Over the past two days authors and readers have responded enthusiastically to our little condom post. I appreciate the time everyone has taken to express their opinions on this topic. To our authors, thank you on behalf of the readers and this blog. I know that you are all working hard to meet various deadlines for your stories, which makes it even more special that you recognize this is an area where a group of your readers have some concerns that could impact on their enjoyment of your books.
We all learned a lot, authors and readers, and I think I can speak for the readers when I say that we commend all the authors who commented on the post. You did us proud when you waded into the debate with the obvious intention of trying to resolve your readers’ issues and do your part to continue making M/M erotic romances such a wonderful genre. Now to the results –
So what have we learned? In Britain and perhaps in other parts of Europe, tying off condoms after sex is a regular occurrence by straight males according to their partners who are M/M authors. We have no information about what the practice is between gay couples or singles in Britain since there was no response from male gay British writers or British gay men in general . One response to the original informal survey conducted by my colleague JenB was from a European gay man who indicated that he mostly “doesn’t tie off condoms because in most cases there’s an easier way to dispose of them (tissues, toilet paper, towels etc.)” He went on to say that trying to tie them off is no easy feat, especially if you’ve had something to drink or have to hurry because the guy wants to cuddle afterwards 🙂
In North America a large percentage of female M/M writers stated what we suspected all along, that they were mostly using their own experience in this area with their straight male partners; in some cases they were following their colleagues who advocated the tying off of condoms after sex. On the other hand, gay male M/M writers who responded online to the post, as well as other gay men who emailed me, stated by an overwhelming majority that they do not tie off condoms after use.
Since M/M romances by their very nature are about gay males, it would seem to me that writers of the genre would want to use the practices and conventions of this wonderful group of men when they write about them and mirror what actually takes place in real life. We can only hope that these two posts on the touchy topic of condom disposal after sex will result in a small change in the sexual customs and habits of our gay male characters in M/M books.
We love our M/M books and are major fans of the genre and the authors. We appreciate the incredible imagination expressed every day by our authors in their terrific books, wonderful characters and plots and we will continue to look forward to your new releases.
Thanks everyone.
