How many lesbians do you know?

A recent post of AF's got me wondering about lesbians (truth be told, it takes very little for my mind to wander into that terrain), and specifically about the degree of SFers exposure to "alternative lifestyles." That's what made me think up this here poll.

For me, the answer is easily over 50, possibly over 100, but there's about 10 or 20 whom I consider friends. I went to a famously gay-friendly "Seven Sisters" college for undergrad, where our strongest collegiate sport was Women's Rugby, so I can say with a fair bit of confidence that I am well informed in the ways of the Sapphos.

I'd be especially interested to know whether geography plays into how many lesbians you know, or perhaps how many lesbians you know you know.

Vote now, as this thread is sure to make its way into squirrelable territory before long!

I put over 100, as I am of the firm belief almost any woman can be talked into ********** with another woman under the right circumstances. Some might quibble this does not make them a lesbian, but I am of the belief that lesbian sex = a lesbian....and rejoice in this belief!

~10. Then again, I obviously can't account for people I know who happen to be lesbians, that I'm not aware are lesbians, if that makes sense.

Here in the cornfields of northern Indiana, the people aren't too akin to the homosexuals.
Personally, I have no problem with them, but most people around my town do.

How are we defining "know"?

Acquainted with/friends of friends/met? Probably > 50, < 100. Had (vaguely) meaningful conversations with? Probably between 25 and 50. Number whose names I remember? Somewhere between 10 and 25.

I think I know 3. I don't know 100 people in total. How could you know 100 lesbians?

Originally Posted by Piobaire

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I put over 100, as I am of the firm belief almost any woman can be talked into ********** with another woman under the right circumstances. Some might quibble this does not make them a lesbian, but I am of the belief that lesbian sex = a lesbian....and rejoice in this belief!

Okay, if we count it this way, yeah, vastly more than 100. Hell, if we just count straight girls I knew in college who "experimented", that pushes it over 100 all on its own.

Originally Posted by texas_jack

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I think I know 3. I don't know 100 people in total. How could you know 100 lesbians?

Word. I know a few due to living/working in NYC but how the hell does anyone know 100 people or better yet, why the hell does anyone want to know 100 people, much less 100 lesbians.

I thought that I knew a lot of lesbians, but I have to say that it is closer to 10 than 25.

I have dated 2, and a good (male) friend of mine dated another, who then turned into a friend of mine.

my wife was an art history academic, so she probrably has 5 friends who are lesbian, who then become my friends, and most of whom are in couples.

we lived in Nyack, NY, one of the most gay friendly small towns in the world, so we knew a great deal of lesbians there.

my son has had two friends who each have "two mothers".

In the 19th century your sexual acts=your orientation/what kind of perverts you are. During the 20th century we shifted (evolved?) to a definition that encompass your self-image, desires, aspirations, etc so it's not because the socially acceptable nature of lesbian experiementation during hs/college make these things happen that those women are all lesbians. Just sayin.

No idea, depending on how you define "know" I guess from 0-30.

Originally Posted by edmorel

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Word. I know a few due to living/working in NYC but how the hell does anyone know 100 people or better yet, why the hell does anyone want to know 100 people, much less 100 lesbians.
+100000000000. I try to keep the number of people I know to a minimum. Frankly, and this is not something I like to admit to, I really don't find that I like most lesbians very much. Oh yeah, I know or have met a lot. I do live in San Francisco.

Originally Posted by texas_jack

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I think I know 3. I don't know 100 people in total. How could you know 100 lesbians?

Well, Joel clearly is more sociable than some of us. I'm not sure I have 10 or 20 friends, much less 10 or 20 lesbian friends.

Depending on how you count, I guess I'd say somewhere between "some" and "a lot". My wife's best friend used to be a lesbian (I maintained for years that deep down she really wasn't and have since been proved right, but that's a whole other story), and she and her then-girlfiend published a magazine targeted at the lesbian/club scene. So for 5-10 years, I went a fair number of largely lesbian (no pun intended) parties/events and casually knew a lot of women in that scene. Plus, you know, the usual assortment of colleagues, neighbors, random acquaintances, what have you.

I don't know, I don't go around asking people their sexual orientation (yes, with some people it is obvious, but with others it isn't, so how do I know if they are lesbians).

Originally Posted by iammatt

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+100000000000. Frankly, and this is not something I like to admit to, I really don't find that I like most lesbians very much.

.

Obviously, I've met some I like and some I don't. I will make this observation in response to your comment. Back in the day when we were regularly attending lesbian "events", I met a fair numer of women who seemed to have the attitude that because they were gay, they were unconventional, which made them rebels of a sort, which automatically proved they were cooler and more open-minded than everyone else (the rest of us must be uptight and narrow-minded, otherwise we'd be lesbians too, right?). I found this fairly prevalent (although of course not universal) attitude highly obnoxious.

When my wife was working in the arts, I often found a similar attitude to be prevalent among people in the art world. That is, "I work in the arts, wear black, and smoke, thus I am hipper and more of a free-thinker than you, even if I know nothing of other schools of art or of art history, or of the world at large. Man."

Originally Posted by edmorel

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Word. I know a few due to living/working in NYC but how the hell does anyone know 100 people or better yet, why the hell does anyone want to know 100 people, much less 100 lesbians.

Well I'm defining know loosely here. As in, "know their name, have exchanged greetings on multiple occasions." Since I'm just a few years out of an exceptionally dykey college, I still remember the names of many a lesbian. Whether I think I'm likely ever to see them again is another matter entirely...

One.

On second thought, make that none.

When I first met her, she was a lesbian. Told me that guys were disgusting, and all that. Didn't like men. Cut her hair very short (buzz). Never saw her in a dress, except once at a friend's wedding.

After about three or four years of being a single lesbian (and getting sick of being alone), she decides she's had enough. Made the choice to drop the whole lesbian thing.

Now she's got a boyfriend. Moved in with him and everything. Grew her hair out. Changed the way she dressed as well.

So, out of my admittedly small sample size of one individual, she chose not to follow that lifestyle any more. YMMV.