Gregory's Server@heatherrosejones @vagina_museum I know about lesbians not being women in the context of Monique Wittig, but vaguely only.
What I like about it is the context of lesbians not being heterosexual women (not to be had by men) and not being men (as in: lesbians are not behaving as predatory towards women as men do as some cliché tells).
Plus for my personal experience loving another not-woman lesbian is a completely different love on a mental and biological base than as a woman loving a woman. Which is why I definitely define as third sex lesbian.
Whereas woman loving women for me is not a gender/sex-question but a definition of sexual preference.
Does that make any sense? I am pretty sure I am not alone in this and there were several lesbians before me ;-)
@anders_von_hadern The thing about this sort of symbolic characterization of sexuality or gender is that it can be extremely individual, and the "spin" can vary wildly depending on whether it's a self-characterization or an external characterization.
My research primarily covers the pre-20th century, so it's incredibly rare (though not unheard-of) to find candid self-characterizations of lesbian sexuality. It's 95% external framings, and 5% how people defend themselves to the world.