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100-436: Lillian Smith may refer to: Lillian Smith (author) (1897–1966), American author Strange Fruit 1944 Lillian Smith Book Award Lillian Smith (trick shooter) (1871–1930), American trick shooter with Buffalo Bill Lillian Rita Smith (1912–1993), New Zealand communist Lillian H. Smith (1887–1983), Canadian children's librarian [REDACTED] Topics referred to by

200-663: A 'core' lesbian orientation." A 2001 article on differentiating lesbians for medical studies and health research suggested identifying lesbians using the three characteristics of identity only, sexual behavior only, or both combined. The article declined to include desire or attraction as it rarely has bearing on measurable health or psychosocial issues. Researchers state that there is no standard definition of lesbian because "The term has been used to describe women who have sex with women, either exclusively or in addition to sex with men (i.e., behavior ); women who self-identify as lesbian (i.e., identity ); and women whose sexual preference

300-413: A black woman, who he had saved from a group of white boys that were threatening to rape her. She ended up pregnant with Tracy's child. Tracy bribes their housekeeper to marry Nonnie so that their child will have a good father, one who does not have to worry about their “family image” as the child was more than likely going to be black and even mixed children were frowned on too. Especially during this time in

400-557: A children's magazine titled St. Nicholas , and a collection called Smith College Stories , without negative views. Enduring loyalty, devotion, and love were major components to these stories, and sexual acts beyond kissing were consistently absent. Women who had the option of a career instead of marriage labeled themselves New Women and took their new opportunities very seriously. Faderman calls this period "the last breath of innocence" before 1920 when characterizations of female affection were connected to sexuality, marking lesbians as

500-536: A devoted friendship to Honora Sneyd , who was the subject of many of Seward's sonnets and poems. When Sneyd married despite Seward's protest, Seward's poems became angry. Seward continued to write about Sneyd long after her death, extolling Sneyd's beauty and their affection and friendship. As a young woman, writer and philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft was attached to a woman named Fanny Blood . Writing to another woman by whom she had recently felt betrayed, Wollstonecraft declared, "The roses will bloom when there's peace in

600-630: A forum for liberal thought, undergoing two name changes to reflect its expanding scope. In 1937 it became the North Georgia Review , and in 1942, the title was changed to its final form, South Today . South Today ceased publication in 1945. (All issues of Pseudopodia/North Georgia Review/South Today are available online through the Archives Online of Piedmont University Library in Demorest, Georgia.) In 1944, Smith published

700-497: A group of people based on whom they had physical relations with. As women have generally been political minorities in Western cultures, the added medical designation of homosexuality has been cause for the development of a subcultural identity. The notion that sexual activity between women is necessary to define a lesbian or lesbian relationship continues to be debated. According to feminist writer Naomi McCormick , women's sexuality

800-682: A growing homosexual community; both Harlem and Greenwich Village provided furnished rooms for single men and women, which was a major factor in their development as centers for homosexual communities. The tenor was different in Greenwich Village than Harlem. Bohemians —intellectuals who rejected Victorian ideals—gathered in the Village. Homosexuals were predominantly male, although figures such as poet Edna St. Vincent Millay and social host Mabel Dodge were known for their affairs with women and promotion of tolerance of homosexuality. Women in

900-629: A heated controversy called the feminist sex wars . Butch and femme roles returned, although not as strictly followed as they were in the 1950s. They became a mode of chosen sexual self-expression for some women in the 1990s. Once again, women felt safer claiming to be more sexually adventurous, and sexual flexibility became more accepted. The focus of the debate often centers on a phenomenon named by sexologist Pepper Schwartz in 1983. Schwartz found that long-term lesbian couples report having less sexual contact than heterosexual or homosexual male couples, calling this lesbian bed death . Some lesbians dispute

1000-496: A lesbian identity share experiences that form an outlook similar to an ethnic identity: as homosexuals, they are unified by the heterosexist discrimination and potential rejection they face from their families, friends, and others as a result of homophobia . As women, they face concerns separate from men. Lesbians may encounter distinct physical or mental health concerns arising from discrimination, prejudice , and minority stress . Political conditions and social attitudes also affect

1100-625: A lesbian. Researchers, including social scientists , state that often behavior and identity do not match: women may label themselves heterosexual but have sexual relations with women, self-identified lesbians may have sex with men, or women may find that what they considered an immutable sexual identity has changed over time. Research by Lisa M. Diamond et al. reported that "lesbian and fluid women were more exclusive than bisexual women in their sexual behaviors" and that "lesbian women appeared to lean toward exclusively same-sex attractions and behaviors." It reported that lesbians "appeared to demonstrate

