I think that's pretty boring (if not dismissive) way to use it.
So I was watching an episode of Pokemon Black and White a few weeks ago in which Ash was trying to capture a particular monster by the name of Snivy (its a grass type pokemon modeled after a snake and ivy, hence Snivy). Ash was having a hard time catching it because it kept using the move Attract. For those not familiar Attract is a move that when used against pokemon of the opposite gender said target has about a 50% of being so love struck they are unable to do anything each turn. Which is is not good considering that the Snivy he was trying to catch was female and the majority of the pokemon on his team (Tepig, Oshawatt, and of course Pikachu) are male. In the end he was only able to catch it because the last of his four pokemon (Pidove) turned out to be female. Other than his Pikachu (whom he's been travelling with for years) he seemed to not know the gender of any of pokemon. We'll get back to that in a bit.
Do you recall the season 2 episode of Charmed, "She's a Man, Baby, a Man!"? That episode starts off when sudden murders of men who have been mysteriously drained of their testosterone. Also all of these men were linked by way of all of them having used the same dating service. Once they learn that they are dealing with a succubus the sisters cast a spell in hopes of finding a way to defeat it. The spell ends up turning Prue, the oldest sister, into a man. Now that she was in the body of a man (Which despite her keeping all the same knowledge, memory, feelings, and experience Prue suddenly starts performing pretty much every negative behavior associated with men. Yeah only the negative stuff, but that's another story for another day.) Prue was suddenly susceptible to the draw of the succubus. After being captured by the demon and on the brink of the same fate as its other victims she is able to fight off the influence by reminding herself that she is a woman. You see what I'm about to get at?
And let's not forget the season seven episode of Buffy, "Him". In this episode a boy at Sunnydale High draws the attention of Dawn. Over time he also attracts the affections of Buffy, Anya, and....Willow. The influence (which later turned out to be his letter jacket being enchanted with a love charm) had roped them all in. Even though despite itself I could not help but laugh at particular scene in which Buffy, Willow, and Anya are arguing:
Buffy: Willow, you're a gay woman... and *he* isn't.I see the heteronormativity at work but there's still the fact that they were talking about one who clearly does not identify as a woman. Its as if we are supposed to believe that Williow being gay is going against some "natural" heterosexual imperative and the love spell is bringing out her "true" sexuality. Yeah right. (Also a nod to the season two episode "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" where Xander casts a love spell that attracts every woman in town except the one he was trying to attract.)
Willow: This isn't about his physical presence, it's about his heart.
Anya: His physical presence has a penis.
Willow: I can work around it.
A few questions. First how does being female seem to always protect one from the charms of a female? Second is it really so that suddenly appearing as a male makes one unable to resist the charms of a female? Well if you limit attraction to the realm of heterosexuality those things could hold true. Third are we to believe that heterosexuality is such a deep part of us that a simple spell can override one's homosexuality? Come on we all know that when it comes to attraction heterosexuality is not the only sexuality at work.
And that's my point. We are talking about fictional creatures here but even they are somehow bound to societal forces that limit what they could do. It just seems to me that if a demon were to take on a particular gendered form enhanced by supernatural power it would not result in people of the opposite of that gendered form falling head over heels but rather would result in anyone that is attracted to that particular gendered form to fall head over heels. But even that's probably not ideal either if someone else were to examine it.
