Why is it so easy for society to wink at a straight man's taste for sapphic action, yet find the notion of a woman following her boiz down the yellow brick road bizarre? Pourquoi, s'il vous plait? What's not to like? As "QaF" fan Morgaine Swann writes on, " 'Queer as Folk' may be about gay characters, but those characters are played by some of the most beautiful actors and actresses, both gay and straight, that you've ever seen." "QaF," she concludes, is "full-frontal 'Friends' with better-looking, more talented actors." There you have it. On a lighter note, there's this: beautiful men, hot sex, romantic entanglements, pedestrian scripts. version of "Queer as Folk" (which I will always think of as "Queer as F - "). But the dynamic is different when participants share a sexual and cultural history. Yeah, these guys will play dominant/submissive or butch/femme or adopt stereotypical male/female roles.
That said, I will make one observation: Whatever its other attractions, boy-on-boy (or girl-on-girl) romance lets straight women tourist in relationships largely free of the sexism that infiltrates hetero-based sitcoms. Maybe I'm playing Pollyanna here, but why should female voyeurs who enjoy watching gay men demand more examination than men who like watching lesbians? Is it any less a horny spectator sport? All kinks have their back stories, but not all back stories are worth exploring. At the same time, I wonder why it fascinates us so. The topic of a straight woman "queering" herself - or "Othering" herself - by exhibiting desire outside mainstream gender codes is worth exploring, and Shiller's exegesis is a good one. "The object she desires says something about her own sexual play and sexual orientation." "Juggling the object-of-desire's ambiguous sexuality is part of the straight fan's own gender performance," she writes.
She concedes that "hot male bodies in action are a big part of the draw," but maintains there's more to this "female gaze" than meets the eye. What intrigues Shiller is the gender-bending identification that leads straight women to bond with the love lives of overtly gay male characters (some of whom are played by straight men, which adds yet another layer to the conundrum). When using a search engine such as Google, Bing or Yahoo check the safe search settings where you can exclude adult content sites from your search results Īsk your internet service provider if they offer additional filters īe responsible, know what your children are doing online.It isn't news - at least in the circles I travel in - that men aren't the only ones who enjoy the visual aspects of the mating game. Use family filters of your operating systems and/or browsers Other steps you can take to protect your children are: More information about the RTA Label and compatible services can be found here. Parental tools that are compatible with the RTA label will block access to this site. We use the "Restricted To Adults" (RTA) website label to better enable parental filtering. Protect your children from adult content and block access to this site by using parental controls. PARENTS, PLEASE BE ADVISED: If you are a parent, it is your responsibility to keep any age-restricted content from being displayed to your children or wards. Furthermore, you represent and warrant that you will not allow any minor access to this site or services. This website should only be accessed if you are at least 18 years old or of legal age to view such material in your local jurisdiction, whichever is greater. You are about to enter a website that contains explicit material (pornography).