Lesbian erasure#In relation to transgender women

Marcie Bianco, of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University, said that lesbian erasure occurs in advertising. Advertisers typically do not target lesbians when they are publicizing products to LGBT audiences. As an example, Bianco cites the collapse of AfterEllen, which she says resulted from a lack of advertisers. The former Editor in Chief of AfterEllen, Karman Kregloe, stated that advertisers do not think of lesbians as women, and Trish Bendix observed that lesbians are assumed to like anything gay, even if it is male-focused.{{Cite web|last=Bianco|first=Marcie|url=https://qz.com/801501/afterellen-closing-lesbian-culture-is-being-erased-because-investors-think-only-gay-men-have-money/|title=Lesbian culture is being erased because investors think only gay men (and straight people) have money|website=Quartz|date=October 6, 2016|access-date=June 16, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190622145437/https://qz.com/801501/afterellen-closing-lesbian-culture-is-being-erased-because-investors-think-only-gay-men-have-money/|archive-date=June 22, 2019|url-status=live}}

Journalist and author Victoria Brownworth wrote that the erasure of lesbian sexuality from historical records "is similar to the erasure of all autonomous female sexuality: women's sexual desire has always been viewed, discussed and portrayed within the construct and purview of the male gaze."{{cite web|last1=Brownworth|first1=Victoria A.|title=Lesbian Erasure|url=https://echomag.com/lesbian-erasure/|work=Echo Magazine|date=October 19, 2018|access-date=July 28, 2019|archive-date=February 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210222122932/https://echomag.com/lesbian-erasure/|url-status=dead}} At times, erasure of lesbians is enabled when LGBT organizations fail to recognize the contributions of lesbians, such as when, in 2018, a statement about the Stonewall riots by the U.S. National Center for Lesbian Rights did not acknowledge Stormé DeLarverie's involvement in the uprising.{{cite web |last1=Heuchan|first1=Claire|title=We Need to Talk About Misogyny and the LGBT Community's Erasure of Black Lesbian History|url=https://www.afterellen.com/general-news/561237-we-need-to-talk-about-misogyny-and-the-lgbt-communitys-erasure-of-black-lesbian-history|website=AfterEllen|date=July 9, 2018|access-date=July 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709204647/https://www.afterellen.com/general-news/561237-we-need-to-talk-about-misogyny-and-the-lgbt-communitys-erasure-of-black-lesbian-history|archive-date=July 9, 2018}}

Many lesbians participated in the 1916 Easter Uprising against British rule of Ireland, including Kathleen Lynn, Madeleine ffrench-Mullen, Margaret Skinnider, Elizabeth O'Farrell and Julia Grenan. Their contributions and sexualities were long ignored or overlooked.{{cite news|last1=McGrattan |first1=Ciara |title=The hidden histories of queer women of the Easter Rising |url=https://gcn.ie/hidden-histories-queer-women-1916-rising/ |work=Gay Community News |date=22 March 2016}}{{cite magazine|last1=Rogers |first1=Rosemary |title=Wild Irish Women: Elizabeth O'Farrell – A Fearless Woman |url=https://irishamerica.com/2017/02/wild-irish-women-elizabeth-ofarrell-a-fearless-woman/ |magazine=Irish America |date=23 May 2015}}{{cite web|last1=McGreevy |first1=Ronan |title=The gay patriots who helped found the Irish State |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/the-gay-patriots-who-helped-found-the-irish-state-1.3537799 |work=Irish Times |date=21 June 2018}} Mary McAuliffe of University College Dublin noted that for years, biographers were "resistan[t]" to the idea of describing Lynn and ffrench-Mullen as being a couple, in spite of evidence that this was the case.{{cite news|last1=McGrath |first1=Louisa |date=25 November 2015 |title=It's Time to Acknowledge the Lesbians Who Fought in the Easter Rising (with Podcast) |url=https://www.dublininquirer.com/2015/11/25/it-s-time-to-acknowledge-the-lesbians-who-fought-in-the-easter-rising-with-podcast |work=Dublin Inquirer |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181102212831/https://www.dublininquirer.com/2015/11/25/it-s-time-to-acknowledge-the-lesbians-who-fought-in-the-easter-rising-with-podcast |archive-date=2 November 2018}}{{Cite web|last1=Kelleher |first1=Patrick |title=How a lesbian couple's contribution to Ireland's Easter Rising was scrubbed from history |url=https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/04/09/ireland-easter-rising-lesbian-kathleen-lynn-madeleine-ffrench-mullen/ |website=PinkNews |date=9 April 2023}}

