Gregory's Server@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.
@anders_von_hadern So while I have a variety of examples of people framing homoerotic desire as stemming from a "third sex" identity, it's vary rare for the sources I"m working with to be written by someone experiencing that desire and representing their own understanding, It's a very different matter than having contemporary people explore how to describe their own identities, and even when the symbolism is similar, it can have different cultural meanings.