Sexuality is fascinating and perverse. I’m queer, and queer and dyke smut is what turns me on. I can occasionally get down with some nastiness written by gay men, but have a harder time with straight smut.
I work with Jon Macy, a gay comic artist that write and draws erotic work, and one of our regular topics of conversation has been straight women creating gay erotica. There is erotic romance fiction in the U.S., and there are erotic comics in Japan. M/M romance comics are called Yaoi in the Japanese comic world; they even have Yaoi cons.
I must admit, I have difficulties understanding why some straight women are compelled to make erotica and romance about gay men. I worry that they won’t get the culture or the sexuality right, that they’ll make the men into straight men fucking, or invent nonsensical settings, or forget the lube. In a valiant effort to expand my boundaries, I’ve been reading M/M erotic romance written by straight women.
I feel like a cultural anthropologist studying a mysterious subgroup. Who are these straight women? Do they volunteer at LGBTQ centers? Do they make it a priority to vote for politicians that support gay rights? Are they making this art because they find it sexy? Financially rewarding? Am I too jaded? Is it hot? Is it culturally accurate? #MMromance #eroticromance #gayfiction
I found this as a very fascinating read and I can understand a lot of the issues you may have with the genre, it’s writers and it’s fans. I can tell you right now that myself am both a huge yaoi fan (the name is a give away I suppose) and as one who does not like titles when it comes to sexuality. I am very open minded and just happened to be in what would be considered a heterosexual long term relationship, but a large part of my offline friends are part of the LGBTQ+ community and I stand beside them in fighting for their rights here in Australia.
I know there are those that see it as nothing more than fantasy but for me, yaoi is just another exploration of sex and sexuality for those who enjoy it. I hope my comment has put some of your bad thoughts aside. Yes their are those who don’t like me stand beside LGBTQ+ and I’m sure they have their reasons not to, but this does not make them any less a fan of the genre just a different kind of fan to me.
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Thank you for such a long, thoughtful reply. I’m overjoyed that you support the LGBTQ+ community. With the current homophobic and conservative political climate in the U.S., my concern is even deeper now than it might have been a year ago.
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No worries, in fact reading this has brought back an idea I had for a piece I thought of writing last year but will definitely be writing this year about LGBTQ+ community and the yaoi fans out there
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Yay! Let me know when you get it up and I’ll link to it.
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