Female Writers Have Hijacked Gay Erotica
I recently discovered that most gay-male
erotic fiction available as ebooks, is written by females.
This isn’t
obvious because most female authors use a first name that can be
either male or female, Sam, Chris, Lee, Max, Jo, Jude, Billy, Des… And the
others usually use only their initials.
A librarian told me that libraries are
expected to have a quota of gay fiction, so to make up the numbers they order a
job lot of cheap gay erotica. She wasn't concerned that these titles, mostly
written by women, had little or no social, literary or emotional
value. In my opinion these sorts of books have no place in a public
library, which should be offering titles that contain a story that's about more
than romance and sex. They should have at least some social and
psychological truth that will be of assistance and informative to both
young and older gays.
Most heterosexuals think that now
homosexuality has been decriminalised, gays no longer have any problems.
This is wrong. In many ways problems have increased because with increased
visibility has come increased harassment and persecution. In some
respects it was easier to grow up in a 1950’s small town than it would be
today, because if something isn’t talked about, it doesn’t exist for most
people.
Does the preponderance of female porn
writers matter ? Yes, because female authors are in no position to offer
a balanced view of life for gays. These women have had no personal
experience of what it means to grow up as a gay male in a heterosexual world,
and can never imagine the thousands of pressures, constraints, fears, and other
subtle problems that affect a gay male. Their stories can never contain advice
or support to either young or older gay men on how to live happily in the
intellectually and socially hostile environments that are our homes, schools
and cities.
It wouldn’t be so bad if these women
advertised their gender and lack of personal experience on the blurb, instead
of deliberately concealing this information. Their books should
be clearly labelled “For females who are turned on by male on male sex”.
It also matters because these trite,
stereotypical erotic fantasies present a false picture of what it means to be
same-sex-oriented, that not only shapes and perverts the ideas and opinions of
heterosexual readers, but also influences the life choices of young gays who
have a restricted choice of good reading matter relevant to them.
Heterosexual porn is rife everywhere,
but there are billions of other books, films and TV programmes that tell the
truth about the diversity of life as a heterosexual. These billions of books,
written by heterosexuals for heterosexuals, offer readers insight into what it
means to be a heterosexual man or woman, and provide an enormous range of
behaviour models. Virtually every book, film and TV program about living
and loving, working and reacting, making social contacts and choosing a job, is
aimed at heterosexuals. Gays have to search for anything useful in handling
their problems, and even if they find something, they’re often too
frightened to access them in case parents, friends, teachers... discover
they’re...shock horror... ‘queer!’
Stories like “The Geography Club” by
Brent Hartinger, in which the reality of the loneliness, fear and misery of
being gay in schools everywhere, is so poignantly evoked, along with ways to
combat this and survive happily, are the sorts of titles libraries should hold.
The vast majority of fiction available
to heterosexuals of all ages is good, real, sensible and useful, only a tiny
bit of it is fantasy porn. With gays it’s the opposite. They’re drowning
in porn while suffering a famine of books, films and stories that support
and teach gay youth and adults how to live, act and behave in the real world
without denying themselves.
The effects of this deficiency doesn’t
just affect gays. The misery is spread.
Despite decriminalising legislation,
organised religions have ensured that little has changed in public perceptions
and attitudes regarding same-sex-orientation, so most gays still remain
securely in their closets, enduring unrelenting submersion in heterosexual
culture, mores, beliefs and behaviours, with the result that most gay men
deny their true natures, consider suicide, suppress their natural urges, and
marry a woman, which then creates enormous problems for both husband and wife
until, in their forties usually, the man gets the courage to finally live his
life as his mind and body have always subconsciously desired. I’ve had too many
letters from men in early middle age who have finally dared to be themselves,
not to feel angry that both they and their wives have had to endure such misery
for so long.
Half of all youth suicides are by gay
boys, although they make up only 5-10% of the population. They need good
literature, not some female's homosexual erotic fantasy.
