Rejoice! The WLW renaissance is here!<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Black Han Sans|||on|||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ header_4_font=”|||on|||||” header_4_text_align=”center” text_orientation=”center” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]
Words by Alice Hall<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2157868302.jpg” alt=”Chappell Roan” title_text=”2024 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival” force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″] If you\u2019ve been scrolling on TikTok recently, you might have come across the word \u2018Sapphism.\u2019 Broadly speaking, sapphic is an umbrella term that describes women who love women (WLW), which includes lesbians, bisexuals, pansexuals, trans women, non-binary people and more.<\/p>\n Although not a common term, the word has become more commonly used in recent years, thanks to a lesbian revival across popular culture, where sapphic representation is being put front and centre. Some of the stars leading the charge include Kristen Stewart (who recently married her partner Dylan Meyer), Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan and many more.<\/p>\n But if you\u2019re led scratching your head as to what sapphic means, fear not. We\u2019ve broken it down for you below.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″] Sapphic is an umbrella term for any woman attracted to women or in a relationship with another woman, regardless of their sexual orientations, and encompassing the romantic love between women. The term includes lesbians, bisexuals, pansexuals, trans women, non-binary people and more. The word differs from words like \u2018bisexual\u2019 and \u2018lesbian\u2019, because \u2018sapphic\u2019 could encapsulate any women, of any orientation, who love women.<\/p>\n You might recognise the word \u2018sapphic\u2019 from its flag, which consists of two pink stripes with a pale purple stripe in the middle. There are two violets on the centre stripe, which reflects the love between two women.<\/p>\n \u2018Some people consider \u201csapphic\u201d part of their sexual identity. It\u2019s often used as an adjective to describe things: art, literature, relationships, vibes. And for many, it has specific connotations. There\u2019s a romanticism to it, evoking deep, heady feelings for women\u2014not least due to the term\u2019s origins,\u2019 according to a blog in Feeld.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″] It might be the first time you\u2019ve heard of it, but sapphic actually dates way back. According to Merriam-Webster, the term derives from the Greek goddess Sappho, who notoriously resided on the Isle of Lesbos.<\/p>\n Sappho was a poet who lived at the time and wrote works with themes of yearning and desire between women. Thanks to Sappho\u2019s work, the women who lived on Lesbos were said to prefer each other, leading to the term lesbian.<\/p>\n The poetry saw a revival in the renaissance, where the term \u2018sapphic\u2019 became an adjective to describe women whose emotional and sexual preferences were other women. In the 1950s, \u201csapphic\u201d became a popular term to describe women who loved women in the US.<\/p>\n In the past few years, the term \u2018sapphic\u2019 has evolved to be more inclusive. It\u2019s become popular on social media, particularly TikTok where the word \u2018sapphic\u2019 has been hashtagged over 340,000 times.<\/p>\n Last year, lesbianism and sapphic representation flourished across celebrity world. One of the drivers of this was Chappel Roan. When she accepted her MTV Video Music Award in September 2024, she shared a message for \u2018all the queer kids in the Midwest watching right now,\u2019 continuing: \u2018I see you, I understand you because I\u2019m one of you, and don\u2019t ever let anyone tell you that you can\u2019t be exactly who you want to be.\u2019 Later that year, Roan released her lesbian country song \u2018The Giver\u2019, which details how only women know how to truly pleasure women.<\/p>\n She isn\u2019t the only one. Artists such as Billie Eilish, Kristen Stewart, Rene\u00e9 Rapp, Janelle Mon\u00e1e, Kehlani, Jojo Siwa, King Princess and Hayley Kiyoko are driving sapphic representation in popular culture. It\u2019s a far cry from the days when the world was shocked by that<\/em> Britney and Madonna kiss.<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019ve been in love with girls for my whole life,\u2019 Eilish told the Rolling Stone, adding that she only recently realised she wanted to be a physically intimate with women. Take the lyrics for her song Lunch, which are packed with themes of female sexual longing. In the same way, Mon\u00e1e\u2019s lyrics and music videos for some of her songs represent Sapphic sexual pleasure and connection.<\/p>\n It’s not just music either. In May 2024, reality TV got it\u2019s very own Lesbian renaissance in the form of I Kissed A Girl, which put a cast of lesbian and bisexual women at the centre. Meanwhile, Netflix\u2019s Ultimatum: Queer Love proved popular, and is set to return for a new series in 2025. Then there was the TV drama Heartstopper, which put queer relationships front and centre. The show proved a huge hit, landing in the number one spot on Variety\u2019s Trending TV chart for the week of April 18 to 24. The series pulled in 929,000 engagements with its eight-episode debut.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″] Sapphic and lesbian are related, but they are two very different terns. A lesbian is defined as a woman who is sexually and\/or romantically attracted to other women. However, while lesbians can be sapphic, not every sapphic is necessarily a lesbian.<\/p>\n As mentioned above, sapphic is more gender inclusive, encompassing women and AFAB people. According to an informal survey by Autostraddle reported in Feeld, a majority of people reported using \u201csapphic\u201d mainly to describe things (again, like art, films, relationships), compared to fewer people who use it as an orientation or identity category for individuals.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#111111″ divider_position=”center” divider_weight=”2px” module_class=”custom-divider” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-texts” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|||on|||||” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”] Photos: <\/b>Getty<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rejoice, the WLW renaissance is here!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":8883,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","category-news"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"guestgrazia","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8887"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8892,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8887\/revisions\/8892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What does Sapphism mean?<\/h2>\n
Where did the term Sapphic come from?<\/h2>\n
What have celebrities said about Sapphic representation?<\/h2>\n
How is Sapphism different to Lesbianism?<\/h2>\n