Lucrezia Magazine

Short story anthologies function to collect stories from writers and present diversity. Literary diversity is presented through story style, voice, tense, scenario and theme. One would be naïve to presume that a lesbian (or gay) erotic anthology presents one theme: lesbianism. One would be in for a rude awakening if one associates lesbian erotica or the erotica collected by Tristan Taormino, with the usual array of lesbian encounters in heterosexual porn films, where the girl-girl relationship gravitates around satisfying hetero male fantasies, where characters are one-dimensional dolly birds that have sex like Solid Gold dancers, ticking every box in sequential order: from head to toe – stiletto heel intact.

Best Lesbian Erotica 2008, like Best Gay Erotica 2008 plunges the reader into the invisible avenue of sex, a world that is seldom explored by popular television shows, mainstream or popular adult films, generally vehicles that surgically excise 'undesirable' characteristics and unconventional loci, to secure network advertising. Best Lesbian Erotica 2008 (like Best Gay Erotica 2008) presents the box within the box, or world within the mainstream. In this world we also see universal themes, emotions and internal conflicts from diverse communities. Such erotica doesn't claim to be romantic, and isn't afraid to veer away from socio-sexual norms: the three-date rule does not apply, and that's the way I like it to read erotica.

Tristan Taormino begins her introduction by discussing transgressions, and how the 'queer' sector transgresses social norms. Taking 'transgression' as a single word, one can say that it defines a shift from the norm or a violation of standard practices and it's a clean definition, on that barely touches the sides. Taormino's purpose is to highlight the permutations within transgression, and the story selection faithfully adheres to a three-dimensional exploration of what it is to transgress. Ali Leibgott's selections are based on her sexual quest to read about real women: "I wanted real women. I wanted women with dark sunken eyes who would sit despondently with me on a curb and understand the beauty of fingertips that smelled like the earth after digging holes in the park to bury found porn." From the outset, one knows that this selection isn't based on trivial sex moves and idealized physical imagery. A high percentage of on-screen lesbian porn features surgically enhanced women, with thick cosmetic masks; Best Lesbian Erotica does away with clichéd lesbian porn and it is here that I have to add the following: if you're looking for a light exploration of girl on girl sex that culminates in mutal orgasms and romantic reverie, within a closed environment then you're in for a surprise (or shock?). There are no over inflated tits, gleaming stilettos, chintzy curtains/bed-spreads and mediocre soundtracks in Best Lesbian Erotica 2008.

"Different Girls" is the story that opens the anthology, and introduces dualities; the good versus bad girl definition blurs when attraction develops, and the characters of Sues and Yoshi delve beneath their outward personae. The story is written in present tense, a style that can be demanding for any one accustomed to first or third person past tense, but what is awkward works best for the story. Present tense mainly works to highlight universal truth, character habit or historical fact. "Different Girls" uses present tense to highlight the characters like a photographer uses a telephoto lens, zooming in on the hairline fractures that beset traditional definitions; what is a good girl, what is a bad girl, to confirm that the roles are interchangeable, and related to events, personal motivations and attraction.

Duality is an ongoing theme. "Chronic" details the relationship between a healthy woman and a chronically ill woman, and the dilemmas it presents, as well as the efforts made to maintain a relationship against the demands made by illness. We meet Andy, a brazen butch who succumbs to extracurricular sex, and pays for her misdemeanor when her other half Shara finds out; what we see is role reversal, punishment, submission and absolution. "When She Was Good" explores duality by presenting hypocrisy; Tib is butch, loyal to her orientation, and rejects Sadie's bisexual status, thus rejecting Sadie, after a scorching sexual ride. Sadie's view of Tib changes when she is presented with Tib's double-life.

Duality exists in all sexual orientations; roles are played or displayed for the wider world, and other roles are engaged in the private world. Nothing is concrete or definite, and relationships are riddled with risks and risk-taking behaviors, but what makes Best Lesbian Erotica different (from soft lesbian erotica in romance or porn) is that it absorbs the white light and separates it to its constituent hues. Each color or wavelength provides scenes, predicaments and sexual explorations that challenge the reader, and represent "transgression".

