You might have already seen this, but I love this article that was posted at AfterElton.com:
Why are Women Interested in Gay Men? It's not because they want to sleep with them! THIS:Perhaps the distinction lies in the fact that straight men have assumed the dominant role in heterosexual relationships for centuries, whereas in a relationship between two men, both enter it without traditional gender stereotypes.
And quoted from a reader named Jessica (Yes, my name is awesome): The "non-equality" ... in a m/m relationship doesn't come from the gender of the participants and the roles they're expected to play/fill because of that gender, but rather from their individual personal characteristics and the dynamics of that particular relationship.
A THOUSAND TIMES YES, THAT IS EXACTLY IT. Of course there is the hotness factor too (OBVIOUSLY), but it's really interesting to note that it seems I get the most flack from women who don't oppose stereotypical gender roles (I'm referring to fandom/loving gay men/slashing).
After taking a critical gender studies course this quarter, it opened up a whole new dialogue because I could bring up issues of feminism and gender roles through out the year to a lot of different people and have specific questions to ask. Besides getting called a feminazi (He was joking, but that's still not okay), it went pretty well because I learned a lot about my friends that I didn't know before. AND although it's easy to tell who buys into stereotypical behavior in order to try and get what they think they want (GROSS), it's hard to understand their motivation and for me that was the biggest challenge. I'm still not 100% sure about the reasons why yet, but I have some pretty good ideas. Women are half the population. If we all stood up together to stop gender discrimination, we could win (at least make it way better than it is). I do know it's much harder to go against the grain, so to speak, and that's mostly because other women won't stop the oppression. They would rather oppress other women in order to propel themselves forward. That is where the real problem lies, and that is what I want to investigate more thoroughly.
So yes, gay men are attractive because for me they represent how relationships could be if gender stereotypes were tossed aside and people actually built relationships on individual character instead of expectations.
I LOVED how the article kept mentioning Sam/Dean. Those boys are EPIC. ♥ I wonder if Kripke knows he is inadvertently fighting for gender equality by his characters serving as examples? (HELL, HE DOES IT ON PURPOSE, DOESN'T HE!). And the Torchwood DVDs are totally on my Christmas list, btw :)