I watched B7 when it was first shown in 1978. I was a fairly unworldly and naive 21-year old and the subtexts passed me by. I've been on this list and Freedom City for about two years so I've now had the possibilities brought to my attention. Until it was pointed out to me the idea of any sort of sexual attraction between Blake and Avon never crossed my mind - although I felt that there was certainly a tension between them - but I would hestitate to say that it wasn't there.
Although at that time (1978) i knew of the existemce of homosexuality I didn't think I knew anyone who was homosexual, after all the men I knew - my father, my brothers, my husband, the boyfriends and husbands of all my female friends - definitely weren't. You could tell the men who were homosexual by the outrageously camp and "limpwristed" way they behaved, but they were never "ordinary" people, only film or television stars or artists or ballet dancers. Of course I've lived and learnt since then but early cultural conditioning goes deep, so while I'm not homophobic it's still not the norm for me. I don't use the word "norm" as a value judgement, it's merely that I would assume a man (any man/Everyman) to be straight rather than gay unless I had obvious (to me) evidence to the contrary.
[Aside: In the same way I have sexist and racist views. I'm not racist or sexist (I'm a woolly-liberal, feminist, socialist, vegetarian Guardian-reader, I can't be <g>) but I'm a white middle class, middle-aged, mother living in a cosy, affluent bit of south-east England so the "norm" for me is other white, middle-class, middle-aged mothers and fathers. I think I have an open mind and I'm aware of the rest of the world around me but it's only through the media (see above) and other sources that I know about societies and countries other than my own. This list is helping me broaden my views, for which I'm grateful, but I'm obviously not in quite the same mindset as many others members. I've just de-lurked on Freedom City as well as here and it's been mentioned that the lurkers may well be the majority so it's possible that the opinions and ideas of the regular posters aren't the "norm".]
Anyway, the recent slash discussions have, at times, resembled the 19th century debates on the number of angels that could dance on a pinhead: they've produced some very interesting posts, some less-than-interesting posts, some mildly expressed posts, some very heated posts etc etc but the overall effect (on me) is becoming Does it really matter? I shall continue to read slash fiction and enjoy and agree with some stories and dismiss and disagree with others.
Kerry