Scroll through social bios, book lists or fan discussions and you may spot WLW and MLM. These queer slang terms mean “women loving women” and “men loving men”, but they’re broader than lesbian and gay. Here’s who they can include, how they differ from health-related shorthand, and why context matters.
Essential Takeaways
- WLW means women loving women. It can describe attraction without specifying one orientation.
- MLM means men loving men. It’s also used for multi-level marketing, so context helps.
- Both terms can be inclusive. Some non-binary people identify with womanhood or manhood and use the relevant term.
- WSW and MSM describe behaviour. They’re used in public-health contexts and don’t, by themselves, state someone’s identity.
- Use the label a person chooses. These terms aren’t compulsory replacements for lesbian, gay or bisexual.
WLW and MLM are broad, not one-size-fits-all
Two short acronyms can carry a lot of room. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee LGBTQ+ Resource Center defines WLW as women attracted to women, whether or not that attraction is exclusive. Its parallel term, MLM, means men attracted to men, also without requiring exclusive attraction.
That breadth means WLW may be used by lesbian, bisexual and pansexual women, while MLM may be used by gay, bisexual and pansexual men. The resource centre also includes some non-binary people who identify with womanhood or manhood. These are useful umbrellas, not instructions about which label anyone should adopt.
Look at the context before reading MLM
In queer slang, MLM means men loving men. But the same letters also stand for multi-level marketing, a business model covered in guidance from the US Federal Trade Commission. So if you see MLM in a profile or post, the surrounding words are your best clue.
WLW and MLM also appear in social bios, recommendations and fan communities. Dictionary.com’s WLW entry includes examples of online use from November 2017 and May 2018, including discussion of fictional relationships. That’s evidence the acronym was in public online use by then, not proof of who coined it or exactly when it began.
Sapphic and Achillean offer another vocabulary
Some people use Sapphic as an umbrella term for women attracted to women, while Achillean is used for men attracted to men. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee LGBTQ+ Resource Center connects Sapphic with the poet Sappho and describes Achillean as modelled on Sapphic and named after Achilles.
The older word history is a separate thread. The Online Etymology Dictionary records Sapphic in a literary sense from around 1500, with the meaning relating to sexual relations between women appearing in the 1890s. Those dates describe recorded word history, not the moment a modern identity label was invented.
WSW and MSM describe behaviour, not identity
WSW means women who have sex with women, while MSM means men who have sex with men. These terms are used in health and reporting contexts, where describing behaviour can serve a different purpose from naming someone’s identity.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that women in these groups vary in sexual identity, practices and risk behaviours. NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists likewise treats MSM as a behavioural and public-health category, rather than an identity label. In short, don’t swap these acronyms for WLW, MLM, lesbian or gay as though they all mean the same thing.
Let people choose their own labels
WLW and MLM can be handy when someone wants a broad description of attraction or a relationship. But a person’s preferred words matter more than a tidy glossary entry, and nobody needs to use an umbrella term if a more specific label feels right.
That’s especially worth remembering with non-binary people: some use WLW or MLM, but that doesn’t mean everyone does. A little curiosity is useful; assuming someone’s label is not.
Choose the wording that fits the person, not just the acronym that fits the sentence.
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