All Boy-Boy Action

(Note: This piece discusses my personal sexuality and tastes in porn. Family members and others who don’t want to read that, please don’t.)

The topic for today’s sermon:

Women who like gay male porn.

And people who are surprised by this.

Kirk spock
We’ll start with the facts: There are some women who like gay male porn. I’m one of them. And I’m not the only one. Look at the widespread phenomenon of slash fanfic: erotic fiction about fictional characters, typically about two or more male characters, and typically written by and for straight women. (Kirk/Spock, anyone? Or are you more of a Snape/Draco girl?) And it isn’t just written porn: there are women who like gay male porn videos, photos, comics. There’s even an entire genre of Japanese comics and graphic novels, yaoi, devoted to gay male love and/or sex stories created for a female audience. (If you’re one of these gay- porn- lovin’ women, btw — please speak up in the comments! I know more or less what I get out of gay male porn, but I’d love to hear what you get out of it.)

It’s true that this desire hasn’t been reflected very much in the video porn industry — and video porn is what a lot of people default to when they think about “porn.” But “women don’t like gay porn” isn’t a very good explanation for this. (Some better ones: Women on average are more interested in written porn than videos. And the video porn industry can be idiots sometimes: they’re terrified of putting something on screen that might turn off straight guys; they largely ignore the potential of the women’s market; and even when they try to cater to women’s tastes in porn, they tend to get it laughably wrong.)

So those are the facts: Some women like gay male porn. Enough so that there are entire porn genres that cater to it.

*

Thus begins my new piece on the Blowfish Blog, All Boy-Boy Action. To find out why gay male porn is so appealing to some women — and why this fact should be entirely unsurprising — read the rest of the piece. Enjoy!

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All Boy-Boy Action
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13 thoughts on “All Boy-Boy Action

  1. Mel
    1

    I’m so happy to have started reading your blog recently.
    I’m a huge Slash fiction reader (I’m all into Jack/Ianto from Torchwood at the moment, you should check it out, cutting edge mainstream sci-fi drama, spin-off of the New Doctor Who).
    What I get out of Slash is a deeper interpretation of the relationship, an expansion of the existing dynamic and having all that sexy energy expressed in a way that is entertaining and meaningful to me.
    Seeing as the majority (though not all) of Slash is written by women, I also see Slash as enabling women to be the men they would like to b, but aren’t able to – culturally women can’t be the “aggressors” so-to-speak or the desirers as easily as men, Slash fiction can help with that.

  2. 2

    Men having sex is definitely something that turns me on! Both to watch and to read and write about. I looked for gay porn as soon as I got a computer with an Internet access, and soon after I discovered slash and Yaoi and similar m/m genres on the Internet as well. That was about 10 years ago, and it was a revelation. Before that I had thought I was more or less alone in this interest as a woman. Men often talked about liking lesbian porn, but I had never heard a woman saying they liked gay porn, and it was not something I talked about either, back then. I grew up in a small and rather narrow-minded town. I love the Internet!!

  3. 4

    Do you mind if a guy speaks up? I’m bi, but definitely on the high end of the Kinsey scale, and I’ve always been baffled by the obsession with lesbians in porn aimed towards straight guys. Not that they’re guys out there into it, but the extreme prevalence of it.
    However, I have to admit that the existence of women into gay porn makes me happy. The idea of a woman watching me kiss a guy (or have sex with him) and getting off on it is really arousing.

  4. 5

    Hurray for Jack/Ianto fic! Thanks for talking about this Greta. I’m a straight girl and I think all the reasons you give in your piece are spot on. Another reason is particular to fan fiction. Thanks to the frequently crap portrayals of women in fiction, often the best characters in the shows/movies I want to read fic about are men. I really get into porn when I care about the characters so M/M is an obvious choice. However, the “1 man good, 2 men better” thing is a big factor as I’m not really a fan of F/F fiction.

  5. 6

    Hi Greta, I’m a bi woman who is into gay porn. In fact, all the porn I have is of men*, usually unscripted because the “I’ve come to fix the photocopier” stuff makes me giggle. Basically, it’s hot guys getting off. What’s not to like?
    *Would like to build up my colleaction of lesbian porn, however. Any recs?

  6. 7

    I compulsively lurk in the MerlinxArthur comm on livejournal and recently someone posted an excellent paper on woman’s interest in Slash fanfiction called “The Female Gaze and Male Gays” http://shaxophile.livejournal.com/54183.html
    Personally, my interests in video porn and in fiction porn are pretty much polar opposites. If I’m going to watch a video I like it to be het and kinda humiliating for the girl in the vid. Slash I read for both a sexual release and for the emotional as well. I like my fic to have an epic sort of love story woven in as well, which I just have not found anything like that in regular porn that was remotely believable.

  7. 8

    I started writing m/m erotica because so many women are buying it. They buy it in droves. I was surprised at first until I asked some female erotica writers and readers what was the appeal behind m/m erotica and erotic romance. Everyone said they loved to watch (or imagine, if you’re reading the stuff) hot, strapping gorgeous men get it on with each other. They imagined themselves in the middle of the action. Readers also love m/m/f menages, and I write it. My current m/m werewolf novella “Feral Heat” is currently my publisher’s #1 bestseller.
    Regarding my own tastes, I enjoy reading some m/m if it’s written well and if I’m attracted to the men. I enjoy yaoi, too. I have to admit I got a huge kick out of Snape/Lucius fan fac a few years ago. M/M is a hot genre and women are eating it up.

  8. 9

    I was instantly reminded of this:
    http://ghastlycomic.livejournal.com/146242.html
    Also, @embertine, regarding recommendations; Viv Thomas
    No accounting for taste, but in several movies he focuses much on the kissing. As in 10 minutes of two hot chicks kissing.
    VERY nice 🙂
    Be aware, though, that some of the movies have plots, or at least tries to. Since that apparently doesn’t work for you.

  9. 10

    So, is there a debased ‘boy/boy’ genre equivalent to the fake ‘girl/girl’ stuff aimed at male audiences?
    How many chowder-headed psych theses can be mined from this pit of resentments?
    Can you imagine indie gay producers being asked by angry fans: ‘will women see this?’

  10. 11

    Well, Yaoi is by women for women whereas Bara is by men for men, but I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone complaining about that.
    Then again, those don’t involve live actors, so there is some difference. More importantly, it’s easy for gay men to find stuff aimed at their sexuality, but from what I’ve heard most “lesbian” porn is designed for straight men, so lesbian women looking for (esp. visual/movie) porn that appeals to them is a lot harder.

  11. 13

    Another slash reader/writer here. Major Jack/Ianto shipper, though well written slash in any fandom is fine with me. (One of my favorites is a Charlie/Coby fic)
    So. Why? Well, the obvious. Straight women like boys. Two boys for the price of one.
    Okay, it’s more than that. Like many others I discovered I liked it and haven’t quite figured out why.

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