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1200-929: A lesbian. ... But this sort of evidence is not 'proof'. What our critics want is incontrovertible evidence of sexual activity between women. This is almost impossible to find. Female sexuality is often not adequately represented in texts and documents. Until very recently, much of what has been documented about women's sexuality has been written by men, in the context of male understanding, and relevant to women's associations to men—as their wives, daughters, or mothers, for example. Often artistic representations of female sexuality suggest trends or ideas on broad scales, giving historians clues as to how widespread or accepted erotic relationships between women were. Women in ancient Greece were sequestered with one another, and men were segregated likewise. In this homosocial environment, erotic and sexual relationships between males were common and recorded in literature, art, and philosophy. Very little

1300-473: A neurological disease, and Ellis, who was influenced by Krafft-Ebing's writings, disagreed about whether sexual inversion was generally a lifelong condition. Ellis believed that many women who professed love for other women changed their feelings about such relationships after they had experienced marriage and a "practical life". Ellis conceded that there were "true inverts" who would spend their lives pursuing erotic relationships with women. These were members of

1400-406: A penis in some women. These sex changes were later thought to be cases of hermaphrodites , and hermaphroditism became synonymous with female same-sex desire. Medical consideration of hermaphroditism depended upon measurements of the clitoris ; a longer, engorged clitoris was thought to be used by women to penetrate other women. Penetration was the focus of concern in all sexual acts, and a woman who

1500-458: A result, little in history was documented to give an accurate description of how female homosexuality was expressed. When early sexologists in the late 19th century began to categorize and describe homosexual behavior, hampered by a lack of knowledge about homosexuality or women's sexuality, they distinguished lesbians as women who did not adhere to female gender roles . They classified them as mentally ill—a designation which has been reversed since

1600-518: A scandal in New Zealand in 1909 when she was found to be Amy Bock , who had married a woman from Port Molyneaux; newspapers argued whether it was a sign of insanity or an inherent character flaw. During the 17th through 19th centuries, a woman expressing passionate love for another woman was fashionable, accepted, and encouraged. These relationships were termed romantic friendships , Boston marriages , or "sentimental friends", and were common in

1700-545: A shared history and subculture, and similar experiences with discrimination which has caused many lesbians to reject heterosexual principles. This identity is unique from gay men and heterosexual women, and often creates tension with bisexual women. One point of contention are lesbians who have had sex with men, while lesbians who have never had sex with men may be referred to as " gold star lesbians ". Those who have had sex with men may face ridicule from other lesbians or identity challenges with regard to defining what it means to be

1800-408: A shared sexual orientation evolved in the 20th century. Throughout history, women have not had the same freedom or independence as men to pursue homosexual relationships, but neither have they met the same harsh punishment as gay men in some societies. Instead, lesbian relationships have often been regarded as harmless, unless a participant attempts to assert privileges traditionally enjoyed by men. As

1900-412: A significant problem. In some cases, it was not acknowledged to exist. Sexologists Richard von Krafft-Ebing from Germany and Britain's Havelock Ellis wrote some of the earliest and more enduring categorizations of female same-sex attraction , approaching it as a form of insanity (Ellis' categorization of "lesbianism" as a medical problem is now discredited). Krafft-Ebing, who considered lesbianism

2000-544: A span of six months. Hall reflected the appearance of a "mannish" woman in the 1920s: short cropped hair , tailored suits (often with pants), and monocle that became widely recognized as a "uniform". When British women supported the war effort during the First World War, they became familiar with masculine clothing, and were considered patriotic for wearing uniforms and pants. Postwar masculinization of women's clothing became associated primarily with lesbianism. In

2100-545: A speech titled “The Right Way is Not a Moderate Way” for First Annual Institute on Non-violence and Social Change. As she was unable to give this speech due to her cancer, Rufus Lewis spoke it for her. She was also close with Martin Luther King Jr and was riding with him when he was ticketed in 1960. Lillian Smith was an active member of CORE and supported SNCC , speaking at the first SNCC in October 1960. She saw

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2200-582: A unique and often unflatteringly portrayed group. Specifically, Faderman connects the growth of women's independence and their beginning to reject strictly prescribed roles in the Victorian era to the scientific designation of lesbianism as a type of aberrant sexual behavior. For some women, the realization that they participated in behavior or relationships that could be categorized as lesbian caused them to deny or conceal it, such as professor Jeannette Augustus Marks at Mount Holyoke College , who lived with

2300-439: A woman who identifies herself as an invert after reading Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis , and lives within the homosexual subculture of Paris. The novel included a foreword by Havelock Ellis and was intended to be a call for tolerance for inverts by publicizing their disadvantages and accidents of being born inverted. Hall subscribed to Ellis and Krafft-Ebing's theories and rejected Freud 's theory that same-sex attraction

2400-412: A woman's reputation. In fact, these relationships were promoted as alternatives to and practice for a woman's marriage to a man. One such relationship was between Lady Mary Wortley Montagu , who wrote to Anne Wortley in 1709: "Nobody was so entirely, so faithfully yours ... I put in your lovers, for I don't allow it possible for a man to be so sincere as I am." Similarly, English poet Anna Seward had

