«THERE SHOULD BE COURSE IN FIRST GRADE ON LOVE»

In an article published on Out magazine's website today, Cintra Wilson introduces us to Alex Beecroft and "Erastes," two straight, married female authors who write dirty stories starring men sticking it to other men. But they aren't doing it for the boys who like boys. These homo bodice rippers are meant for the types of suburban ladies who pick up those paperbacks with Fabio on the cover. The trend has become so popular that most of the major romance novel publishers have caught on and started lines of M/M romances for the demanding public. The phenomenon emerged from "slash fiction," a type of fan fiction that imagines two popular male fantasy or sci-fi characters in a romantic relationship. Think Spock and Kirk exploring each others' bodies rather than some planet in outer space. But just what is it about reading about two guys getting it on that has women so worked up? Wilson explains it as such:Since women are not equal to men in society, a straight romance narrative—the usual machinations that bring a brutish alpha male and a wasp-waisted young female beauty to the point of bodice-ripping penetration—can't deliver the same heady emotional frisson as a "bromance," which slashers and M/M authors alike view as a courtship between equals, which culminates in the emotional jackpot of a true love based on loyalty, trust, caring, and mutual respect.

-Gawker