| abstract | - Lesbianism is sexual activity or attraction between women. Female homosexuals are often called lesbians (after the Greek island of Lesbos, home of Sappho). Homosexuality normally focuses on men more than in women, but the problem is not minor. Women who are attracted to both women and men are called bisexuals. The word "lesbian" was first used in the late 16th century. Lesbianism is also called sapphism or female homosexuality. (Sappho penned love sonnets to women. She lived from 610-580 B.C.) In 1997, the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention Program included lesbians as a priority population. In the United States, estimates of lifetime same-sex behavior among women are 8%–20%, and 1.4%–4.3% of all women may be sexually active with other women. An estimated 2.3 million women describe themselves as lesbian. In its 1999 report, Lesbian Health: Current Assessment and Directions for the Future, the Institute of Medicine emphasized that more data on sexually transmitted infections (STIs), Pap smear screening, and risk for cervical cancer in lesbians were needed.
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