In the United States, Kathy Kozachenko became the first openly gay political candidate to win an election in 1974. However, this achievement in LGBT history was incorrectly ascribed to San Francisco politician Harvey Milk.{{cite news|last1=Friess|first1=Steve|title=The First Openly Gay Person to Win an Election in America Was Not Harvey Milk|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-12-11/the-first-openly-gay-person-to-win-an-election-in-america-was-not-harvey-milk|work=Bloomberg News|date=December 11, 2015|access-date=April 3, 2020}}{{cite news|last1=Compton|first1=Julie|title=Meet the lesbian who made political history years before Harvey Milk|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/meet-lesbian-who-made-political-history-years-harvey-milk-n1174941|work=NBC News|date=April 2, 2020|access-date=April 3, 2020}}

In 1976, Monique Wittig, a French lesbian feminist and cofounder of the Mouvement de libération des femmes (MLF), left France for the United States. This decision was motivated by the fierce resistance she faced from other feminists when she attempted to create lesbian groups within the MLF. At the time, the word "lesbian" was deemed as being an "un-French" American import, and Wittig recalled other MLF members seeking to "paralyse and destroy lesbian groups."

Janine E. Carlse of Stellenbosch University argues that black South African lesbians have faced, and continue to face, denial and erasure of their sexuality throughout the country's history. During the Apartheid era, Carlse writes, black lesbians faced a combined "double oppression" of both heteropatriarchy and racist segregation policies.{{Cite journal |last=Carlse |first=Janine E. |date=July 2018 |title=Black lesbian identities in South Africa: confronting a history of denial |url=https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/ajgr/article/view/850 |journal=Journal of Gender and Religion in Africa |publication-date=26 May 2020 |volume=24 |issue=1 |doi=10.14426/ajgr.v24i1.39 |issn=2707-2991|hdl=10019.1/108964 |hdl-access=free }} After Apartheid ended, they continue to face erasure from other South Africans who consider it "un-African," and are therefore (in the words of Thabo Msibi) "denied cultural recognition and are subject to shaming, harassment, discrimination and violence."{{Cite journal |last=Msibi |first=Thabo |date=2011 |title=The Lies We Have Been Told: On (Homo) Sexuality in Africa |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/africatoday.58.1.55 |journal=Africa Today |publisher=Indiana University Press |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=55–77 |doi=10.2979/africatoday.58.1.55 |jstor=10.2979/africatoday.58.1.55 |s2cid=144208448 |url-access=subscription }}

Some contemporary historians believe that American poet Emily Dickinson had an intimate relationship with her sister-in-law, Susan Gilbert, leading some academics to assert that she was a lesbian.{{cite journal|last1=Comment |first1=Kristin M. |title="Wasn't She a Lesbian?" Teaching Homoerotic Themes in Dickinson and Whitman |journal=English Journal |date=2009 |volume=98 |issue=4 |pages=61–66 |doi=10.58680/ej20087027 |issn=0013-8274 |oclc=1325886 |lccn=65059635}} Dickinson experts Ellen Louise Hart and Martha Nell Smith wrote that Gilbert was a muse to Dickinson, stating that "Emily's correspondence to Susan unequivocally acknowledges that their emotional, spiritual, and physical communion is vital to her creative insight and sensibilities."{{cite book|editor1-last=Hart |editor1-first=Ellen Louise |editor2-last=Smith |editor2-first=Martha Nell |title=Open Me Carefully: Emily Dickinson's Intimate Letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson |date=1998 |edition=1st |publisher=Paris Press |location=Middletown, Connecticut |isbn=0963818376}} However, the Emily Dickinson Museum is ambiguous when discussing Dickinson's sexuality.{{cite journal|last1=Bartram |first1=Robin |last2=Brown-Saracino |first2=Japonica |last3=Donovan |first3=Holly |title=Uncertain Sexualities and the Unusual Woman: Depictions of Jane Addams and Emily Dickinson |journal=Social Problems |date=February 2021 |volume=68 |issue=1 |pages=168–184 |doi=10.1093/socpro/spz058 |url=https://academic.oup.com/socpro/article-abstract/68/1/168/5708974 |issn=0037-7791 |oclc=1667861|url-access=subscription }}

