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The version of this post at the Alpennia site includes actual tag-links for the items being discussed. Check it out to explore. The tag display page currently has some technical issues that limit the number of entries displayed for each tag, but I hope to have that fixed soon. At the very least, it will give you a taste of what's available.

The purpose of tags is to make information relatively easy to find. The topics covered under “misc. tags” are a combination of themes that guided my choice of publications to cover, and themes that emerged from those publications. This essay is intended to explain briefly how the “misc.” tags are being used.

The second purpose is to provide a tag list that the visitor can use to explore the site. The number of tags used in the project, and the organization into four different categories, doesn’t lend itself to a traditional tag-cloud. The Place and Time Period tags each have a single essay. The Event/Person and Misc. Tags will be covered in thematic groups in multiple essays due to the larger number.

I’m planning three essays for the Misc. Tags, each covering a general category with several subcategories. This present essay includes the following:

• Medical/Physiological Topics
• Specific Genres of Source Material

Medical/Physiological Topics

• essentialism - The debate between understanding homosexuality as an inborn orientation versus a chosen or socially-conditioned behavior exists as far back as the records go. In general, the default is to view it as chosen (e.g., as “sin”) or as a context-specific social role (e.g., “romantic friendship”), therefore I have only tagged sources when they give evidence for understanding it as an “essential” inborn aspect of personality.
• clitoris - Around the 16th century, European physicians “discovered” the clitoris and its role in female sexual response. This interest cast new light on possibilities for sexual activity between women.
• enlarged clitoris - Associated with medical interest in the function of the clitoris, starting in the 16th century, there arose a persistant myth that an enlarged clitoris (long enough for penetrative sex) was associated with lesbianism, either as cause or effect.
• clitoridectomy (as treatment for sexual deviance) - Female genital mutilation as a “treatment” against what was considered excess female sexual desire is mentioned frequently in medical texts from the 16th century onward. In some cases it is discussed as a “foreign” practice, but there is solid evidence that it was performed in Europe.
• hermaphroditism - This was a persistant concept in European history, either indicating an individual who had both male and female sexual characteristics (the Classical model) or as someone with genitalia indeterminate between male and female (most likely inspired by intersex individuals, but perhaps also by unfamiliarity with the range of normal genitalia). Hermaphroditism was often suspected or claimed in cases of apparent female homosexuality in order to resolve the relationship into heterosexuality.

Other Genres of Source Material

These tags identify genres of source material, although I have not included poetry or fiction in this grouping.

• anthropology - This indicates anthropological accounts of lesbian-like individuals and institutions. These are generally covered as part of more general articles as they tend to be relatively recent.
• artistic representation - This tag is used for discussing visual art depicting sex between women or lesbian characters from literature.
• astrological texts - Astrology was felt to determine a wide variety of behavioral characteristics and in some cases sexual preference was included.
• case history/diary - This tag identifies life stories of historic individuals, excluding court records.
• court case - This tag identifies court records of legal cases involving either the suspicion or reality of lesbian sex.
• magical texts - This tag identifies magical texts that concern love or sex between women.
• medical treatises - This tag identifies medical studies or manuals that touch on lesbianism or physical characteristics thought to be related.
• Orientalism - This tag identifies texts that associate lesbianism with non-European cultures, and particularly those of the Middle East.
• penitentials - This tag identifies discussions of homosexual activity in religious manuals for assigning penance for sins.