Lesbian vs. A Lesbian.

[ClaudiaWankleman]

I just caught myself using the words ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ differently.

Usage being ‘he is gay, and she is a lesbian’. Ie adjective versus noun.

I wouldn’t ever say ‘he is a gay’, as it sounds wrong and slightly offensive.

Should I be making the effort to use lesbian as an adjective too? My thoughts are that 1) the act of using the two words differently is in itself unequal (especially as they are really just gendered terms for homosexual), and 2) lesbian is just one facet of a person and the adjective form seems to encompass this better than the noun.

On the other hand, lesbian women may see being lesbian as a prominent and important part of their identity and therefore not mind?

Am I overthinking this? Is my use of language sub optimal here?

That’s just the standard usage of the words. I think you’re over thinking a bit. It’s odd though isn’t it that whilst for most group being referred to as ‘a whatever’ is considered offensive it is completely fine for lesbians.

Of course I could just be having a PC fail here. I will equally happily call myself a gay. Just don’t call me queer.

She is lesbian is correct grammar - I'm not sure why it doesn't seem to be used much anymore. A lesbian is fine also. A gay is a bit Little Britain isn't it?

Is there a single word for ‘a homosexual male’?

An inoffensive one, I mean?

I wouldn’t worry about it too much. If they felt they needed one they’d invent it.

I thought about this a while ago when I was watching The Island with Bear Grylls and someone referred to Paris Lee as “A Trans” which Paris took offence to and pointed out that you wouldn’t say “a gay” as it’s insulting. I realised then the double standard as you absolutely would say ‘a lesbian’.

"the act of using the two words differently is in itself unequal (especially as they are really just gendered terms for homosexual)"
I'd say sexed rather than gendered BTW. They are unequal, because the very act of naming female homosexuals (as opposed to male) came along fairly late. Gay is just a reclaiming, and can be used to mean a gay woman or a gay man. But all too often, just gay gets used when it means gay people of either and/or both sexes, and then (as I have frequently complained to the BBC) illustrated by pictures of two gay men. Whereas lesbian includes the history of Sappho, so is female-specific and celebrates womens history. As regards usage, saying 'a gay' as a shortening of 'a gay person' is different to shortening 'a lesbian woman' or 'a lesbian person', because (until recently!), you could only be a lesbian if you were also female. So lesbian woman adds nothing compared to just lesbian (although perhaps unless you wanted to distinguish between lesbian girls and lesbian women).

And I've now just realised that the OP seems to think that lesbian and gay are both sexed terms! Gay never used to mean (just) gay men. Although unfortunately lesbian seems to be very unfashionable at the moment, and people are referring to themselves as 'gay women' instead. When people stop using the word lesbian, I always get suspicious!

I am happy to be described as a lesbian. It's fine.

As regards usage, saying 'a gay' as a shortening of 'a gay person' is different to shortening 'a lesbian woman' or 'a lesbian person', because (until recently!), you could only be a lesbian if you were also female
The definition HAS NOT CHANGED!!! ONLY FEMALES CAN BE LESBIANS!!!

Personally I'm pulling for a boost in popularity for Sapphist, just for the imperious sound of the word.

Given how often male is the default, I don't think a male-specific word for gay men is needed (and as the OP shows, some people already effectively assume gay means gay man). I do worry about the lack of usage of lesbian yet again, women's history and lesbian history erased,. Literally in the case of Anne Lister where the bloody original plaque described her as a gender-nonconforming entrepreneur coal-mines more interesting than lesbianism, obviously!

I can't remember the quote about lesbians, sapphists and dykes.................From a poem? Anyone?????

Isn’t Sapphist a gorgeous word?

I wonder if gay gets used without an article because it's a kind of holdover from the older meaning? As in, "he is happy and gay."

If you're poor,
then you're a dyke.
If you're rich,
you're sapphic,
but if you're neither one nor the other,
a lesbian, a lesbian is what you'll have to be...........

Eleanor Hakim, from Monique Wittig and Sande Zeig, 'Lesbian Peoples, materials for a dictionary'........which is WHY it took me so long to find, the Monique Wittig stuff being rather obscure, and rather hard to understand even when you have found it!

Are you serious, Chillz? You know it comes from "Lesbos", right? The "bi" part has nothing to do with bisexuality.

SomeDyke, that's so true!! Sapphic has definite pretensions. Possibly because whenever I've heard it used it was only with mild, indulgent disapproval by the upper classes in period dramas. There's a touch of the Downtons about it.

chillz is taking the p, surely?

I came out as a lesbian; owning it was a challenging thing to do and be. I'm not interested in being renamed thanks. Especially in this era of lesbian erasure.

My mind doesn't snag on the 'bi', especially as it's pronounced 'bee', not 'by'. Are Colombians bisexual too?

Has anyone told the Gambians, Serbians, Arabians and amphibians? Chances are they'll want to know about this.

Incidentally, I think the fact that lesbian sounds right when used as both a noun and adjective is more to do with the structure of the word itself, and its -an ending, typical of words denoting place of origin (e.g. Lesbos). Like American, German, Italian etc, which can all be used as both nouns and adjectives, unlike French or English, for example).

Is there a way to edit posts once published? Typos...

I think we should drop Lesbian, because it is a word to describe female homosexuals but it contains the word 'bi' which is attraction to men and women. Les-bi-an.

I would add to this that we should also drop the word 'hamster' because our brains snag on the 'ham' part and rodents are not traditionally made of cured pig meats.