This is a hand-curated collection of 9 creations-- games, zines, and other media-- that are about people who feel attracted to people of any gender, that is, whose gender is either the same or different than their own. Some labels for this romantic and sexual orientation are bisexual, polysexual, and pansexual. Some people prefer one or another of these labels for themselves. Each has its own nuances of meaning, history, and pride flag colors, though they are synonyms to a great degree. Contrary to some recent assumptions that led to the popularization of the labels polysexual and pansexual, the long history of the word bisexual includes attraction to transgender and nonbinary people.
This collection is part of my directory of other people's creations on itch.io, Curated Collections of LGBTQIA, where you can find more collections about other topics. I personally select and review each creation in them to make sure they meet the criteria of queer positivity, authenticity, and quality, even if they are different than my own views or experiences as a queer person myself. If you want to ask me to add or remove your creations from my collections, or if you have other comments, you can email me.
Content: Rated PG-13. Warning that this is about discrimination against bisexual people.
Medium: A tiny computer game created with Bitsy. It can run in your web browser.
Length: About five minutes.
About: As you wander around a living room, out the window, and up into the sky, you encounter floating messages that are hurtful things that people have said to you about being bisexual. Eventually you reach outer space, where you find supportive messages about being bisexual.
Mood: Frustration and yearning.
Content: Rated PG-13. This refers to sex but isn't explicit.
Medium: A computer game quiz. It runs in your web browser.
Genre: Nonfiction. Humor.
Length: About five minutes.
About: Take this quiz (with cute and colorful cartoon animal illustrations) to help figure out whether you are bisexual, and learn more about what counts as bisexual.
Queer themes: Bisexuality. Nonbinary people. Questioning. Queer culture.
Vibe: Fun, good humored, cute, and inclusive.
Content: Rated G. Warning: this is about discriminatory attitudes against people for being bisexual. It focuses on and has examples of hurtful things that bisexual people tend to hear from heterosexual people as well as from gay and lesbian people.
Medium: A physical game. A dice-stacking game for one player.
About: As described by the game creator, this is
"a one-page solo game for fleshing out the backstory of a bisexual character. You can play this with an original character, or using a character from any other game/system. Balance dice in a tower as you try balance others' perception of your sexuality as not straight, not gay/lesbian, but something else. Explore themes of preconceptions, discovery, control, lack of control, and being caught in between."
As a reviewer, I think this game would be useful to show to people who aren't bisexual to help them understand what it's like.
Content: Rated G.
Medium: Mini comic. There is a version for reading on screen, and another for printing.
Genre and subject: Comic or picture book.
About: Being lonely and then finding one's community.
Queer themes: Bisexual.
Mood: Warm and positive.
Content: Rated G.
Medium: Zine. Full color. Designed for reading on screen.
About: An introduction to what bisexuality is. It corrects common misconceptions, points out the perks of being bi, and gives a list of some bisexual men in current events, history, and fiction.
Mood: Lighthearted, slightly silly humor, and very queer positive!
Content: Rated PG.
Medium: Zine. Full color. There is a version designed for reading on screen, and another version for printing and folding. Only available in French.
Genre and subject: Nonfiction. History.
About: A zine of symbols for bisexuality and pansexuality. The triangle, bi-angles, crescents, and more.
Content: Unrated.
Medium: An interactive story, created with Twine.
About: This is a "barely-fictionalized memoir about my experience of figuring out my sexuality only after many extremely obvious indications bounced off me like rubber. You play as me years ago: you are a twenty-seven year old woman, recently out of grad school, working full time, dating occasionally, and having really intense feelings about a woman that you work with. But, you know, in a totally straight way. While snowed in, you will recount different moments in your life, centered around people you knew or things you did, and use them to contextualize the feelings that you're having in the present day."
Content: Rated G.
Medium: A mod for the classic video game Pokémon Crystal.
About: In the original game, male and female Pokémon can fall in love with each other when they use the move "attract." This mod simply makes the game skip the step where it checks whether they're male or female, so that all Pokémon can fall in love with each other.
Relevance: The "pan" in the name refers to pansexuality. The person who created this game mod tagged it as LGBT. He wrote,
"Pokémon Crystal was released in Japan in December 2000 and in the US in July 2001. Nearly 20 years later and the idea of non-heterosexual attraction in Pokémon (whether it be the human characters or the Pokémon themselves) remains unseen, leaving people to cobble together their own representation through fan-works. This hack was published on Itch after being rejected from Romhacking.net as the site does not allow 'political statements'. Perhaps it will find a more welcoming home here."
Content: Rated G.
Medium: Comic book zine. Full color.
About: The author's experiences of being genderfluid and pansexual.
Mood: Friendly explanations. Finding belonging.
Content: The "Stonewall Riots" zine is rated G. The "Bisexual Manifesto" zine is rated PG.
Medium: Two mini zines, each of which are designed to be printed on a single sheet of paper.
About:
Stonewall Riots: "The Stonewall Riots were a huge part of LGBT history. Learn about it in a short zine!"
Bisexual Manifesto/coloring book: The bisexual manifesto was published in 1990 in response to biphobia.
