The increasing divide between the derided image of erotic sapphic relations and the praiseworthy image of female domesticity, epitomized by non-erotic woman+woman couples, is played out in attitudes toward certain couples. The “Ladies of Llangollen” (Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby) were firmly established in the popular imagination as the model of non-sexual romantic friendship.
Paul et Virginie (Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre)
18th century French novel involving two women who, after failing in heterosexual relations, for a marriage-like bond.