Author and women's history scholar Bonnie J. Morris wrote that many lesbian singers and musicians are erased from music and its history. As an example, she notes that her college students are unaware of the thriving lesbian music scene that existed several decades ago.{{cite book|last1=Morris |first1=Bonnie J. |title=The Disappearing L: Erasure of Lesbian Spaces and Culture |date=2016 |edition=1st |page=24 |publisher=State University of New York Press |location=Albany, New York |isbn=978-1438461779 |url=https://archive.org/details/disappearinglera0000morr |url-access=registration}}

"And they were roommates" is a phrase used as an Internet meme regarding historical relationships between women that have been straightwashed.{{cite report|last1=Warburton |first1=Benjamin G. |title=And They Were Roommates: An Analysis of 'Straightwashing' History and Its Impact on Modern Meme Culture, Through Exploration of r/Sapphoandherfriend |url=https://www.dpublication.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/05-4061.pdf |publisher=International Conference on Gender Studies and Sexuality |date=2021}} The phrase was popularized on the social network Vine.{{cite magazine|last1=Scrimshaw |first1=Danielle |title=Heteronormativity and popular history |url=https://archermagazine.com.au/2021/03/heteronormativity-popular-history/ |magazine=Archer |date=March 2, 2021 |access-date=14 July 2024}}{{cite magazine|last1=Mikhaylova |first1=Sofie |title=Why 'And They Were Roommates' Was the Best Vine Ever |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/why-and-they-were-roommates-was-the-best-vine-ever/ |magazine=Vice |date=April 3, 2018 |access-date=16 July 2024}}

Lesbian characters in 1990's American television were often depicted as side characters with little to no definitive information on whether they were lesbians or not. If an episode portrayed two women kissing or some form of homoromantic interactions between female characters, there would be a parental advisory for that specific episode. This was seen with the series Roseanne, where some advertising companies requested that their commercials be excluded from the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" episode. There was also the issue of Ellen DeGeneres coming out on her show Ellen through her character Morgan in "The Puppy Episode", which received considerable pushback and backlash because of heteronormative views and the heterocentric culture of television.{{cite thesis|last=Price |first=Delana Janine |date=2021 |title=Through Their Eyes: An Analysis of Misrepresentation in Popular Lesbian Television Narratives |url=https://mds.marshall.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2409&context=etd |degree=M.A. |publisher=Marshall University |access-date=23 October 2023}}

While the traditional academic canon has recognized the contributions of gay men, those of lesbians have not received the same scrutiny.{{cite book|last1=Morris |first1=Bonnie J. |title=The Disappearing L: Erasure of Lesbian Spaces and Culture |date=2016 |edition=1st |page=3 |publisher=State University of New York Press |location=Albany, New York |isbn=978-1438461779 |url=https://archive.org/details/disappearinglera0000morr |url-access=registration}} Political theorist Anna Marie Smith stated that lesbianism has been erased from the "official discourse" in Britain because lesbians are viewed as "responsible homosexuals" in a dichotomy between that and "dangerous gayness". As a result, lesbian sexual practices were not criminalized in Britain in ways similar to the criminalization of gay male sexual activities. Smith also points to the exclusion of women from AIDS research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smith argues that these erasures result from sexism and suggests that these issues should be addressed directly by lesbian activism.{{cite book|editor1-last=Plummer|editor1-first=Ken|title=Modern Homosexualities: Fragments of Lesbian and Gay Experiences|date=1992|pages=200–215|chapter=Resisting the Erasure of Lesbian Sexuality: A challenge for queer activism, by Anna Marie Smith|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-0415064200}}

Some lesbian activists, such as Bonnie J. Morris, Robin Tyler,{{cite news|last1=Faderman|first1=Lillian|title=Pioneer: Robin Tyler|url=https://thepridela.com/2016/06/pioneer-robin-tyler/|work=The Pride LA|date=June 8, 2016|access-date=October 4, 2019}} and Ashley Obinwanne, screenwriter and co-founder of the platform Lesbians Over Everything,{{cite web|last1=Faraone|first1=Juliette|title=Talk to the Internet: Ashley Obinwanne (Lavender Collective/Lesbians Over Everything)|url=https://screen-queens.com/2016/04/04/talk-to-the-internet-ashley-obiwanne-lavender-collectivelesbians-over-everything/|website=Screen Queens|date=April 4, 2016|access-date=October 4, 2019}} say the term queer, when used to describe lesbians, is a "disidentification" that contributes to lesbian invisibility.{{cite web|last1=Morris |first1=Bonnie J. |title=Dyke Culture and the Disappearing L |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2016/12/22/disappearing_lesbians_and_the_need_to_preserve_dyke_culture.html |website=Slate |date=December 22, 2016 |access-date=September 30, 2019}}* {{cite news |last1=Tyler |first1=Robin |date=June 5, 2018 |title=Don't call me 'queer' |work=Los Angeles Blade |url=https://www.losangelesblade.com/2018/06/05/dont-call-me-queer/ |url-status=live |access-date=October 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609165018/https://thepridela.com/2016/06/pioneer-robin-tyler/ |archive-date=June 9, 2016}}

