# Men are attracted to lesbians, but women are not attracted to gay men...how come? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 1, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-are-attracted-to-lesbians-but-women-are-not-attracted-to-gay-men-how-come/315148 "2005-08-01T15:29:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-are-attracted-to-lesbians-but-women-are-not-attracted-to-gay-men-how-come/315148/121 "2005-08-09T13:44:54Z")
> [@MrJackboots](#): > > WWII reenactment turns up an embarassingly small 48,400. No noticable spam, though, so they might still beat out the shit fetishists. Seeing as most WWII reenactors are into the German thing, I imagine there’s a fair bit of crossover… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-are-attracted-to-lesbians-but-women-are-not-attracted-to-gay-men-how-come/315148/122 "2005-08-11T00:11:56Z")
Help my ignorance. What exactly is slash? I have no desire to attract any more filth on my 'puter than is already there, thank you. Is it violent sex between animated characters? From the context, it would seem to be m/m sex like Harry Potter and Ron (?). ---
**Author:** ![MrJackboots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MrJackboots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrJackboots)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-are-attracted-to-lesbians-but-women-are-not-attracted-to-gay-men-how-come/315148/123 "2005-08-11T00:37:08Z")
It’s not necessarily violent, and the characters aren’t necessarily animated (I think they’re usually not originals, though). To my understanding, the slash comes from the notation commonly used to mark which couplings are going on, like (to use your example) Harry/Ron, Ron/Harry, R2D2/C3PO, etc. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-are-attracted-to-lesbians-but-women-are-not-attracted-to-gay-men-how-come/315148/124 "2005-08-11T00:44:31Z")
Thank you. I was imaging a Harry Potter snuff film and getting upset… ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-are-attracted-to-lesbians-but-women-are-not-attracted-to-gay-men-how-come/315148/125 "2005-08-11T05:36:24Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Thank you. I was imaging a Harry Potter snuff film and getting upset… Violence isn’t usually part of slash unless the story is of the S&M type. Anal sex, yes, hurting each other, no. ---
**Author:** ![Giant\_Spongess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@Giant\_Spongess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giant_Spongess)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-are-attracted-to-lesbians-but-women-are-not-attracted-to-gay-men-how-come/315148/126 "2005-08-11T08:29:23Z")
> [@Ellis Dee](#): > > But women watching gay porn I don’t really understand other than to come to one inescapable coclusion: they fantasize about chugging cock and getting railed up the ass. Interestingly, these are two activities that the stereotype says women don’t enjoy doing, so that’s where the disconnect comes in. If that’s not the point of it for the women, I truly do not understand. Any help? I enjoy watching gay porn not because I “fantasize about chugging cock and getting railed up the ass” but because I’m not attracted to women. I only enjoy one vagina, my own; I really, really don’t want to see anyone else’s. Erotica is a different matter, in this case–I’m not confronted with the horrific sight of (horrors!) a shaven pussy getting penetrated by some ugly man’s penis. With erotica I can edit the visual input to remove the unpleasant (female) details of heterosexual sex. Even then, gay erotica is better. Why? Because I’m heterosexual, I like penises, and I don’t want a woman to distract me from the important bits. I would guess that the reciprocal for men and lesbian porn is at least a factor in the attraction. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-are-attracted-to-lesbians-but-women-are-not-attracted-to-gay-men-how-come/315148/127 "2005-08-12T00:26:00Z")
Actually, I retract that my question altogether, with apologies to the group, as I just realized that the fact that I dig watching women masturbate completely blows my hypothesis out of the water. Clearly, my question wasn’t very well thought out. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-are-attracted-to-lesbians-but-women-are-not-attracted-to-gay-men-how-come/315148/128 "2005-08-12T00:47:26Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > **Possibly crackpot hypothesis:** It’s also a convenient way to sublimate any physical attractions for straight males who are less-than-conventionally manly – thereby helping them confine their RL attractions to only the most biologically suitable men. > > :dubious: Sign me, “Not Bitter” So…you’re saying I like male-on-male because I can look at effeminate men without having to be attracted to them IRL? I think? That’s funny, because all of the guys I like to look at are \*very \* conventionally manly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-are-attracted-to-lesbians-but-women-are-not-attracted-to-gay-men-how-come/315148.md?page=6)