Male-Male Erotica And Why Women Like Them

It was a bit of a surprise to me when I had to realize guys have no idea why women actually like to read novels with male-male relationships. I’ve been on a binge recently myself (which seems to wind down a little now) and was positively surprised at the good novels I found for the read (see my last three reviews - one for the “Agents Irish and Whiskey” series might follow). Why am I surprised that men are surprised at women loving those stories, especially the erotica? Because I thought the reason should be obvious.

A lot of men apparently enjoy lesbian porn movies and I do get it - they can watch two women getting it on, so they essentially get two for the price of one instead of having to watch another guy going down on a woman. Funnily enough, that’s pretty much the reason why women like gay erotica: two good-looking guys getting it on. Yes, with novels or novellas, it’s in our heads, not on our screens (technically also on them, erotica of every kind had a huge boost with the e-book market), but it’s still the same principle. Women have gone for written erotica and porn instead of movies for a long time - and the market for us still isn’t big, although the idea that women need completely different porn isn’t correct. We usually have the necessary imagination for the novels or novellas, so we can read them in peace, even in the subway or on the bus - which is why e-books made the erotica market explode, since nobody can see what you’re reading on your device of choice.

When I look at the various books I’ve read during my binge, from “The Henchmen of Zenda” by K.J. Charles to “Trick Play” by Eden Finley, I see a lot of different styles, settings, and pairings. I also see a lot of interesting books which are not ‘only’ love stories, but integrate the love story with thrillers, adventure yarn, or other genres. What all have in common (it seems like I had a good hand for that when choosing my novels), is that they do a very, very good job with the sex scenes, making them realistic (including lube, preparations and, where already widely available, condoms) and very well written. They have gotten to me emotionally, making me worry for the main characters. They have had me on the edge of my seat, giving me that ‘one more chapter’ feeling which can keep you up well after your usual hours just to see how it ends. And they have all featured love stories between men.

My very first dip into that sub-genre of romance was with the shonen ai manga “Bronze” (which isn’t one of my favourites these days, there’s a lot of problematic stuff in there). Here in Germany, it was the first ‘boys’ love’ story published (at least manga-wise) and I enjoyed it a lot. Afterwards, I found better stories in series like “New York, New York,” “Fake,” or “Kitsuna” (all of which survived my manga purge before my move). For a long time, manga were the only source of that kind of story, then I got internet access and binged fan fiction, which included lots of slash stories. With the rise of the e-book, I’ve also bought the occasional male-male erotica (starting with some stuff from Morgan Hawke, enjoying her male-male stories more than the ‘regular’ story I bought as well - I especially like “Tempestuous”).

And why that stuff? Why not your regular bodice ripper? For one reason, I don’t really like those and never did. They are full of helpless damsels who fall into the arms of their saviour and, in erotica, also into his bed. The danger of that happening in male-male pairings is much lower. Of course, there’s usually the ‘angst’ topic - both thinking the other one must be straight and they’re lusting after the wrong person. But sooner or later they break through it and things get moving. The “Agents Irish and Whiskey” series did away with the angst in the first novel and built up tension with other factors in the other two (the series finished in three books). I like such stories much more than your melodramatic ‘star-crossed lovers’ stuff which features heavily in so many romance novels. It’s not that those male-male erotica don’t have any of that stuff, but they usually don’t have as much. In addition, the main leads usually are on a more even level than in many male-female love stories.

Women do like male-male erotica and romance a lot. We can simply put ourselves into the characters, if we want to, and enjoy the picture of two good-looking guys getting into bed with each other (in the erotica at least). The stories often are less sappy and there’s less of a danger for the ‘damsel in distress’ stuff.