So, a friend of mine asked me why slash is a "thing"

[saltwriting]

And I answered here with this:

So - I've been thinking about slash, and what makes it work for me.  Of course, there's the general hotness of it, seeing men going mad with abandon, but there's two other big elements that do it for me. 

First is the fact that it's there - hidden in the shows, just effin' waiting to be found and fed.  Watch, for example, how Tony looks at Bruce while he walks behind him and shocks him - if that isn't checking someone out, I don't know what is.  And Bruce likes it; he smiles, and sees.  So it's like the writers are daring us to see this, as writers have been in Hollywood for decades. 

And then, there's the fact that it's forbidden.  How many man-on-man moments are there in cinema?  And how many are even close to the reality of it?  The reality is raw and brutal and effin' nasty, often, as sex can be, and we never see that shit. I want to see it - and, as a person who can literally never experience myself (being female), the closest thing I have to experiencing is writing or reading it.

So there's a start on why I think slash works for women.  It's first thoughts, but ones formed enough to share.