• {{cite journal |last1=Megarry |first1=Jessica |last2=Tyler |first2=Meagan |date=November 2018 |title=Queer Inclusion or Lesbian Exclusion |url=https://www.academia.edu/37906812 |access-date=October 1, 2019 |website=Academia.edu}}

In an interview about her 2016 novel Beyond the Screen Door, author Julia Diana Robertson discovered that her self-identification as a lesbian and her description of the novel's genre was changed to queer and queerness in the published quotes.{{cite web|last1=Robertson|first1=Julia Diana|title=Why didn't you say something sooner?—You're Asking The Wrong Question|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-didnt-you-say-something-sooneryoure-asking_b_59d560dee4b085c51090ad64|website=HuffPost|date=October 17, 2017|access-date=October 8, 2019}}{{Cite tweet|user=JuliaDRobertson|author=Julia Diana Ghassan Robertson جوليا ديانا|number=911737662289141765|date=September 23, 2017|title=I always appreciate interviews, but it was unethical to change what was said w/out my approval or knowledge. Glad they have a new editor.|access-date=October 8, 2019}}

Shannon Keating of BuzzFeed said that the increased acceptability of non-binary genders, the rise of LGBT diversity, and concerns about gender essentialism have contributed to (what she describes as) making the term "uncool," and that a reason for the fading of "lesbian" as a term is because usage has evolved towards more inclusive terminology.{{cite news|last=Keating|first=Shannon|title=Can Lesbian Identity Survive The Gender Revolution?|work=BuzzFeed|date=February 11, 2017|access-date=December 19, 2019|url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/shannonkeating/can-lesbian-identity-survive-the-gender-revolution}} Christina Cauterucci of Slate likewise attributed rejection of the term to inclusivity and wanting to use a broader term for spaces that were once traditionally labeled lesbian spaces.{{cite web|last=Cauterucci|first=Christina|title=For Many Young Queer Women, Lesbian Offers a Fraught Inheritance|website=Slate|date=December 20, 2016|access-date=January 7, 2020|url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2016/12/young-queer-women-dont-like-lesbian-as-a-name-heres-why.html}}

Mary Grace Lewis of The Advocate, arguing that lesbian is not a dirty word, stated that it "has been villainized in the media because [lesbians] serve no purpose to the people who control it." She said that lesbian stereotypes seen in the media are not representative of the term, and that women accepting that they are not sexually attracted to men should not fear acknowledging it or feel that it is limiting. She felt that the more the term is used, "the more girls and women [will] feel comfortable" using it and the less it can be weaponized.{{cite web|last=Lewis|first=Julia Diana|title='Lesbian' Isn't a Dirty Word and More Millennials Need to Use It|website=The Advocate|date=July 13, 2018 |access-date=January 7, 2020|url=https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2018/7/13/lesbian-isnt-dirty-word-and-more-millennials-need-use-it}}

