as it's own thing), it's only "They exist, and they are valid <3". Don't get me wrong, this is very appreciated, but why do they never use that opportunity to shed light on more valuable pieces of information as well. Show the community at large our history without the misinformation, expose the normalization of pan exclusion and the prominence of anti-pan dogwhistles, show pansexual's mental health statistics, etc.

I want to finish off this long rant (sorry btw) by saying thank you 💖💛💙 Your blog has helped me mentally throughout these years. I love reading through the Pan History and Pan Statistics carrds especially. If it wasn't for you or this blog, I would still be that self-loathing resentful person I was years ago. So again, thank you 💖💛💙

(I also want to apologize again for basically sending you an essay 😅 I got passionate writing this; if I left out any info/context, I would've exploded. Have a good evening!)

it's honestly so sad that pan people go through this and seemingly no one cares. and ugh yeah when the only thing regarding pan mentioned is something like "it's valid" or "pan people are part of the bi umbrella" it's like....that's it? what about something meaningful? it's just telling, ya know? like we're not worthy of genuine and meaningful consideration.

but yeah, no worries about the long rant! sorry for taking a while to get to it, though! i'm glad the blog and stuff has been helpful to you. you deserve to love and celebrate yourself and not be weighed down by hatred or doubt caused by the ignorance and malice of others. i hope you're doing well and have a lovely day! 💛💛

[n3kk1tty]

Only in beasts of Santa Carla will you get Star being mom coded, saphic story lines, penguins, and the history of crack cocaine. Chapter 8 will be a great update hopefully of angst, humor, perverted-ness and eventually violence.

[artbytesslyn]

ah i was so excited for a second that my fav sapphic author and artist shared nationality and ethnicity with me but still thats awesome!!! if you and your wife would ever consider going back to that project i would scream its so hard finding gay romanian content and for it to be traditional on top of that??? but still, you're a big inspiration to me and why im pushing to try and start my own comics so who knows maybe i'll be the next romanian saphic content creator LMAO

Mora and Stima are gonna be explored more in our new work UMP, which me and my wife have been pitching to publishers! It takes place in Romania and has a strong focus on culture and history (with gay people and monsters also)

Good luck with your work! I’m sure you’re gonna make something great! I’d also love to see more sapphic Romanian work out there!

[loverslantern]

is there any source for chapell being julie d'aubigny?

This is a great question! And i’m gonna be so honest when i say im not really sure. I too thought she was Joan of Arc, which is of course slay but didn’t exactly make sense with the story being told through the performance. So, when i saw people saying she was Julie d’aubigny i wanted to do some research on her and, well, you know where that went.

I should correct myself: while i don’t know for certain who Chappell really intended to be i find that it is likely to be Julie rather than Joan of Arc.

[allow-me-to-ruin-that-for-you-2]

Infodump time part 2 ( I told you not to indulge me )

Time for lesbian flags history!!!

Ok SO idk if you know this but this

Is the labrys flag. It was created by a gay man in 1999, but the symbols in it were being used by lesbians for decades, sometimes centuries before. It has really cool meanings! The color purple is used by the saphic sommunity, as you may know, because of Sappho, who used to give purple flowers to her lovers. If I'm not wrong, in the 1950s lesbians and wlw in general were excluded from one of the first internacional feminist meetings, called the lavender menace, and accused of being a threat to the movement. In the labrys flag we also have the black triangle which is to represent the saphics and feminists who were murdered during the holocaust ( the triangles were their organization system, black for feminists and sapphics, pink for gay man, red for Jewish ppl, etc). The black and pink triangles were both widely used by the lgbt movement as resignified symbols. Nevertheless, they are no longer being used, and out of respect for Jewish sapphics there's now a version of the sapphic flag without the black triangle.

Then we get to the main symbol : the labrys ax itself!! It is said to have been a symbol of goodness Artemis, protecter of children and women. As a sapphic symbol it's very strong and one of my favorite things! ( I have labrys earrings )

Now, there's also the lipstick lesbian flag, which I hate and it's terrible! Created by a transphobe, racist, biphobic person and the concept of lipstick lesbian itself was not created by the community but by men who sexualized lesbians.

Nevertheless, from it came the sunset flag, which has really cool meanings, is super duper cute and awesome!!

There's also the sapphics community flag, but unfortunately I don't have much research done on that one. :(

There's so much more I know and I love to share!! And I LOVE lgbt history!!! If you have any fun facts or stories please share them! Sjjdndbs

I actually just learned about the lipstick flag and it’s creator unfortunately but it didn’t know about the history of the labrys flag or the symbolism of the sunset flag!

And you asked so here’s some random queer facts:

The bi flag was originally designed by Michael Page in 1998 with pink at the top representing women, royal blue on the bottom representing men, and lavender purple in the middle representing the combination of the attraction to the two (although many bisexuals date outside of that pool) and it’s intention was to a) bring more eyes to bisexuality and b) to start a Bisexual Visibility Day, which was made September 23 the following year.

In 2009, Rachel Crandell got on Facebook and started Trans Visibility Day on her own, and so now every year on March 31st trans and gender non-conforming people’s voices and we are able to further bring up issues that endanger our lives.

That’s all I have for now, but I did just wake up.

[deathlywounded]

I saw you like sapphic stories and Florence + the Machine and I've just gotta ask you: have you heard of Burn the House Down by Kenna Jenkins? It's an alternate history novel abt the 1st woman president and her secret sapphic relationship/bearded marriage with her mlm best friend and has massive Florence + the Machine vibes (The end of Love, Grace, Landscape, South London Forever, Queen of Peace, Bedroom Hymns, No Choir, and definitely, most especially June!!!). It also has a subplot about arson at the White House and ft. An entirely queer main cast and really fleshed out characters!

