Saphboy

Saphboy or sapphboy is an identity for boys who experience a sapphic gender and attraction. This includes sapphics who identify as "boys" but not men, male sapphics, or sapphics whose gender is simply saphboy.

Alternate Names

 * Sapphboy
 * Sapphic boy
 * Saphboi (exclusive to Black, non-man saphbois-a combination of saphboy and boi)

Pronunciation
/saf-boy/

Definitions

 * a boy that experiences their gender and attraction as sapphic ... The only specificity is that it is a queer and sapphic experience of both gender and attraction. - xenoleaf, 2020

The term has also been misdefined on the LGBTA Wiki as "an identity for someone who in some way identifies as a boy/man and experiences attraction to women that is sapphic" while implying that it was the original definition by xenoleaf. This definition erases the specific meaning of saphboy as not being sapphic orientation that happens to be experienced by a boy, but as a specific and connected queer experience.

Boy, in the context of saphboy, includes anyone with a connection to boyhood, binary or not. For example, a saphboy may be a female boy who identifies as masculine of center, a nonbinary boy, or a sapphic man.

History
While saphboy, or some form of it, was likely used before xenoleaf's coining, the term and its flag was officially coined on October 9 2020.

Controversy
Most controversy surrounding the term is debate on the validity of sapphic men and boys. This is generally due to a belief that sapphics and lesbians cannot be men or male in any way, and additionally, that especially lesbian attraction must exclude men. Arguments against saphboy are rooted in the same ideology as arguments against lesboy identity, and so have similar counterpoints; namely, that lesbian men, boys, and mascs have existed as long as lesbians.

"Lesbian" and "sapphic" as strictly WLW terms is a modern invention. Butch boys, dykes, and bois have been integral to the community since its beginning. Additionally, not all boys are men, and not all men are cis or binary men. For example, a bigender man may also be a sapphic woman, hence identifying as a saphboy. Non-male lesbians labelling themselves as "men," especially butch lesbians, is a major piece of lesbian history and culture.