{{See also|Feminist views on transgender topics}}

In The Stranger, Katie Herzog states that some younger lesbians report having felt pressured to transition and later detransitioned, with some people using detransition stories to frame gender transition as a social contagion and an attempt to erase butch women.{{cite news|last=Herzog |first=Katie |title=The Detransitioners: They Were Transgender, Until They Weren't |url=https://www.thestranger.com/features/2017/06/28/25252342/the-detransitioners-they-were-transgender-until-they-werent |work=The Stranger |date=June 28, 2017 |access-date=December 19, 2019}} In 2017, Ruth Hunt, a butch lesbian and then-CEO of the LGBT charity Stonewall, wrote that transphobic groups present the advancement of trans rights as erasing the identities of younger butch lesbians, but argues that this claim is unsubstantiated.{{cite web |last=Hunt |first=Ruth |date=November 16, 2017 |title=When transphobic people try to pretend they're defending butch lesbians like me, I see the cynical tactic for what it is |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/transphobic-people-try-defend-lesbians-tactic-transgender-transsexual-gay-bisexual-uk-equality-ruth-a8058256.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201013074107/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/transphobic-people-try-defend-lesbians-tactic-transgender-transsexual-gay-bisexual-uk-equality-ruth-hunt-stonewall-a8058256.html |archive-date=October 13, 2020 |access-date=December 19, 2019 |website=The Independent |quote=}} Writing for The Economist, trans author Charlie Kiss argued that the stereotype of trans men being "lesbians in denial" is "demeaning and wrong"; he said he "could not have tried harder or longer to be a "true lesbian" but that it never felt right.{{cite news |last=Kiss |first=Charlie |date=July 3, 2018 |title=The idea that trans men are "lesbians in denial" is demeaning and wrong |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/07/03/the-idea-that-trans-men-are-lesbians-in-denial-is-demeaning-and-wrong |access-date=December 19, 2019}}{{efn|The idea that most or all transgender men are solely attracted to women is considered outdated and a stereotype. A 2023 USA-based study found that, while 28.3% of trans men identified as straight, a further 23.9% identified as bisexual/pansexual, 15.8% identified as gay, 15% identified as queer, and the remaining 17% identified as other sexualities.{{Cite journal|last1=Reisner |first1=Sari L. |last2=Choi |first2=Soon Kyu |last3=Herman |first3=Jody L. |last4=Bockting |first4=Walter |last5=Krueger |first5=Evan A. |last6=Meyer |first6=Ilan H. |date=September 15, 2023 |title=Sexual orientation in transgender adults in the United States |journal=BMC Public Health |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=1799 |doi=10.1186/s12889-023-16654-z |doi-access=free |issn=1471-2458 |pmc=10503109 |pmid=37715161}}}}

{{see also|Transphobia#In gay, lesbian, and bisexual communities}}

Discord between cisgender lesbians and transgender women is split between those who do and do not believe that trans women can be lesbians without erasing what it means to be a lesbian.{{Cite web|last1=Greenhalgh|first1=Hugo|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/britain-lgbt-rights-idUSL1N2121Q1|title=Trans debate rages around the world, pitting LGBT+ community against itself|website=Reuters|date=March 15, 2019|access-date=June 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190316121656/https://www.reuters.com/article/britain-lgbt-rights-idUSL1N2121Q1|archive-date=March 16, 2019|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last1=Davidson|first1=Gina|title=Insight: How splits are emerging in LGBT movement over gender issues|url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/people/insight-how-splits-are-emerging-in-lgbt-movement-over-gender-issues-1-4964446|work=The Scotsman|date=July 14, 2019|access-date=July 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190716074921/https://www.scotsman.com/news/people/insight-how-splits-are-emerging-in-lgbt-movement-over-gender-issues-1-4964446|archive-date=July 16, 2019|url-status=live}} Gina Davidson of The Scotsman summed up the conflict by asking if lesbianism is attraction to "female bodies" or to "feminine identity".

Disputes around the inclusion of lesbian-only groups in LGBT events have occurred in various countries.{{cite web|last1=Compton|first1=Julie|title='Pro-lesbian' or 'trans-exclusionary'? Old animosities boil into public view|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/pro-lesbian-or-trans-exclusionary-old-animosities-boil-public-view-n958456|website=NBCNews.com|date=January 14, 2019|access-date=June 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190619112530/https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/pro-lesbian-or-trans-exclusionary-old-animosities-boil-public-view-n958456|archive-date=June 19, 2019|url-status=live}} In New Zealand, the group Lesbian Rights Alliance Aotearoa was banned from marching in a Pride march because it was "'not being inclusive enough' of trans people".{{cite web|title=Wellington International Pride Parade 2019 Information, Guidelines and Rules|url=https://wipp.nz/|website=Wellington International Pride Parade|access-date=September 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190125032003/https://wipp.nz/Information-Guidelines-and-Rules|archive-date=January 25, 2019|url-status=live}} In Canada, the Dyke March told The Lesbians Collective to exclude certain symbols such as "XX" which march organizers said were exclusionary of trans women.{{cite web|last1=Cormier|first1=Danielle|title=Lesbians are being excluded from the Vancouver Dyke March in the name of 'inclusivity'|url=https://www.feministcurrent.com/2018/08/13/lesbians-excluded-vancouver-dyke-march-name-inclusivity/|website=Feminist Current|date=August 13, 2018 |access-date=October 21, 2019}} In the UK, the group Get the L Out met backlash from a protest at an LGBT Pride March.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-44757403 |title=Pride in London sorry after anti-trans protest |website=BBC News |date=July 8, 2018 |access-date=June 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630071536/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-44757403 |archive-date=June 30, 2019 |url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://prideinlondon.org/news/2018/7/8/statement-from-pride-in-london-regarding-the-2018-protest-group |title=Statement from Pride in London regarding the 2018 protest group |website=Pride in London |date=July 7, 2018 |access-date=June 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190507123215/https://prideinlondon.org/news/2018/7/8/statement-from-pride-in-london-regarding-the-2018-protest-group |archive-date=May 7, 2019 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Greenfield |first1=Patrick |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/08/london-pride-organisers-say-sorry-after-anti-trans-group-leads-march |title=Pride organisers say sorry after anti-trans group leads march |work=The Guardian |date=July 8, 2018 |access-date=June 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609234130/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/08/london-pride-organisers-say-sorry-after-anti-trans-group-leads-march |archive-date=June 9, 2019 |url-status=live }}London Pride Parade:

