I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this thought, but it really struck me recently when a gay colleague showed me photos of his current squeeze. I realised that my other male colleagues had never shown me pictures of their female partners and I started wondering why. I realised as well that I had probably never shown my male colleagues who are straight pictures of my other half. Why not...?
I first started thinking about why we shows photos at all. And it's all about pride. I'm convinced that my guy is gorgeous, very sexy and very masculine. And I want other people to appreciate that and give me recognition for that. And only the right kind of people can do that. Who are those people?
It's people who can can translate what they are seeing into the right kind of response and a response that not only is right, but also fulfills the purpose of why I'm showing the photos. It has to be the right recipient of the message or to talk in marketing speak, the right target group. As a woman if I was shown photos of a woman, I would not comment in the same way a heterosexual man would but more importantly I wouldn't be the right target group because historically I'm not on the same playing field.
It's all quite primeval and maybe I'm not saying it quite right, but it's about whether the person you are showing the photos too could have been competing for the person you got. And so are their comments valid because they know what they are talking about.