#mention of biphobia

According to the LGBTA wiki, the term “bi lesbian” dates from the 1970s and was used specifically in response to people policing the term “lesbian” and using it to exclude others: 

The label “bi lesbian” originated in the 1970s as a result of the effects of lesbian separatism, a belief within some strains of lesbian feminism and often within radical feminism which advocates for separating women from men in as many ways as possible as a strategy to achieve women’s liberation.^[1] Subsequently, this lead to lesbian separatists rejecting and often discriminating against women who refused to withdraw from their involvement with men, particularly bisexual women. Lesbian separatists accused bisexual women of “sleeping with the enemy” and forcefully removed them from lesbian spaces and from claiming the lesbian identity for themselves, by redefining it as “a homosexual female/woman” or “a woman who does not sleep with men/is not attracted to men”. It is because of lesbian separatism that the bisexual label became very popular starting in the 1970s, as the word to describe a woman who was attracted to other women before was “lesbian”, whether they were attracted exclusively or not, and now that had suddenly changed.

Emphasis mine. 

The site above cites sources of people using the term to describe their identities and doing so in reaction to exclusionists. 

From No Longer Lesbian: An Exploration of Alienation:

The Lesbian Separatist Movement started in the 1960s and was spearheaded by “political lesbians”, women who believed that being lesbian is a choice and feminism in practice. This term was defined by the Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group. As a result of this, bisexual women increasingly became viewed as anti-feminist traitors for “still fraternizing with the enemy despite being enlightened”, and trans women were deemed a misogynistic plot. A lot of political lesbians’ ideology was the precursor to TERF ideology, and political lesbianism still remains entrenched in some TERF circles. They mistrust bisexual women because, in their minds, anyone who had the consciousness to “choose” to be with women also has the consciousness to reject men too. Anyone who “chooses” to be with men despite that is suspect to political lesbians and TERFs*. This lead to the definition of lesbian shifting to meaning attracted to women in some capacity, to being attracted exclusively to women in the 70s, with it becoming more widespread in the 90s. As a result, mspec sapphics (bisexual and other orientations that include attraction to multiple genders) were thrown out of lesbian spaces and erased from lesbian history. The idea of lesbianism as the ultimate purity arose from this and is at the foundation of the ‘gold star’ and anti-mspec lesbian movements.

This piece goes on to explain how the above lead to the term “bi lesbian.” 

Be wary of people who say “this word means this thing and only this thing and cannot mean anything else and has never meant anything else.” Be wary of people whose goals are exclusion. 

Here are some other pieces I found related to the topic, several of which reference this same history:  

• The Bi-Lesbian: An Exploration of Identity in the Queer Community
• Fourth-Order Queer Nightmare Discourse
  
• Bi Women
• - THE BI LESBIAN EDUCATION MASTERPOST - 

I also found a number of academic sources about the term and its history, but they were behind paywalls so I couldn’t access them. 

Co-opting a term like this sounds straight out of the TERF playbook, so I can only imagine this is where people are getting the idea that they invented it. But everything I can find that cites sources indicates that TERFs are not the originators of the term. However, even if they were, the fact that real people identify this way to include trans people is paramount. 

You are welcome to find the term uncomfortable or hurtful or to be hurt by it. You are welcome to unfollow me. The fact remains that real people use this term to describe their identities and have done so for decades and that many of them use it specifically to be inclusive of trans people and specifically in reaction to anti-trans and anti-bi lesbian exclusionism. 

This is all I have to say on this topic. I might reply to other replies on this topic, but I probably won’t. Asks remain off. If my replies get too wild, I’ll turn them off entirely. 

amourduloup replied to your text post:

thank you for replying and welcoming disagreement. the only thing i have to add is that i understand the desire to respect how people choose to describe themselves and to not police their personal choices. however, these terms do carry meaning that are socially and politically important. also, and i say this not knowing anything about you, but if it is the case that you don’t identify as lesbian, bi or trans, it’s fine not to have a definite opinion! i appreciate you deciding to look for more information.

This reply makes me really happy. It means a lot that it’s possible to discuss these sensitive, and very personal, topics without assuming the worst of each other. I appreciate you and everyone else who took the time to reply so thoughtfully. 

wormieworms replied to your text post:

As a trans/bi person I will probs have to unfollow. Labels don’t exist in a vaccum and ppl cant identify as them just cause they “want” to. Ignoring these criticisms does not fight the terfs, it just ignores what real trans/bi/lesbian people are saying.

I’m sorry you feel that way and I’m sorry to see you go. I appreciate you sharing this. I don’t feel I’m ignoring these criticisms, but I understand why it seems that way to you. It really sucks feeling you’re not heard, and I’m sorry I made you feel that way.