2500-552: Is a great source to better understand Southern history post- Civil War through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior , regardless of sexual orientation , or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexuality or same-sex attraction. The concept of "lesbian" to differentiate women with

2600-443: Is an innate quality in all people. When a woman realizes her romantic and sexual attraction to another woman, it may cause an "existential crisis"; many who go through this adopt the identity of a lesbian, challenging what society has offered in stereotypes about homosexuals, to learn how to function within a homosexual subculture. Lesbians in western cultures generally share an identity that parallels those built on ethnicity; they have

2700-705: Is buried near the old theater chimney at Laurel Falls camp atop Screamer Mountain, in Clayton, Georgia. Today, Strange Fruit remains her most famous work, translated into 15 languages. In 1999, Lillian Smith received the Georgia Women of Achievement Award. Since 1968, the Lillian Smith Book Awards have been presented annually, except for 2003 when the Southern Regional Council experienced funding shortfalls. It

2800-442: Is constructed by men, whose primary indicator of lesbian sexual orientation is sexual experience with other women. The same indicator is not necessary to identify a woman as heterosexual. McCormick states that emotional, mental, and ideological connections between women are as important or more so than the genital. Nonetheless, in the 1980s, a significant movement rejected the desexualization of lesbianism by cultural feminists, causing

2900-637: Is debated and depends on the individual details of each case. If discovered, punishments ranged from death, to time in the pillory , to being ordered never to dress as a man again. Henry Fielding wrote a pamphlet titled The Female Husband in 1746, based on the life of Mary Hamilton , who was arrested after marrying a woman while masquerading as a man, and was sentenced to public whipping and six months in jail. Similar examples were procured of Catharine Linck in Prussia in 1717, executed in 1721; Swiss Anne Grandjean married and relocated with her wife to Lyons, but

3000-456: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Lillian Smith (author) Smith was born on December 12, 1897, to a prominent family in Jasper, Florida , the seventh of nine children. Her life as the daughter of an upper middle-class civic and business leader took an abrupt turn in 1915 when her father lost his turpentine mills. The family

3100-504: Is for the viewer or an accurate representation of life is unknown. Rabinowitz writes that the lack of interest from 19th-century historians who specialized in Greek studies regarding the daily lives and sexual inclinations of women in Greece was due to their social priorities. She postulates that this lack of interest led the field to become over male-centric and was partially responsible for

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3200-445: Is for women (i.e., desire or attraction )" ... "The lack of a standard definition of lesbian and of standard questions to assess who is lesbian has made it difficult to clearly define a population of lesbian women." How and where study samples were obtained can also affect the definition. The varied meanings of lesbian since the early 20th century have prompted some historians to revisit historic relationships between women before

3300-778: Is like youres". In Georgia, Alice Baldy wrote to Josie Varner in 1870, "Do you know that if you touch me, or speak to me there is not a nerve of fibre in my body that does not respond with a thrill of delight?" Around the turn of the 20th century, the development of higher education provided opportunities for women. In all-female surroundings, a culture of romantic pursuit was fostered in women's colleges. Older students mentored younger ones, called on them socially, took them to all-women dances, and sent them flowers, cards, and poems that declared their undying love for each other. These were called "smashes" or "spoons", and they were written about quite frankly in stories for girls aspiring to attend college in publications such as Ladies Home Journal ,

3400-458: Is not necessarily the same as one's sexual orientation or sexual behavior, due to various reasons, such as the fear of identifying their sexual orientation in a homophobic setting. Portrayals of lesbians in the media suggest that society at large has been simultaneously intrigued and threatened by women who challenge feminine gender roles , as well as fascinated and appalled with women who are romantically involved with other women. Women who adopt

3500-708: Is the South's oldest and best-known book award, and is presented in fiction and non-fiction categories. It is meant to honor those authors who, through their outstanding writing about the American South, carry on Smith's legacy of elucidating the condition of racial and social inequity and proposing a vision of justice and human understanding. According to Cheryl Johnson's "The Language of Sexuality and Silence in Lillian Smith's Strange Fruit ", her work examines many different perspectives of American consciousness and

3600-654: Is unknown, in particular their expressions of sexuality. Although men participated in pederastic relationships outside marriage, there is no clear evidence that women were allowed or encouraged to have same-sex relationships before or during marriage as long as their marital obligations were met. Women who appear on Greek pottery are depicted with affection, and in instances where women appear only with other women, their images are eroticized: bathing, touching one another, with dildos placed in and around such scenes, and sometimes with imagery also seen in depictions of heterosexual marriage or pederastic seduction. Whether this eroticism

