During the postwar period, lesbianism is understood in both a gendered and sexual context (Penn). In terms of gender relations, the postwar period presents what scholars termed a “gender paradox” as more than ever white women are entering into the paid labor force. Yet, a resurgence of cultural conservatism (McCarthyism) is promoting the nuclear family as the foundation of American democracy. This led me to question: What are the different contextual factors lesbians used to understand their sexuality in this era? And, how do their social class during childhood and their social class during adulthood influence the role of these contexts? I aim to answer this question by analyzing 12 archival interviews done with self-identified lesbians who came of age during the 1940s-1960s. These interviews were conducted by Rochella Thorpe in the early 1990s and accessed through the Cornell Archives. Because these interviews take place after their coming-of-age period, interviewees can provide a longitudinal perspective of their progression into their lesbian identities. So far, my findings reveal the parental home, religious upbringing, the discovery of a lesbian peer group, and school (college) as having major impacts on the timeline and ability of these young women to come to understand and accept themselves as lesbians.