by Jessi Joan
2023 (Microcosm Publishing)
According to the most recent Gallup poll, bisexuals comprise the largest segment of the LGBTQIA+ community among American adults, more than 57%. And yet the general public´s understanding of bisexuality as a distinct identity remains confused and contradictory, at best --if it is accepted at all. Unfortunately, in 2024, some still believe that bisexual individuals are somehow less legitimate than their monosexual peers: bi people are "just in transition", or being bi is "a little less than queer". At the same time, despite all of this hostility towards one´s very existence, identifying as being bisexual is somehow considered easier to live than being a part of any other marginalized group. With so much bi-erasure, biphobia, and self-inflicted shame, why would any bisexual person choose this as an identity...unless it were true?
Closer to home, I´m always curious about how bisexuality is depicted in fiction, including erotica. Sometimes we can better understand something confusing when it is shared through the lens of a story, where we can start to tease out the nuances and immerse ourselves in the "grey" areas in-between the binaries of Straight Or Gay. For example, are bi-identifying people only attracted to cisgender men and women? And if not, what is the difference then between bisexuality and pansexuality? Can bi people be monogamous or enjoy sex with just a single person? Or are orgies and sex with people of multiple genders a requirement for bi people to feel "normal"?
These were some of the questions I hoped to uncover earlier this year when I assembled my anthology The Best Bi Erotica of the Year, Volume One. Each one of the fifteen stories in the collection wrestled with many of these questions above, and each came to a different conclusion. Taken together, the anthology provides a glimpse to some of the rich and diverse areas of possibility for representing bi people within contemporary erotic fiction. Rather than repeat or reinforce the old tropes, each of these writers introduced something new about living and being bi in each of these erotic narratives.
One of the contributing writers to the Bi Erotica anthology was Jessi Joan, a writer and therapist based in Canada. Her zine Pretty Little Playthings collects more of her queer, kinky, and erotic writing into a single volume, further expanding the field of possibilities of what kinds of desire and bodies we can imagine. If we can depict different kinds of bodies, relationships, and erotic encounters, perhaps too we can accept these in our actual lives outside of the page.
As she explains in her introduction, part of her goal in writing Pretty Little Playthings was reclamation: to discard the shame that she had absorbed over many years about being bisexual or "less-than-queer," and to use her creativity and her imagination to put language to her inner life. The results of these pieces are spicy and dynamic: not only does Joan encourage the reader to expand their own understanding of bisexuality to include anyone, regardless of their gender identity; but the pieces in this sexy zine also include a substantial amount of role-play, D/s dynamics, consensual non-con scenarios, and more. As someone who also grew up in a religious household, I particularly appreciated how Joan turned her strict Catholic upbringing into a pretty hot little kink in one of the stories.
Language is how all of us make sense of our lives. Words can harm as well as uplift, can limit our imaginations or point our minds and hearts into a completely new direction. With Pretty Little Playthings, Joan successfully attempts multiple things at once: not only to turn readers on and make an important contribution to contemporary bi erotic literature, but also to continue the work of sharing her own personal experience and perspective. Particularly now, as we are on the threshold of a second Trump administration, stories which are edgy and honest are more important than ever. With this zine, Jessi shows us the power in being self-accepting, proud, and kinky AF, all without apology.
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