3700-636: The Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore in 1917 and 1919. She returned home to help her parents manage a hotel and taught in two mountain schools before accepting a position as director of music at a Methodist school for girls in Huzhou (now Wuxing, Zhejiang ), China, even though she was not a churchgoer and did not consider herself religious. This time abroad was pivotal in Smith's awareness of

3800-472: The " third sex " who rejected the roles of women to be subservient, feminine, and domestic. Invert described the opposite gender roles, and also the related attraction to women instead of men; since women in the Victorian period were considered unable to initiate sexual encounters, women who did so with other women were thought of as possessing masculine sexual desires. The work of Krafft-Ebing and Ellis

3900-549: The 1930s, independent and masculine women were directly recruited by the military in the 1940s, and frailty discouraged. Some women arrived at the recruiting station in a man's suit, denied ever being in love with another woman, and were easily inducted. Sexual activity was forbidden and blue discharge was almost certain if one identified oneself as a lesbian. As women found each other, they formed into tight groups on base, socialized at service clubs, and began to use code words. Historian Allan Bérubé documented that homosexuals in

4000-562: The German capital as a center of lesbian activity. Clubs varied between large establishments that became tourist attractions, to small neighborhood cafes where local women went to meet other women. The cabaret song " Das lila Lied " ("The Lavender Song") became an anthem to the lesbians of Berlin. Although it was sometimes tolerated, homosexuality was illegal in Germany and law enforcement used permitted gatherings as an opportunity to register

4100-505: The Lesbian History Group wrote: Because of society's reluctance to admit that lesbians exist, a high degree of certainty is expected before historians or biographers are allowed to use the label. Evidence that would suffice in any other situation is inadequate here... A woman who never married, who lived with another woman, whose friends were mostly women, or who moved in known lesbian or mixed gay circles, may well have been

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4200-505: The Roman male's view of himself as the exclusive giver of sexual pleasure but also the most basic foundations of Rome's male-dominated culture". No historical documentation exists of women who had other women as sex partners. Female homosexuality did not receive the same negative response from religious or criminal authorities as male homosexuality or adultery did throughout history. Whereas sodomy between men, men and women, and men and animals

4300-470: The South, there were various opinions about interracial relationships, most of them including a racist point of view. Because of this, Strange Fruit was banned in some states after the intense amount of criticism that followed it. Another one of Smith's most well known works is Killers of the Dream , published in 1949. This book contains Smith's memories of being a child being raised in the segregated south and

4400-920: The Southern double standard . She studied Chinese philosophy during her time overseas and by living in China was exposed to the similarities between the suppression of the Chinese and the suppression of African-Americans in the States. As a result of her father's declining health, Smith was forced to return from China in 1925. Back in Georgia , she became the head of the Laurel Falls Camp, a position she would hold for 23 years (1925–48). Under her direction, Laurel Falls Camp soon became very popular as an innovative educational institution known for its instruction in

4500-513: The U.S. Enigmatic poet Emily Dickinson wrote over 300 letters and poems to Susan Gilbert, who later became her sister-in-law, and engaged in another romantic correspondence with Kate Scott Anthon. Anthon broke off their relationship the same month Dickinson entered self-imposed lifelong seclusion. Nearby in Hartford, Connecticut, African American freeborn women Addie Brown and Rebecca Primus left evidence of their passion in letters: "No kisses

4600-489: The U.S. who could not visit Harlem or live in Greenwich Village for the first time were able to visit saloons in the 1920s without being considered prostitutes. The existence of a public space for women to socialize in bars that were known to cater to lesbians "became the single most important public manifestation of the subculture for many decades", according to historian Lillian Faderman . The primary component necessary to encourage lesbians to be public and seek other women

4700-470: The U.S., Europe, and especially in England. Documentation of these relationships is possible by a large volume of letters written between women. Whether the relationship included any genital component was not a matter for public discourse, but women could form strong and exclusive bonds with each other and still be considered virtuous, innocent, and chaste; a similar relationship with a man would have destroyed

4800-570: The United States, the 1920s was a decade of social experimentation, particularly with sex. This was heavily influenced by the writings of Sigmund Freud , who theorized that sexual desire would be sated unconsciously, despite an individual's wish to ignore it. Freud's theories were much more pervasive in the U.S. than in Europe. With the well-publicized notion that sexual acts were a part of lesbianism and their relationships, sexual experimentation

4900-423: The armed forces either consciously or subconsciously refused to identify themselves as homosexual or lesbian, and also never spoke about others' orientation. The most masculine women were not necessarily common, though they were visible, so they tended to attract women interested in finding other lesbians. Women had to broach the subject about their interest in other women carefully, sometimes taking days to develop

5000-568: The arts, music, drama, and modern psychology. When her father died in 1930 she took responsibility for the family business and the care of her ill mother. During her time at the family camp, Lillian Smith began a lifelong relationship with one of the camp's school counselors, Paula Snelling, of Pinehurst, Georgia . The two remained closeted as a lesbian couple for the rest of their lives, as their correspondence has shown. Smith never addressed her sexuality openly. However, some of her literature's characters were lesbians. At that time, homosexuality