• {{Cite news|last1=Fisher|first1=Owl|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/09/anti-trans-protesters-pride-banner-march-london|title=There's no room for anti-trans protesters at Pride|work=The Guardian|date=July 9, 2018|access-date=June 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609234128/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/09/anti-trans-protesters-pride-banner-march-london|archive-date=June 9, 2019|url-status=live}}

Some lesbians relay experiences of being pressured, culturally, verbally, socially, and/or physically, into dating or having sex with trans women.{{Cite news|last=Lowbridge |first=Caroline |title=The lesbians who feel pressured to have sex and relationships with trans women |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-57853385 |work=BBC News |date=26 October 2021 |access-date=22 May 2025 |archive-url=https://archive.ph/SkMJH |archive-date=4 December 2021 |url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=About us|url=http://www.gettheloutuk.com/|website=Get The L Out|date=2018|access-date=June 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604222025/http://www.gettheloutuk.com/|archive-date=June 4, 2019|url-status=live}}{{cite web|last1=Wild|first1=Angela|title=OPINION: Lesbians need to get the L out of the LGBT+ community|url=http://news.trust.org/item/20190412100802-6md1q/|website=Thomson Reuters News|date=April 12, 2019|access-date=June 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530154545/http://news.trust.org/item/20190412100802-6md1q/|archive-date=May 30, 2019|url-status=live}} Carrie Lyell, editor of DIVA referred to the argument that trans women are pressuring lesbians to "accept them as sexual partners" as "scaremongering".{{cite news|last1=Lyell|first1=Carrie|title=Trans people aren't 'erasing' lesbians like me – I'll fight for equality standing side-by-side with them|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/lesbians-trans-women-gender-issues-erasure-lgbt-rights-a9005151.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220614/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/lesbians-trans-women-gender-issues-erasure-lgbt-rights-a9005151.html |archive-date=June 14, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|work=The Independent|date=July 15, 2019|access-date=November 2, 2019}} Others have argued that lesbians excluding trans women from their dating pool is transphobic.{{cite web|last=Curlew|first=Abigail|title=What's Wrong With the 'No Trans' Dating Preference Debate|website=Vice|date=February 23, 2018|access-date=December 23, 2019|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/whats-wrong-with-the-no-trans-dating-preference-debate/}}

• Bisexual erasure
• Lesbian Avengers
• Lesbophobia
• Queer erasure
• Straightwashing

