From the sodomite to the lesbian: gender in the representations of female homo-eroticism

Abstract

Based on an analysis of the juridical and clinical discourses about female homoeroticism produced in Portugal during the transition from the 19th to the 20th century, this article highlights the way it began to be closely aligned with gender, leading to a representation of the lesbian as a mannish woman. As in other European societies, in Portugal the crystallization of classification systems emerging along with sexology struggled to clearly define the boundaries between the new sexual categories and their use by others outside the scope of their origin, clouding a clear reading of their contents.