am i the only one?

I don't understand what one has to do with the other. I was solely into yaoi for a long time, but never had any gender or identity crisis. I just found reading yaoi more enjoyable due to more complicated settings, inner conflicts, and social conventions to think about. They are just more intriguing than straight romance. Plus I get to look at some fine men, so double the fun ლ(´ڡ`ლ) The only reason I'm not reading as much yaoi as I used to is that I already read so much, that rarely something feels novel, but I still enjoy it if some new and exiting yaoi comes out. I'm very much a fujoshi and - just as much - just a normal woman.

yaoi is targeted towards straight girls so it’s not weird lol?? And I totally understand not liking straight stories after reading yaoi because idk some of them don’t hit the same as yaoi but of course I’m sure if you keep looking there’s definitely straight stories you will like too (same goes for any genre tbh). And the people judging people for exclusively only read yaoi is ridiculous, everyone have preferences?? Like personally i pretty much only read manhwa bls HOWEVER in the past I read like anything and everything but now I’ve realized manhwa bls is just what I prefer to read. But am I going to judge manga or Manhua readers? NO of course not LOL. Same goes for straight stories, every once in a while I find one I like even if I don’t read it often. So yuhhh this website is my holy grail as a proud bl reader (●'◡'●)ﾉ

It might be targeted towards straight women, but it’s still about gay men and you’re consuming only gay porn is in fact weird because at a certain point you’re just fetishize gay and if that’s the only thing you can consume of course.

I guess my prev reply didn't save... So why are you so sure, that liking yaoi that much has anything to do with a person's gender identity? I've read exclusively yaoi for a very long time, but never had any doubts about being straight. The main reason I got into yaoi so much is because it's more intriguing than straight romance. There's internal conflict, social conventions to take into account, finding yourself... It's a lot more complicated than most shoujos. Now I have a wider range of manga I read, because well there's only that much yaoi one can read before it gets repetitive. I still read yaoi if I find something new and interesting.

yuhh of course

yeah, there are ppl like that, but assuming all yaoi is just gay porn and all ppl reading only yaoi must be fetishizing gay? that's just absurd... yes, yaoi mostly do have sex scenes, but to simplify ppl tend call all man x man yaoi, even though technically there is a distinction of shounen-ai vs yaoi :) basically yaoi is shounen-ai + sex soooo maybe read some shounen-ai?

Nah just like attractive men. Unfortunately we don't see men showing that they feel good during xxx during straight manga. They tend to be super straight faced. In BL its like all the emotion has been unleashed

good point! love to see some fine men show emotions and vulnerability!

Nah I just like hot men. Especially when they actually show emotions toward someone. Straight manga they tend to be super straight faced and rarely show when they are feeling good. The most emotion we normally see is possessiveness. BL is a all rounder. If u want to know how men are feeling in the manga, choose BL. Cuz straight don't give you nothing. Whether it be love, sex, or conflict. And yes typically it's a female author. Well that's why we enjoy it so much, because we are shown what we want to see. Hot men with emotions lol

In your case it might also just be that you just didn't read anything good in any other genre yet. Like anything else just wasn't able to stick with you yet. You feel compelled to stick to Yaoi because you enjoy it and it's easy and plentily available.
I'm the same with shoujo, I like to just read shoujo slop for the most part and for a long, long time I only did that. Until I found content within other genres that I enjoyed. We were all born trash goblins, but we can evolve to like other trash too.
Mind that I'm using insults like trash in a loving selfaware way.
(I'm still convinced it's either this or you not being totally straight or aware of your preferences tho lmao)

Nope just a girl with super high standards when it comes to men, because fiction has made it impossible for me to find a man better than what I've read. I like the genre because it has great plot and hot men

its more on the genre tbh. i can find many genres on yaoi. but straight? its all filled with isekai rofan, sometimes i just wouldnt be bothered to explore more

I’m not assuming I literally read BL if you didn’t even notice my pfp but if you’re only actively reading BL and nothing else you are straight, it is fetishization at a certain point because why do you refuse to read any other media unless if it’s two men

I'm so sorry I'm just over here thinking that you haven't found anything with that level of emotional depth yet. Kinda does play into my point how Yaoi is very easily available tho. Like, you are comfy with it, know what you're getting into, so you indulge naturally. What's weird is when it's the only thing you ever read >constantly<. That's where it gets questionable for me. Otherwise, who cares we all have our own beloved, yummy slop.

It certainly is true tho, men in BL are generally written with more emotion.

At the time I read only yaoi, because the stories had more emotional depth and showed a world that was completely new to me, it broadened my horizons and my view on the world. It was much more than "does he/she like me or not? uwu". Of course since yaoi was so intriguing I also tried reading yuri, but it felt more shallow, maybe because yuri is more targeted to men... Either way for a year or two I've read practically only yaoi. And you know why it's not fetishization? Because I'm not a dumb teen, I'm an adult, I know that there are those things... what do you call it... oh! "fiction" and "reality" *ba dum tss* I can only assume that you are either very young or not the brightest one, if you can't understand, that people can like something for a long time without obsessing over it and making weird scenarios in their heads.

Hun, I've read my fair share of many genres. I had my yaoi-only phase for a long time, and after I've read every possible trope there is, I've read something else. Why do you assume, that I haven't read anything else? ;) We're all goblins here gobbling up all the good stuff. What I'm saying is: even in my yaoi-only phase it was always only a good story to me, I've always liked reading books. It doesn't have to be that deep of a "you're reading this, because you identify with it". Sometimes it's just "I read it because I enjoy the story it tells", and sometimes it's "I wanna see some hot guys" ;)

btw I already had a boyfriend at that time, who is now my husband, in total now 18 years together, so I'm pretty damn sure I'm straight (≧∀≦)

I kind of got your point but gl is not targeted towards men 90% of them are written by women for women so I don’t know where you got this information or what you read. It is in fact fetishization if you only consume yaoi because again why do you only consume media when it’s only about two gay men.

You are very obstinate in claiming that reading only yaoi must mean fetishization. You know, that most people are not extreme in their interests. Reading one manga a month and it being only yaoi also counts as reading only yaoi, but doesn't seem in any way wrong - just a person enjoying some yaoi from time to time - even if they don't read any other genre of manga. I get that there are some who fetishize gay ppl because of yaoi, but I think that what you are talking about is not only reading yaoi, but being obsessed with yaoi. Any kind of obsession is not healthy, but being interested in only one genre is nothing bad. By your logic reading only shoujo is fetishizing straight ppl - doesn't make sense, does it?

The original question was about yk, reading only yaoi. You are here, so yea I assumed that. I specified in my later comment that I'm specifically talking about people who only ever read yaoi. Emphasis on only ever.
I should've specified that it doesn't have to be about being gay or trans either. It's also about being into things outside a conventional hetero relationship, about curiousity. You just might bend away from what society dictates to be a normal image of gender, preference and sex. That's the kinder explanation anyway. We all have a bit of gay in us, and perhaps that's what makes Yaoi so compelling to a lot of women who feel tied down to those given norms.

I don't doubt that you read for enjoyment only but when it gets to a certain quantity it's like, there is def some of that in you more than it is in other people.
Bro at this point I'm just trying to get to the root of why tf fujoshis even exist, I'm not even mad. Btw I'm high af rn.

(☆▽☆)omggg girll ur right!! I thought the same way!!( ꈍᴗꈍ) I think im good then !hehwhehhw