Thursday 1 May 2008

links:
Lesbos islanders dispute gay name- BBC News- 1 May 2008

Campaigners on the Greek island of Lesbos are to go to court in an attempt to stop a gay rights organisation from using the term "lesbian". The islanders say that if they are successful they may then start to fight the word lesbian internationally. The issue boils down to who has the right to call themselves Lesbians. Is it gay women, or the 100,000 people living on Greece's third biggest island - plus another 250,000 expatriates who originate from Lesbos?
The man spearheading the case, publisher Dimitris Lambrou, claims that international dominance of the word in its sexual context violates the human rights of the islanders, and disgraces them around the world.
I'm not certain that his next bit is relevant to the argument, but it is certainly relevant to the theme of my blog, being the fate of the artist, and the posthumous fate of his or her name, or in this case the name of her place of origin:
The term lesbian originated from the poet Sappho, who was a native of Lesbos. (and she) expressed her love of other women in poetry written during the 7th Century BC. ... new historical research has discovered that Sappho had a family, and committed suicide for the love of a man.
Meanwhile: vagina crockery

(links via wee hayley campbell)

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Some of the women at AfterEllen.com have suggestions for alternatives, including Gayelle, Saphian and Vaginain.

2 May 2008 at 07:19:00 GMT-5  

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