Just curious. For some women man on man slash fiction is apparently a huge turn on. For those that enjoy this genre is the mere act of observing the guys going at it a turn on, or is there a place for you in the fantasy action man sandwich?
I wouldn’t call it a huge turn on, but when I read that sort of story, I’m in the role of an observer. OTOH, so too am I in the same role when reading about a het couple.
Strictly observational for me, thanks. I want no part in the story myself. That’s why I don’t normally read stories written from a first person view.
Observer.
Observer.
Likewise, how do men enjoy lesbian porn? (Seriously, it’s kind the same thing – two hot guys together, what’s not to like?)
Usually a mix for me. Basically, I imagine that I’m watching, and then I join in a bit towards the end, doing the same thing as one of the girls. Or I imagine doing my own thing. I’ve always needed some form of interaction for it to work.
My reason for hating traditional porn is that I don’t particularly like seeing anyone else’s male member. I didn’t realize this was the case until I stumbled onto some Japanese porn recently that had it blurred out.
I almost always imagine myself as a participant; same for hetero porn. Often I switch back and forth between imagined viewpoints as well.
Observer. I’ve no interest in seeing myself or any other female body sandwiched in.
Observer! That’s the point - no women!
Observer, in my experience. Most women who are into slash like the man on man aspect not just because it’s hot (which it is), but because they enjoy romance between two characters who they like. A woman popping up in the middle of that (even if it’s them) kinda wrecks that. If I want to fantasize about getting it on with a fictional male character, I’ll imagine him having heterosexual sex with me.
YMMV.
Observer
So…do any straight women here imagine themselves as, uh, part of the action? I always thought that was primarily something men did, and this thread isn’t leading me to believe otherwise so far given the only people who say they imaging joining rather than being voyeurs in are both male.
In what regard do men imagine joining in? Are they sitting on the sidelines while two lesbians are going at it, and then run in to join the fun? Is one of the women acting as a proxy for them? Are they imagining being her?
There are exceptions, but slash fiction tends to be just that - fiction. Stories. It wouldn’t make any sense to the story for me to suddenly be there. It would wreck the narrative. Plus, then it wouldn’t be slash! It would be two guys lining up to have sex with me - which definitely has it’s advantages, but it’s not what I signed up for.
The other thing, though, the audience proxy thing - I don’t know how many women put themselves in place of the bottom boy (Jesus, this is getting kind of personal), but I have. Not regularly, but I have in the past. Like I said, if I wanted to fantasize about a guy fucking me, then I’d fantasize about a guy fucking me.
The explanation that I’ve read somewhere (Dan Savage??) is that if a man sees two women, he sees an available orifice where he can join. If a woman sees two men, she has nothing to add since the orifice-fillers (penises) are already occupied.
You aren’t the only one to put yourself in the place of one of the guys. It’s very mentally complicated in my case; I might have some unresolved issues re: gender identity there. But they aren’t bothering me, really, so meh.
That’s only some of the time, though. The rest of the time, it’s observational. Guys are hot! Two guys is twice as hot! Like you said, if I wanted to imagine having sex with some guy as myself, then I’d just imagine having sex with one guy. More than two people sounds like it’d be hella complicated, anyway.
…that seems horribly male/cock-centric.
Usually just an observer. There are threesome stories, with two bi men and one woman, which is good sometimes, but that’s not the appeal of regular man/man slash stuff. As an occasional fan of the genre, I just say that two hot guys = double hotness.
From a more analytical perspective, as someone with just enough gender studies/human sexuality coursework to be dangerous (read BA degree in sociology), it might have something do with insecurity. A lot of women are insecure about their sexual performance/looks/whatever and imagining scenarios with two men kind of puts that on the back burner, so we can focus on what is attractive to a straight woman: men. Imagining oneself can be stressful, imaging people perceived to be more attractive can be disheartening, but imagining two attractive people that cannot meaningfully reject* you and are not “competition” is freeing. Or something.
*Obviously a gay man would reject my advances, but I wouldn’t feel insecure or rejected personally
I think the question misses the point and that the answer is “neither” - though sometimes some readers may do one or the other, the general attitude is that they don’t imagine themselves there at all. They imagine the characters in the story, doing what’s in the story. Readers may in some cases identify with one or more of the characters, and I’m not sure if that would count as observer, self insertion, or a third option, but even that may happen a minority of the time.
This is the same thing readers in general do when reading any story. When I read a book, I don’t imagine myself observing the action; I forget about my observerness during the reading process. The reading process doesn’t change when something I’m reading happens to be arousing.