The Underrepresentation of Sapphic Identities in Literature: A Historical Analysis

My first June after discovering sapphic literature was one of eager anticipation. I had loved sapphic novels from the moment I picked up “The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics” the year prior, and waited all year for Pride Month so that I could get new recommendations. Sure enough, they started rolling in! Scrolling through TikTok, I saw video after video advertising “queer book recs.” But what I saw was disappointing at best. In these videos, the word “queer” seemed to be synonymous with male-loving-male (MLM); every single video was full of nothing but MLM novel recommendations.

The Knight and the Yellow Rose

“Have you ever heard of a red rose?” The lady frowned and said, “I have, but they are extraordinarily rare – some think they do not exist.” “But they do? They aren’t a myth?” the knight said, full of hope.…