Liz Everly's Blog, page 140

The Ultimate Down And Dirty Bromance – Why Ladies Love Gay Porn

By Elizabeth Shore

As we celebrate the release of C. Margery Kempe’s Man City: Martin this week, it got me thinking about M/M love and M/M romance and eventually it turned my naughty Lady Smut thoughts to M/M porn.  Super fit, hot-bodied guys doing the bump and grind with other hot-bodied guys.  Any problem with that? As it turns out, for many women it’s no problem at all.

Now, obviously, that’s a strong generalization because there are woman a-plenty who poo-poo gay porn – and regular porn – the way Miley Cyrus spurs common sense. But in doing some research for this post, I was more than a little surprised to learn how many woman get off to guys getting off.

You’ll probably remember 2010′s The Kids Are Alright with Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as a lesbian couple raising two children. And you remember that scene, right? The one where Bening and Moore are getting cozy in the bedroom and decide to turn up the heat with a little porn. Gay porn. It was a funny scene but as I’ve heard also accurate. A significant portion of the lesbian population apparently likes watching M/M porn. Seems  like a curious statistic. Wouldn’t lesbians  prefer watching two hot gals getting busy over two hot guys? Wrong-o, daddy-o. They like the dudes.

A lesbian couple in my building confimed this unexpected bit of trivia. “Oh, lesbians love gay porn!” my neighbor chortled, a knowing smile lighting up her face. But wait, there’s more! Because as I was talking to women and reading up on this topic, I discovered that it’s not only the gay gals who like gay male porn – our straight sisters are liking it, too.

One obvious reason behind many women’s turn-off toward straight porn is that, frankly, we’re not the target audience. Straight porn is made for straight men. From the submissive nature of the female actors to the viewpoint of the sex scenes, it caters to the guys. There’s a reason the male actors are often shown from the chest down, ’cause the viewing male wants to imagine it’s him pounding away on the gal and not some other dude. Gay male porn shows the guys in all their hot, sweaty, ripped-body glory, including their gorgeous faces.

And about those hot bodies . . . yes, that’s another high reason behind why women like the male-male lovin’. Gay porn actors are romance cover models come to life.  They’re fit, they’re muscular, they’re just plain hot. And if there are no other women around, there’s no competition. They’re all for us. How delicious.

When I asked a friend about why she enjoys M/M she cited a reason I’ve seen over and over: power dynamics. Straight porn brings to the screen what many women experience in real life. The guy has the power. He comes, he sees, he conquers. The women happily do whatever he wants. Here’s a conversation I can imagine in a straight porn movie:

“Suck me, baby.”

“Ooooh, how hard?”

“Until you choke on it.”

“Okey-dokey!”

And off to the races she goes, cheerfully gobbling his manly tool. But in M/M porn, as one lesbian said, it is, for once, the man who’s getting f**ked. The power dynamics normally seen in straight porn are tossed in the garbage like a used condom.  As my friend, added, “Watching man-on-man sex and seeing a man giving in to something that seems almost taboo is an intense, erotic experience.”

A further problem in straight porn is how fake it is. Nary a real breast in sight, positions that sometimes look more sadistic than sexy, and the gleeful exuberance that female porn actors show while getting their faces covered in sperm just doesn’t do it for the ladies. Even lesbians, who get no sexual jolt from guys, prefer gay porn to most F/F scenes which, clearly, are made by men for men.

What do you think? Have I missed any of the reasons? Sound off in the comments below and let me know. And while you’re at it, be sure to click on the follow button, too. You never know what titillating topics will pop up here at Lady Smut.

Five Gay Men I Lust After

By Liz Everly

I confess. Like blog sisters Alexa and Kiersten, I don’t read m/m romances. But I love C. Margery Kempe’s writing—I will read Man City: Martin. It’s odd that I don’t read m/m. After all, there are so many gay men that I lust after. In my real life, I have several guy friends who are gay—all of whom are attractive, but we’re friends, so I don’t really lust after them. But there are several gay celebs that I’d not kick out of bed should the opportunity arise. Grin. Feast your eyes on my top five gay hotties way out of my reach–for more than one reason.

1. Ricky Martin. Who was not heartbroken when he finally came out? Oh. My. God.  I love to watch him move.

2. Andrew Scott. Sweet and naughty boy. Looks like he needs a spanking, doesn’t he? Me-ow.

3. Matthew Bomer. Seriously perfect.

4. Alan Cumming. Artsy-fartsy and very appealing. Okay, so he’s not “gay,” he’s very upfront about being bisexual. Which for some reason makes him even more appealing.

