adjective
Sapphic is an umbrella term describing women or vulva-owners and non-binary, woman-aligned people who are sexually attracted to other women.
What Does Sapphic Mean?
The term is an adjective describing romantic or sexual attraction between women. It can refer to lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, or queer women who are attracted to women, so the sapphic definition does not necessarily mean attraction exclusively to lesbian women.
And like many sexual definitions, the overall question of what does sapphic mean has morphed, split, and changed many times over the decades. As with most things we encounter or come to define in our sexuality, the answer to what is sapphic comes down to the individuals who might be involved in this kind of a relationship.
History of Sapphic
The word “sapphic” comes from Sappho, an ancient Greek poet who lived on the island of Lesbos around 600 BCE.
Her poetry explores love, longing, desire, beauty, and admiration for women, which is why her name is so closely associated with sapphic love and women-loving-women.
Most of Sappho’s poetry survives only in fragments, preserved through quotations by other ancient writers and scraps of papyrus. However, the surviving passages offer some beautiful examples of poetry that can be read as expressions of desire and affection between women.
The word’s development has several stages:
- Ancient origins: The Greek word Sapphikos meant “of Sappho.” It passed into Latin as Sapphicus and into French as saphique before entering English.
- Around 1500: The term appeared in English primarily as a literary term describing Sappho’s poetry and its distinctive verse structure. “Sapphic verse” still carries that meaning today.
- Later romantic and sexual associations: English texts define sapphic with love between women by at least the eighteenth century. Related terms, including “sapphism,” became more common in the late nineteenth century, particularly in medical and literary discussions of relationships between women. The sexual meaning therefore developed alongside the older poetic meaning.
Sapphic love and sapphic romance
While these two terms overlap, they emphasize slightly different things.
Sapphic love describes the feelings and bond involved in loving another woman: affection, emotional intimacy, care, and possibly romantic or sexual attraction. It can describe an established partnership as well as feelings that have not developed into a relationship.
Sapphic romance emphasizes the romantic relationship or experience: courtship, flirting, dating, and falling in love. In books, films, and television, it also describes stories centered on a romance between women.
There is no strict dividing line between what is sapphic romance and what is sapphic love. Both terms can describe the same relationship, and neither requires sexual activity.
Love & Romance In Modern Times
In our current culture, there is no strict dividing line between love and romance. With our sexual mores having undergone a Herculean shift since the start of the decade, these terms often describe the same relationship, with neither requiring sexual activity.
“Sapphic” is presently broader than “lesbian”: lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, and queer women may describe their love this way. Some nonbinary people also use the term when it fits their identity and relationships.
For example, a romance between two women can be described as such, even if one identifies as lesbian and the other as bisexual. The term describes their connection without requiring them to share the same sexual orientation.
Unlike “lesbian,” this term does not necessarily imply attraction exclusively to lesbian women. A bisexual woman in a relationship with another woman, for example, might describe their relationship similarly, while continuing to identify as bisexual.
You will also encounter the word in phrases such as “sapphic films,” and “sapphic community.” These describe women-loving-women themes or shared experiences, rather than one specific sexual orientation.
Generally, the word is presently defined as broader term for attraction or love between women, so bisexual, pansexual, and queer women can also identify in this way. Some nonbinary people use the term when it fits their identity and experiences.
The term is moreover a label people can choose for themselves, rather than something automatically assigned based on their appearance, friendships, or relationship status.
Examples of Sappho’s Poetry
From the Muses:
Thrill my heart that throbs with unwonted fervor,
Chasten mouth and throat with immortal kisses,
Till I yield on maddening heights the very
Breath of my body.
From LOVE’S BANQUET
Come thou, foam-born Kypris, and pour in dainty
Cups of amber gold thy delicate nectar,
Subtly mixed with fire that will swiftly kindle
Love in our bosoms;
So to me and my Lesbians round me gathered,
Each made mine, an amphor of love long tasted,
Bid us drink, who sigh for thy thrill ecstatic,
Passion’s full goblet;
Grant me this, O Kypris, and on thy altar
Dawn will see a goat of the breed of Naxos,
Snowy doves from Cos and the drip of rarest
Lesbian vintage;
For a regal taste is mine and the glowing
Zenith-lure and beauty of suns must brighten
Love for me, that ever upon perfection
Trembles elusive.
From THE FIRST KISS
And down I set the cushion
Upon the couch that she,
Relaxed supine upon it,
Might give her lips to me.
As some enamored priestess
At Aphrodite’s shrine,
Entranced I bent above her
With sense of the divine.
She had, by nature nubile,
In years a child, no hint
Of any secret knowledge
Of passion’s least intent.
Her mouth for immolation
Was ripe, and mine the art;
And one long kiss of passion
Deflowered her virgin heart.
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