why write m/m? why read m/m?
I'm a member of another forum dedicated to lesbian fiction, and we've been discussing reader demographics. We're all aware that many straight women read (and write) m/m erotica, whereas lesbian erotica is largely written and read only by lesbians. None of us are able to probe the psychology since none of us write m/m. Can any of you shed some light? What is the appeal (for straight women writers) to write m/m? And why do so many straight women prefer to read m/m rather than m/f or f/f?

I don't know about anyone else's motivations, but I know for me it is half/selfishness and half/uber fantasy. Reading about another female getting a hot, sexy man when I don't have one myself helps. I don't have to see the heroine as competition or as something that I could never relate to. If I am reading or writing MM I can just focus on the love and a lot of cock (pardon my french). I can become a voyeur without passing judgement or without comparisons. Currently I am exploring a female character in a menage with two males, and yes the female character has a lot of male characteristics. Maybe that has something to do with what I see as behaviour characteristics, maybe I am not getting enough of what I see as the Alpha female...who knows, but with MM, I don't have to challenge myself as much to create a female character that I can take seriously and respect... Because that is not so much as a challenge as it is a requirement for me...as a female. I mean if a guy grabbed me and tried to ravish me, i might be a little suspect and a lot violent but a lot of heroines seem to go that route and while I admire FF writers, I think there are a great deal of primal competitions issues that my therapist would have to deal with before I could deal comfortably with that. Lastly, I know that most folk say that men are possesive and competitive but women have them beat by far. Don't believe me? Watch a single female in a room full of married couples...watche the wives...the wives, I tell ya!!! This is not to say that its the case all of the time, but well...i am working through my issues...and one day may be able to do a singularly MF work :D

I have a few book that do this but really, who know. Some women find it hot, as do I. The main arguments I have heard are -fantasies about sensitive men as good mates for raising kiddies etc -female readers aretoo used to identifying with male protags -one cock is good, ergo two is better -removes gender power imbalance so seduction can occur without being unfeminist -sexuality is innate diverse so some woman are born gay-loving just as some men are born gay Of all of them I lean most to the latter but I don;t personally know why I like it, I just duz.

Shrug, I hear a lot of guys find f/f very hot. You won't catch many of them reading a romance novel, though, they like to watch instead. I don't know why that is.

Thanks, all!

I don't have the knack for writing believeable female lead characters. I write them as I believe women should act and the women I know and admire do act...agressive, powerful, self confident. I get told that it makes them unbeliveable and not sympathetic.

D) All of the above And, I'd like to add : Avoiding politics. I can write any relationship dynamic I want and not have to worry about "being another one of those female writers who has a grudge against men" or "being another one of those female writers who can't seem to let a woman top." I feel as if I have more creative freedom with same sex pairings.

I write a lot of F/F --and het-- as well as M/M. I write women the same way I write men; semi-aggressive, semi-confident, kinda powerful... :P I like rough sex with a lot of passion, no matter what sex the partners are. Some of the answers I've gotten to your question; "Men are hotter." "Lesbian sex is too gentle and soft, only men can be powerful and rough." (To which I answer, only if you write it that way.) And the horrible one; "Girlparts are squicky." :cry: Where's your LL group, HH? :D

I actually write both m/m and m/f. I'm very character based so I tend to write based on the characters. I guess part of the draw for me for m/m is that I like my characters to overcom odds and find love and it's a different challenge. I'd probably write f/f if I had a character that really called to me, too. I'm relatively equal opportunity. :)

"We're all aware that many straight women read (and write) m/m erotica, whereas lesbian erotica is largely written and read only by lesbians." Um . . . and a whole lot of heterosexual men. Or hadn't you noticed that lesbian visual porn is mainly produced for men? As to why there isn't as much lesbian erotic writing for men as there is visual porn, I think that's for the same reason that there isn't as much m/m erotic writing for men as there is m/m porn for men: men tend to be more visually oriented. I understand that yuri (i.e. lesbian manga) attracts a sizeable number of men, despite the fact that it's a romance-oriented genre. I'll let the others answer your other questions, since I'm not qualified. :) I'll just note, though, that the claims that slash is mainly written by heterosexual women have never been verified scientifically. So what the orientation is of slash readers - and of female m/m readers in general - is mainly speculation at this point.

I've heard sci-fi and fantasy called "romance for guys". I think men do like romance, they just need to have it delivered within a venue that is acceptable for them to be caught reading. A guy caught reading a romance written solely for romance would probably get laughed at by his peers. Whether this is something innate, or solely a matter of social norms and peer pressure I don't know. It's probably the same for so-called "chick flicks".

I see plenty of f/f written by men (I have a lot of old pulp fiction written by and for men). It is just that f/f seems to be in mutually exclusive realms whereas gay fiction is more of a continuum. I would say slash is the name for the sub-genre written mainly by women. Lesbians and men also write slash but a vaste majority are straight women from what I see. I see westerns as very much romance for guys.