Society also assumes, quite falsely, incidentally, that male homosexuals outnumber lesbians by at least ten to one, because it is able to count ten gay bars where males congregate for every lesbian bar, but it does not think far enough to realize that, because of its own edicts, the male has no place else to go to be with his own kind except the gay bars, whereas the lesbian is allowed to establish a home where she can do her entertaining and find a large part of her recreation. The "hen party" arouses no suspicion at all, but "stag parties" are not generally held in bachelor apartments.

Then there is the little matter of the law. Unless a lesbian violates some law other than the ones governing her sexual activities, she has little to fear from that direction. For one thing, female homosexuality is virtually impossible to prove and the law enforcement agencies are well aware of that fact so they seldom bother to try. Catching two women in bed together means nothing, for there is no particular stigma connected with women sleeping together, but two adult males found in the same bed are automatically assumed to be there for only one purpose, and it is usually not difficult for the arresting officer to ascertain whether or not his assumption is correct. So even the physiological advantage belongs to the lesbian, and the importance of this advantage is easily demonstrated by the fact that while female homosexuality is just as illegal as male homosexuality in most states, there are extremely few records of arrests on that charge, and almost no records of convictions, while it is common knowledge that male homosexuals are arrested-and convicted-with a frequency approaching the handling out of tickets for traffic violations. However, "soliciting for immoral purposes" is the net used most frequently by the law to catch the male homosexual. Because it is almost impossible for him to form an euduring relationship and lead any kind of a normal life under existing conditions, he probably does do a great deal more "soliciting" than the average lesbian to begin with, but the fact that he is a forced to do most of it in public places is the reason he gets caught at it so much more frequently. As a general rule, lesbians do not find it necessary to form their alliances in bars (and almost never on street corners or in parks)-unless they are strangers in town and then it's only a temporary expedient. The majority of those who do frequent the gay bars (and the majority of lesbians have never been inside one) for their recreation, do not go there for the purpose of making a pickup-they are usually "with somebody," "meeting somebody," part of a group, or else they've had a fight with their current friend and want to drown their sorrows alone. There are exceptions, of course, but they are in a distinct minority. So unless the lesbian makes a public nuisance of herself, the law has very little interest in her, which, unhappily, is not the case with the male homosexual.

There is one other factor which might be mentioned in comparing the plight of the lesbian and the male homosexual in today's society, and the reasoning behind it is a little difficult to fathom. It is, that society as a whole really does not care very much if two women want to make love to each other. For even if the lesbian is publicly exposed, society does not have the sense of outrage and the accompanying desire to punish that it does when confronted with an acknowledged or proven male homosexual. Why this should be so is not altogether clear, but probably it also stems from the age-old belief that what women say, think or do is of no great importance in any case. To this day, the actions of women as a species are generally regarded as unpredictable, illogical, inexplicable and irresponsible-and so, hardly worthy of the attention, much less the interest, of the lordly and all-knowing male. And it is still, after all,

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