#eet

Despite (or maybe To spite?) what Cassandra Clare has said about how Anna can communicate her identity, I believe that Anna Lightwood can describe herself as lesbian or sapphic with out being anachronistic, and here's why.

Anna has a Shadowhunter's education. Therefore, she has read Classical literature. Anna proved her knowledge of Ancient Greek lit in EET where she compared her ideal sexual relationship to that between Zeus and Danae. She also alludes to Prometheus in respect to her gender presentation in EET. These allusions, combined with the fact that Sappho's poetry does hold academic value, even in the Victorian Era, make it reasonable to extrapolate that Anna has read Sappho and thus could refer to herself or her sexual relations in terms of Sappho. Even if Anna doesn't use specifically the terms "sapphic" or "lesbian", she could still make a metaphorical allusion to Sappho's poetry, similar to how she did in the aforementioned Zeus and Danae example.

If Sappho's poetry wasn't part of Anna's education, Anna could still have knowledge of it, since she interacts with mundane queer culture, of which Sappho was becoming a popular icon. In fact, the aesthetic associated with Sappho today began to be developed in the late Victorian and early Edwardian periods. The term "lesbian" was even in circulation in Europe, starting in the 1890s. Anna could have sought out Sappho's poetry after hearing of it at the Hell Ruelle or from her mundane lovers. Considering how Anna is not an avid reader, she could still have second hand knowledge of the poems from aforementioned sources of mundane culture.

CC might have been wary of flat out using the word "lesbian" in terms of Anna. "Lesbian" has taken a very modern connotation, and it might seem out of place for only Anna to have a word for her sexuality when her queer male counterparts don't. (Not that there weren't words for male homosexuality in the Edwardian age, but most are considered incredibly offensive now, so CC probably doesn't want to use them. Personally, I'd rather some of that language be used for the gay characters than just repeating "Bohemian Lifestyle," especially when they're to be "taken on the terms of [their] time") However, Anna was supposed to be, in CC's words, "a fun glimpse into the beauty and richness of a corner of queer history and specifically lesbian experience in the belle epoque." And yet Anna isn't granted the language to do so.

I do not have to be only one thing. I can choose what suits me when it suits me.

Anna Lightwood, requested by @my-archerboy and @lgbtqiabooks