5. Anderson Cooper. I ran into Anderson on the streets in New York City once and he is absolutely gorgeous. Left me breathless.

While you’re lusting after these hot guys and before it gets too hot in here (fanning myself), hop on over to my blog for the Hungry Hearts Holiday Blog Hop. Fourteen culinary-romance authors are dishing up cookie recipes and fabulous prizes. And for you bargain hunters out there, my first romance SAFFRON NIGHTS is now only $1.99 at Amazon and B & N and EVERYWHERE.

But before you go, don’t forget to subscribe to Lady Smut.

Love and Bromance in the Air

By Kiersten Hallie Krum

I come from a family dominated by women, (my grandmother had two girls who each had two girls) so I’m endlessly entertained by the interactions of men. It’s a little like watching a species at play in the wild. Which is why it should surprise no one that I love me a good bromance.

While a well-used trope in pop culture today, the idea of “bromance” has been around long before it got labeled. Any good “buddy cop” movie from the 80s and on is essentially a bromance with guns. Look at the Lethal Weapon series. Buddy cops, my generous bottom. That’s a bromance. With guns.

According to the Urban Dictionary, a bromance is “the complicated love and affection between two straight men.” Basically, it’s brotherly love between two men who are not brothers, bonding and intimacy without sexual congress. Anyone whose shared a foxhole (or the equivalent thereof) knows all about it. These men often know their bros as well as if not better than their wives/lovers as acknowledging emotion has become less verboten and more de rigueur aspects of male friendships. Men in a bromance are not afraid to express affection for one another nor do they find their masculinity infringed by doing so. The hands-clasped-one-armed-hug-with-pat-on-back demonstrates genuine feelings with the added aggressive move to prove such an embrace is as manly as it can get. Mutual fondness is often shown by taking the piss out of one another to varying degrees, arguably the modern day interpretation of banging their chests. Though they do that too.

Bless.

Top 5 Favorite Bromances:

5 .Raylan Givens and Boyd Crowder: Justified

A love/hate bromance of the best kind. Though on opposite sides of the law, the line that keeps U.S. Marshal Raylan from turning into a version of criminal Boyd with a badge grows ever thinner each season. It doesn’t help that they keep saving and sparing each other’s lives despite some fairly nasty business along the way. The history between them is rich and complex and the repartee vastly entertaining. They are at the same time each other’s best friend and worst enemy and though some day one of them will likely kill the other without hesitating, neither is going to be happy about it. 

4. Sherlock Holmes and John Watson: BBC’s Sherlock, Guy Richie’s Sherlock Holmes/Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Whether you’re a Cumberbitch or rolling with Robert Downey Jr, the bromance between modern-day Sherlock and Watson cannot be denied (though it can be ‘shipped beyond reason). Sherlock almost literally brings John back to life, giving him a purpose and reason he lacked after his return from the Iraq War. He recognizes Watson’s need for challenge and danger, for the high of adrenaline, and quickly feeds it with adventure. Watson gives Sherlock his first true friend who doesn’t stick with him in spite of his obnoxious quirks, but because of them, and subsequently humanizes the complex, driven, brilliant man who needs to be reminded he has emotions he can’t always interpret. There’s no judgement (though frequently rebuke) from either of them, merely an understanding and acceptance of who each other truly are.

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RDJ’s Holmes’ bromance with Jude Law’s Watson has perhaps the most brotherly overtones up to and including actual physical care when Sherlock’s mania takes over his basic grooming and health needs. They bicker like an old married couple, but it’s the patter and affection of people who have known one another a long time and in the worst and best of ways. It’s the rare role-reversal that brings their core bond to best light when Sherlock brings a drunk Watson to the chapel for his wedding in A Game of Shadows. For once, it is Sherlock who is the caretaker when Watson displays a rare moment of doubt as he silently cleans up and bolsters his friend forward to his next life step: You’re doing the right thing. Then, as Watson emerges with his bride full of joy, Holmes slips away, content to allow his bro Watson to continue on in this part of his journey without him. Or at least for the moment.

3. Crighton and D’Argo: Farscape

“I love hanging with you, man.”  ’Nuff said.

2. Scott and Stonebridge: Strike Back

Big guys. Big guns. Big missions. Big explosions. Big stakes. Big chests.  Big mouths. Big…other things.

Scott the manwhore spy. Stonebridge the stalwart soldier. Sexy, smart assed, and really good as their jobs. They take the piss outta each other as much as they save one another’s fine asses. Theirs is the ultimate alpha bromance.  And holy hell, is it fun to watch.

