By figuratively putting themselves in a gay role, women are not only expressing their sexual power, but doing so in a forbidden way. Gay male sex (especially of the anal variety) is one of the few transgressive acts still left in our porn-riddled culture, mostly because it gives most straight guys the heebie-jeebies. And all of this while still in the company of another man. But, by aligning herself with a gay male identity, the straight female reader can envision herself as powerful, sexually potent, voracious, and the active participant (or top)-all things that are associated with macho sexuality. In Western sexual dynamics, women are often assumed to be passive, the ones who are ravaged by men.
I write to satisfy a sexual desire that I can't physically satisfy in this body." That sounds like the extreme embodiment of a woman's desire to have what would traditionally be considered a "male" sexuality. Author Beecroft says, "In my sexual imagination, I'm a gay man. It's as if the viewer is the only one man enough for these two women, and they are just two more objects to be conquered with his ever-winning maleness.įrom what we learn from these two authors, it's not that women want to imagine overtaking these gay hunks, it's that they secretly want to be gay men. Not only does it make them exotic, but plays into men's fantasies that the lesbians would still want to have sex with them. Secondly, the women are the kind that men can't have, since ostensibly lesbians aren't at all interested in men. First of all, those scenarios are completely devoid of another man's erect penis (something society teaches straight men they should be simultaneously ashamed of, disgusted by, and avoid at all cost). That seems to be the opposite impulse of what turns straight guys on about girl-on-girl porn scenes. Since women are not equal to men in society, a straight romance narrative-the usual machinations that bring a brutish alpha male and a wasp-waisted young female beauty to the point of bodice-ripping penetration-can't deliver the same heady emotional frisson as a "bromance," which slashers and M/M authors alike view as a courtship between equals, which culminates in the emotional jackpot of a true love based on loyalty, trust, caring, and mutual respect. But just what is it about reading about two guys getting it on that has women so worked up? Wilson explains it as such:
Think Spock and Kirk exploring each others' bodies rather than some planet in outer space. The phenomenon emerged from "slash fiction," a type of fan fiction that imagines two popular male fantasy or sci-fi characters in a romantic relationship. The trend has become so popular that most of the major romance novel publishers have caught on and started lines of M/M romances for the demanding public. These homo bodice rippers are meant for the types of suburban ladies who pick up those paperbacks with Fabio on the cover. But they aren't doing it for the boys who like boys. In an article published on Out magazine's website today, Cintra Wilson introduces us to Alex Beecroft and "Erastes," two straight, married female authors who write dirty stories starring men sticking it to other men. It's a bit of a joke that straight guys are into "hot girl-on-girl action," but what's new is the burgeoning industry of "M/M romances," erotic novels about gay men written by and for straight women.