What does sapphic mean? And why should we be using the term more?
I first came across the word, “sapphic” while researching more inclusive terms to describe a queer community I wanted to build in Austin, TX.
As a queer person in a new city, I often found myself searching for community in queer spaces. However, no matter the type of space, whether it was at pride, a gay bar, or a queer networking event at SXSW, I almost always found myself as the only queer woman in a sea of gay men. And although I’m in favor of celebrating gaggles of gay men, I still wanted to find my people.
Convinced that I wasn’t the only queer woman in the city, I went on Instagram, Facebook, and Meetup.com, and I found social groups for lesbians.
However, more often than not, I found myself uncomfortable with the “lesbians only” mentality that a loud minority of these groups had, even if their founders promised that the space was for not only lesbians, but all queer women, trans people, and non-binary people who feel in community with them.
So began my challenge: How do I create an inclusive space when language is a barrier?
Why wasn’t there a mainstream word that encompasses the underrepresented side of the queer spectrum? What do we call a space that’s welcoming to women of all queer sexual orientations, trans people, and non-binary people?
That’s when I and other community leaders in Austin, TX came across the word, “sapphic.”
Although “sapphic” is a newer term not just to me, but to the queer community as a whole, its origins actually trace back to 630 BCE to a poet by the name of Sappho.
Despite a scarcity of details about Sappho and her life, her poems serve as glimpses into her world and her profound insights into love, desire, and the human condition, especially that between women.
“Sweet mother, I cannot weave –
slender Aphrodite has overcome me
with longing for a girl.”
Beyond her poetry, Sappho and the Island of Lesvos in Greece where she lived has come to embody the essence of sapphic and lesbian identity.
The Island of Lesvos gave rise to the word “lesbian,” and it has been used widely for thousands of years to represent the love between two women alongside gay, for love between men, and bisexual, for love for both men and women.
However, as mainstream understanding of sex and gender has expanded, only having words to acknowledge a love between men, women, or both doesn’t quite encompass the full spectrum of love and genders that’s possible.
Because of this, more terms have emerged like pansexual and queer that acknowledges love regardless of gender. However, what was still missing for many queer people was a word to reference everyone in the queer community who is attracted to women, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
For example, a non-binary person who is attracted to women might not be comfortable with the term lesbian because they’re not a woman. Additionally, they might not be attracted to cisgendered men, making more encompassing sexual orientations identities like pansexual or queer feel incorrect as well.
Trans people especially have a hard time finding queer community after they transition.
“I spent the majority of my life as a lesbian, but after I went through my transition [as a trans man], I didn’t feel comfortable amongst straight or queer men, and I didn’t know if I would make queer women uncomfortable in their spaces because I was a man,” Chase Brunson, trans man and founder of Local Queer ATX in Austin TX says.
It’s important as a queer community that we spaces for everyone to feel safe in, and that safety often starts with the language we use to introduce the space.
Like Lesvos gave rise to Lesbian, Sappho’s “sapphic” might be the inclusive word we’ve been looking for.
While “lesbian” has historically been used to denote female same-sex attraction, “sapphic” defines a broader spectrum of identities and experiences, embracing anyone in the queer community who has love for women, including those who fall outside of the gender binary.
This is why the term sapphic has been embraced to describe queer people who are trans femme, trans masc, intersex, nonbinary, and cisgendered women of all queer sexual orientations.
Source: Sapphic Life Guide
Once I found the word sapphic, I founded the Austin Sapphics Discord to be a space for the sapphic community to chat between in-person local events.
Since 2021, Austin, TX has seen a rush of thriving communities like Sapphic Singles, and Sapphist Society pop up alongside inclusive queer groups like Local Queer ATX.
This focus on inclusive safe spaces for our community has made Austin, TX a thriving center for sapphic spaces that empower and bring people of all backgrounds and identities together.
