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- THE BI LESBIAN EDUCATION MASTERPOST -
The term "bi lesbian" started within original lesbian circles around the 80s, when bi and trans people were happily accepted in most lesbian communities and their usage of the term was freely accepted.
The term "bi lesbian" started within original lesbian circles around the 80s, when bi and trans people were happily accepted in most lesbian communities and their usage of the term was freely accepted.
During that time, "bi lesbian" was usually a term meaning a woman who was bi, but was more attracted to women or primarily identified with their sapphic identity whether due to comfort or safety or any other myriad of reasons.
However, due to the rise of radfems (political lesbians, terves, etc.) + the concept of "gold star lesbians" within second wave feminism, many trans and bi folk were pushed out of the lesbian community and that term was demonized.
Nowadays, the most prevalent use of the term "bi lesbian" is to notate someone who experiences attraction according to the SAM. This term naturally re-emerged essentially as a simplification of terms that included the -romantic/-sexual labels.
The narrative of bi lesbian having anything to do with attraction to trans folk was created out of a screenshot of a Facebook post one terve/radfem posted "suggesting" that term to lesbians who were inclusive of trans women.
However, although that post has been widely circulated to the point that many people believe its contents even without knowing of the original post, most radfem communities actually deride the term and stand against "bi lesbians".
Especially on /r/GenderCritical and /r/LGDropTheB, known transphobic and biphobic radfem communities, there are plenty of posts espousing anti-bilesbian rhetoric, with many of the same wording as exclusionists use on Twitter.
When people are inclusive of bi lesbians, they are not supporting transphobic definitions, nor are they going against history.
Other uses of the terms that have emerged deal with people questioning their identities and trying both labels to figure things out...
...or those who are attracted to woman-aligned people as well as nonbinary people who don't fit a conventional "alignment" argument, since definite labels here are debatable and not set in stone.
Additionally, the narrative that this "encourages" allocishet men to harass lesbian women is a dangerous one that mitigates the inherent problem of patriarchy/toxic masculinity. The problem isn't other minorities, it's allocishet men being taught they deserve whatever they want.
Being supportive of unconventional lesbian/sapphic labels is with history's inclusiveness of those who feel a strong identity to their sapphic attraction, and is against long held radfem damage to the community.
More information may be forthcoming as other talking points need addressing.
