WLW Books, Sapphic Books, F/f Romance: What’s the Difference?
I assume you want to know more about wlw books. Regardless of whether you enjoy reading LGBTQ+ literature or just wish to diversify your book collection. There are fewer books about women who adore women in this post.
Young adult romantic fiction is unparalleled. You go through all the butterflies and excitement of your first love, as well as a great deal of pain and drama that keeps you reading into the early hours of the morning.
Queer identities are continually being given new labels and discarding old ones, which causes them to evolve.
In a way, this is a strength since we are always evolving and the queer imagination knows no bounds.
We’re always trying to find new methods to adapt language to suit our purposes and search for words that sound joyful rather than restricting.
It might be difficult at times to understand all of this lingo, which is a downside.
The prospect of female love has existed from the very first cultures, even when it was shunned, disregarded, or rejected.
Although it is an increasing trend, women loving women is also a long-standing passion that this book also explores and puts in a historical context.
Regardless of one’s sexual orientation, there is much to learn in this book about the nature of love, sex, and physical attraction as well as its unconscious determinants.
Queer Women Books
Any individual who is not heterosexual or cisgender is referred to as queer.
Queer, which originally meant “strange” or “peculiar,” started to be used negatively in the late 19th century to describe people who had same-sex relationships or desires.
Beginning in the late 1980s, queer activists including those in Queer Nation started to reclaim the term as a purposefully provocative and politically radical contrast to the LGBT community’s more assimilationist branches.
So we may simply state that all books concerning queer women fall under the category of queer women books.
However, there are sapphics and lesbians who do not identify as female; these individuals are known as nonbinary Sapphics and lesbians.
Depending on what you’re looking for, queer women’s books might be both too narrow and too wide in this sense.
Because it excludes novels featuring a straight, asexual woman as the primary character.
Examples of queer women’s books:
- Dread Nation by Justina Ireland represents both asexual and bisexual women.
- Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan Macguire. It has a central asexual female character.
- Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom features a transgender lady.
WLW Books
Lesbian novels are more particular than queer women’s books, while women-loving-women books are less so.
Any woman who likes women, including lesbians, bisexuals, pansexuals, and other non-monosexual women, is subject to this rule (polysexual, omnisexual, etc).
Of course, the qualifier “woman” remains. Sapphics or nonbinary lesbians would not fall under this category.
There is disagreement about whether non-Black individuals should use the word “WLW,” which was coined by Black lesbians.
The fact that WLW is frequently perceived to signify F/F despite the fact that it doesn’t always mean that.
You may be a single lesbian or bisexual woman in a relationship with a male, for example, is a problem. Many individuals believe that WLW and F/F are equivalent.
Overall, there are several traps to avoid when using this phrase, despite the fact that it is brief and makes tasks like labeling simple.
Examples of WLW books:
- The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus
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Sapphic Books
WLW and sapphic are also terms that have just lately acquired popularity.
While sapphic has the same meaning as lesbian and dates back to the 16th century, it has only recently gained momentum online.
Despite sharing the same origin, lesbian and sapphic have distinct meanings.
Lesbians, bisexual women, and nonbinary persons who identify as sapphic are included.
As a result, all WLW and lesbian literature are sapphic. They don’t have to have an F/F romance and can be of any genre.
A novel would still be considered sapphic if the main character was bi and had no love interests.
Examples of sapphic books:
- Stray City by Chelsey Johnson
- When Fox is a Thousand by Larissa Lai
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Lesbian Fiction
A subgenre of literature that addresses lesbian topics is called lesbian fiction. Poetry, dramas, lesbian-themed fiction, and non-fiction covering related subjects are all included.
Any genre of fiction, including historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and romance, can be included in this category.
Up until recently, the majority of F/F romances were referred to as lesbian fiction, or lesfic. Lesfic publishers are often those like Bold Strokes Books or Bella Books.
These books typically include F/F relationships, however, they could also contain aspects from other genres besides romance.
These novels can be excellent, but they only make up a small portion of LGBT literature.
It’s not necessary for lesbian books to be romances or even include romantic interactions. A lesbian who is single or in an F/F relationship is also a lesbian.
Lesbian literature may be found in middle-grade comics, hard science fiction, high fantasy, and other genres. They go beyond romanticism.
Additionally, it implies that lesbian readers who want representation in the literature they read today face a number of challenges when seeking suggestions.
Examples of lesfic:
- Kiss the Girl by Melissa Brayden
- Jericho by Ann McMan
- Above All, Honor by Radclyffe
Examples of lesbian literature:
- This is What It Feels Like by Rebecca Barrow
- Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin
- Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki & Rosemary Valero-O’Connell
F/F Romance
F/F is a romantic novel about a connection between two ladies in it.
This one has a rather straightforward definition! No matter how the characters identify (as lesbians, bisexuals, queers, sapphic, or questioning, for example), what matters is that they are in a loving relationship.
The main issue with this is that it’s frequently incorrectly assumed that partnerships between a sapphic woman and a nonbinary person fall under this category. Only couples between two women should use this.
Examples of F/F romance:
- Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole
- Knit One, Girl Two by Shira Glassman
- Roller Girl by Vanessa North
Now you are aware of how to discuss the kind of queer women rep you seek.
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