Dusty Brandt Howard is a writer & a fighter. He is a trans masculine cultural narrator who builds worlds with words. You can follow his thirst traps on Instagram, his writing on Substack, or find him at your local queer bar in northeast LA.
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Dec 10, 2023
Tumblr has always been for alt kids. Lesbians and LGBTQIA+ folks of all genders have long used the internet as a way to find each other, flirt, and build community. In the early 2000s, it was LiveJournal. Then, by 2006, the gays were logging into Myspace from our Windows PCs. By 2013, we were all on lesbian Tumblr writing sapphic poems for our long-distance girlfriends. And now, all of the queer Gen Zers I know keep telling me that I need to download TikTok.
But while other platforms, such as Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter), are becoming monetized and clogged with influencers, there is a lesbian resurgence on Tumblr. Lesbian young folks and fandoms are taking Tumblr back and breathing new life into the former relic. If you thought that lesbian Tumblr was dead, you thought wrong.
Tumblr has always been a safe haven for queer people. In 2021, Tumblr dubbed itself “the queerest place on the internet.” Based on the data that it collected, the people who use Tumblr are 193% more likely to identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community than any other social media platform. While some of us might think of Tumblr as an artifact from our teenage years, the truth is that young queer people keep flocking to Tumblr by the masses.
If you are looking for memes, obscure satire, niche debates about every facet of lesbian culture, queer fandom ships, and lesbian love letters, then Tumblr is the place for you. From the best lesbian couples on Tumblr to the vintage lesbian aesthetics on every gay girl’s mood board, we’ve got everything you need to know about the lesbian renaissance that is taking the blogging platform by storm.
If you haven’t been on dyke Tumblr since you were a teen, welcome back. If you are an avid Tumblr-obsessed lesbian blogger looking for more inspo for your page, we’ve got you covered. Here are some of our favorite things floating in the ether of lesbian Tumblr.
Source: Tumblr
User: @bearybutch
One of the things that lesbian Tumblr is most known for is the aesthetics. Queer aesthetics are a subculture of their own that trace all the way back to the 1980s. If you are looking for your next lesbian aesthetic, Tumblr has a ton of queer moodboards, haircuts, and outfits that can help you figure out exactly how you want to express yourself.
Here are some of our fave dyke Tumblr aesthetics making the rounds:
This wlw aesthetic made up entirely of oil paintings everything that South Asian lesbian dreams are made of. @thestral-queen-rules posts some of the best-curated lesbian mood boards that will awaken the mysterious poetry and aesthetics of your wildest Desi sapphic fantasies. You can even submit a request for a moodboard, and she will make one for you.
For all you cottagecore dreamers out there, @cosmiqrxse posts some ethereal, dreamy, and moody lesbian aesthetics that you can help but repost. Whether you’re a winter girlie, a Jane Austen fan, or just like the idea of rolling around with another girl in a field of wispy grass, this autumnal moodboards will hit the spot.
This was just too cute not to spotlight. There’s nothing quite like an a high femme, professional sweetheart, and zine maker fighting for butchfemme representation online. We love these matching beloved femme and beloved butch carabiners from @toothfairyfemme. This dykey key ring aesthetic stands the test of time.
Tumblr is by far one of the best places to find collages and moodboards full of a diverse representation of vintage lesbian love. These pictures are living proof that queer and lesbian love has always existed through the ages, despite what the media or our parents told us. @wannabeaesthete posts “aesthetically pleasing and rather gay” content, including beautiful representation of vintage lesbians throughout time.
If you, like me, have just decided to get a Tumblr after years of inactivity, you might be wondering which lesbian bloggers to start following. We’ve compiled a short list of some of the best dyke Tumblr accounts to follow for the literary, the fashionable, and Bieber-look-alike. Oh, and if you are just looking for some wholesome lesbian couple content, we have that too.
Source: Tumblr
Welcome to the ultimate lesbian couples blog that is dedicated to showcasing and celebrating the gorgeous, beautiful, and aspirational love between women who love women. This lesbian Tumblr blog has been going strong for over a decade and gives lesbian couples the chance to submit pictures and be featured. The page is run by lesbian power couple Jasmine and Stephanie who actually met on HER in 2016 and are now happily married and live in Washington.
Source: Qwear Fashion
For all you lesbians out there looking for the latest dyke fashion advice and lesbian aesthetic inspiration, look no further than the queer style blog, Qwear. Qwear Fashion started in 2011 as a Tumblr that pinned itself as “the first online LGBTQIA+ style incubator.” Now, Qwear Fashion has taken on a website of its own but still continues to post outfits, style trends, LGBTQIA+ brands, and lesbian fashionistas who are serving the best trendy looks.