1. Thor and Loki: Thor, The Avengers

Thor and Loki, as played by Chris Hemswowrth and Tom Hiddleston in the current Marvel movie franchise, is the ultimate bromance, if a broken one. Sure there’s betrayal and hate, but Loki is essentially a younger brother who believes he’s been denied his rightful place, who feels, at his core, that his family has abandoned him. His despair turned to rage and that to a deep-seated need to destroy that he once loved. The loss of his brother ripped a hole in Thor that changed him irrevocably. Knowing Loki is alive doesn’t alleviate this pain as the brother he once knew and loved is gone and left a raging maniac in his place. Thor could deal with that if not for the moment when his lost brother shines through again, moments that feed a cautious hope in his mighty heart.

What are your favorite bromances? Sound off in the comments below.

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Late to the Party? A Male/Male Confession

Sure, we know it’s Australia *now.* But once upon a time, it was Terra Incognita.

By Alexa Day

Today we at Lady Smut are kicking off our Male/Male Theme Week to celebrate the release of C. Margery Kempe’s Man City: Martin. The trouble is that I haven’t really read any male/male romance. Near-complete ignorance of a subject does not typically prevent me from writing about it, but today I’ve decided to approach things with a touch of discretion.

The truth is that I don’t really have a reason for neglecting male/male books. Sure, there are the deadlines hovering over me like a little raincloud that produces everything but words. I haven’t really read as much of anything as I’d like lately. That’s more of an excuse than a reason, though, and it’s a shameful excuse at that.

Heaven knows there are whole genres that I consciously avoid. The picket-fence-and-pregnancy happy endings of so many sweet romances do nothing for me. Innocent heroines are a real turn-off for me, too. And while I’m really excited about the newer crowd of urban romances, I don’t feel any desire to read one of them myself. But male/male isn’t just a rapidly growing subgenre of erotic romance any more. It’s everywhere romance is, except possibly inspirationals. (In fairness, though, there aren’t even Catholics in inspirationals.) If I had applied myself, I’d probably have found many a male/male romance to check all my bow-chicka-boxes.

I’m not all that concerned about the absence of women from the driving action of the typical male/male story. I spent a lot of my early days in romance identifying with characters who didn’t look like me, only to find that they were more like me than I gave them credit for. Even if that never happens, there’s something exciting, something thoroughly engrossing about the experience of reading about people who are altogether unlike me.

At any rate, Martin from the latest of the Man City books sounds like exactly the sort of person I identify with. I’ve been the single person invited to join good friends during the Merry Season. After that our paths diverge … but it sounds like Martin’s hot friends, Scott and James, are going to make his spirits bright in exactly the way I like to hear about. There’s a story I can get behind. And next to. And in front of. I might be late to the world of male/male romance, but Terra Incognita looks pretty good from here!

Stick with Lady Smut, neighbors. We’ll show you all sorts of things.

Being Thankful

Most holidays are an excuse for pretty candles!

by C. Margery Kempe

Gratitude is a good habit. The American Thanksgiving is over and everybody else’s Thursday has turned to Friday. Hanukkah continues.

If you’re working today, our sympathies. If you can stay home and relax, enjoy. If you’re lighting the candles tonight, be blessed.

And just to make you laugh:

 

If you have to spend money today, my publisher is one of many small presses having a holiday sale: shop from the comfort of your desktop and avoid the madness of the shops!

Things To Be Thankful For – Lady Smut Style

by Elizabeth Shore

A blogger friend of mine regularly posts “Thankful Fridays,” listing things – big and small –  she’s thankful for that week. I think it’s a great thing to do – particularly on the day before Thanksgiving –  and am shamelessly stealing her idea.

Most of us are thankful for the obvious things – family, friends, love, support, good health, food to eat, a place to live. While those things naturally make my list as well, I think in this instance I’m going to focus on things to be thankful for – Lady Smut style.

1. While traveling to the midwest to see my family, I can rock out to hot rock tunes, and I can view pictures of hot rocker dudes.

2. Once we reach the end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and Santa Claus goes by on his sleigh, the holiday season officially kicks off. To celebrate I could go see a performance of the Nutcracker, or I could just get my fill of outrageously sexy dancing men this way.

3. If we run out of topics to discuss around the Thanksgiving dinner table, I could always solicit opinions on what my family members think about pain in erotic romance. What? Is that a bad idea?

4. I can be thankful that next year I can indulge in one of my guilty pleasures when Showtime airs a new season of Gigolos.

5. Lastly, I’m thankful that I was fortune enough to be born in the U.S. and can freely, without fear of persecution, enjoy the right to say what I want, write what I want, and be as indecent as I wanna be – even when  I’m not a sex goddess.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone.