5100-408: The bestselling novel Strange Fruit , which dealt with the then-forbidden and controversial theme of interracial romance . The title was originally Jordan is so Chilly , with Smith later changing the title to Strange Fruit . In her autobiography, singer Billie Holiday wrote that Smith chose to name the book after her song " Strange Fruit ", which is about lynching , although Smith maintained that

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5200-460: The book Killers of the Dream , a collection of essays that attempted to identify, challenge and dismantle the Old South's racist traditions, customs and beliefs, warning that racial segregation corrupted the soul. She also emphasized the negative implications on the minds of women and children. Written in a confessional and autobiographical style that was highly critical of Southern moderates, it

5300-617: The book's title referred to the "damaged, twisted people (both black and white) who are the products or results of our racist culture." After the book's release, it was banned in Boston and Detroit for "lewdness" and crude language. Strange Fruit was also forbidden to be mailed through the United States Postal System . The ban against the book was eventually lifted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt after his wife Eleanor requested it of him. In 1949, Smith wrote

5400-568: The breast, and the prospect of living with my Fanny gladdens my heart:—You know not how I love her." Perhaps the most famous of these romantic friendships was between Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, nicknamed the Ladies of Llangollen . Butler and Ponsonby eloped in 1778, to the relief of Ponsonby's family (concerned about their reputation had she run away with a man) to live together in Wales for 51 years and be thought of as eccentrics. Their story

5500-529: The college president, Mary Woolley , for 36 years. Marks discouraged young women from "abnormal" friendships and insisted happiness could only be attained with a man. Other women embraced the distinction and used their uniqueness to set themselves apart from heterosexual women and gay men. From the 1890s to the 1930s, American heiress Natalie Clifford Barney held a weekly salon in Paris to which major artistic celebrities were invited and where lesbian topics were

5600-558: The dangers of inequality and how to improve their society both for themselves and other women. In 1955, the civil rights movement grabbed the entire nation's attention with the Montgomery bus boycott , which started the widespread interest of this movement. By this time she had been meeting or corresponding with many southern Blacks and liberal whites for years who knew of the Blacks' concerns. In response to Brown v. Board of Education ,

5700-502: The designation of different or perverted, and used their outlaw status to form social circles in Paris and Berlin. Lesbian began to describe elements of a subculture. Lesbians in Western cultures in particular often classify themselves as having an identity that defines their individual sexuality, as well as their membership to a group that shares common traits. Women in many cultures throughout history have had sexual relations with other women, but they rarely were designated as part of

5800-588: The focus. Combining Greek influences with contemporary French eroticism, she attempted to create an updated and idealized version of Lesbos in her salon. Her contemporaries included artist Romaine Brooks , who painted others in her circle; writers Colette , Djuna Barnes , social host Gertrude Stein , and novelist Radclyffe Hall . Berlin had a vibrant homosexual culture in the 1920s, and about 50 clubs catered to lesbians. Die Freundin ( The Girlfriend ) magazine, published between 1924 and 1933, targeted lesbians. Garçonne (aka Frauenliebe ( Woman Love ))

5900-515: The formation of lesbian relationships and families in the open. The word lesbian is the demonym of the Greek island of Lesbos , home to the 6th-century BCE poet Sappho . From various ancient writings, historians gathered that a group of young women were left in Sappho's charge for their instruction or cultural edification. Little of Sappho's poetry survives, but her remaining poetry reflects

6000-517: The growth of scholarship in women's history and sexuality in the late 20th century, the definition of lesbian broadened, leading to debate about the term's use. While research by Lisa M. Diamond identified sexual desire as the core component for defining lesbians, some women who engage in same-sex sexual activity may reject not only identifying as lesbians but as bisexual as well. Other women's self-identification as lesbian may not align with their sexual orientation or sexual behavior. Sexual identity

6100-417: The island of Lesbos, and so could be construed to mean ' from the island of Lesbos ' . In 1875, George Saintsbury , in writing about Baudelaire's poetry, refers to his "Lesbian studies" in which he includes his poem about "the passion of Delphine" which is a poem simply about love between two women which does not mention the island of Lesbos, though the other poem alluded to, entitled "Lesbos", does. Use of

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6200-485: The issues that come with this normalized idea along with the issues of how the South teaches sin. Smith also tackles how this affects children and adults alike, black and whites alike. Two of Smith's lesser known works are Now is the Time and The Journey . Now is the Time, published in 1955, tackles the idea of desegregating the South and civil rights for Blacks. She calls out the cultural norms of racism and segregation. On

