ABSTRACT
This chapter considers how the study of queer women in the long eighteenth century could be broadened and deepened by considering not only the current cultural relevancy of the term “sapphic” but also by considering a more capacious understanding of sapphic relations. The Ladies of Llangollen are a case study in thinking about sapphic relations in the past through the lenses of nonbinary gender identity, queer platonic love, and queer asexuality. In doing so, this chapter suggests new avenues for the study of sapphic relations in the past that complicate the narratives of lesbian studies of the last thirty years.
