183 x 255mm, 56 pages, Colour printing, Perfect bound, Hardback, 2024

Birthed from the research and development for Hush lil baby… a solo exhibition of Shae Myles’ work curated by 16 Collective back in 2023, Playing Femme is a compilation of personal takes and essays exploring the notion of femme via the prompt of the Polly Pocket play kingdom. The writing wrestles with the sticky, lurid fabric of nostalgia and sexuality.

The texts illustrate various introspective and reflective journeys of reconnection with the dollhouses of our childhoods. The book features drawings by Shae Myles and pictures of the exhibition documenting her giant Polly Pocket sculpture as a girl’s bedroom – the messy, tragic, victorious, horny domestic. 

While the texts offer perspectives from various intersections on the femme experience spectrum. The writing wrestles with the sticky, lurid fabric of nostalgia and sexuality. Some of this is epitomised by Sophie Robinson’s reflective essay You fit in my fist: a bimboification of the heart which looks at themes like inner child work, cuteness and eroticism (CW// sexual violence). Nell Cardozo’s fantasy erotic flash fiction follows Chloe Filani’s two love-full poems exploring black femme joy. Aga Paulina Młyńczak’s essay will take you into the soft bi territory of the butch-femme dynamic while – in her confessional piece – Chao-Ying Rao will lavish you with (solo) self-love. Kika Sroka-Miller offers an essay on femme doms in seven conceptual vignettes. The final chapter is the Glossy-ary by Kelly Rappleye, which features a collection of femme terms from across the whole book to satisfy your curiosity and foster the pleasure of shared language.

Taking the doll as an anchor, Playing Femme contributes to the discourse around femme identity, exploring its connotations with becoming, simulacra and camp whilst foregrounding queer joy and jouissance.

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