I'm the opposite of your bestie - I want to imagine myself involved in, rather than removed from, the situation 😂 Men are hot, threesomes are hot, it's all hot 🥵
I heard someone say that a good part of the fascination or enjoyment from female audiences and consumers is that both lovers are on equal ground in terms of status, at least in Heated Rivalry. It’s so easy to fall into hierarchies when it comes to writing hetero romance where there is a power imbalance from the get (normally the male character having the power and the female character submitting) so watching two people coming together as equals is incredibly refreshing. Not to mention, the sex scenes are not over-gratuitous in that gross, straight-man-directing type of way where you feel kind of icky after watching.
It could also have to do with how society as a whole perceive women's sexuality as shameful. When lust is one of the 2 emotions (with anger) that is perceived as normal for men. I guess there's something fascinating with thinking of a sexuality where all parties involved can express lust in "the same ways". Even if in the real world, it's so much more complicated than that for gay men (internalised homophobia, shaming of society, bottoming is not perceived the same as topping etc etc etc). But I guess as women, looking at gay images and imagining gay men stories, that's not exactly something that we give priority to.
I agree. Female sexuality has been othered so much that a lot of people are scratching their heads as to why women would even want to consume gay smut, never mind that female on female sexual content is incredibly popular amongst men.
Back in the day I ran a series of surveys on fan fiction smut on Reddit. I recalled having seen a fem presenting person say gay smut "lets me access my sexuality without worrying about gender" and regularly presented it as an option for reading motivation. It basically tied with "men are hot, so men having sex are hot" and together those two options made up a majority of the motivation question across all the surveys.
Lina!! Oh, I loved this essay! I'm yet to watch Heated Rivalry, but as someone who has been swimming in the fujoshi waters since I was 12? 13? it is FASCINATING seeing others become more aware of it, and seeing it increasingly addressed and dissected in more mainstream media.
Personally, I can't really vocalize why I was (and continue being) so drawn to it (perhaps a classic case of "do i like them or do i want to be them?!") but reading your friends' insights was really interesting. Thanks!
Oh absolutely 😂 Anyway, please know I kept thinking about this post throughout the day, especially the part about yaoi and shows like HR maybe not being exactly about representation (at least in certain spaces), which I found so interesting. Especially as I came across a post on IG (by author Tobias Madden) about how most mainstream gay/queer male stories are written by non-men. I don't really know how I feel about it, or how it ties back into your position, but will certainly be mulling it over. Thanks again! ❤️
That’s enlightening. Externalized responsiveness. Btw, pursuant to your point re coming out vs quick sex, I used to vacation with a group of gay men. One morning after a friend’s midnight foray into town I enquired about the etiquette of hooking up. Also enlightening. “Yep,” I thought. “That’s how men would go about it.”
So, uh, men looking at lesbian porn is all right, right?
You could argue the actresses are exploited and many of them indeed are... What about *reading* it? What about *animation* or *comics* (ie hentai)?
(I'm actually of the opinion both are fine, and have even written a bit of both myself for a partner's consumption, but am curious to see a defense of this frequent double standard.)
Lesbian porn: porn made for lesbians, much more likely to be ethically produced
“Lesbian porn”: porn made for men, same risk of exploitation as any other porn
As someone who works in the gender equality space and moves in the kind of circles that go along with that, I can’t ever recall hearing a woman condemn men for watching any kind of lesbian anything.
So interesting! I’m a gay guy, and I’ve always been fascinated by the female fascination with gay sex. This is illuminating.
We love it! I am pansexual… Heated Rivalry was 🔥
I'm the opposite of your bestie - I want to imagine myself involved in, rather than removed from, the situation 😂 Men are hot, threesomes are hot, it's all hot 🥵
get in there!!!
100%!!! Love! 🔥🔥🔥
I heard someone say that a good part of the fascination or enjoyment from female audiences and consumers is that both lovers are on equal ground in terms of status, at least in Heated Rivalry. It’s so easy to fall into hierarchies when it comes to writing hetero romance where there is a power imbalance from the get (normally the male character having the power and the female character submitting) so watching two people coming together as equals is incredibly refreshing. Not to mention, the sex scenes are not over-gratuitous in that gross, straight-man-directing type of way where you feel kind of icky after watching.
It could also have to do with how society as a whole perceive women's sexuality as shameful. When lust is one of the 2 emotions (with anger) that is perceived as normal for men. I guess there's something fascinating with thinking of a sexuality where all parties involved can express lust in "the same ways". Even if in the real world, it's so much more complicated than that for gay men (internalised homophobia, shaming of society, bottoming is not perceived the same as topping etc etc etc). But I guess as women, looking at gay images and imagining gay men stories, that's not exactly something that we give priority to.
I agree. Female sexuality has been othered so much that a lot of people are scratching their heads as to why women would even want to consume gay smut, never mind that female on female sexual content is incredibly popular amongst men.
“does the autistic rizz just ice the unavailable cake?”
I respect this line so much
Back in the day I ran a series of surveys on fan fiction smut on Reddit. I recalled having seen a fem presenting person say gay smut "lets me access my sexuality without worrying about gender" and regularly presented it as an option for reading motivation. It basically tied with "men are hot, so men having sex are hot" and together those two options made up a majority of the motivation question across all the surveys.
Lina!! Oh, I loved this essay! I'm yet to watch Heated Rivalry, but as someone who has been swimming in the fujoshi waters since I was 12? 13? it is FASCINATING seeing others become more aware of it, and seeing it increasingly addressed and dissected in more mainstream media.
Personally, I can't really vocalize why I was (and continue being) so drawn to it (perhaps a classic case of "do i like them or do i want to be them?!") but reading your friends' insights was really interesting. Thanks!
Listen I was down there in the Draco/Harry trenches before I even came of age - we've all been marinating together
Oh absolutely 😂 Anyway, please know I kept thinking about this post throughout the day, especially the part about yaoi and shows like HR maybe not being exactly about representation (at least in certain spaces), which I found so interesting. Especially as I came across a post on IG (by author Tobias Madden) about how most mainstream gay/queer male stories are written by non-men. I don't really know how I feel about it, or how it ties back into your position, but will certainly be mulling it over. Thanks again! ❤️
YES to all this. And you better believe I will be seeing Pillion the moment it hits the cinemas.
i am in deep distress every day that it’s not out in the U.S.
Have sucked everything I can out of that trailer and now just trying really hard not to think about it, tbh.
sucked 👀
That’s enlightening. Externalized responsiveness. Btw, pursuant to your point re coming out vs quick sex, I used to vacation with a group of gay men. One morning after a friend’s midnight foray into town I enquired about the etiquette of hooking up. Also enlightening. “Yep,” I thought. “That’s how men would go about it.”
So, uh, men looking at lesbian porn is all right, right?
You could argue the actresses are exploited and many of them indeed are... What about *reading* it? What about *animation* or *comics* (ie hentai)?
(I'm actually of the opinion both are fine, and have even written a bit of both myself for a partner's consumption, but am curious to see a defense of this frequent double standard.)
Well for one we’re not actually talking about porn in this article, it’s mainstream narrative television and movies
Fair enough. Thank you.
Lesbian porn: porn made for lesbians, much more likely to be ethically produced
“Lesbian porn”: porn made for men, same risk of exploitation as any other porn
As someone who works in the gender equality space and moves in the kind of circles that go along with that, I can’t ever recall hearing a woman condemn men for watching any kind of lesbian anything.
You write like a modern philosopher of our age (and I’m saying it with amazement and sarcasm in my heart) , like seriously dude this is amazing