‘Simulando assim a cópula normal’. Sapphists, Tribades, Fricatrixes and Lesbians: Between biomedical taxonomical categories and identity in Portugal (1895-1930)

This co-authored article analyses the work of a number of sexual scientists and legal experts in Portugal at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century with respect to their attempts to classify and investigate female homosexuality in Portugal. Building on work already published by the two authors on the subject of Egas Moniz’s ideas on male homosexuality, this article considers the sexological discourse on lesbians and their presence in Portuguese society in the first half of the twentieth century through a close textual analysis of the work of Moniz and that of other authors. The differences and similarities between Portuguese specia lists’ work and their European counterparts form a key aspect of this work. In this way, a contribution is made to the history of sexuality in Portugal and the framing of Portuguese discourses on lesbianism within broader European expert fields.