Some time ago I came up with a hypothesis for slash: Women are given the coded message in female-intended media that the Soulmate (and hopefully eventually Spouse) is meant to be the most important person in their life, give meaning to their existence, etc. Men are given the "bros before hos" message, that women may come and go (though, granted, sometimes one runs across a really special one it's harder to replace) but buddies and partners are the most important and enduring relationship. Women trained to spot the Most Important Person to their fave character and expect coupledom to ensue watch media intended for a male audience and conclude that the male partner is the really important figure and the revolving door of women indicates the futile search for the person who is Right Beside Them the Whole Time.
Also of course there's the hot guy-on-guy action. And pretty pretty mens. And being able to "have" both of them at once. But I like the idea that it's a subversion of gender-coded double messages in our media.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2009-05-11 04:00 pm (UTC)Also of course there's the hot guy-on-guy action. And pretty pretty mens. And being able to "have" both of them at once. But I like the idea that it's a subversion of gender-coded double messages in our media.