6300-622: The late 20th century in the global scientific community. Women in homosexual relationships in Europe and the United States responded to the discrimination and repression either by hiding their personal lives, or accepting the label of outcast and creating a subculture and identity . Following World War II , during a period of social repression when governments actively persecuted homosexuals, women developed networks to socialize with and educate each other. Gaining greater economic and social freedom allowed them to determine how they could form relationships and families. With second-wave feminism and

6400-502: The limited information available on female topics in ancient Greece. Women in ancient Rome were similarly subject to men's definitions of sexuality. Modern scholarship indicates that men viewed female homosexuality with hostility. They considered women who engaged in sexual relations with other women to be biological oddities that would attempt to penetrate women—and sometimes men—with "monstrously enlarged" clitorises . According to scholar James Butrica, lesbianism "challenged not only

6500-659: The masquerade of one gender for another to fool an unsuspecting woman into being seduced. Such plot devices were used in Shakespeare 's Twelfth Night (1601), The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser in 1590, and James Shirley 's The Bird in a Cage (1633). Cases during the Renaissance of women taking on male personae and going undetected for years or decades have been recorded, though whether these cases would be described as transvestism by homosexual women, or in contemporary sociology characterised as transgender ,

6600-478: The military in the U.S. Women's Army Corps (WACs) and U.S. Navy's Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). Unlike processes to screen out male homosexuals, which had been in place since the creation of the American military, there were no methods to identify or screen for lesbians; they were put into place gradually during World War II. Despite common attitudes regarding women's traditional roles in

6700-482: The names of homosexuals for future reference. Magnus Hirschfeld's Scientific-Humanitarian Committee , which promoted tolerance for homosexuals in Germany , welcomed lesbian participation, and a surge of lesbian-themed writing and political activism in the German feminist movement became evident. In 1928, Radclyffe Hall published a novel titled The Well of Loneliness . The novel's plot centers around Stephen Gordon,

6800-417: The other hand, The Journey, published in 1954, tackles the idea of white privilege and how it affects society. Later on in the book, Smith talks about her struggle with breast cancer, which is her cause of death later on. Smith battled breast cancer from the early 1950s on, ultimately dying of the disease on September 28, 1966, at the age of 68. Her book The Journey (1954) details some of this battle. She

6900-484: The passing of the Voting Rights and Civil Rights Acts. Over Lillian Smith's lifetime, she wrote various books over various topics that received both positive and negative reactions. One of Smith's most famous books is Strange Fruit, published in 1944. This work tackles the idea of interracial relationships in the South. This follows the son of a very prominent family named Tracy Deen who falls in love with Nonnie,

7000-421: The ruling that outlawed segregation in schools, she wrote Now Is the Time (1955), calling for compliance with the new court decision. She called the new ruling "every child's Magna Carta ". She knew that both the lives of both blacks and whites depended on the integration of society. Lillian Smith wrote various speeches and books, targeting the need for desegregation and civil rights. In December 1956, Smith wrote

7100-415: The same meaning. Class distinction became linked as the fashion of female homoeroticism passed. Tribades were simultaneously considered members of the lower class trying to ruin virtuous women, and representatives of an aristocracy corrupt with debauchery. Satirical writers began to suggest that political rivals (or more often, their wives) engaged in tribadism in order to harm their reputations. Queen Anne

7200-407: The same term This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lillian_Smith&oldid=1073690599 " Category : Human name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

7300-526: The soon-to-be-named Joan Crawford . Homosexuals began to draw comparisons between their newly recognized minority status and that of African Americans. Among African American residents of Harlem , lesbian relationships were common and tolerated, though not overtly embraced. Some women staged lavish wedding ceremonies, even filing licenses using masculine names with New York City. Most homosexual women were married to men and participated in affairs with women regularly. Across town, Greenwich Village also saw

7400-749: The study's definition of sexual contact, and introduced other factors such as deeper connections existing between women that make frequent sexual relations redundant, greater sexual fluidity in women causing them to move from heterosexual to bisexual to lesbian numerous times through their lives—or reject the labels entirely. Further arguments attested that the study was flawed and misrepresented accurate sexual contact between women, or sexual contact between women has increased since 1983 as many lesbians find themselves freer to sexually express themselves. More discussion on gender and sexual orientation identity has affected how many women label or view themselves. Most people in western culture are taught that heterosexuality

7500-425: The term trepesthai (to be focused on) instead of eros , which was applied to other erotic relationships between men, and between men and women. Historian Nancy Rabinowitz argues that ancient Greek red vase images which portray women with their arms around another woman's waist, or leaning on a woman's shoulders can be construed as expressions of romantic desire. Much of the daily lives of women in ancient Greece

7600-441: The time because of the intense backlash that would have come with it. Starting in 1936, Smith and Snelling together published a literary magazine called South Today. One of the ways Smith started openly discussing the problems of segregation was during her counseling of campers at Laurel Falls. This period, also referred to as the creative control over the camp, allowed her to use it as a place to discuss modern social issues, like