Stay Thankful, My Friends

Poor dear. He really is trying to be helpful.

By Alexa Day

We here at Lady Smut are taking the week off to spend the Thanksgiving holiday doing various seasonally appropriate things. As for me, I’m grateful to have a bit of help in the kitchen, but my sweet assistant here is a bit clueless. I said to defrost the turkey in the sink with cold water, and I guess he thought I was speaking figuratively. I certainly hope that’s not the name he calls himself; I’ll never keep a straight face.

I’ll see you right back here on the first of the month. In the meantime, sound off about your plans, your kitchen help, or what you’re thankful for — or whatever’s on your mind. Be sure to follow Lady Smut in the meantime — how else will you find out how I got my dear turkey out of the sink?

Sexy Saturday Round-Up

Hello, Sexy! We’ve been scouring the Internets to find the most provocative blog posts for your weekend and upcoming Holiday reading. Don’t forget, today is the last day to enter my chocolate giveaway.

Enjoy!

From Liz:

Objectification of women goes deeper than pictures.

Ten steps to make Goodreads work for you.

The girl myth.

A new sex app.

CMK:

Avon goes back to school.

No tears outlining.

When woman wanted more sex than men.

From Madeline:

First time with a girl? Don’t worry, SugarButch has the answer for all you queer virgins out there.

Indians & Pilgrams? Janga rethinking the whole Native American romance novel thing.

Feminists wrote about women as “the second sex.”  Now there’s a third sex.  In Germany.

How are women getting ahead?

You pluck them, but why do you have them? BBC gives you the nitty-gritty on eyebrows.

From Elizabeth:

Think Cupcake Wars are silly? In Japan, they have orgasm wars.

Here’s the #1 spot to get off in the office.

Katniss is gay? Book characters in the closet.

Introducing the 2013 National Book Award Finalists and Winners.

Keeping a belt in place when there are no belt loops.

Celebrating the phallus! 26 things that look like penises even though they’re not.

Stay Hungry,

Liz

Have a lovely holiday. Before you go, remember to subscribe to Lady Smut.

Put Your Witch Hat On

by C. Margery Kempe

I could not resist watching American Horror Story: Coven even though I usually have to laugh at portrayals of witches in popular culture. I don’t think doctors would find much to relate to in the way medical dramas show their lives and professions, so I can’t really take it personally (if you want some thoughtful yet fun pagan analysis, I’d suggest you check out the discussions by my pal Peg Aloi and her colleague Lilith Dorsey over at Patheos).

There’s no doubt that the witch has been (and continues to be) a scapegoat for fear. But she has also long been an icon of sexual strength and power, and that is one of the tropes that actually has some power in the series. As silly as the plot threads have been and as random as the actions of the characters are (and oh, they are random and senseless — committee writing at its best) this is a show about powerful women and for that alone it is wonderful.

There’s no doubt that the real draw of series is the fine cast: Jessica Lange, Angela Bassett and Kathy Bates are all legends and they bring so much to the series. Bates is under used since her introduction, but Lange and Bassett show just how sexy a powerful woman can be. The two of them facing off is always a pleasure and despite the goofiness of some of the story it is such a joy to watch a show that features a mostly female cast who don’t spend all their time bitching about the men in their lives!

I hated the first episode because it made Lange’s character seem all about “staying young” at any price. Now her search for youth turns out not to have been about being “pretty” but about retaining power as the “Supreme” of the witches, even though she has mostly squandered her power to date. Now that she’s stirred up the fractions between her witches and Bassett’s voudoun folk, war seems inevitable. Meanwhile the two of them get to look good and lay waste to the people who stand in their path. It’s fun to watch even as you’re cringing at the mishmash of history, race and culture of the great city of New Orleans.

But there are generic conventions to consider: this is horror after all. It can be sexy but somebody’s got to die, so things are bound to go badly.

What if they didn’t have to?

What sexy witch stories would you like to see? What if it were romance or erotic romance instead? What witch stories do you like? Sweeping historicals like Mists of Avalon? Or something contemporary like The Craft dealing with the here and now? What’s your idea of a good sexy witch? I’ve got an idea on the back burner, but I haven’t had time to get anywhere near it on my to-do list.

Hocus pocus –

And don’t forget to follow the Lady Smut crew so you don’t miss a thing!

Room Service, I’d Like To Order Some Hot Sex, Please

How do you spell stress relief? T-u-r-n d-o-w-n service.