Source: Tumblr
This wouldn’t be a showcase of the best lesbian Tumblrs if we didn’t include the one and only, iconic, groundbreaking, aesthetic defining Tumblr of the century: Lesbians who look like Justin Bieber. I remember being a lesbian in 2012 and feeling personally attacked when I found this blog. While the page hasn’t been updated since 2017, the sentiment still rings true today for trans men and lesbians alike. My personal favorite are the butch/futch lesbian couples that are serving Bieber4Bieber.
Source: Tumblr
This lesbian Tumblr posts queer book titles including the works of sapphic poets, queer cartoonists, and bibliographies of gay and lesbian history. The Lesbrary is for all my book nerds out there who need more LGBTQIA+ literature in their lives. Here, you can find any queer book imaginable and even search by genre or content including work by POC and trans writers. You can also read book reviews of the brand new lesbian books to hit the shelves Deep dive into this nerdy lesbian Tumblr to find your next gay page-turner today.
Source: Tumblr
This lesbian Tumblr posts positive representations of what it means to love people of multiple genders for any bisexual lesbians out there. It specifically caters to “multi-attraction spectrum” people. For those you don’t know, this is an umbrella term for any sexual orientation where the attraction or focus is on people of multiple genders—such as bisexuality, pansexuality, or queerness. If you need more bi lesbian positivity in your life (and really cute love letters and Pokemon art for bisexual lesbians), then welcome home.
If you are a major influencer looking to start your next big brand deal, Tumblr might not be the place for you. Tumblr boasts itself on being “wholesome chaos, the gay people in your phone, your angel and your devil.” But really, Tumblr is for anyone who is looking for something more (or less) than what other social media platforms have to offer.
There is a quirkiness and obsessiveness that Tumblr users share loving whatever is niche, obsolete, and semi-irrelevant to everyone else. Tumblr is silly, self-aware, and strangely intimate. Lesbian Tumblr has long been a haven for fandoms and queer people looking to build community with other fan fiction writers, artists, role-players, and creatives. Tumblr is a place where all the people who got made fun of in high school get to find each other and reclaim their weirdness together.
But also, Tumblr is undoubtedly for gay people.
Is the earth still round? Does the sun still rise in the east and set in the west? Do lesbians somehow continue to consistently look like Justin Bieber throughout every decade of the 21st century? While Tumblr was not specifically built as a dating platform, lesbians have been meeting, flirting, and curating together on Tumblr since its inception.
Shell (my favorite non-binary dyke) and I were talking about how formative Tumblr was for our queer identities. They told me that
“Tumblr was a way to just be low-key gay in a high-key artsy environment.”
Shell
Tumblr has always been a refuge for lesbian couples and queer people to send secret lesbian love letters to our crushes via obscure poems and steamy GIFs.
“I got a Tumblr because my high school secret girlfriend had one.”
Shell
“We would just post really cryptic romantic photos and lesbian videos to entice one another into a so-called forbidden fruit kind of love. So dramatic.”
Shell
Whether you’re on Tumblr for friends, to meet someone (remember to always practice internet safety and be weary of catfish), or you only really have a Tumblr to post hella cryptic gay shit, hoping that your crush will notice, Tumblr can be whatever you want it to be.
Tumblr is most definitely still alive and kicking. It’s a space where people can curate and find like-minded creative community, unlike the other social media apps of today. The reason why it’s popular is because it is sort of obsolete. Tumblr still serves up that old school, chronological river that simply shows you the posts of the people you are following. There is no tricky algorithm or paid ads. You can curate your very own lifestyle magazine, interspersed with text, like a personal digital time capsule to look back on whenever you want.
Lesbian Tumblr is more than just a social media platform, it is a diverse community-driven space of like-minded dykes. Tumblr allows queer and gender-diverse young people to find the representation that is so often lacking in their day-to-day lives without the social pressure and FOMO of platforms like Instagram. You can find community with other lesbians and get support from other queer people in a safe space. Or you can just spend countless hours staring into that waterfall GIF contemplating the meaning of life. We’ve all been there.
No matter what brings you to lesbian Tumblr or for how long, we hope that you find the support, community, and hilarious memes that you need. Like this one, right here.
Source: Reddit
Dusty Brandt Howard is a writer & a fighter. He is a trans masculine cultural narrator who builds worlds with words. You can follow his thirst traps on Instagram, his writing on Substack, or find him at your local queer bar in northeast LA.