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Flag of lesbian pride.

Lesbianism refers to female homosexuality, that is, women who experience romantic love or sexual attraction to other women. The word lesbian (from lesbio 'a native of Lesbos', alluding to Sappho) is used to refer to a homosexual woman who feels sexual, physical, emotional and sentimental attraction only towards women.

Likewise, in certain contexts and times, the cult term sapphism and the poetic term tribadism are also used to refer to female homosexuality, whose respective adjectives Sapphic, -ca and tribada/tríbada refer to lesbians or lesbianism.

In the late 19th century, sexologists published their observations on same-sex desire and behavior and distinguished lesbians in Western culture as a distinctive entity. Since then, historians have re-examined relationships between women, questioning what it is that makes a woman or a relationship qualify as lesbian. The result of this debate has introduced three components when it comes to identifying lesbians: sexual behavior, sexual desire and sexual identity.