Brogan, Donna; Frank, Erica; Elon, Lisa; O'Hanlan, Katherine A. (2001). "Methodologic Concerns in Defining Lesbian for Health Research". Epidemiology. 12 (1): 109–113. doi: 10.1097/00001648-200101000-00018. PMID 11138804. S2CID 6560616.

According to the 12th-century writings of Sharif al-Idrisi, highly intelligent women were more likely to be lesbians; their intellectual prowess put them on a more even par with men. [153] Relations between women who lived in harems and fears of women being sexually intimate in Turkish baths were expressed in writings by men. Women were mostly silent, and men likewise rarely wrote about lesbian relationships. It is unclear to historians if the rare instances of lesbianism mentioned in literature are an accurate historical record or intended to serve as fantasies for men. A 1978 treatise about repression in Iran asserted that women were completely silenced: "In the whole of Iranian history, [no woman] has been allowed to speak out for such tendencies ... To attest to lesbian desires would be an unforgivable crime." [153]Hermaphroditism appeared in medical literature enough to be considered common knowledge, although cases were rare. Homoerotic elements in literature were pervasive, specifically 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). [61] 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, [62] [63] or in contemporary sociology characterised as transgender, is debated and depends on the individual details of each case. The two women had a relationship that was hailed as devoted and virtuous, after eloping and living 51 years together in Wales. a b c Farr, Rachel H.; Diamond, Lisa M.; Boker, Steven M. (2014). "Female Same-Sex Sexuality from a Dynamical Systems Perspective: Sexual Desire, Motivation, and Behavior". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 43 (8): 1477–1490. doi: 10.1007/s10508-014-0378-z. ISSN 0004-0002. PMC 4199863. PMID 25193132.

Stearn, William T. (May 1962). "The Origin of the Male and Female Symbols of Biology" (PDF). Taxon. 11 (4): 109–113. doi: 10.2307/1217734. ISSN 0040-0262. JSTOR 1217734 . Retrieved 23 July 2019. In the 15th and 16th centuries, French and English depictions of relationships between women ( Lives of Gallant Ladies by Brantôme in 1665, John Cleland's 1749 erotica Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, L'Espion Anglais by various authors in 1778), writers' attitudes spanned from amused tolerance to arousal, whereupon a male character would participate to complete the act. Physical relationships between women were often encouraged; men felt no threat as they viewed sexual acts between women to be accepted when men were not available, and not comparable to fulfillment that could be achieved by sexual acts between men and women. [242] At worst, if a woman became enamored of another woman, she became a tragic figure. Physical and therefore emotional satisfaction was considered impossible without a natural phallus. Male intervention into relationships between women was necessary only when women acted as men and demanded the same social privileges. [243] In Bed by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1893). The Parisian artist employed the association between lesbianism and prostitution. [244]Swinburne, Algernon Charles (10 August 2021). "Sapphics". Poetry Foundation. Archived from the original on Oct 25, 2022. Some women arrived at the recruiting station in a man's suit, denied ever being in love with another woman, and were easily inducted. [113] 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 the armed forces either consciously or subconsciously refused to identify themselves as homosexual or lesbian, and also never spoke about others' orientation. [114] a b c Keller, Yvonne (June 2005). " "Was It Right to Love Her Brother's Wife so Passionately?": Lesbian Pulp Novels and U.S. Lesbian Identity, 1950-1965". American Quarterly. 57 (2): 385–410. ISSN 0003-0678. OCLC 1480637. Brendan (January 10, 2012). "Berlin's Lesbische Frauen". Cabaret Berlin. Archived from the original on 28 May 2020 . Retrieved 13 June 2020. (originally published by Slow Travel Berlin)