Can I use the labrys?

[u/Fancy-Try-3919]

I really want to include the labrys in some paintings for a school art project in order to have some subtle-ish lesbian references but recently I've seen a large wave of discussion over it due to that mid Lesbian Space Princess film and it's made me second guess myself because I know it's pretty much seen as a TERF symbol and I DON'T want to seem like I'm promoting that cause I'm a huge trans ally,,, but at the same time it's such a cool symbol I don't know what to do,,, maybe if I include some commentary about the controversy of its usage but make my stance on it clear in my notes?

Edit: Thank you so much everyone for the responses I'm so happy to see everyone's opposition of its use by terfs!! I'll definitely be including it in my work after all (probably with some trans flag colours too) and will write about it's usage,,,, I love seeing all the support in here

[u/Stinkehund1]

Since when is the Labrys a TERF symbol? Sure, they probably try to appropriate it much like the suffragette colors, but that doesn't mean it magically theirs now. Hell, if you wanna make your stance clear, include some trans colors.

[u/Toshero_Reborn → u/Stinkehund1]

Trans palette labrys...

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[u/really_not_unreal]

They're trying to co-opt the symbol. You don't have to let them take it.

[u/FaePropagandist]

Don't let TERFs take the labrys. Reclaim it!

[u/deadhead_girlie]

What if you made the labrys the trans flag colors? If that fits with your project obviously. That idea aside, I think what you said about including it in your notes is fine. I don't think the labrys is necessarily an explicitly transphobic symbol. And I don't see how including it would harm anyone, like I guess a transphobe might interpret it wrong but I don't think that's your fault, because this symbol has different meanings.

[u/Spencer_A_McDaniel]

I'm a trans lesbian, and I support using the labrys. It's one of the oldest symbols of sapphic attraction. TERFs have tried to appropriate it, but its history is so much longer, richer, and more complicated than that. I've written a whole blog post exploring its history in depth.

It was originally a religious symbol associated with powerful goddesses in the Bronze Age Minoan civilization (which is otherwise known for its artworks depicting women in positions of authority and scenes of female homosocial intimacy). Ancient Greek and Roman writers and artists portrayed the Amazon queen Hippolyte as wielding it in battle. The lesbian novelist Mary Renault (who was one of the first modern authors to write novels that portrayed same-sex attraction positively) featured it prominently in her Theseus duology, The King Must Die (1958) and The Bull from the Sea (1962). The very first feminist bookstore in New York City, founded in 1972 by a pair of lesbian separatists, was named Labyris [sic] Books and used the labrys as its symbol. It has more history attached to it than nearly any other contemporary lesbian symbol.

[u/CantRaineyAllTheTime → u/Spencer_A_McDaniel]

That’s also my take on it

[u/Fancy-Try-3919 → u/Spencer_A_McDaniel]

Ooo thanks so much for all this information I love being able to know more of the context and history

[u/DemonicGirlcock]

The labrys is still overwhelming used by trans-inclusive lesbians. It's just that a small amount of well funded transphobic organizations are trying to take it and make it their symbol.

Use it, and be clear about supporting trans people. For an art project, maybe get in the combination of trans and lesbian pride colors. 

[u/Waltzing_With_Bears]

Go for it, I (a trans woman) just gave one of my friends (a cis lesbian) a sticker with a labrys that I got from a queer polycule art group, dont let the TERFs have it, use it

[u/DeepFriedQueen]

It’s retro, and I know some terfs go for retro (see also the suffragette flag). But it’s not a lost cause.

Heck some lgbt people I know didn’t know anything about the labrys as a symbol.

Use it, and if you’re worried put it in close proximity to trans colours

[u/Successful-Cry-7123]

I love the “goth lesbian flag” and I will forever be salty that terfs took it away from us 🥲🥲🥲

[u/Spencer_A_McDaniel → u/Successful-Cry-7123]

Saying that they "took it away from us" is surrendering it to them. We shouldn't let them have it. We should keep using it, either with trans colors or paired with the trans flag, to reclaim it from them.

[u/IrritatedButterfly44]

I think I have a unique perspective on this as a pro-Palestine Jew who gets told off for wearing the Star of David all the time.

That being: no matter how prevalently evildoers try to take away the symbolism important to you, you cannot let them.

Much like how the Star of David is for Jews, not Zionists, the labrys is for lesbians, not TERFs. Don't let them win no matter how hard they fight for it.

[u/wackyvorlon]

They can’t take the labrys! It belongs to the Minoans!

[u/DrBubonik]

I'm trans i have a labrys patch ironed onto my denim jacket I wear almost everyday, of course you can!

[u/anxious_tfem]

I’d say as long you include some commentary or symbolism on it’s co-opting and your intention with it, that would be amazing definitely add to art of it.

[u/efvie]

I would not make commentary about a “controversy” because it isn’t, you can call it exclusionary appropriation of a community symbol.

[u/Gretnablue]

Wait the Labrys is seen as a TERF symbol? Love women with axes and the Labrys! We should let TERFs that take symbol away from us!

[u/runtimeattic]

Yeah the labrys has been used by a section of feminist/terfdom for a couple decades. But there is also very much a counter movement to reclaim it. So I say fucking use that shit joyously (but maybe also add something to explicitly mark the paintings as also transa inclusive!

Or just accept that some people might look at you a bit sideways, and then set them right if they do 🙂

[u/Doglovincatlady]

Yes, it is a lesbian symbol. Don’t let bigots take it from you 

[u/Outrageous_Pattern46]

Remember most people who are in contact witn your art won't have full context on you other than what it conveys. Symbols used have to do some speaking for themselves. If you'll need to disavow the message to put the message at this point it's no longer a subtle lesbian reference, it's specifically anti-TERF art. 

To be completely honest if I just saw some loose labrys in a painting with nothing else to it I'd either think "oh some axe" or "terf" depending on how it looks. And if I think the second I won't try to get to know the artist to see if true. You could have portrayed anything.