In the Ancient Greek, they had a social construct where men were allowed to have relationships with their fellow men and women to men but no construct accommodated women to have relationships with other women.

The legend of Sappho is from the Ancient Greek and it also believed that a young male can be in a relationship with older men as long as the young male is less than 16years old and or in custody of someone, older men can engage in any sexual relationships with the young male (Gays). Whereas in the legend of Sappho, it was against their greek religion or social construct to allow a woman to have an affair with another fellow woman (lesbians). So therefore if any woman had feelings for another woman, they would have to hide behind closed doors and if caught would lead to banishment or sentenced to death etc. Sappho herself was a lesbian and as a poet, she had to hide behind her writings to portray her love and affections. She mostly expressed her feelings in her poems, novels and also wrote about relationships of the same sex but could not actually tell anyone because their social construct didn’t allow it.