Bisexuality

Bisexual Invisibility

Okay, now THIS is scary. I follow blogger Mike Szymanski at the Bisexuality Examiner. I can’t remember quite how I found him in the first place – probably through the BiWriters group I belong to on Yahoo. But if I’d gone looking for him on a Google search, without that personal connection, I might never have found him. Did you know that when you start to search the term “bisexual” or “bisexuality,” the Google auto-complete function is blocked? This vastly reduces the number of hits you’re likely to get – making it appear there’s almost nothing out there on your topic.

He’s referencing a Huffington Post article by Faith Cheltenham, who’s done some research on this issue. As she points out, how many bisexual persons just looking for validation and affirmation will never find what they’re seeking because Google has blocked the auto-complete for searching the term bisexual? She offers data, and has some links to give Google some feedback. If you care about this issue, hop on over there and help fight bi invisibility.

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Bisexuality

Equality for our stories ~ and all LGBTQ persons

I write erotic romance with my husband under the pen name Adriana Kraft. Most of the heroines we love to write and read are bisexual. In addition we’ve written some lesbian heroines and an occasional bisexual hero. So our pairings include M/F, F/F, and M/M, plus ménage, in a range of combinations.

Authors who write stories like ours have just been excluded from entering the “More than Magic” fiction contest based on those pairings – giving us a taste of the discrimination our characters so often struggle with.  The contest is an annual one sponsored by the Romance Writers Ink chapter of RWA (Romance Writers of America). In previous years, all romantic pairings have been eligible to enter, but this year, the entry guidelines state that the contest will “no longer accept same-sex entries in any category.

We’ve been members of RWA for over a decade, and we’ve celebrated two victories with that organization across the years. The first was an attempt by some members to define romance as between “one man and one woman.” Thankfully that went down to defeat, and the organization’s official definition of romance focuses on the following two elements, period:

A Central Love Story: The main plot centers around two individuals falling in love and struggling to make the relationship work. A writer can include as many subplots as he/she wants as long as the love story is the main focus of the novel.

An Emotionally-Satisfying and Optimistic Ending: In a romance, the lovers who risk and struggle for each other and their relationship are rewarded with emotional justice and unconditional love.

The second was the creation a few years ago of an on-line RWA chapter formed by authors of LGBTQ romances. We joined immediately.

Rainbow Romance Writers has been visible and active over the last two days spreading the word about this problem – and, once the first wave of anger settled out, chapter members and chapter leadership have been strong advocates of finding solutions to the problem.

It’s gone viral – several of our members blogged on Friday, Smart Bitches blogged about it yesterday, Suzanne Brockman has been posting on FaceBook, and it’s all over Twitter.

What can you do? Our chapter president, Heidi Cullinen, posted a blog today filled with things authors and readers can do to be part of the solution to the problem. If you care about LGBTQ romance and LGBTQ people, please take a look and get involved.

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Bisexuality

A Little F/F Temptation


Let’s see, what sinful topic should I play with today? Here’s a clue – my last three releases all have some truly hot girl-on-girl erotic scenes. Do you detect a theme here?

So I thought I’d try to let you in on what appeals to me so much about bisexual and lesbian erotic scenes. First off – I love women’s bodies. Don’t get me wrong, I love men’s, too, and I can get as turned on by a steamy M/F scene as the next person. But there’s something special about the softness and the curves and the hot spots of a woman.

And then there’s the matter of style and pace – well, hmm. Anyone can be slow or fast, so maybe it’s just style. Here’s a sample of what I mean, from The Lady Wants More [Torquere, June 15]:

Janet leaned back until she felt the coolness of the window, but that did nothing to quell the heat pouring from her body—from her head, from her nipples, and especially, oh so especially, from her core. She curled her fingers around Brenda’s ears encouraging her to explore, to take her time—no, to hurry.

“It must’ve been a while,” Brenda said, dropping light kisses up and down the length of Janet’s pussy. “Your lips are so puffy and open and you’re already dripping and I’ve hardly touched you.”

“You’re torturing me,” Janet groaned. “And I love it.”

Another thing – I think imagination comes into play differently. When a woman does something to another woman’s body, her experience includes both what she’s doing, and what it would feel like to receive what she’s doing – double the turn on, double the urgency, double the tension. Irresistable!

Here’s a sample of the power of imagination, from Complexities [Book Three, Swinging Games, Extasy]

“Most every time I try to fall asleep I think of you with another woman.” Donna slanted a finger across Jen’s lips. “Please, I have to tell you. I admit I’m so jealous. I’ve dreamed about us together before. I hadn’t had that dream for years until recently. Then I’d wake up feeling so guilty I didn’t know if I could face you. Now I wake up soaking wet, certain we’ve been making love for hours and that you left before I could awaken fully.”

