As a result, little in history was documented to give an accurate description of how female homosexuality was expressed. Instead, lesbian relationships have often been regarded as harmless, unless a participant attempts to assert privileges traditionally enjoyed by men. Throughout history, women have not had the same freedom or independence as men to pursue homosexual relationships, but neither have they met the same harsh punishment as homosexual men in some societies. The concept of 'lesbian' to differentiate women with a shared sexual orientation evolved in the 20th century. The word lesbian is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexuality or same-sex attraction. In biology, the singular symbol represents the female sex. Symbol representing lesbian made from two interlocked astronomical symbols for the planet Venus.
