Lesbophobia is, like lesbianism itself, invisibalised in favour of more respected social forms. The wider amorphous ‘homophobia’ serves today as a catchall for any anti-gay sentiment, but it only really captures what gay men face: prejudice and discrimination based on their sexuality i.e same-sex attraction (to other men). Anti-gay prejudice experienced by men is pure homophobia, whereas lesbophobia is purely misogynistic. It is not the same-sex element of lesbianism, that two women engage sexually together that is objected to (as we know, many people enjoy watching depictions of lesbianism in porn and heterosexual women will perform lesbianism for men’s arousal). It is the sexual prohibition against men that is hated and is the root cause of lesbophobia
What form does lesbophobia take practically? Prejudice and harassment at work are common, manifesting in the form of lesbophobic comments, often poorly disguised as ‘banter’ or ‘jokes’ (always at lesbians’ expense) that actually amount to sexualisation, sexual bullying, and sexual degradation. Within the workplace lesbians are targeted for a lack of conformity as women, despite it being far from the site of the family (the home). For some us we do not need to ‘come out’ at work, it is already guessed by everyone we meet that we are lesbians due to, basically, gender non-conformity in terms of appearance, mannerism, gait, voice, and distance from the behavioural norms expected of women (femininity).
However unique or unusual lesbians as women sometimes are, what we are subjected to in terms of lesbophobia is related to the universal status of women and indicative of how hotly policed women overall are. Being reduced to our sexuality is a universal diminishment all women face. If for lesbians, explicit refusal to have a sexuality that is available to men, lesbophobia represents a particular height of misogyny; that a woman is worthless and to be demeaned if she does not accrue legitimacy in the eyes of men. Lesbophobia directly stems from a woman who enforces a sexual boundary because her refusal encapsulates the possibility of any other woman refusing to be sexualised by men. Lesbians represent a “no” to men that is unfathomable at best, and violently hated at worst
(From onthewomanquestion.com )