The love of two women is called lesbianism, and the participants in such a relationship are called lesbians. Today, such homosexual relationships practically do not cause any misunderstanding in society. Moreover, more and more same-sex marriages are concluded, and in the future, such families even have children.
The term "lesbianism" dates back to ancient Greece from the name of the island of Lesbos, where the poet Sappho lived. In her poems, she praised same-sex love between women. Also in history there are references to same-sex relationships in ancient Sparta and ancient China, from which it can be concluded that lesbian relationships were previously considered quite common and socially acceptable phenomenon.
Currently, the inhabitants of the island of Lesvos consider offensive terms derived from its name, denoting homosexual relationships. The words "lesbian" and others are purely geographical terms here.
Until the end of the nineteenth century, female homosexuality remained virtually unnoticed compared to male homosexuality, prohibited by law and heatedly discussed in the press. Gradually, female homosexuality began to be considered a mental disorder. For example, Sigmund Freud in his book "Three Articles on the Theory of Sexuality" called it "inversion", and the participants - "inverts". He attributed male characteristics to female inverts. Freud was guided by the idea of the "third field" proposed by Magnus Hirschfeld. Later, Freud's interpretation of lesbian behavior was rejected by the world's leading scientists and sexologists.
The popularization of lesbianism as a social and cultural phenomenon was facilitated by the publications of sexologists Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, Richard von Kraft-Ebing, Havelock Ellis, Eduard Carpenter and Magnus Hirschfeld.
In modern society, the attitude towards lesbianism is ambiguous. There are countries where same-sex marriage is legalized, for example, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, etc. In Russian legislation, lesbianism is understood as a sexual relationship between women. It is allowed, but only if it occurs by mutual agreement of partners. Same-sex marriage is prohibited in Russia.
Women in homosexual relationships usually follow a socially familiar lifestyle. In such families, one of the women most often plays a dominant role, and her behavior is similar to that of a man: such women wear men's clothes, try to speak in a low voice, prefer to do rough work, make a short haircut, and sometimes even try to grow stubble on their face or wear overhead mustache and beard.
Lesbian couples cannot have their own children (unless one of the partners or both of them become artificially pregnant by going to the clinic), therefore, in those countries where this is allowed, they raise an adopted child. Studies by sociologists and psychologists show that children brought up in such families most often grow up without any mental or physical disabilities.
Lesbians are sexually attracted to each other and may well experience feelings of love. Sexual contacts between them occur by stimulating each other's genitals in various ways, for example, orally, with the help of hands, rubbing against each other or with special devices. There are also known couples who are exclusively in platonic relationships, that is, they have a feeling of love for each other, but avoid sexual contact.
