Poly-Lesbian

Poly-Lesbian flag (beyond-mogai-pride-flags)

A Poly-Lesbian or Ply-Lesbian is someone who identifies as both polysexual, polyromantic, or otherwise ply- and a lesbian.

Some poly-lesbians use the Split Attraction Model. They may feel one form of attraction to many but not all genders, and another form of attraction to women or non-men, for example, sexual attraction to many but not all genders, and romantic attraction to only non-men. The term is also used often by those who are ply but focus wholly or primarily on their attraction to women or non-men, and sometimes those who view their attraction to non-men as attraction to all genders besides men.

Others may use lesbian in a historical context, the term lesbian used to apply to any woman who was in a relationship with another woman, and many ply women, non-binary, and woman-aligned folks still use the word for this reason. A similar interpretation views lesbian as an umbrella term for any exclusive, near-exclusive, or more prominent queer attraction to women or non-men, which would include m-spec folks who have a more prominent or near-exclusive woman/non-men attraction.

The poly-lesbian label is also used by some individuals with fluid attraction, duosexuality, or abrosexuality between ply and lesbian, folks who feel within the grey area between ply and lesbian, those within a usually small system that contains primarily ply and lesbian members, those who are attracted to multigender individuals, and many more.

The term falls under the lunian or m-spec lesbian umbrella and its counterparts consist of omni-lesbian, bi-lesbian, and pan-lesbian.

History & Coining[]

The history of m-spec lesbians as a whole can be found in the bi-lesbian history section. Whilst bi-lesbian was the term used in the 1970s, those who would have identified as other m-spec identities had they existed at the time are still included in m-spec and bi-lesbian history - the history of bi-lesbianism applies to all m-spec lesbians.

Flag[]

What is possibly the first poly-lesbian flag was designed by beyond-mogai-pride-flags on Tumblr on June 5th, 2018. It is not commonly referred to due to it containing clear aspects of the transphobic and plagiarised lipstick lesbian flag.

A poly-lesbian flag and symbol were created by Tumblr user bi-lesbian. The symbol was first introduced on August 12th, 2020, and the flag on January 19th, 2020.

Another poly-lesbian flag was created by Tumblr user kenochoric on October 28th, 2020.

Resources[]

Many resources linked on the bi-lesbian page still apply here.

https://bi-lesbian.tumblr.com/post/190351523603/bi-lesbian-pan-lesbian - flag coining (user bi-lesbian)

https://bi-lesbian.tumblr.com/post/626223039823101952?is_related_post=1 - symbol coining

https://kenochoric.tumblr.com/post/633337360168484864/pridewiki-i-wanted-to-try-and-make-some-m-spec - flag coining (user kenochoric)