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| | + | '''Lesbianism''' is [[sex]]ual activity or attraction between [[women]]. Female [[homosexual]]s are often called '''lesbians''' (after the [[Greek]] island of [[Lesbos]], home of [[Sappho]]). Homosexuality normally focuses on men more than in women, but the problem is not minor. Women who are attracted to both women and men are called [[bisexual]]s. |
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| | + | The word "lesbian" was first used in the late 16th century. Lesbianism is also called ''sapphism'' or ''female homosexuality''. (Sappho penned love sonnets to women. She lived from 610-580 B.C.) |
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| | + | In 1997, the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention Program included lesbians as a priority population.<ref>[http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/conference/ppt/linda_ellis.ppt#291,3, Progress has been made in recognizing lesbians as a target population]</ref> |
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| | + | <blockquote> |
| | + | In the United States, estimates of lifetime same-sex behavior among women are 8%–20%, and 1.4%–4.3% of all women may be sexually active with other women. An estimated 2.3 million women describe themselves as lesbian. In its 1999 report, Lesbian Health: Current Assessment and Directions for the Future, the Institute of Medicine emphasized that more data on sexually transmitted infections (STIs), Pap smear screening, and risk for cervical cancer in lesbians were needed.<ref>[http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol10no11/04-0622_08.htm Lesbians and Infectious Diseases]</ref> |
| | + | </blockquote> |
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| | + | ==Lesbianism and Health Issues== |
| | + | ''For more information please see:'' [[Lesbianism and Obesity]] |
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| | + | [[File:11834504 3cc3c49559.jpg|175px|right|thumbnail|In April of 2007, the ''American Journal of Public Health'' analyzed data from 2002 National Survey of Family Growth and the data suggested that [[United States|American]] lesbian women were 2.69 times more likely to be overweight and 2.47 times more likely to be obese than all other female sexual orientation groups. |
| | + | <ref name="ajph">[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17463369&ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum Overweight and Obesity in Sexual-Minority Women: Evidence From Population-Based Data, Ulrike Boehmer, Deborah J. Bowen, Greta R. Bauer, American Journal of Public Health, 2007 Jun;97(6):1134-40. E pub 2007 Apr 26.]</ref> |
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| | + | <small>(photo obtained from [http://www.flickr.com/photos/wader/11834504/ Flickr], see [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en license agreement])</small> ]] |
| | + | In regards to lesbianism and obesity, in April of 2007, the ''American Journal of Public Health'' analyzed data from 2002 National Survey of Family Growth and the data suggested that [[United States|American]] lesbian women were 2.69 times more likely to be overweight and 2.47 times more likely to be obese than all other female sexual orientation groups. |
| | + | <ref name="ajph">[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17463369&ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum Overweight and Obesity in Sexual-Minority Women: Evidence From Population-Based Data, Ulrike Boehmer, Deborah J. Bowen, Greta R. Bauer, American Journal of Public Health, 2007 Jun;97(6):1134-40. E pub 2007 Apr 26.]</ref> The abstract for this study indicated that "lesbians are at greater risk for morbidity and mortality linked to overweight and obesity." <ref name="ajph" /> |
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| | + | In 2009, the ''PubMed'' article abstract for a Polish psychiatry journal ''Psychiatria Polska'' article declared: |
| | + | {{Cquote|Homosexual women are less concentrated on physical appearance and more satisfied with their bodies while being more tolerant to obesity.... For lesbian women the ideal body image is more massive than for heterosexual women.<ref>http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19694404?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=1</ref>}} |
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| | + | In 2007, a purported lesbian wrote to [[Andrew Sullivan]], the political commentator and administrator of ''The Daily Dish'' blog: |
| | + | {{Cquote|And - oh heck, I'll admit it - aesthetics have value, too! As a woman, I may not be as focused on looks as men are predisposed to be, but I sure am tired of seeing so many queer ladies out there who are way past 200 pounds. Way, way past. Sorry, but no amount of "fat acceptance" is going to make that a pleasant sight - gay, straight, butch, femme, male or female.<ref>http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/05/obesity_and_les.html</ref>}} |
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| | + | However, liberals assert that lesbians are considered to be amongst the lowest risk groups for some STDs including HIV <ref name="HIV">[http://www.metrokc.gov/health/glbT/lbstd.htm]</ref> |
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| | + | ==See Also== |
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| | + | *[[Homosexuality and health]] |
| | + | *[[Gertrude Stein]] |
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| | + | == External links == |
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| | + | *[http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9384264 Lesbianism] Encyclopædia Britannica. |
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| | + | ==References== |
| | + | {{reflist|2}} |
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| − | God loves lesbians. He's made that very clear. God himself origanaly wanted eve and eve, but relized that it would be to hot for the bible.
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| | [[Category:Homosexuality]] | | [[Category:Homosexuality]] |
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| | [[Category:Sexuality]] | | [[Category:Sexuality]] |