Despite the fact that there actually exists a large number of pornographic and romantic texts about male homosexuality consumed and produced by American women since the 1970s, the "e;abnormality"e; of those female cross-voyeurs is constantly underlined in U.S. popular and academic culture. As the astonished, public reactions in the face of a largely female (heterosexual) audience of "e;Brokeback Mountain"e; (2005) and "e;Queer as Folk"e; (2000-2005) have shown, a woman's erotic/romantic interest in male homosexuality is definitely not as accepted as its male counterpart (men consuming lesbian porn). In the academic publications on female cross-voyeurs, the application of double standards with regard to male/female cross-voyeurism is even more obvious. As Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse note in their "e;Introduction"e; to "e;Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Internet"e; (2006), slash fiction - fan fiction about male homosexual relationships mainly produced and consumed by women - has stood in the center of fan fiction studies so far, despite being merely a subgenre of it. The reason for this seems to be an urge to explain the underlying motivations for the fascination of women with m/m romance or pornography within the academic discourse - a trend which differs completely from the extremely under-theorized complex of men interested in "e;lesbians."e; It is this obvious influence of conventional gender stereotypes on the perception of these phenomena that provokes me to examine the way in which the works of female cross-voyeurism and their consumers/producers are conceptualized in the U.S. scholarly accounts. In many ways, this thesis explores unknown territories and respectively tries to take a closer look at academic problems that have not been adequately addressed yet.

Despite the fact that there actually exists a large number of pornographic and romantic texts about male homosexuality consumed and produced by American women since the 1970s, the "e;abnormality"e; of those female cross-voyeurs is constantly underlined in U.S. popular and academic culture. As the astonished, public reactions in the face of a largely female (heterosexual) audience of "e;Brokeback Mountain"e; (2005) and "e;Queer as Folk"e; (2000-2005) have shown, a woman's erotic/romantic interest in male homosexuality is definitely not as accepted as its male counterpart (men consuming lesbian porn). In the academic publications on female cross-voyeurs, the application of double standards with regard to male/female cross-voyeurism is even more obvious. As Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse note in their "e;Introduction"e; to "e;Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Internet"e; (2006), slash fiction - fan fiction about male homosexual relationships mainly produced and consumed by women - has stood in the center of fan fiction studies so far, despite being merely a subgenre of it. The reason for this seems to be an urge to explain the underlying motivations for the fascination of women with m/m romance or pornography within the academic discourse - a trend which differs completely from the extremely under-theorized complex of men interested in "e;lesbians."e; It is this obvious influence of conventional gender stereotypes on the perception of these phenomena that provokes me to examine the way in which the works of female cross-voyeurism and their consumers/producers are conceptualized in the U.S. scholarly accounts. In many ways, this thesis explores unknown territories and respectively tries to take a closer look at academic problems that have not been adequately addressed yet.