Hee, I was talking about fandom - I haven't come across many fans stating this as something that interests them in fanfic.

Well, there isn't much (any?) serious 'het-meta' (to turn an ugly phrase!) out there.

But I certainly have read many a pro-m/m manifesto that points to the freeing absence of gender expectations as part of the appeal of the m/m, that claim writing m/m as a feminist act of imaging a loving human relationships without the 'distortion' of 'power imbalences' of m/f relationships. Gender and it's affects, in other words, is central to many expressions of love for the m/m - but it is usually construed negatively, as in this presentation, as something to be escaped.

I don't want to escape it (because I don't think it is possible nor do I believe that men stop struggling to be "men" just because they are in the company of other men. Just the opposite tends to happen, in fact, in both my research and my life observations....). I want to explore it, and all the challenges it offers.

Which is part of what led me to write this, actually, gender theory is such a prominent sub-theme in the pro m/m musings that I wanted to write about how it is part of my love for the het, but not to escape but rather to wallow in. *g*