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin|40em}}

• {{cite web|last1=Brownworth|first1=Victoria A.|title=Erasure: The New Normal for Lesbians by @VABVOX|url=http://www.aroomofourown.org/erasure-the-new-normal-for-lesbians-by-vabvoc/|website=A Room of Our Own|date=March 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150311040128/http://www.aroomofourown.org/erasure-the-new-normal-for-lesbians-by-vabvoc/|archive-date=March 11, 2015}}
• {{cite magazine|last1=Brownworth|first1=Victoria A.|title=Erasing Our Lesbian Dead: Why Don't Murdered Lesbians Make News|url=http://www.curvemag.com/News/Erasing-Our-Lesbian-Dead-510/|magazine=Curve|date=June 11, 2015|access-date=December 20, 2019|archive-date=September 7, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907021337/http://www.curvemag.com/News/Erasing-Our-Lesbian-Dead-510/|url-status=dead}}
• {{cite web|last1=Dobkin|first1=Alix|last2=Tatnall|first2=Sally|title=The Erasure of Lesbians|url=http://oloc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/The-Erasure-of-Lesbians_Alix-and-Sally.pdf|website=Old Lesbians Organizing for Change (OLOC)|date=January 29, 2015|access-date=July 17, 2019|archive-date=May 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507195148/https://oloc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/The-Erasure-of-Lesbians_Alix-and-Sally.pdf|url-status=dead}}
• {{cite magazine|last1=Elbir|first1=Dilara|title=Why films about lesbian characters should be called lesbian films|url=https://lwlies.com/articles/why-films-about-lesbian-characters-should-be-called-lesbian-films/|magazine=Little White Lies|date=September 17, 2019}}
• {{cite web|last1=Feng|first1=Jiayun|title=Weibo Is Taking Down Posts Hashtagged #Les, Short For Lesbian|url=https://supchina.com/2019/04/15/weibo-is-taking-down-posts-hashtagged-les-short-for-lesbian/|website=SupChina|date=April 15, 2019|access-date=July 19, 2019|archive-date=July 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719024954/https://supchina.com/2019/04/15/weibo-is-taking-down-posts-hashtagged-les-short-for-lesbian/|url-status=dead}}
• {{cite news|author=cindy|title=Weibo Reverses Ban on Lesbian Content Amid Uproar|url=https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2019/04/weibo-reverses-ban-on-lesbian-content-amid-uproar/|website=China Digital Times|date=April 17, 2019}}
• {{cite web|last1=Heuchan|first1=Claire|title=The Vanishing Point: A Reflection Upon Lesbian Erasure|url=https://sisteroutrider.wordpress.com/2017/07/01/the-vanishing-point-a-reflection-upon-lesbian-erasure/|website=Sister Outrider|date=July 1, 2017}} (Sister Outrider received the 2016 Best Blog award from [https://web.archive.org/web/20190421103135/https://www.edinburghguide.com/news/activism/17659-winnersannouncedforthewritetoendviolenceagainstwomenawards2016 Write to End Violence Against Women].)
• {{cite news|last1=Jansen|first1=Charlotte|title='We wanted people to see that we exist': the photographer who recorded lesbian life in the 70s|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/feb/15/jeb-lesbian-photographer-eye-to-eye-republished-joan-e-biren|work=The Guardian|date=15 February 2021}}
• {{cite web|last1=Kelly|first1=Alice|title=Creator Of Viral Twitter Thread Speaks Exclusively About LGBTQ Erasure In Family Histories|url=https://www.yourtango.com/2021340155/creator-twitter-thread-speaks-exclusively-lgbtq-erasure-family-history|website=YourTango|date=February 3, 2021}}
• {{cite web |last1=Kenny |first1=Gillian |title=The 'Itch', and Other Ways History Explained Lesbianism |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-itch-and-other-ways-history-explained-lesbianism/ |website=Vice Media |date=February 11, 2020 }}
• {{cite news|last1=Kirkup|first1=James|title=The silencing of the lesbians|url=https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/05/the-silencing-of-the-lesbians/|work=The Spectator|date=May 16, 2018|access-date=July 17, 2019|archive-date=December 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214035433/https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/05/the-silencing-of-the-lesbians/|url-status=dead}}
• {{cite web|last1=OLOC Boston (Old Lesbians Organizing for Change)|title=Erasing Lesbians|url=https://www.theproudtrust.org/resources/research-and-guidance-by-other-organisations/lesbian-erasure-oloc-boston/|website=The Proud Trust|date=2016|access-date=July 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190622150502/https://www.theproudtrust.org/resources/research-and-guidance-by-other-organisations/lesbian-erasure-oloc-boston/|archive-date=June 22, 2019|url-status=dead}}
• {{cite news|last1=Pidd|first1=Helen|last2=Greenfield|first2=Patrick|title=Plaque for 'first modern lesbian' to be reworded after complaints|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/03/plaque-for-first-modern-lesbian-to-be-reworded-after-complaints|work=The Guardian|date=September 3, 2018}}
• {{cite magazine|last1=Rimmer-Tagoe|first1=Holly|title=From pulp to corsets: lesbian literary stereotypes|url=https://www.theskinny.co.uk/books/features/from-pulp-to-corsets-lesbian-literary-stereotypes|magazine=The Skinny|date=September 30, 2016}}
• {{cite web|last1=Robinson|first1=Dinean|title=On Raven-Symoné and Erasing Black Lesbian Identity|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/on-raven-symone-and-erasi_b_5985782?ir=Black+Voices|website=HuffPost|date=October 15, 2014}}
• {{cite news|last1=Stephenson|first1=Miranda|title=Why is 'lesbian' still a dirty word?|url=https://www.varsity.co.uk/lifestyle/19492|work=Varsity|date=June 20, 2020}}
• {{cite web|last1=Syfret|first1=Wendy|title=how instagram can be a weapon against the erasure of lesbian culture|url=https://i-d.co/article/how-instagram-can-be-a-weapon-against-the-erasure-of-lesbian-culture/|website=i-D|publisher=Vice Media|date=June 6, 2016}}
• {{cite news|last1=Waterhouse|first1=Liz|title=Is the "L" in LGBTI silent?|url=http://www.starobserver.com.au/opinion/is-the-l-in-lgbti-silent/133104|work=Star Observer|date=February 24, 2015}}

