What’s the deal with the term ‘gold star lesbian’?
The term gold star lesbian can position women who have never had sex with men as “more authentic”, as they are not “contaminated” by men, according to Lucy Jones in Dyke/Girl (2012). It can be used as a humorous rejection of heterosexuality. What’s the deal with the term ‘gold star lesbian’? Gold star lesbian” is…
The term gold star lesbian can position women who have never had sex with men as “more authentic”, as they are not “contaminated” by men, according to Lucy Jones in Dyke/Girl (2012). It can be used as a humorous rejection of heterosexuality.
What’s the deal with the term ‘gold star lesbian’?
Gold star lesbian” is a lesbian who has never had sex with a man, and a “gold star gay” is a gay man who has never had sex with a woman.
The terms can be joking, sincerely held identities, or stereotypes within the LGBT community. When used sincerely, the terms have been criticized as exclusionary towards bisexuality and other experiences of gender and sexuality, and as stigmatizing survivors of sexual violence.
The related term “gold star asexual” refers not to past sexual experience, but to a hypothetical asexual person whose asexuality cannot be attributed to trauma, disability, or other external factors.
Andy Cohen has identified with the term gold star gay; in his memoir Superficial (2016), he recounts a story about his attitude towards a threesome with a heterosexual couple in light of his pride for being a “gold star gay”.