“But…”

Donna’s finger slipped into Jen’s open mouth.

Was it reflex, instinct or lust? With her eyelids closed, Jen didn’t spend much time trying to explain why she was suddenly sucking Donna’s finger deeper into her mouth.

So, um, yeah. It’s no surprise that nearly all my published heroines are either bisexual or lesbian. Here’s a quick pimp out on two of my recent releases:

The Lady Wants More [Torquere, June 15] is part of Torquere’s Sapphic Signs series, so of course it’s a lesbian romance. Or, perhaps more accurately, a falling-in-love story about a straight divorcee from the NYC suburbs and her former college roommate, a free spirit who’s been comfortably bisexual for years. Can you guess which character’s sun sign is Cancer and which is Aquarius? Here’s another EXCERPT for you.

Ripening Passion [Whiskey Creek Torrid, July 15] is second. On the surface it might look like a straight M/F love story – after all, Claire Johnson is pitted against her nemesis, Max Wilson, and they’ve got to figure out how to have sex on camera! But Claire is definitely bi, and the Sexuality Center where all the characters work creates lots of steamy DVD’s in all manner of combinations, so she’s never one to be left out. Yup, definitely some girl-on-girl here – oh, and did I mention, Claire’s a Baby Boomer? And not about to give up hot sex as she ages. You can find an excerpt HERE.

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Bisexuality

Hot Swinging Stories for the Sexually Fluid!

Here’s a fascinating quote from a blog about a Scientific American research article on bisexuality: “Interestingly, [the author] also found that as women age, they become more aware of their sexual fluidity, and thus tend to turn more toward bisexuality than away from it.”

That would definitely be true at our house, where we discovered a few years back that both of us love to read f/f erotic scenes as well as sizzling m/f scenes. It wasn’t much of a leap from reading them to writing them – and once we’d opened up that possibility, new ones beckoned: three-way, four-way and more, in all sorts of combinations, crafted for heightened erotic excitement. Writing them is a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it!

For sure it’s true in the home of Jennifer Andrews, heroine of our Swinging Games series at Extasy Books. Discovering her bisexuality is the main reason Jen and her husband ventured into the swinging world at mid life. Reviewers at Whipped Cream, San Diego Erotica Books Examiner and Fallen Angels Reviews all agree the series is a smashing success!

SWINGINGGAMES

San Diego Erotica Books Examiner  – Four Stars!

This is a sexual tale of a woman named Jennifer, who discovers after many years of marriage that she is bisexual. Her husband Brett, is more than happy to indulge her by getting into the swing of things. This story is hot … imagination takes on a life of its own. Don’t let this one pass you by. Excerpt

 

hookupsFallen Angel Reviews  – Five Angels!

Hookups is a fun quick read full of sexual fantasies, lust and passion. If Adriana Kraft writes to entertain, she has succeeded with Hookups… While the sex scenes are explicit, Ms. Kraft handles the content well. She has managed to write a unique love story with a twist. The characters are well rounded, each with their own idiosyncrasies that endear them to the reader. I’m interested to see if we are going to find out more about Jen and Brett and their band of merry swingers; I hope so. Excerpt

 

ATEMPTINGTASTE

 Whipped Cream Reviews  – Four Cherries!   
 
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started reading A Tempting Taste Swinging Games 2. The title pretty much summarized the premise, but my oh my, did I underestimate just how scorching hot those next seventy or so pages were going to be!…Brett and Jen are not your typical gorgeous twenty or thirty-year olds. They are in their fifties, and some of their “partners” are older than that. It was also refreshing to read, and is something that is rarely found…This is something you read when you want straight up hotness, because there is plenty to go around! Excerpt
 

The next installment in the series will be out in just two weeks, on November 15:

What happens when the neighbors find out? Jen and Brett Andrews’ swinging world turns upside down when it comes too close to home – will their friends keep their secret? Will they have to stop swinging, or worse yet, move? What if the friends want to join in? Delectable complexities unfold as Jen and Brett continue their swinging adventures!

Here’s an excerpt to whet your appetite:

“Most every time I try to fall asleep I think of you with another woman.” Donna slanted a finger across Jen’s lips. “Please, I have to tell you. I admit I’m so jealous. I’ve dreamed about us together before. I hadn’t had that dream for years until recently. Then I’d wake up feeling so guilty I didn’t know if I could face you. Now I wake up soaking wet, certain we’ve been making love for hours and that you left before I could awaken fully.”

“But…”

Donna’s finger slipped into Jen’s open mouth.

Was it reflex, instinct or lust? With her eyelids closed, Jen didn’t spend much time trying to explain why she was suddenly sucking Donna’s finger deeper into her mouth.

“That feels so good,” Donna cooed.

