One (two?) of the reasons I love Tommy, and something that I don't think enough people in the fandom give him credit for, is the fact that he seems to be both a natural sub and very comfortable about it. There's a hella lot of cultural constructs involved in this, but at the risk of oversimplifying, masculinity is so tightly associated with heterosexuality and dominance that straight men find gay men ~threatening or ~offensive because being gay obviously means they're non-heterosexual, and possibly non-dominant, and thus challenge the idea of what it means to be ~masculine. (This is why it ties in with feminist theory, btw.)
I love that Tommy doesn't mind being seen as non-heterosexual, non-masculine, and non-dominant to an established gay man. This is a HUGE component in Adam's message of equality and embracing diversity. Like, here is Adam, the non-heterosexual man who is unapologetically sexual and pretty ~dominant. Contrast him with Tommy, the submissive, non-masculine, counterpart, and Tommy is the heterosexual one. The mindfuck is so awesome I still want to jizz every time I think about it.
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winterfish
no subject
Date: 2010-09-19 06:20 am (UTC)One (two?) of the reasons I love Tommy, and something that I don't think enough people in the fandom give him credit for, is the fact that he seems to be both a natural sub and very comfortable about it. There's a hella lot of cultural constructs involved in this, but at the risk of oversimplifying, masculinity is so tightly associated with heterosexuality and dominance that straight men find gay men ~threatening or ~offensive because being gay obviously means they're non-heterosexual, and possibly non-dominant, and thus challenge the idea of what it means to be ~masculine. (This is why it ties in with feminist theory, btw.)
I love that Tommy doesn't mind being seen as non-heterosexual, non-masculine, and non-dominant to an established gay man. This is a HUGE component in Adam's message of equality and embracing diversity. Like, here is Adam, the non-heterosexual man who is unapologetically sexual and pretty ~dominant. Contrast him with Tommy, the submissive, non-masculine, counterpart, and Tommy is the heterosexual one. The mindfuck is so awesome I still want to jizz every time I think about it.