Aaaahhhh I NEVER answered your message!! I'm sorry! I adore both, saphic stories and Florence, yes! (All recommendations on these topics are welcome ❤️)

Okay that's sounds amazing! I didn't know about it but I will definitely look it up! Thank you for the recommendation and passing by, and again, sorry for forgetting to answer ❤️‍🩹

[distortedclouds]

What do you think of Mikapiku? Underrated IMO

like both of them are known for being super ship friendly bc everyone is in love with them

just makes sense to me

im honestly down with pretty much all saphic Mikasa ships. she can make it work

though ive never thought of Mikapiku before... like it makes sense but also the lack of canon history makes it difficult to dive headfirst into it without investing house headcanoning about them

but aesthetically, yeah i tall could-kick-your-ass Mikasa with her sharp and sleepy-eyed Pieck. nice!

[longlivethe-lesbians]

Barbary Gittings & Kay “Tobin” Lahusen | Photo by Ray Harriman, 1995

Barbara and Frank [Kameny] went to a Gay Liberation Front (GLF) meeting in New York City shortly after the Stonewall uprising and were challenged by one of the leaders of that new organization who asked them what entitled them to be there.  Barbara, who was shocked and angered by the question, said, “I’m gay, that’s what entitles me.” Another person at the meeting who recognized them, called Barbara and Frank “dinosaurs” and “lackeys of the establishment.”

A few months later Kay bought two stuffed dinosaur dolls from a floral shop in Philadelphia. She said that she bought them because: 

“We decided we’d make lemonade out of lemons.  We used to carry those dinosaurs around to meetings of other gay organizations and conferences in the years that followed. We were dinosaurs in a way, but we were good dinosaurs.  Every movement has people who you can call dinosaurs because they started in the old days. But if you started in the early days, so what?” (source)

Barbara Gittings (1932-2007) and Kay Tobin Lahusen (1930-) were gay civil rights pioneers and partners for nearly forty-six years.

Barbara Gittings | Photo by Kay Tobin Lahusen, 1966

Kay Lahusen – more commonly known as Kay “Tobin” in the gay rights movement – was the first openly lesbian photojournalist in the US.

Between 1964 and 1966, Lahusen’s photos appeared on the cover of The Ladder, the first nationally distributed lesbian publication in America, while her partner Barbara Gittings was the editor. (later ousted for being too political)

The photojournalist then went on to help with the founding of the original Gay Activists Alliance; contributed articles and photos to the New York-based paper Gay Newsweekly; and co-authored The Gay Crusaders with activist Randy Wicker. Throughout the middle of last Century, Kay was one of the most prominent and influential LGBTQ+ activists working in America. (source).  (side note: there doesn’t seem to be many pictures of her, probably because she was taking just about all of them!)

Barbara Gittings | Photo by Kay Tobin Lahusen

Lahusen joined Daughters of Bilitis, and started going to the group’s meetings. In 1961, she met Barbara Gittings at a Daughters of Bilitis picnic in Rhode Island. Gittings, who founded the East Coast chapter of Daughters of Bilitis, was a key LGBTQ+ rights activist and is often regarded as the mother of the gay rights movement in the US.

“[We met in] 1961 at a picnic in Rhode Island. We hit it off, we started courting. I flew to Boston [to see her] and got off the plane with a big bunch of flowers in my hand. I couldn’t resist. I didn’t care what the world thought. I dropped the flowers, grabbed her and kissed her. That was not being done in 1961.” - Barbara Gittings (source)

At a time when few gay men and women dared come out in private, much less in public, Barbara Gittings was a vocal — and highly visible — figure in the fledgling gay rights movement. In the late 1950s, she founded the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis, the first national organization for lesbians. In the 1960s, she took part in early gay rights demonstrations at the White House and elsewhere. In the early 1970s, she helped lobby the American Psychiatric Association to change its stance on homosexuality; in 1973, the association rescinded its definition of homosexuality as a mental disorder.“She was one of the rare people in the homophile movement — before Stonewall — who took a militant stance,” David Carter, the author of “Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution” (St. Martin’s, 2004), said in a telephone interview. “And she not only took a militant stance, but she was in the forefront.” (source)

Gittings also worked to make lgbt resources more widely available in libraries. In discussing her pursuit of the improvement of materials for gays and lesbians in libraries, she said,

"For years I would haunt libraries and secondhand book shops trying to find stories to read about my people, and then I became active in other arenas of the gay rights movement, but I always kept an eye on the emerging literature...It began to talk about homosexuals who were healthy and happy and wholesome and who had good lives...That rang the bells for me—libraries, gay books!" (source)

Lige Clarke, Barbara Gittings, Kay Tobin Lahusen, and Jack Nichols

Barbara Gittings died on February 18th, 2007 at the age of 74 after a long battle with breast cancer... Matt Foreman, the executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, went on to ask those gathered, “What do we owe Barbara?” His response was “everything.”

During the last years of Gittings’ life, she and Lahusen closely followed the debates surrounding marriage equality. Unfortunately, she did not live to see the 2015 landmark Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-gender unions. Gittings is buried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., where Lahusen will join her. Their monument reads: 

“GAY PIONEERS who spoke truth to power: GAY IS GOOD. Partners in life, Married in our hearts.” (source)

[pxnkrocknerd]

"10 Reasons Why You Should Be a Lesbian" by Liz Tracey

OutWeek magazine, issue 10 (1989)

[blumcamp]

Source: Emily Dickinson Bot, from Twitter.

[kvanderquack]

I will never get over the fact that this 1838 portrait is titled ‘‘Boarding School Friends’’