Jen heard Donna scooting closer. She kept her eyes closed hoping not to frighten or encourage her friend. She felt Donna’s warm breath on her cheek. And then her best friend’s lips brushed against the corner of Jen’s mouth.

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Bisexuality

Swinging – Friends with Benefits

Women are “as keen as men” to participate in consensual group sex, and they’re almost as likely to initiate it, according to a survey reported today by the Daily Telegraph in Sidney, Australia. In the survey, the most common reasons participants said they sought group sex were “excitement, variety and to spice up long-term relationships.”

That’d certainly be the case for our heroine Jennifer Andrews. Happily married for over twenty five years and with her children grown, she and her husband, Brett, have turned to swinging. They’re hoping it’ll add variety to their marriage, and Jen is especially eager to finally make love with a woman.

The next installment in their adventures will be released in just one week at Extasy Books:

Friends with benefits – a brand new world opens up for Jen and Brett Andrews in the enticing but unpredictable world of swinging. Will Pam and Rick be all they’ve hoped for? Will Tom and Linda disappear after chatting them up? What about Carl and Alice? Fantasies and new hookups fuel the fire of lust and excitement, but what will happen to their marriage?

 

EXCERPT: Here’s a little taste of group sex from their adventures to whet your appetite!

Boneless, Jen basked in the attention her three lovers were showering on her. It seemed like hours, but she knew Linda had been chewing on the corner of her mouth for only moments. Jen whimpered as Linda’s tongue toyed, parting her lips, and Tom and Brett tended her boobs seemingly with extreme care not to touch a nipple with tongue or finger.

They’d all dispensed with their clothing quickly after settling into the room. But everything had been in slow motion ever since. She’d drawn the lucky card and was the first to receive total attention from her partners. Everyone understood the rules of this game. This was foreplay.

Swinging Games: Hookups – coming to Extasy Books June 1

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Recognition for LGBT Romance


Romance Writers of America (RWA) was established in 1981 “to advance the professional interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy.” I’ve been a member since 2000, when I attended my first National convention, and I still remember that heady feeling when I found myself in a room filled with over a thousand other persons who loved to do what I loved: read and write romance. It was a spectacular homecoming for me, a deep sense of being exactly where I belonged.

That feeling began to take a beating as the two halves of Adriana identified more specifically what we love to write: not only steamy erotic romance, but erotic love stories about women who are bisexual. I kept my RWA membership and joined the special interest chapter for erotic romance, Passionate Ink, but began to lose interest in attending conferences because I wasn’t sure where I fit.

Meanwhile a dedicated group of writers producing romance across the entire spectrum of LGBT was taking on the battle directly. At Romantic Times and RWA Cons they brought their books for display, participated in signings, and sometimes bore the brunt of prejudice and discrimination, even to the point of having their books removed and their displays taken down.

Those courageous writers persisted and RWA has just recognized a new special interest chapter: Rainbow Romance Writers , an on-line chapter with the following goals:

 

 

  • to promote excellence in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender romances
  • to help members become published in LGBT romances
  • to be an advocate within the industry for our genre
  • to be a resource to our members and others on writing and the publishing industry

It may be a virtual room, and at this point there aren’t thousands of us, but both halves of Adriana are thrilled once again to be in a room where we so profoundly belong.

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What kind of Bi?


We just ran across a very interesting article on the wide range of desires and experiences that are included within the broad definition of bisexuality. Kathy Labriola, R.N., is a bi- and poly-friendly counselor in the SF Bay area whose writings on bisexuality and polyamory have been published on line by a friend of hers. In “What is bisexuality? Who is bisexual?” she describes thirteen specific types based on the work of J. R. Little. There are probably many more permutations and combinations out there, but we like this approach as a place to start.

Sometimes we write heroines who’ve been chiefly heterosexual but expand their horizons and discover that they’re also attracted to women. Some of these would fall under the “alternating bisexuals” designation in her typology – persons who have relationships serially, with one gender and then the other. Martha Richards of The Mistress of Purgatory Point most resembles this type. Others are more like “concurrent relationship bisexuals.” They have a primary relationship with a single gender, but at the same time have “casual or secondary relationships” with persons of the other gender. If things work out for Merry Delaney in The Merry Widow, that would be her hope.

        

Luci Parker, heroine of Writing Skin, is altogether different. She’s known she is bi for a long time. She’s not sure she could ever settle for a primary relationship with one or the other, and she’s pretty much given up trying. Loving both is part of who she is. Her first choice would be what Labriola calls “integrated bisexuals,” persons who have “more than one primary relationship at the same time, one with a man and one with a woman.”

Skin 150

The story of how she finds her partners – a man and a woman – is tender, funny, fraught with anxiety and uncertainty, soul-searching and heartwarming. You can find an excerpt here – enjoy!

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