I agree with you. We do live in a patriarchal society despite the documented bills and amendments that are supposed to make women equal to men. In a sense, the factor of two women acting sexually explicit is sometimes looked at as a way of exploiting, making women less dominant to men because they are doing it predominantly for the viewing pleasure of men, not just their own sexual pleasure.
It seems that to a majority of society, the idea of male on male sexuality is demeaning and makes us less of a society than female on female.
But really, it is just the fact that we still suffer from discrimination against women, although it is sometimes well hidden.

I just think it's because guys like to see girls kiss, really. It's like seeing two aroused girls at once. (And also, if there's ever a "three-some," the main image is two girls to one guy, but hey, it could go the other way. It's probably just natural to assume more girls to every guy, as this appears often in nature and biologically makes sense. Therefore, it has probably just grown into our culture.)

Of course, it seems to me that girls really like to see the gay action. It's probably because they find it sweet and/or cute. I could say "touching," but I remember where that led.

Yes, I do think this trend of lesbian acceptance has to do with the historically male-dominant culture. (I'm not going to complain about repression of women. In fact, I find feminists quite annoying, and life as a woman really isn't as bad as many of them make it sound.) My point being: Men are fascinated by lesbian action but somewhat creeped out at gay action. (If only because it opens a door to them that most would rather leave shut.) I think it's also because lesbianism is considered a form of feminist independence with its "I don't need a man to be a woman" attitude. Therefore, it's accepted (and possibly encouraged) by the new liberal attitude. Men (as a whole, not singularly), having historically been the "dominant" sex, do not feel the same need to prove their independence to society.

Yes, I agree that it would probably be different in a matriarchal society. Lesbianism would probably be not as accepted because conservative women would view it as a threat to themselves, and men would feel a need to prove their independence.

I think it's just because women are commonly seen as sex toys, so kissing another woman could seem arousing to guys because they may think that the woman is either "practicing" or "showing off the good stuff," or something along those lines. In addition, since many women are percieved as ditsy and helpless, men may think it's cute in the way that they assume the woman is innocent and doesn't know what she's doing (or, perhaps, is not serious and just being "naughty"). Cute. *sarcasm*

However, when other men do it, it's not cute (at least, to guys; girls actually tend to fall for the gay guys) because men haven't been historically pummeled by those social prejudices mentioned earlier.

Also, although I'm not certain of how gay relationships work out, lesbian relationships have been statistically shown to be stronger and more successful than heterosexual relationships. Then again, I got that info from a women's health textbook that clearly seemed biased in the pro-lesbian way.

And I've noticed it's only appealing if both women/mn are physically attractive. Which is kind of understandable. I mean, who wants to see two ugly people slobber all over each other? Actually, seeing ANYBODY slobber all over each other is unappealing, but whatever.

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"Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. It's five year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before."

Hell yes to the Spork!

And good point on the feminine independence insight. I didn't even think of that. "I don't need a man to be a woman" very nice.

And I wonder why men "prefer to keep those doors shut" so to speak.

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"Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. It's five year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before."

I agree. While its better than it has been in the past (or in other cultures) there is still a certain amount of discriminaton. For instance, a woman will statisticly get paid less than a man with the same qualifactions/skill level etc.

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"Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. It's five year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before."

Well, men were generally raised in a society where it was considered "manly" to like girls and get the girls. Not the guys. Being confronted with a gay culture, I think, is threatening to them because they (being other men) are thus considered a "target" for other men. When they're confronted with lesbianism, they can shake it off easier so that it may not apply to themselves. ("They're girls. They're different like that.") I'll explain by example, because I like examples. They make the world easier:

Imagine that you have to give a tour of the zoo. You're talking about the baboons when they start throwing poop at each other. Some people in the tour group ask you why they do that, and you explain that it's something that the baboons do to play and/or fight for territory. They're baboons, and they just do that kind of a thing.

Now, imagine that you're giving your parents a tour of the high school, and during lunch, your classmates start throwing poop at each other. This (like straight men in gay culture) is something that you're unfamiliar with and were always taught was indecent and downright WRONG. What are you going to say to your parents? "It's just something that teenagers do"? No. The point is, it's much more embarassing because, by them being your fellow people, their behaviors register to your appearance, and suddenly you wonder if your peers will start pressuring you to throw poop, that society at large will think you throw poop, or (maybe most of all) that you actually might like to try throwing poop.

In this case, you are the straight person, your peers are the homosexuals, your parents are society, and the throwing of poop is homosexuality.

Yup. and don't forget the glass ceiling effect.

Of course, 'cause they're sex toys!

Exactly!
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Want to go back to talking about Star Trek?

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"Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. It's five year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before."