Why Do Some Men Condemn Gay Romances Written by Women?

Look up homoerotic titles on Amazon and you will run into the inevitable one or two snotty reviews from some male readers who disapprove of female authors writing gay romances. I'm glad to report here at ObsidianBookshelf.com that these reviews seem to come from only a TINY segment of the male population.
 

Why do some men dislike gay erotica written by women?  Some take the high ground, and object to women writing porn that exploits them. But then they would have to object to ALL porn; it wouldn't make sense to say that exploitation is only okay when it comes from other gay males. What is wrong with erotica anyway?  As long as it doesn't spring from hatred for the gender being portrayed, there is nothing wrong with it.  The real emotion behind the objections of some men to women writing gay romances may be a misplaced territorialism.

Now, I don't have a problem with some male readers preferring only male authors. I think it's stupid, and I think they're missing out, but I recognize their right to have this preference.  I can understand that they might get irked when they found that they've bought a book written by a woman using a pseudonym, or initials, or an ambiguous first name. But they can always return the book, get a refund, and avoid that author in the future.

What I dislike is when reviewers vent their prejudice against women through dishonest Amazon reviews.  So what do I mean by a dishonest review? Am I saying that no man had better pan a book written by a woman? Of course not. It's okay to point out the flaws in a book.  It's also someone's right to have a personal bias against women writers – even if I think it's stupid.   Furthermore, I could tolerate someone posting a review on Amazon such as "I didn't read this book because I have this bias but I want others with my bias to know that the author is female."  I would think that this is stupid, but at least it's honest.

What I dislike are the dishonest reviews.  A reader who just wants to slam women writers will post an Amazon review that questions the author's basic competence (e.g., "This woman can't write!") or makes a vague assertion (e.g., "[the books he has read by women] felt emotionally wrong") or gets downright ridiculous ("[the sex] is technically wrong"). These are all quotes from real Amazon reviews. The first quotation is not even worth addressing.  I'm wondering what the second quotation even means. The third quotation makes me want to laugh and say, "Get real! How technical can sex really be?"

None of these reviewers are admitting the truth: that they're biased against women writers, they're going to find fault no matter what, and they want to smear these books in the eyes of the buying public. Why go out of one's way to try to harm another's creation? Just don't buy the damn book, and leave it at that! 

If a book really is a bad book, it deserves a negative review. But it should be critiqued accurately on the basis of its plot, characters, pacing and other literary values. Unfortunately, some of these destructive reviewers will even lie about these things just to advance their agenda. Is the woman writer attacked in that first review I quoted really unable to write? Oh, come on!  

No one should be restricted from writing outside of his or her ethnicity or gender. That's how we build imagination and empathy. Judging from some of those Amazon reviews I read, I think we could use more empathy.
~~ Val Kovalin.

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