lesbiandom

English

WOTD – 27 June 2022

Etymology

From lesbian +‎ -dom (suffix forming nouns denoting conditions or states).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛz.bɪ.ən.dəm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛz.bi.ənˌdəm/
• Hyphenation: lesb‧i‧an‧dom

Noun

lesbiandom (uncountable) (LGBTQ)

1. The quality or state of being a lesbian.

   Synonyms: lesbianhood, lesbianism, lesbianness

   • 2003, Karen X. Tulchinsky, editor, Hot & Bothered 4: Short Short Fiction on Lesbian Desire, Vancouver, B.C.: Arsenal Pulp Press, →ISBN, page 60:

     So I moved on to college and many, many more firsts, another Becky (that's right, but with a "Y" this time ), and incredibly true adventures of lesbiandom. But I'll never forget that first kiss.

   • 2007, Glamour, volume 105, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 130:

     Skeptics might say her declared lesbiandom made her more desirable to me.

   • 2015 March 10, Hanya Yanagihara, chapter 1, in A Little Life […], New York, N.Y., London: Doubleday, →ISBN, part V (The Happy Years), page 465:

     Even his final salvos were somewhat listless, as if he were delivering them out of obligation rather than true depth of feeling. “In ten years, I'll bet you two will have made the full transition to lesbiandom. I predict cats,” was one, […]

2. Lesbians collectively.
   • 1996, Lindsy Van Gelder, Pamela Robin Brandt, “Pulp Friction: Sameness and Difference”, in The Girls Next Door: Into the Heart of Lesbian America, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 184:

     We noted that even here, among women whose sex lives are theoretically the most structured in lesbiandom, there's a fair amount of fluidity.

   • 1999, Girlfriends: The Magazine of Lesbian Enjoyment, volume 6, San Francisco, Calif.: H.A.F. Enterprises, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 18:

     Perhaps the queerest thing about 1999’s independent releases is the fact that two of lesbiandom’s biggest directors, Ana Kokkinos and Rose Troche, made respectable splashes—but not on our end of the pool.

   • 2017 March 31, Hildred Billings, chapter 6, in Blown by an Inconvenient Wind, [S.l.]: Barachou Press:

     Apparently, word had spread through the whose-who^{[sic – meaning who's-who]} of lesbiandom and certain people were not replying to my texts at all.

Translations

quality or state of being a lesbian — see lesbianism

lesbians collectively

Further reading

• lesbian on Wikipedia.Wikipedia