The “And They Were Roommates” Phenomenon

Lost in translation · [looz in tranz-ley-shuhn, trans-]:

“To lose or cause to lose when translated into a different language, style, form, etc., or when passed through a third party.” - DICTIONArY.COM

When centuries-old documents are retrieved, between restorations and interpretations, details tend to get lost in translation. This seems always to be the case with sapphic lovers, who repeatedly get labeled as “roommates” or “really close friends” by historians. From lesbian poet legend Sappho to worldwide bisexual icon Billie Eilish, society’s heteronormative views have slowly erased the queerness of thousands of women. This often contributes to spreading misinformation about supposed male lovers and adding to the lack of sapphic representation.

by: Caro Barrenechea Cobos — Source: Caro Barrenechea Cobos

Sappho

The most remarkable example of this phenomenon is Sappho from the Island of Lesbos in Greece. Sappho is known as the first major woman poet, and speculations about her sexuality and the meaning behind her homoerotic poetry have sparked conversations for centuries. Even though we do not have many of her records left—many were suspiciously destroyed or misplaced for being queer—common sapphic themes are easy to notice in the work that was recovered, but historians have repeatedly come up with elaborate lies to try and justify as heterosexual.

The argument that stuck for the longest time is that since she had a husband, she could not have been queer. Harper-Hugo Darling wrote in Making Queer History, “Though a man would not negate her queerness, his existence is unlikely.” Her alleged husband, only mentioned once in a letter, was named “Kerkylas”; this translates to a dirty joke meaning “Penis from Men's Island.”

Claims vary from saying her writing was not autobiographical—except when it was convenient to say it was, like her politics and writing on religion—to excuses as absurd as “she was talking about nap time at the school for girls.” However, the most ridiculous misconception about Sappho is the claim that she was writing through the persona of a man.

As Darling so eloquently puts it, “anything to avoid admitting such influential work was written by a queer woman.”

EMILY DICKINSON

Another example worth mentioning is the straightification of Emily Dickinson. In 1951, the book The Riddle of Emily Dickinson by Rebecca Patterson meant to share details about Dickinson queerness and her lover Susan Gilbert for the first time but was rewritten before publishing, straightwashing both women. Patterson was then accused of spreading "the lesbian agenda" and forced to prove her marriage to a man.

In 2016, the movie A Quiet Passion showcased a straight and lonely Emily Dickinson, erasing all traces of her romantic relationship with Susan and portraying them as platonic sisters in law.

Martha Nell Smith, author of the book Rowing in Eden: Rereading Emily Dickinson once commented, “if all of this was sent to any man in Dickinson’s life, there wouldn’t be any kind of argument about who was the love of her life.”

BILLIE EILISH

A similar message was spread by Billie Eilish—a modern sapphic women whose identity has been impacted by the “queer erasure” through history—in an interview with Vanity Fair, Eilish shared, “literally any men that I'm with, they are like ‘that is Billie’s boyfriend’, I am photographed with women way more, and way way more incriminating photos, and they are like ‘Billie and her best friend’, it is weird.”

The number of people I heard comment that she only came out as bisexual “for attention” or accused her of queerbaiting when posting “I love girls” goes to show how the straightification of history does have an impact on the way we view queer identities in a modern setting. When we erase sapphic storylines, we not only strip younger women who love women of the representation they deserve, but also reinforce a heteronormative mindset that essentially promotes a non-inclusive atmosphere.