A question for women who read or write GM stories. OR..

[Kumquatqueen]

I like interesting characters getting it on. So when I discovered fanfic back when the young gods walked the earth, I was hooked by a lot of it. And most of it was m/m. Mainly because most of the interesting characters on TV and in books *were* male, and also there often were hints about what if things were different - getting them over hurdles to get it on seemed pretty plausible in comparison to many plots. Even now, there's not much f/f fanfic out there (or m/f, even), partly because of still fewer well-drawn women.

Also I'm a child of the AIDS generation. All my gay/bi male friends, and there's a lot of them - we've joked that the easiest way to tell a guy is queer is they've hit on me - had to go through loneliness, self-hatred, fear, and then the simple lack of role models between 3-20 years older than themselves. Fighting through all that and choosing to fuck a guy anyway? You've got a story. Or the alternative, creating a venue and local culture where guys can just look at each other and it means 'wanna fuck?' and they can get to it, ignoring the rest of the world.

(@KeithD takes the latter approach. I read a fair few of his stories because the settings are so well described, and the placement of people in them. If I was writing a similar story, I'd put in more of the characters' thoughts and dialogue in between that and the fucking - sometimes. It's what I like doing, so I do. Some readers seem to like it, and half of them at least claim to be male.)

Basically I find transgression sexy. Two people wanting to be together, or even one person wanting to be sexual, despite society? Tale as old as time. A disabled character, two same-sex characters in most times and places, the woman in an early-90s lesbian group confessing she likes a man - all fascinating.

Plus a side order of simple appreciation of any hot people getting together, and lacking any idea that certain sexes are less sexy than others. There's so much representation of m/f couples all over the media and in the street that tbh they get a bit boring!

 

[Kumquatqueen]

You rendered a piece of clothing as "tee shirt." That's fine. The dictionary accepts it as a variant. I'd like writers to consider using "T-shirt" instead. That's because it's one of those deliciously specific words where the spelling comes directly from the garment itself. A T-shirt is shaped like a capital T, and that's the origin of the word--spelled just as the garment looks.

I agree: T-shirt is simpler and better. But there's a feeling in some writing styles in American English that the names of letters aren't A, B, C but ay, bee, cee... resulting in sentences like 'she wore a white tee and blue jeans', and hiring a 'deejay', which would never happen in UK English (where we also say OK and not okay...)

It seriously took me half of watching Cabaret the first time to realise that Emcee is not the guy's name and he is, in fact, a MC!

Besides, if we spell out letter names, we have to get into the aitch vs haitch controversy, and I don't want to go there...

 

[MillieDynamite]

Deejay might be a person, but he isn't a disk jockey, which is why he's called a DJ.

 

[FINLEYDIXON]

ContraPoints dedicated a small portion of her recent VERY long video about why women might like reading M4M romance (based on "Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys" by Lucy Neville.)

I found their thoughts interesting. You might too.

Somewhat off-topic musings:

If they can't get it up for a man or for a woman, it doesn't change whether they're gay, straight, or bi.

Thanks for saying this.
Although arousal can be obvious for a person with a penis; I'm not of the mind or experience that it demonstrates one's sexuality or consent.

When I was in my early twenties, I dated a man who wanted sex much more than me.
He could get me aroused even when I didn't want sex. It was not a good time.

Around that age, I often found I'd get aroused inexplicably.
Maybe my dick rubbed against my clothes. I wasn't sure... there was no object of attraction or desire for sex.
My dick was just hard.

I think arousal could mean desire, but not necessarily.

It's one thing to fantasize about seducing someone, another to do so in real life.
If they like to watch gay porn but don't want to be sexual with someone of the same sex, that's fine. I don't believe I have to call them out for not identifying the way I think they should.
(I would call them out for being bi-phobic or homophobic, but I'd do that regardless of the way they identify.)

 

[AG31]

I have to disagree with @VerbalAbuse, who thinks "People here don't know the answer." Au contraire, I've gotten real insights via AH threads over the months, and this one can be added to the list. I have settled into agreeing with @AwkwardlySet who said "Well honestly, I am a straight guy, but more often than not, I don't need a man in a sex scene to be able to enjoy it. Women are all that interests me sexually and I don't even need the fantasy of me joining them in some way - I can simply enjoy their beauty and sexual appeal." The underlining is mine.

I've decided that the interest in reading and writing GM stories (and vice versa for men and lesbian stories) is as inexplicable as a person's sexual desire for a specific sex (or sexes.) It's just baked into our humanity. Endocrinologists maybe be able to explicate it, but for the rest of us such desire is just a given. And, to elaborate on AwkwardlySet's insight a bit, the desire is doubly satisfied when we can contemplate that sex interacting with each other.

And thanks to all the rest of you, too.

 

[theWollstonecraftWoman]

I have to disagree with @VerbalAbuse, who thinks "People here don't know the answer." Au contraire, I've gotten real insights via AH threads over the months, and this one can be added to the list. I have settled into agreeing with @AwkwardlySet who said "Well honestly, I am a straight guy, but more often than not, I don't need a man in a sex scene to be able to enjoy it. Women are all that interests me sexually and I don't even need the fantasy of me joining them in some way - I can simply enjoy their beauty and sexual appeal." The underlining is mine.

I've decided that the interest in reading and writing GM stories (and vice versa for men and lesbian stories) is as inexplicable as a person's sexual desire for a specific sex (or sexes.) It's just baked into our humanity. Endocrinologists maybe be able to explicate it, but for the rest of us such desire is just a given. And, to elaborate on AwkwardlySet's insight a bit, the desire is doubly satisfied when we can contemplate that sex interacting with each other.

And thanks to all the rest of you, too.

In fiction, opposites are quite interesting, black & white, weak & strong, aggressor & perused, and masculine & feminine. But top and bottom works well too. If a GM story is done well you can incorporate more than one of those combinations.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

But this doesn't explain we we female authors would be drawn to the male POV. You can spend a lot of fun time paying attention to men's bodies and personalities and unambiguous arousal from the female POV.

What's the attraction of reading and writing from the male POV?

As a male, I've always been in lust with the female form. For a long time, I preferred lesbian sex scenes because, well - two girls for the price of one. To me, it makes sense that a woman who likes guys would doubly enjoy gay sex - twice the men and man parts, right?

As a bisexual male, I enjoy the simplicity of sex with men. We truly are simple creatures for the most part.

 

[Boobytrap73]

I don't read or write GM stories but I am a guy who reads and writes Lesbian stories and I guess that is more or less the same. The appeal is obvious to me.

As a (male) friend once said "you two go ahead. I just want to watch."

 

[AG31]

As a male, I've always been in lust with the female form. For a long time, I preferred lesbian sex scenes because, well - two girls for the price of one. To me, it makes sense that a woman who likes guys would doubly enjoy gay sex - twice the men and man parts, right?

As a bisexual male, I enjoy the simplicity of sex with men. We truly are simple creatures for the most part.

Since I started this thread I've come around to the answer you propose. I write from the male POV because I don't want any women cluttering up the view. The view of male bodies and sexuality.