#its just so stereotypical so I'd rather read her as having literally any other sexuality

[catgirl-catboy]

Hey, you! The LGBTQ+ person that gets uncomfortable by some popular fandom headcanons. You are valid. So long as you tag your wank and not harass fans that disagree with your headcanons, it is completely okay to hate/feel creeped out by a headcanon. You aren't being homophobic to not enjoy reading one specific character as one specific sexuality, even if the rest of the fandom absolutely disagrees with you.

[castlebyersafterdark]

ok seeing as we are chatting underwear, this has opened up so many lines of enquiry for me that ive never found a forum for. i would love to hear your thoughts on this in whatever detail you like!

a family member recently exposed her crush on a girl from a band, and her shock and confusion cos she doesnt have any other queer leanings and never has. her husband was like 'i understand because women stereotypically are soft and smell good which is part of the appeal for [straight] men, whereas men stink and are dirty and hairy' lmaooooo

and i was like thats part of the appeal in a way i can't even explain. and since learning more about gay culture through byler tumblr, i have been pleasantly surprised to see all these things like... gay men can have armpit fetishes? they lick each other's armpits? and im like go for it! i have never ever had the urge to do that and dont know any female straight friends who have either, even though we too are attracted to men and masculinity. so the difference between these two types of masculine attraction fascinate me. i also tried licking my own armpit once - im a woman and it was relatively clean and hairless, and it still left a bitter, awful taste on my tongue that i literally couldnt get rid of lmaooooooooooo

so back to sears catalogue - i'm curious about this underwear as a sexual awakening for gay or queer men, because though i find men attractive, men's underwear has always been quite amusing to me? like it has to be practical in a way that women's just doesn't. so its almost like the male equivalent of a bra i guess, rather than ladies pants. but bras can be pretty and you dont often see pretty underwear for men that isn't based on feminine designs? your standard everyday men's underwear is intrinsically awkward NO SHADE - too tight and it's funny, too loose and it's considered boyish, too patterned and it's childish, too plain and it's still like a skin tight pair of shorts? i dont know, maybe all those elle girl magazine articles i read as a teen have been too influential on me.

i just think, in a way, that gay male desire is so much purer and more understanding than straight female desire. maybe because the latter comes with this sense of exotic unknowable-ness - at the end of the day, we will never truly understand men, and men won't understand us? and i suppose the other side of this coin is women being flummoxed with men finding us angelic or sweet smelling bla bla - because to women, we are just as gross as men lol. see above my armpit story !!!

so i guess i'd love to hear more details about how gay desire and attraction develops with regard to underwear/presentation/a body thats similar to your own in many ways yet also different and attractive. thanks!

This is sooooo interesting to me and I don't even know where to begin! I shall try.

In my honest opinion, sometimes... a man in just underwear (or a jock or some I guess you'd call it lingerie or whatever) is so much hotter than just full nude. And you know, I think other sexualities of many gender combos might agree, too, for what they like? It's like. Bodies are great, but so is the variation. It's how the body is framed, knowing what's underneath, it's still not the everyday thing you walk around in. It's funny you describe men's underwear as amusing and just practical because I may say the same thing about the standard bra? To me they're kind of a goofy item. But they serve a purpose. And maybe someone into women will see just the everyday bra and think it's the hottest thing ever because it's on a woman. I can understand the appeal of fancy undergarments on anyone, that makes total sense. Like I can look at a photo or whatever of a lady in a nice lingerie set and think, oh get it girl. She looks nice! But even the most basic of garments... men just look good in them? (Except boxers. I hate them hahaha. they're giving nothing.)

It's like... that first glimpse kind of sticks with people sometimes. Maybe it's not universal and everyday I am getting less and less concerned about getting personal on here lol but. It's def a thing for me? There's something so simply hot about a man in a nice pair of briefs. It's just hot? So maybe that's why I do talk about it a lot hahaha. We all have our things! It's chill! Nudity is not the be all end all.

No idea about this younger generation and how sexual desire develops, (which is an odd topic I know, but that's human nature, it doesn't have to be weird!!) because so young they all have access to the internet from the get go (I know my relative's 6 year old kid has a smartphone??? WHY) and all that is available. Before that, what did you get your hands on? What's arriving in the mail for so many? What do you see at the store? It was the 00s/10s but I wasn't looking at straight up porn online until middle school lol. I'm just speaking from personal experience, since I spoke about the department store catalogs. Can I unlock the mysteries of attraction and how people develop what? Absolutely not, gimme a call when there's a way to figure it out haha.

It's interesting the mention of the way men and woman view each other, and maybe how men view other men, women to other women. And I don't always subscribe to the idea that everything is so different, so defined. I'm sure there are women who also find the very things I'm attracted to in a man also very hot. Why do gay men have a thing for armpits? I don't know, because it's part of a man haha. Why do straight men like women's feet? Because the foot can be hot to them and it's on a woman! Why do women look at other women's hands and think that's hot? Bodies are what we've got, we're gonna be into them, if you experience attraction. None of those examples I just listed are even inherently sexual body parts. Sexuality is vaaaaaast and fascinating.

To relate this to the show in a way since this is what spawned the topic: to me the scene is comedic than anything like I didn't look at this scene and feel attraction, I'm beyond that - but the opening with Mike in s4 when he's barely dressed frantic for school? It's interesting to think, maybe that was an awakening for some young gay boy who didn't quite know themselves yet, like they like the show and they like that character a lot and didn't get why. But they see him in his underwear and it's just... one more thing that sparks something for them. Super interesting when you think about formative moments. Love the entire topic of some otherwise innocent movies or shows and there's just some scene that sticks out to you as you're young and starting to get hit with hormones and desire.