I get mail regularly from men looking for recommendations on what to read, or they ask questions about the M/M sub genre, to which they think I have answers or can find them. *g*
Recently I received a very interesting email from Stuart, a gay man who had quite a few questions. Here’s his very short bio – he is 46 years old and lives in the US, and up until 2004 he resided in New York. He didn’t tell me where he’s currently living because he probably doesn’t want any of you to visit.:)
I decided to post his comments in several polls (there were too many to include in a single one) which will run on concurrent weeks, starting today, and I’m hoping that M/M authors can clarify why they do the things they do.:)
Here are his first 2 observations -
A lot of the m/m fiction I’ve read refers to cocks that ‘twitch’ when a character is sexually aroused. Cocks don’t twitch when aroused (unless all the men I’ve ever known are engaged in a vast conspiracy to conceal from me that I’m different). A man when aroused simply begins to get erect. I don’t know why the authors of m/m fiction need this false ‘twitch’ motif, unless it’s because male arousal is basically lacking in drama.
Along with cocks that ‘twitch’ is the motif in m/m fiction of men ‘thumping’ their penises if they are in a situation where having an erection would be inappropriate.
I’ve never met a man of any sexual orientation who does this. If one has an erection that is unwelcome, generally the inappropriate situation itself makes the erection go away. If not, relaxing and taking a deep breath does the trick. The strange attributes given to penises in m/m fiction can be off-putting since it destroys the suspension of disbelief necessary to enjoy an author’s fictional world.
So authors, what are your answers? Why do so many M/M authors refer to cocks that “twitch,” and have their protags thumping away!
I would love to hear from readers who have some knowledge in this area .:) I’m hoping that a few of the male followers of the blog (gay and straight) will give us the benefit of their expertise in male genitalia. The responses to this post should be interesting as well as illuminating !! Maybe it’s like the mythical tying off of the condoms post that I did sometime ago.*g*
I’m pretty sure the reference is to when the man contracts the groin muscle when erect… You know it sorta gives a little bob
[...] favourite tropes, including the very popular one about whether penises twitched when erect, linked here. [...]
Neither I, nor my partner ever have the need or desire to “thump” our dicks in discouragement. In fact, touching them at all just encourages at that point.
And there might be a slight “twitchy” thing we can do with them, but it’s far more like “check this out! Pretty cool, huh?”, and less a reaction to extreme sexual arousal. That’s just ridiculous.
Don’t these authors have any gay friends who can answer these questions? I’m inundated with them all the time from female friends.
Michael
because this post is over a year old.
Thanks for responding here to my other post yesterday. You should have commented on that one so that the M/M authors would see it
One of the reasons I do these posts is to lift the veil on the gay lifestyle because the guys complain to me all the time about how unrealistic the characterizations are, and people like you help me reinforce this, (just in case they think it’s all my idea).
Thanks for writing and if you have a chance to comment on the other post which I wrote yesterday about strange goings on in M/M romances, that would be great.
I twitch.
Hey Brian
I never saw this comment. lol. That’s good to know.
Penises definitely do twitch! It is a function of the pc muscle. Voluntarily or involuntarily. Once one strengthens his pc muscle with the kegels, he can twitch inside his partner. I am a woman and have had many experiences with men causing me to have an orgasm from them “twitching” inside of me, both vaginally and anally, so I assume it’s possible for m/m, also.
I knew a guy once who had such good control over his pc muscles that he could keep his penis in various states of erection and therefore various angles for quite a long time. Good control works lots of ways!
I was a body work sex therapist before I was a writer/editor/publisher, so learned these techniques as part of therapy.
Wow Sally, I never knew one could do so much with muscle control of the penis. These posts are a way of educating myself as well as the other readers. Thank you for this information.
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