quick question for those of you familiar

[kaigou]

...with yaoi-girls and/or (female) m/m fans. Of those you've known/met in the subculture who prefer the m/m and avoid the m/f, have any of them ever explained the reasoning behind their preference? Beyond just the younger version of "well, m/f is icky" or the lazier version of "I just don't like m/f". Anything more in-depth, more honest, more insightful?

Because the only explanations I've ever gotten amount to variations on those two, and that's not much substance when it comes to deconstructing what, exactly, is going on for readers with the preference.

Comments

[kaigou]

The less thoughtful responses do usually stop at "m/f is icky", which you will also very often see unthinkingly paired with "real gay people are icky" in the exact same fangirl, and sometimes even the same breath. I do suspect this is a sterling example of inculturation at work, wherein girls are not supposed to like/want sex and also gay people are bad.

I can't help but draw a line between this kind of bizarre seeming contradiction and the kind of romanticization I see going on in historical fiction, especially the kind with particularly problematic (for a modern minds) elements, like female-subjugation, slavery, paternalistic colonialism, and so on. Some of the fans of historical fiction/romance set in those times, from what I've seen in blog-discussions, will decline anything contemporary on the grounds that it's "not as much fun" or "not as interesting" or too-something (maybe too gritty, or too conflicted, I'm guessing, not sure), but are also steadfast on the point that reading about a historical time period in which the main characters own slaves doesn't mean that the reader likes/wants slavery, because slavery is BAD, mmkay.

It's a wish to romanticize but with a specific compartmentalization, to admit attraction for the dynamics created by the not-wanted element, but that you can't get that dynamic so easily if you don't include the unwanted element. Erm, if that doesn't make sense, it's because I'm getting grad-student reminder stuff in the other ear. Gah, I can't do this multi-tasking crap!