Lesbian Bed Death

Lesbian bed death is a term coined by University of Washington sociologist Pepper Schwartz in her 1983 book American Couples. According to Schwartz, lesbian couples in committed relationships have less sex than any other type of couple, and they generally experience less sexual intimacy the longer the relationship lasts. The study has been criticized by the lesbian community and some psychologists as popular myth.

Famous quotes containing the words lesbian, bed and/or death:

    Why is it so difficult to see the lesbian—even when she is there, quite plainly, in front of us? In part because she has been “ghosted”Mor made to seem invisible—by culture itself.... Once the lesbian has been defined as ghostly—the better to drain her of any sensual or moral authority—she can then be exorcised.
    Terry Castle, U.S. lesbian author. The Apparitional Lesbian, ch. 1 (1993)

    Now the runaways would run no more and never
    again would their hair be tangled into diamonds,
    never again their shoes worn down to a laugh,
    never the bed falling down into purgatory
    to let them climb in after
    with their Lucifer kicking.
    Anne Sexton (1928–1974)

    And yet the sun pardons our voices still,
    And berries in the hedge
    Through all the nights of rain have come to the full,
    And death seems like long hills, a range
    We ride each day towards, and never reach.
    Philip Larkin (1922–1986)