![he him his he him his](https://adventuringmel.gythco.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/225-pronouns-he-him-his.png)
This wasn't a form of self-expression, this was a safety method. This is because, in more homophobic times, lesbians would commonly have one partner present as male in order to appear as a heterosexual couple, as to not get hate crimed out in public.
![he him his he him his](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/a3/c6/c5/a3c6c5e0c94ead4dad55ba0aefdf37ba.jpg)
Historical he/him lesbians did not use he/him pronouns because they preferred it that way, but rather they did this as a safety mechanism. Another way people attempt to justify he/him lesbians is by using examples of he/him lesbians from the past, in which the historical context has been adapted and altered, for their convenience. If pronouns were only meant for specifying a person completely outside of gender, then this variety (he/him, she/her, they/them, etc) simply wouldn't exist, and there would only be one universal set of pronouns. Many will claim this is because he/him lesbians feel a sense of disconnect from womanhood/femininity, or more commonly, "pronouns don't equal gender." However, this statement is incorrect due to the fact that pronoun variety exists for the sole reason of indicating gender identity in the context of a conversation. A He/him lesbian is a lesbian who uses he/him pronouns despite the two concepts conflicting with each other. While he can be an affirming pronoun for some people, we cant assume that all people who appear to be masculine or affirm a male identity use he/him/his.