Lesbian Fashion Imagery

In Monday's class, I asked why fashion ads with blatant (or even subtle) lesbian imagery are marketed to and appeal to straight women. Some of you thought that straight women like to see sexy women because it appeals to what they might want to look like, which I think is a very valuable and likely part of it. Some thought that female readers are actually supposed to be seeing through the male gaze and judging women based off of that. I think this also makes a lot of sense and explains why we see barely clothed models and actresses on the cover of women's magazines. Perhaps the women readers take the role of the male readers here and judge women based on how sexy they are. Today, I was thinking that perhaps these ads represent a kind of hegemony. If it is largely men who create these ads and market them to women, maybe they are trying to normalize the idea that it is okay for women to be sexually attracted to other women (which would fit in with the stereotypical male fantasy). Or perhaps, more straight women are bisexual than straight guys are gay. I think this is an interesting argument, but I don't think it is possible that women just naturally feel this way and straight guys are less prone to. I think that it is a cultural thing that has been internatlized by many women. I think the most interesting aspect of this discussion is that there are no right or wrong answers. There are so many ways to interpret the meanings behind these representations and maybe they are all a little bit true.