By Madeline Iva

It’s luxury week here at Lady Smut!  Yes, you’re going to be slaving over a hot stove next week.  You’re going to be the bitch-general of the family making holiday happen, but not here, not on our watch.  We at Lady Smut are  here to whisk you away to soothing thoughts of finer things…

Like the awesome-ness of great hotel room sex.   I don’t know about you, but there is nothing like a hotel room all tidy and clean to make me want to bounce on the bed, ruck up the sheets, and start pounding away on my lover boy cowgirl style.

There’s so much to love about hotels–That giant bathroom that goes on for days…with vast amounts of counter space.  The lack of clutter.  The room with, let’s face it, one clear focus: the bed.

I’ve been in king size beds in hotel rooms where I could do five or so revolutions from side to side.  While snuggling can get lost in such vast expanses, I don’t know…so much bed just inspires me to have so much more sex.  Is that so wrong?

B&B’s are great as well because they usually have those high antique sleigh beds which are just right for bending over.  (!)

You’ll have to pry me out of this bathtub with my shriveled prune-like hands.

Luxury hotels are fabulous when they have unlimited hot water for doing it in the shower — also they often have sturdy handgrips or strong shower curtain rods for liability reasons.  Give me that and no one to interrupt us, and I’ll show you some happy campers a few hours later who are squeaky clean to boot!

Which is not to denigrate yer typical Motel 6 tryst.  Seedy hotels are perfect for snug little hide-a-way afternoons. After your dirty hot sex motel fun, you can snuggle in under the sheets with fast food eats and bad TV.

Here are some true confessions about why hotels are awesome:

My friend was in London all by her lonesome at a posh hotels where they had actual bell boys.   The room was going on daddy’s tab, and the bell boy was pretty hot, so the flirty-flirts were coming out of her involuntarily, if you catch my drift.  Later that evening, when she ordered room service, the bell boy stopped by with her meal just to see if she needed anything else.  And by anything, he meant himself.  True story.

Meanwhile, I remember my first experience in a luxury hotel.  I came back in the afternoon after some meetings, took a shower and then went right out again.  (This was NYC after all, there was a lot to do.) When I got back that night–hick that I am–at first I thought someone had broken into my room.  Then I realized–the radio was on and playing soft jazz.  The wet towels I’d left on the floor were replaced by clean towels on the shelf.  There were mints on my pillow and the bed had been turned down…

Yes, I was experiencing for the first time the infamous turn down service.  It was like all my pores opened up and the stress just melted out of me.

Seedy can be funny.

But I’ve had plenty of good times in cheeze-ball hotel rooms.  One time we were at a hotel in Delaware? New Jersey? I can’t remember.  Anyway, we got a room at this two story motel, and didn’t mind having loud raucous sex before we got ready to go off to the wedding ceremony somewhere else later that evening.

It was only when we were stepping out of our room that we saw all our old college friends were staying at the same motel.  Coming out of their rooms no one was really looking us in the eye.  Yup, they probably heard us…That evening was one of determined amnesia on all sides.  They pretended they hadn’t heard us going at it for two hours or so, and we pretended we hadn’t sounded like the monkey section of the zoo before crawling out of bed and getting into our fancy duds.

Once when I was in a foreign country, I loved spending a Saturday morning in a dark motel room where they wouldn’t turn up the a/c because the owner was cheap, and the TV only got two channels.  It didn’t matter: after some great morning sex, my guy put his arm around me and translated the Saturday morning foreign cartoons into English for me, complete with funny squeaky voices.

Meanwhile, I’ve never encountered the hot bell boy syndrome before, but when I go to this romance conference in New Jersey, I’ve always gotten the most fabulous hotel rooms there.  The last time I was there the room contained a chaise lounge (!) and this awesome large square mirror hung right near the bed.  These touches were very inspiring, if you know what I mean.  And I think you do.  I fondly remember a hotel in Montreal with a giant mirror and that first time having sex looking at him looking at me looking at him. Heady stuff.

Alas, I was all alone in New Jersey at this event.  When later that night Elizabeth Shore and a friend came to visit, they were completely envious of my room and bitched about the tiny box they were staying in.  On leaving Elizabeth took one glance at the mirror and  something about what a perfect mirror for having hot hotel sex.

This is why we’re such good friends, Elizabeth and I! Brilliant dirty minds think exactly alike ;>

So take a bath tonight, soak up the bath salts and relaxation, and give yourself some deserved down time.  Imagine you’re in a hotel room and there’s a guy there too.  Here’s a little story by Elizabeth to set the mood and inspire you…enjoy!

In addition Liz Everly’s book CRAVINGS is out today–talk about some GREAT hotel scenes. Buy it today!