Homoerotic Subtext - or maybe not?
Popular media is full of homoerotic subtext, there is no doubt about that. Dean and Castiel, Colline and Schaunard, Sherlock and Watson, all male superheroes and each other. (Can’t name any female characters though…)
Top Gun. (When I mentioned Homoerotic Subtext to my friend, he simply responded, “Top Gun”)
Top Gun is kind of the poster child for homoerotic subtext, and there is no doubt that Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer have great chemistry
And that the primary story is a love triangle between Goose, Maverick, and Ice-Man.
But that’s not what people talk about.
People talk about “The Volleyball Scene”
And while this scene is undeniably erotic, what exactly makes it homoerotic?
If we were to substitute women in this scene, nothing would be considered homoerotic about it at all.
With women sexualized in the same way, doing essentially the same thing, it is not considered homoerotic. It is somewhere on a line from sexy to exploitative, depending on how you feel about such things.
Now let’s look at advertising.
This is a classic J.C. Leyendecker illustration, showing a man in an almost unbelievable sexual manner, by modern standards. This is almost universally considered homoerotic, and Leyendecker is an icon of “gay art.” (okay, Leyendecker was gay, but that’s not terribly relevant, as this was mainstream advertising)
But what if we put a woman in a similar ad for a similar product?
Nothing homoerotic about that. That’s just good, old fashioned exploitation of the female form so sell things with sexuality.
Why are sexualized men viewed as “homoerotic”?
My best guess is that because film and advertising (and most things) are historically male dominated fields, the assumption is that what we are viewing is the male gaze. So, when men are portrayed in a sexual manner, it is assumed that they are being shown that way by men, for men. Images of women are assumed heteroerotic for the same reason to the extent that even images of women engaging in homosexual behavior are viewed as heteroerotic.
I suspect this is also part of why it’s so easy to find examples of homoerotic subtext among men in media, but similar examples among women are rare. (Though the under representation of women in media, and the social acceptance of female homosocial intimacy must also play a part.)
Any thoughts on this? More examples? Disagree? Want to write a follow up post on female homoerotic subtext or some other tangent?
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