Icky Slash
I keep seeing posts where people complain about, or outright sneer at, slash that falls into heteronormative tropes, where one of the guys is feminized and treated exactly like we object to women being treated.
I don't myself particularly care for excessive feminization of male characters, but I don't in any way look down on it. The thing is, some women maybe want to do stuff that is typically feminine. Maybe they want to, I don't know, take a flower arranging class, make a candlelit dinner for their loved one, be dominated sexually or whatever. So why do it with slash, when there are plenty of hetero romance novels that allow women to vicariously experience this stuff?
Maybe women would like to do these things the way a man can do them. A man can be a total bottom in bed, can love candles and pretty things, and generally do all sorts of things we think of as female, but the second he stops doing those things, puts his guy self back on and heads out into the world, he reclaims all of his power and privilege. That, I think, is the attraction for some women. They have a kink for bottoming or submitting, but it's a sexual thing, and they can't feel comfortable with it because it too closely reflects our true position of lessness, less power, less privilege, out in the real world. But experiencing those things as a man allows them to wallow in it to their hearts content, enjoy it without any reservations, while retaining the self respect and world respect that men are freely given, and I have no problem with that. It's the way the world ought to work.
We ought to be able to be as dominant or submissive as we like sexually, we should be able to pursue
whatever interests or talents we have, and still have respect, power and privilege equal to that which white men experience every day. Until we do, women will find ways to meet their needs, and I am going to do my best to support rather than shame them for it.
I don't myself particularly care for excessive feminization of male characters, but I don't in any way look down on it. The thing is, some women maybe want to do stuff that is typically feminine. Maybe they want to, I don't know, take a flower arranging class, make a candlelit dinner for their loved one, be dominated sexually or whatever. So why do it with slash, when there are plenty of hetero romance novels that allow women to vicariously experience this stuff?
Maybe women would like to do these things the way a man can do them. A man can be a total bottom in bed, can love candles and pretty things, and generally do all sorts of things we think of as female, but the second he stops doing those things, puts his guy self back on and heads out into the world, he reclaims all of his power and privilege. That, I think, is the attraction for some women. They have a kink for bottoming or submitting, but it's a sexual thing, and they can't feel comfortable with it because it too closely reflects our true position of lessness, less power, less privilege, out in the real world. But experiencing those things as a man allows them to wallow in it to their hearts content, enjoy it without any reservations, while retaining the self respect and world respect that men are freely given, and I have no problem with that. It's the way the world ought to work.
We ought to be able to be as dominant or submissive as we like sexually, we should be able to pursue
whatever interests or talents we have, and still have respect, power and privilege equal to that which white men experience every day. Until we do, women will find ways to meet their needs, and I am going to do my best to support rather than shame them for it.