I totally get it! It's rare to connect with straight romance for me, but then again, I don't exactly have a straight background or romance.
Same here! For me, it's oddly liberating to read stories that depict men loving other men to varying extent and situations, whether the love is healthy or destructive, or whether they're teenagers or adults. I say oddly because I know reading this won't destroy heteropatriarchy or homophobia, but at least for me who grew up without any idea of same-sex love or even the possibility to have such desires, discovering BLs was revelatory in a way that through them I learnt men loving men is possible all along. it's like, "oh shit, my desires are real all this time??"
Yes, exactly!
I genuinely just think that queer stories are just… so freeing to me! I don’t know!!!! You could have a hetero story and I’d be so uninterested but if you make them both girls then suddenly I’m listening!1!1! Maybe because I’m a lesbian, but I want to read queer stories so I can relate to them more? Because in most homosexual stories, homophobia simply doesn’t exist, or at least in the stories I read. Its like a different reality where I can be myself, u feel me?
Personally I can't connect with straight romance because even if it's not the author's intention, it still feels like a self insert to me And ion want that for myself?? It's a me problem but I can't help but feel awkward reading them
I’ve realized I connect more deeply with BL and GL stories. There’s something about how the relationships are portrayed that feels more honest and emotionally sincere. These days, I find it hard to enjoy straight romance, no matter how well it’s written. Sometimes I get anxious, knowing there aren’t as many queer stories out there, while straight ones are everywhere. I even catch myself forcing straight romance into my reading list just so I won’t run out of things to read—even though I rarely enjoy them.
Does anyone else feel the same? No hate to straight readers—just something I’ve been thinking about lately.