Lipstick lesbian is a slang term used to describe lesbian and bisexual women who exhibit extremely feminine gender attributes, such as wearing make-up (thus, lipstick), wearing dresses or skirts and having other characteristics associated with feminine women. Most female same-sex sex scenes in mainstream pornography are portrayed in this way.
The term was used in San Francisco at least as far back as the 1980s. In 1982, Priscilla Rhoades, a journalist with the gay newspaper The Sentinel, wrote a feature story on "Lesbians for Lipstick". In 1990, the gay newspaper OutWeek covered the Lesbian Ladies Society, a Washington, D.C.-based social group of "feminine lesbians" that required women to wear a dress or skirt to its functions.[1] The term is thought to have emerged in wide usage during the early 1990s. A 1997 episode of the television show Ellen widely publicized the phrase. In the show, Ellen DeGeneres's character, asked by her parents whether a certain woman is a "dipstick lesbian", explains that the term is "lipstick lesbian", and comments that "I would be a chapstick lesbian."
In 1999, columnist Mark Steyn called actress Anne Heche, who was dating DeGeneres at the time, "the world's most famous lipstick lesbian."[2]
An alternate term for "lipstick lesbian" is "doily dyke".[3][4]
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