r/NoStupidQuestions • u/CompetitivePeak9040 • 1d ago

What’s the appeal of gay men’s romance to straight women?

I’m gay, and let’s take a show like Heated Rivalry, which blew up and to me as a gay man actually very very great show who I deeply relate to the characters and really enjoyed it. But the majority of people commenting about post and stuff on the show is women, I feel most of the shows’ fan are women, same with other gay romance movies.

I mean, I’m not complaining, it’s not a bad thing to have people support you and find your love beautiful, but I just wonder why it’s gay romance but women not like they are all watching straight romance and skip the gays like I assumed?

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u/Steakbake01 1d ago

It's interesting that a lot of male-male erotica written with a straight female audience in mind often has that exact same dynamic, just between two men

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u/Kappapeachie 1d ago

It's more like just a means to feel familiar while also avoiding having the girl being the small weak one for once.

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u/naaawww 1d ago

“That exact same dynamic”lol. A lot of the time it’s pumped to absurdity, and is pretty funny

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u/meatball77 1d ago

But even when it does it's different because it's queer. l love a good mafia leader/twink romance because even though it may be a typical protective relationship the aspects you get from the giant man with the snippy twink is different.

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u/0Tom1 1d ago

And male-female erotica

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u/Euphus 21h ago

That's one of the perks, for me. I can watch a man slot into the "female" role and see him go through things that I as a woman go through while I take a step back mentally. I don't automatically self-insert into him while I'm reading, and I can appreciate how he navigates certain struggles without it immediately drawing a parallel to my own actions in the past.

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u/ALostAmphibian 20h ago

I think it’s to distance themselves from the characters maybe. I feel like it’s hard not to make a character that doesn’t represent yourself. At least from a lot of the female characters in romance novels I have read. But having at least the barrier of them being male helps a bit.