{{refend}}

;Books and journals

• {{cite book|editor1-last=Barrett|editor1-first=Ruth|title=Female Erasure: What You Need To Know About Gender Politics' War on Women, the Female Sex and Human Rights|date=2016|publisher=Tidal Time Publishing|location=California|edition=1st|page=225|isbn=978-0997146707}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Derry|first1=Caroline|title=Lesbianism and Feminist Legislation in 1921: the Age of Consent and 'Gross Indecency between Women'|journal=History Workshop Journal|date=Autumn 2018|volume=86|pages=245–267|issn=1363-3554|doi=10.1093/hwj/dby021|s2cid=158181820|url=http://oro.open.ac.uk/55535/3/55535%20SUBMITTED%20VERSION.pdf}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Goldberg |first1=Shoshana K. |last2=Rothblum |first2=Esther D. |last3=Meyer |first3=Ilan H. |last4=Russell |first4=Stephen T. |title=Exploring the Q in LGBTQ: Demographic characteristic and sexuality of queer people in a U.S. representative sample of sexual minorities |journal=Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity |date=2020 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=101–112 |doi=10.1037/sgd0000359 |pmid=34017899 |url=https://doi.apa.org/manuscript/2019-70145-001.pdf |issn=2329-0382|pmc=8132578 }}
• {{cite journal|last1=Hawthorne|first1=Susan|title=The Silences Between: Are Lesbians Irrelevant?|journal=Journal of International Women's Studies|date=2007|volume=8|issue=3|pages=125–138|publisher=Bridgewater State University|url=https://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1388&context=jiws|issn=1539-8706|author1-link=Susan Hawthorne}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Hodson|first1=Loveday|title=Queering the Terrain: Lesbian Identity and Rights in International Law|journal=Feminists@law|date=2017|volume=7|issue=1|publisher=University of Kent|url=https://lra.le.ac.uk/bitstream/2381/40200/8/378-2131-1-PB.pdf|issn=2046-9551|access-date=July 19, 2019|archive-date=July 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719024954/https://lra.le.ac.uk/bitstream/2381/40200/8/378-2131-1-PB.pdf|url-status=dead}} (via University of Leicester)
• {{cite book|last1=Jeffreys|first1=Sheila|title=The Lesbian Revolution: Lesbian Feminism in the UK 1970-1990|date=2018|publisher=Routledge|page=186|chapter=Postcript: The erasure of lesbians|isbn=978-1138096561|lccn=2018012144|author1-link=Sheila Jeffreys}}
• {{cite book|last1=Millward|first1=Liz|last2=Dodd|first2=Janice G.|last3=Fubara-Manuel|first3=Irene|title=Killing Off the Lesbians: A Symbolic Annihilation on Film and Television|date=2017|publisher=McFarland & Company|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|isbn=978-1476668161}}
• {{cite book|last1=Munt|first1=Sally R.|title=Heroic Desire: Lesbian Identity and Cultural Space|date=1998|edition=1st|publisher=New York University Press|isbn=978-0814756065|author1-link=Sally Rowena Munt}}
• {{cite book|last1=Wilton|first1=Tamsin|title=Lesbian Studies: Setting an Agenda|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/lesbianstudiesse00wilt|chapter-url-access=registration|date=1995|publisher=Routledge|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lesbianstudiesse00wilt/page/50 50–65]|chapter=Invisible and erased: uses and abuses of history|isbn=0-415-08655-8|author1-link=Tamsin Wilton}}

;Academic

• {{cite thesis|last=Lewis |first=Helen Deborah |date=2011 |title=Friends, Beloveds, and Companions: The Shadow Life of the Fin-de-Siècle American Lesbian Actress |url=https://dl.tufts.edu/concern/pdfs/t435gr088 |degree=PhD |publisher=Tufts University}}

{{LGBT history}}

{{Discrimination}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lesbophobia}}

Category:Lesbian feminism

Category:Lesbian history

Category:Lesbophobia

Category:Political lesbianism

Category:LGBTQ erasure

Category:Feminism and transgender topics