No, I’m not talking about actual bears in the wild, because while there have been scientific studies of same-sex bears, they are limited to males. Of course, they haven’t yet studied two female bears in the wild. But apparently, there is a lesbian equivalent of a gay bear. Who knew? I suppose I learn something new every day. In addition to butches, femmes, futches, lipsticks, chapsticks, lugs, baby dykes, studs, hasbians, sporties, cottagecores, blue jean femmes, denim dykes, artsy lesbians, boi lesbians, stone butches, astrology lesbians, hey mammas, activists, gold stars, pillow princesses (bottoms), alphas (tops), trans, hippies/vegans, powers, u-hauls (but seriously, that might apply to a lot of lesbians), dopplebangers, horse girls, witchies, skaters, cat moms, dog moms, there are now lesbian bears.

Similar to gay bears, lesbian bears are defined as “a lesbian who identifies with the bear subculture, typically characterized by a large or stock build, hairy body, and a down-to-earth, cuddly personality.” Sometimes lesbian bears also use the term “Ursula.” Lesbian bears celebrate body diversity and natural hairiness, embracing a more masculine or androgynous presentation and challenging conventional beauty standards for queer women. Being large in stature is something lesbian bears are quite comfortable with and almost celebrate. Apparently, they give great hugs, and their partners often describe feeling safe around their lesbian bear. Believe it or not, lesbian bears are not a new thing; they’ve been around since 2002, when they were first discussed in an article in XTRA titled Beary Feminine. In the article, the author talked about having difficulty finding a lesbian bear in Toronto, but mentioned that they were definitely more prominent in the US and as far away as Australia. I couldn’t find any mention of lesbian bears prior to that article, although gay bears have been around since the 1980s.

You know you want this….

I’m trying to think hard about all of my books and who, if any of my main characters, might fit into the lesbian bear category. The only main character that comes remotely close is Maribel in One Shot at Love. However, I think I would love to write a main character who explicitly identifies as a lesbian bear. I think she would be rather lovable. I certainly write main characters that are protective, more on the butch side, but I’ve never really described their stance on hair removal, so I suspect they would not fall easily into the lesbian bear category. However, if you prefer protective main characters, I have a wide selection of books to choose from. Just click the links below — you know the drill!