Pierre Des Esseintes

In theory, I should have loved this book. And I wanted to. But in the grand scheme of things I can't.

First, it's weighted much more toward men. Perhaps this is because in Western culture it is much more difficult for guys to explore same sex relations. But while the book is weighted more toward this side, there is also a certain level of homophobia happening. The bisexual man interviewed for this book was clear on his desire for sex, but that he could never have feelings for a man because that would be gay, and therefore bad.

Related to that, I also thought the book had a touch of heterosexism as well as gender essentialism. Somehow the presumption that females are just naturally better at being affectionate and loving, in contrast to what was mentioned above, sat poorly with me. It reminded me of the male expectation of lesbian scenes in porn.

I wish this book were worth reading.… (mehr)

There are a lot of problems with this book.

1. It's really, really terrible.
2. For a book with two women on the cover, women are strangely underrepresented in this little volume.
3. For the author, bisexuality seems to equal "sleeping with everyone because sex is fun."
4. The translation is shoddily done. It doesn't flow naturally in English, and there are some truly bizarre phrases and expressions sprinkled throughout the entire thing.
5. The "Are You Bi?" quiz. Dear sweet mother of little pink ponies.
6. The title of the book is all about "trying bisexuality," as though people are gay or straight, but bisexuality is merely a fashionable trend one could try on like a cool hat.
6. This is problematic enough for two spaces: I *hated* the way bisexuality was portrayed in this book. There were many anecdotes shared throughout the book, and all of them seemed to only focus on sexy sextimes. Apparently, bisexuality does not involve making emotional connections with people of either gender. No, it is pretty much entirely about "swinging clubs" (not a euphemism; rather, a type of nightclub in which couples may go to have sex with other couples) and glory holes.

As a bisexual woman, I did not see anything of myself in this book. I was actually actively offended by almost everything about it. After trying to figure out for a while how to get rid of it, I finally gave it to a bi-curious friend as a joke gift. It really has no other purpose.… (mehr)