So…What’s Tribadism?

It’s finally that time of year students spend ages counting down towards…summer break! And via some level of divine intervention, I’m only spending one week at home with my parents this summer, so it’s just that much sweeter. And being home in the city is amazing – to quote Regina Spector, “summer in the city means cleavage, cleavage, cleavage”. Lesbians in sundresses and cargo shorts? Yes, please.

But of course, coming home meant I had to move out of my apartment at school, which was an insane undertaking. I was running incredibly late (Indian standard time!), so I finally called a friend to help me. We loaded everything into my car, except all of my thesis research books.  I’m writing my thesis about accessibility and quality of healthcare to queer-identified women, with a focus on sexual health, and as such, have been diving headfirst into books like “Sapphistry; the Book of Lesbian Sexuality”, “Dyke Life”, “Lesbian Sex”, and “The Lesbian Health Book; Caring for Ourselves”. All of which were some great reads.

My (straight) male friend and I walk back into the apartment, to find my (Indian) roommate’s (straight) boyfriend standing in my doorway, flipping through “Lesbian Sex”, and my roommate trying to grab it out of his hands. He looks up, sees us, and grins, saying “So this is how it works!”. We all shared a good laugh as the boys flipped through the pictures (yes, there were illustrations), when roommate’s bf interrupts the mildly awkward chuckling to ask “…so, what’s tribadism?”

In that moment, I couldn’t decide whether I loved or hated South Park for introducing “scissoring” to the world. At least it made my explanation easier!