"Am I a Lesbian?" is a
Publication and content
"Am I a Lesbian?" was first published as a 30-page Google Docs document by Anjeli Lux on her Tumblr blog cyberlesbian in January 2018.[1][2] Luz, then a high school student, wrote the document over the course of two days in her late teens after coming to terms with her attraction to women and trying to determine whether her attraction to men "was real or a social construct [she] took in as a facet of [her] identity".[2]
The document is divided into 20 sections and formatted, according to Lindsay King-Miller in Vice, "like a blog post, not a scientific paper; it’s rife with bulleted lists, inconsistent capitalization, and conversational asides".[1][2] Stefanie Duguay, a professor of communications, likened the document to a zine.[3] The work offers a series of questions to help them determine whether they experience attraction to women and whether attraction they feel towards men is genuine or is guided by compulsory heterosexuality, a social force first theorized by American essayist and feminist Adrienne Rich in her 1980 article "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" (though Rich is not mentioned in "Am I a Lesbian?").[1][3] Compulsory heterosexuality, also referred to as "comphet" in the document, is argued by "Am I a Lesbian?" to be the pervasive assumption that women's attraction to men is socially constructed and enforced through societal pressures and norms.[2] The document affirms lesbian identities and queer attractions for transgender and nonbinary readers, and regardless of past attraction to or romantic/sexual experience with men.[1]
"Am I a Lesbian?" has been widely redistributed; while the original Google Docs link became unavailable by 2020 (ostensibly for violating the Google Docs terms of service), the text of the guide was reshared in PDF form on other platforms like Twitter and Reddit.[2] Lux's original post had garnered over 30,000 notes on Tumblr by 2024, and the guide had become known colloquially as the "lesbian masterdoc" by that same year in some online queer communities.[1]
Legacy
"Am I a Lesbian?" was described by Quispe López in Them in 2024 as "part of the online queer canon" and as having attained a cult following.[1] Celebrities Reneé Rapp and Kehlani have cited the document as helping them come to terms with their lesbian identities.[1][4]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g López, Quispe (January 26, 2024). "The History of the 'Lesbian Masterdoc,' a Viral PDF that Became Sapphic Internet Canon". Them. Archived from the original on September 6, 2024. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e King-Miller, Lindsay (June 25, 2020). "How Tumblr's 'Am I a Lesbian?' Google Doc Became Internet Canon". Vice. Archived from the original on October 3, 2024. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
- ^ a b Santiago Cortés, Michelle (June 24, 2022). "Can a PDF Really Tell You If You're Queer?". The Cut. Archived from the original on January 18, 2025. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
- ^ Gildroy, Ione (April 26, 2024). "How the Lesbian Masterdoc helped a generation of lesbians like me to come out". PinkNews. Archived from the original on December 12, 2024. Retrieved January 26, 2025.