The stories that present age differences also trample age-old notions that have existed in psychoanalysis, which live and breathe in hetero-romance or hetero erotic romance, genres that tend to draw inspiration from (even if the authors don't realize it) the Freudian Electra complex. You do have your lesbian 'Daddies', but they're no Freudian models; their power shifts, and they don't adhere to standard masculine stereotypes The transgressions in Best Lesbian Erotica 2008 illustrate detours. Sexual behaviors that are standardized in accordance to gender or the mass (mainstream) media, are utilized to animate transgressive actions. "Paradise" cleverly inverts the Barbie Doll. She isn't a girlie cultural icon, but an improvised dildo that would make Mattel freak; it's pure creative genius. The maternal notion of older woman, or women as 'mothers' (based on age) is also reversed. In Undone, the older woman isn't a typified mom or mom-type. She penetrates with 'hard, fast strokes,' and demands full sexual disclosure despite our younger heroines need to relief herself; piss or no piss, she wants the younger girl to divulge everything. "The Ant Queen" wields domination and humiliation. The story takes a concept like Mrs Robinson (The Graduate), and upends it. Power is reversed, placed in the hands of someone you'd least expect. Meanwhile Mrs Wellington extols her sexual confidence and knowledge (or presumption), with a patronizing air, to fall into the situational trap. Mrs Wellington's daughter's friend uses the moment for leverage and gains power. Dustin Hoffman was tongue tied in The Graduate, but this seductress is no wallflower:

"I was on the verge of coming right away. Not that she was good at it. She was terrible and I told her so. But I had the haughty Antwoman, a proud big-assed bitch, on her knees before me, humbly paying tribute, desperately trying to please me lest I denied her.
'Isn't your tongue longer than that? You can certainly talk with it…that's better…deeper now…that's it, work, you lazy, big-assed housewife…' "

It's difficult to categorize each story within this anthology and pick standouts. All twenty-two stories present the reader with strong characterization coupled to beguiling sexual intimacy that smashes every convention that one can think of. Each story displays potent, decisive, intelligent women, who aren't shy about exploring their emotions and desires, in whatever method they deem fit. They don't live to satisfy any patriarchal/ religious standards, or tick mainstream boxes. Transgressions do occur in unexpected locations, or via sexual acts that do away with pre-defined romantic sex moves, but the writers transcend the mainstream view of transgression by staking claims through the sexuality and personalities of each character, and this is what makes Best Lesbian Erotica 2008 a palpable reading experience. An adult film adaptation, using these stories, would redefine lesbian intimacy and relationships in film.

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© 2008 Anastasia Mavromatis

Anthology Editors:

Taken from her official biography: Tristan Taormino is an award-winning author, columnist, editor, and sex educator. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with her Bachelor's degree in American Studies from Wesleyan University in 1993. She is the author of four books: Opening Up: Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships(Cleis Press, 2008), True Lust: Adventures in Sex, Porn and Perversion (Cleis Press); Down and Dirty Sex Secrets (ReganBooks/HaperCollins); and The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women (Cleis Press), winner of a Firecracker Book Award and named Amazon.com's #1 Bestseller in Women's Sex Instruction in 1998. The bio on this page only scratches the surface for Taormino is sexual powerhouse with a vast resume of media appearances, academic lectures and literary achievements and more information can be found at her official web site.

Ali Liebegott is a poet and novelist whose work has appeared in a wide selection of anthologies such asI Do/ I Don't, Pills, Thrills, Chills and Heartache, Between the Cracks, Virgin Territory II, among others. Her 2005 book length poem, The Beautifully Worthless was awarded the Lambda Literary Award in the category of Best Lesbian Debut Fiction. Her most recent novel, The IHOP Papers (Carroll & Graf) has been released (January 2007) to wide acclaim.