7700-420: The topics she wrote about: women's daily lives, their relationships, and rituals. She focused on the beauty of women and proclaimed her love for girls. Before the mid-19th century, the word lesbian referred to any derivative or aspect of Lesbos, including a type of wine . In Algernon Charles Swinburne 's 1866 poem "Sapphics", the term lesbian appears twice but capitalized both times after twice mentioning

7800-629: The wedding party—continued to appear for the next century. Outside Europe, women were able to dress as men and go undetected. Deborah Sampson fought in the American Revolution under the name Robert Shurtlieff, and pursued relationships with women. Edward De Lacy Evans was born female in Ireland, but took a male name during the voyage to Australia and lived as a man for 23 years in Victoria, marrying three times. Percy Redwood created

7900-496: The wide usage of the word was defined by erotic proclivities. Discussion from historians caused further questioning of what qualifies as a lesbian relationship. As lesbian-feminists asserted, a sexual component was unnecessary in declaring oneself a lesbian if the primary and closest relationships were with women. When considering past relationships within appropriate historic context, there were times when love and sex were separate and unrelated notions. In 1989, an academic cohort named

8000-429: The word lesbianism to describe erotic relationships between women had been documented in 1870. In 1890, the term lesbian was used in a medical dictionary as an adjective to describe tribadism (as "lesbian love"). The terms lesbian , invert and homosexual were interchangeable with sapphist and sapphism around the turn of the 20th century. The use of lesbian in medical literature became prominent; by 1925,

8100-424: The word was recorded as a noun to mean the female equivalent of a sodomite . The development of medical knowledge was a significant factor in further connotations of the term lesbian. In the middle of the 19th century, medical writers attempted to establish ways to identify male homosexuality, which was considered a significant social problem in most Western societies. In categorizing behavior that indicated what

8200-478: Was aimed at lesbians and male transvestites . These publications were controlled by men as owners, publishers, and writers. Around 1926, Selli Engler founded Die BIF – Blätter Idealer Frauenfreundschaften ( The BIF – Papers on Ideal Women Friendships ), the first lesbian publication owned, published and written by women. In 1928, the lesbian bar and nightclub guide Berlins lesbische Frauen ( The Lesbians of Berlin ) by Ruth Margarite Röllig further popularized

8300-591: Was caused by childhood trauma and was curable. The publicity Hall received was due to unintended consequences; the novel was tried for obscenity in London, a spectacularly scandalous event described as " the crystallizing moment in the construction of a visible modern English lesbian subculture" by professor Laura Doan. Newspaper stories frankly divulged that the book's content includes "sexual relations between Lesbian women", and photographs of Hall often accompanied details about lesbians in most major print outlets within

8400-613: Was considered "the epitome of virtuous romantic friendship" and inspired poetry by Anna Seward and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow . Diarist Anne Lister , captivated by Butler and Ponsonby, recorded her affairs with women between 1817 and 1840. Some of it was written in code, detailing her sexual relationships with Marianna Belcombe and Maria Barlow. Both Lister and Eleanor Butler were considered masculine by contemporary news reports, and though there were suspicions that these relationships were sapphist in nature, they were nonetheless praised in literature. Romantic friendships were also popular in

8500-523: Was demanded of nuns who "rode" each other or were discovered to have touched each other's breasts. An Italian nun named Sister Benedetta Carlini was documented to have seduced many of her sisters when possessed by a Divine spirit named "Splenditello"; to end her relationships with other women, she was placed in solitary confinement for the last 40 years of her life. Female homoeroticism was so common in English literature and theater that historians suggest it

8600-658: Was economic independence, which virtually disappeared in the 1930s with the Great Depression . Most women in the U.S. found it necessary to marry to a " front " such as a gay man where both could pursue homosexual relationships with public discretion, or to a man who expected a traditional wife. Independent women in the 1930s were generally seen as holding jobs that men should have. The social attitude made very small and close-knit communities in large cities that centered around bars, while simultaneously isolating women in other locales. Speaking of homosexuality in any context

8700-411: Was exposed by a woman with whom she had had a previous affair and sentenced to time in the stocks and prison. Queen Christina of Sweden 's tendency to dress as a man was well known during her time and excused because of her noble birth. She was brought up as a male and there was speculation at the time that she was a hermaphrodite. Even after Christina abdicated the throne in 1654 to avoid marriage, she

8800-474: Was fashionable for a period during the Renaissance . Englishwoman Mary Frith has been described as lesbian in academic study. Ideas about women's sexuality were linked to contemporary understanding of female physiology. The vagina was considered an inward version of the penis; where nature's perfection created a man, often nature was thought to be trying to right itself by prolapsing the vagina to form

