Generally, I think lesbianism still slipped "under the radar" of popular consciousness in the 1950s as it had for centuries. After all, the very idea that women had
any independent sexual nature had hardly penetrated a male-dominated popular culture. "Lezzie" is the earliest slang term I remember, and that would have been in books published in the 1960's at the earliest. In novels euphemisms like "a born spinster" or "not the marrying kind" tap-danced round the issue. Sometimes foreign-language terms like
schwärmerisch were employed to describe a woman's feelings for a member of the same sex. Both techniques are found in Dorothy Sayers'
"Unnatural Death" (1927), for example, in which the chief villain is clearly implied to be a lesbian.
A comic would, in any event, have been about the
last place one would have looked for a mention of female homosexuality in the
Comic Code Authority era of self-censorship. Homosexuality was generally regarded as a "sexual perversion" and would have been prohibited. Of course any form of trans-gender content (except cross-dressing for for disguise or comic effect) would probably been regarded as inappropriate too, which is why I alter the CCA seal on my modified covers.
As for the covers, BobH has done his usual great job. I especially like
"The one she wants."; it's a nice subtle re-cap that works perfectly with the cover image.
