Theres Always A Lingering Question That I Ask Myself, Which Is Why Do I, A Cis Bisexual Woman, Enjoy

There’s always a lingering question that I ask myself, which is why do I, a cis bisexual woman, enjoy romance between two men so much?  

There are easy answers, like that it’s just fetishizing.  And like, I find men attractive, yes.  But I also find women attractive.  I don’t have a problem with enjoying het romance, assuming I can find good ones.  I enjoy stories with female characters I can relate to.

But there’s something much deeper at play, IMO.  A friend of mine who is a gender studies professor was the first person to point this out to me, but a lot of women enjoy m/m romance and gay porn because of the lack of women.  It removes a source of pressure and sexism.  Without any women present, you don’t have to constantly evaluate the sexism of their portrayal, or be reminded of negative experiences in your own life.  It allows women to experience romance and especially sexuality without all the baggage that comes with it in our patriarchal society.

This was recently illustrated to me rather dramatically.  I read a recommendation for a het romance.  And it sounded cute, and came highly recommended.  The tropes at play were fun.  Until I read a snippet and realized this was a romance between a woman and her boss.  I had a visceral negative reaction.  

Instantly I’m thinking of sexual harassment stories I’ve read and heard from other women. I’m thinking of how uncomfortable it would be to have your boss develop feelings for you.  How icky the power dynamics would be, etc.  

And then I realized…this wouldn’t bother me if it were two men.  Now, there’s no logical reason for that.  Sexual harassment is just as wrong when its object is a man.  But I know I’ve read fics with a similar premise and never thought about it.  Because when it’s two men I can accept this is just a light romance, a fantasy, meant to be fun and sexy and not to represent the real world.

But I can’t when it’s a het relationship.  There’s too much baggage there.  Too much societal history of abuse.  I can’t relax enough with the premise to enjoy that story.  

Now some people can.  And that’s fine.  And some people are never going to be okay with power imbalances like that regardless of gender.  That’s also fine.  I don’t think having either reaction makes one morally superior.  It’s okay to just enjoy light entertainment for what it is without going into deep analysis.

But it’s much more difficult for me, and I think for many women, to relax and enjoy romantic and sexual stories when they involve female characters.  We’ve been burned too many times by shitty depictions, by shallow role models, by abuse portrayed as romantic.  We have developed a stress response, a trauma response to heterosexual romance.  We are hyper-reactive to a wide variety of triggers in regards to it.   But removing women from the equation makes stories safer for us.  And maybe it shouldn’t?  In an ideal world?  But for many of us, that’s the truth.

it's another day, time for more attempts at poetry

More embarrassing seventeen-syllable poetry.

-O-o-O-

Blue eyes in the dark.

Moonlight flashes off his charm.

The green eyes open.

-O-o-O-

Such arches, such balls.

Finely sculpted toes and heels.

"Must lick James's feet."

-O-o-O-

The cat wants to play.

Tonight, Jessie is away.

"Ay, James, want sum fucc?"

i am. so sorry if i have ever used the phrase “i have an au where—” and led you to believe that there is an actual fic out there for you to read rather than, at best, a post where i explain the concept, and at worst it is simply something that lives in my brain

a piece of media that is bad: mundane. effectless

a piece of media that is bad but had the potential to be so so good: unbearable. agonizing. soul crushing even

Meowth's a vampire, James smells irresistible. "Rose and tuna." Snort.

okay last batch of wannabe haiku today i swear

I present: The Charm Cat and His Queen.

-O-o-O-

Paws on tile, silent.

The queen's at his ablutions.

Steam veils his visage.

-O-o-O-

The cat's tail unfurls.

Heat rises in their chamber.

Now the queen disrobes.

-O-o-O-

A wand in a stream.

His queen kneels before the throne.

"Meowth, I'm m-pregged."

-O-o-O-

Warm cascades issue.

Kittens surf the afterbirth.

Eat the placenta.

-O-o-O-

It got spicy at the end.