8900-960: Was known to pursue romantic relationships with women. Some historians view cases of cross-dressing women to be manifestations of women seizing power they would naturally be unable to enjoy in feminine attire, or their way of making sense out of their desire for women. Lillian Faderman argues that Western society was threatened by women who rejected their feminine roles. Catharine Linck and other women who were accused of using dildos, such as two nuns in 16th century Spain executed for using "material instruments", were punished more severely than those who did not. Two marriages between women were recorded in Cheshire , England, in 1707 (between Hannah Wright and Anne Gaskill) and 1708 (between Ane Norton and Alice Pickford) with no comment about both parties being female. Reports of clergymen with lax standards who performed weddings—and wrote their suspicions about one member of

9000-415: Was largely ignored by critics of the time. Paula Snelling was one of the individuals Lillian Smith was closest to. They shared a job as co-directors of Laurel Falls Camp for Girls. Snelling also worked as a school teacher and librarian outside of the girls camp and she wrote as well, but not much is known about her specific works. Paula Snelling was Lillian Smith's lifelong partner, but they were not out at

9100-511: Was not without resources, however, and relocated to their summer residence in the mountains of Clayton , Georgia , where her father had previously purchased property. There, the family operated the Laurel Falls Camp for Girls starting in 1920. As a young adult financially on her own, Smith was free to pursue her love of music and teaching. She spent a year studying at Piedmont College in Demorest , Georgia, (1915–16). She also had two stints at

9200-667: Was punishable by death in England, acknowledgment of sexual contact between women was nonexistent in medical and legal texts. The earliest law against female homosexuality appeared in France in 1270. In Spain, Italy, and the Holy Roman Empire, sodomy between women was included in acts considered unnatural and punishable by burning to death, although few instances are recorded of this taking place. The earliest such execution occurred in Speier, Germany , in 1477. Forty days' penance

9300-476: Was recorded about homosexual activity between Greek women. There is some speculation that similar relationships existed between women and girls — the poet Alcman used the term aitis, as the feminine form of aites — which was the official term for the younger participant in a pederastic relationship. Aristophanes , in Plato 's Symposium , mentions women who are romantically attracted to other women, but uses

9400-407: Was referred to as " inversion " by German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld , researchers categorized what was normal sexual behavior for men and women, and therefore to what extent men and women varied from the "perfect male sexual type" and the "perfect female sexual type". Far less literature focused on female homosexual behavior than on male homosexuality, as medical professionals did not consider it

9500-550: Was rumored to have a passionate relationship with Sarah Churchill , Duchess of Marlborough, her closest adviser and confidante. When Churchill was ousted as the queen's favorite, she purportedly spread allegations of the queen having affairs with her bedchamberwomen. Marie Antoinette was also the subject of such speculation for some months between 1795 and 1796. Hermaphroditism appeared in medical literature enough to be considered common knowledge, although cases were rare. Homoerotic elements in literature were pervasive, specifically

9600-615: Was socially forbidden, and women rarely discussed lesbianism even amongst themselves; they referred to openly gay people as "in the Life". Freudian psychoanalytic theory was pervasive in influencing doctors to consider homosexuality as a neurosis afflicting immature women. Homosexual subculture disappeared in Germany with the rise of the Nazis in 1933. The onset of World War II caused a massive upheaval in people's lives as military mobilization engaged millions of men. Women were also accepted into

9700-404: Was thought to have uncontrollable desires because of her engorged clitoris was called a "tribade" (literally, one who rubs). Not only was an abnormally engorged clitoris thought to create lusts in some women that led them to masturbate, but pamphlets warning women about masturbation leading to such oversized organs were written as cautionary tales. For a while, masturbation and lesbian sex carried

9800-489: Was viewed even more negatively in Southern society than desegregation . Smith and Snelling began publishing a small quarterly literary magazine, Pseudopodia , in 1936. The magazine encouraged writers, Black or White, to offer honest assessments of modern Southern life and to work for social and economic reform; it criticized those who ignored the Old South 's poverty and racial injustice. It quickly gained regional fame as

9900-408: Was widely read and helped to create public consciousness of female homosexuality. The sexologists' claims that homosexuality was a congenital anomaly were generally well-accepted by homosexual men; it indicated that their behavior was not inspired by nor should be considered a criminal vice, as was widely acknowledged. In the absence of any other material to describe their emotions, homosexuals accepted

10000-664: Was widespread. Large cities that provided a nightlife were immensely popular, and women began to seek out sexual adventure. Bisexuality became chic, particularly in America's first gay neighborhoods. No location saw more visitors for its possibilities of homosexual nightlife than Harlem , the predominantly African American section of New York City . White "slummers" enjoyed jazz , nightclubs, and anything else they wished. Blues singers Ma Rainey , Bessie Smith , Ethel Waters , and Gladys Bentley sang about affairs with women to visitors such as Tallulah Bankhead , Beatrice Lillie , and

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