Frequently asked questions:
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Who are we?
What are our aims?
What can we offer?
Who are we open to?
Why are we called Northants Lesbian Society when we are open to other identities?
Why do we use the Labrys symbol?
Who are we?
We are three best friends who were all born and raised in Northampton. We have a passion for the area and attend many local events together. You can find out more about each of us on the Meet the Lesbians page. Northants Lesbian Society is run equally between the three of us and we have full control over the website, social media and events!
Northants Lesbian society came about at Northampton Pride 2022. We had attended this event several years in a row and every year were having to ask local LGBT groups and charities why they had nothing for lesbians. No flags, no resources and no representation. It was this year we decided that if no one else was going to represent lesbians, we will represent ourselves.
What are our aims?
Our main aim is to tackle lesbian erasure and show all lesbians, bi women and other WLW that there is a space for them. We do this by attending local pride events to keep a visible presence and by opening up discussions with local LGBT groups who we feel aren’t representing lesbians in their stalls and activites.
We also want to provide a space for all lesbians and other WLW to socialise, learn about our history and discuss current events.
What can we offer?
Currently, we offer monthly in-person meets at Saint’s Coffee on St Gile’s Street, Northampton. These happen every third Thursday of each month from 5pm to 6:30pm.
We also have a book club hosted over Google Meet every second Friday of the month at 6pm. The latest book we’re reading and the Google Meet link is available on our blog and homepage.
Follow our Instagram to find out about our other events.
We are also open to meeting with other groups and institutions who wish to learn about how they can better support lesbians and women in their activities.
Who are we open to?
We are open to all lesbians, bisexual women and woman or woman-aligned loving women* in Northamptonshire and surrounding areas. Broadly, our group focuses on any kind of sapphic identity.
Our meetings are held in public spaces so anyone is welcome to come along if they are curious about what we do, regardless of identity. We are also welcoming of any friends or family you wish to bring along if you don’t wish to attend alone.
*We recognise not all people who consider themselves lesbians or sapphic will identify as women but if you are aligned to lesbianism as a culture or womanhood then this group is open to you.
Why are we called Northants Lesbian Society when we are open to other identities?
When we first started Northants Lesbian Society it was to tackle the specific issue of lesbian erasure. Many LGBT groups and charities do not even use the word lesbian in their materials so we felt the best way to draw attention to this issue was to use the word lesbian and keep it front and centre. However, we recognise that there is significant overlap between the experiences of all women and women-aligned people within the LGBT community, so to say our group is only for lesbians ignores the way our histories have intertwined with other sapphic identities.
Why do we use the Labrys symbol?
Many people have asked us about our use of the Labrys symbol as they believe it is a symbol of trans exclusionary groups. We want to try and dispel this myth as it is a beautiful symbol with a lot of history.
The Labrys symbol was taken from a double headed axe that was sometimes pictured with female goddesses and warriors in Ancient Greek art. In the 1970s it was adopted as a feminist symbol and through this became associated with lesbians, making it one of the oldest symbols we have to represent our community. It’s use as a lesbian symbol predates the rainbow flag and all of the current lesbian flags (the oldest of which has only been around since 2010) so for many older women within the LGBT community it will be more recognisable than the latest iteration of the lesbian flag.
We feel it is important to have a connection to our history and keeping our symbols alive is a great way to do this. Since the lipstick lesbian flag was put forward in 2010, there have been a lot of new lesbian flags proposed to replace it. The current most popular lesbian flag, the sunset flag, was only created in 2018 so, as much as we love it, it doesn’t have a great deal of history behind it yet and many people still don’t recognise it. Our goal is to tackle lesbian erasure and if our symbols keep being replaced in favour of something new this will only add to the issue. No symbol is perfect or has a perfect history but keeping our symbols alive is important to building a sense of community, being recognisable as a group and keeping our heritage alive.
We are always open to questions and conversation! If there is anything else you would like to know about us or you want to get in touch you can reach out through our contact page, any of our social medias (linked below) or email us directly at info@northantslesbiansociety.co.uk
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Northants Lesbian Society 