I'm tired of people applying hetero to BL.
I'm tired of people comparing BL to hetero. No, just because the bottom is feminine, that doesn't mean he is a woman. He literally "acts" like a guy. What do you want? Also, people keep giving roles like they give them to a straight couple. If the bottom is the one who has experience with a lot of men, he gets called a slut, and people criticize that ML will fix him. If the top is experienced with sex with a lot of men, he gets called a manwhore, and people criticize it because he will have eyes only for MC. Like this kind of narrative, most go for a straight couple, yet people apply it to BL.
Also, I don't understand; you keep saying BL is for the female gaze, yet you complain about how it's making bottoms "women" and it's not for your eyes; you prefer "men." Like, pick a lane. It's either BL for women because hot guy X hot guy or something else.
Another thing is how "applying hetero to BL" I have seen people compare bottoms to women and say that the author is a woman who wants to be a guy in a gay relationship (call the author a fetishizer while she is at it), except if she researched the author and researched his previous work, the author is a man who has a type for feminine men. I don't know why people go to such lengths to believe that queer men or women don't like feminine men who bottom. There are queer men who like feminine bottoms. Most of the time, bara doesn't deliver that to them, so they use BL for that. Just because they like men, that doesn't mean they like macho guys and don't have a type for feminine men.
I'm not denying BL has some heteronormative issues, but the masculine top is the problem more than the feminine bottom. He is the one who has to be strong and more masculine compared to the bottom. How many BL do we have that have a feminine top compared to a masculine bottom? Not a lot. These days, we have a bunch of masculine bottoms, but feminine tops are so hard to find.
Still, even with the heteronormative issue, it still doesn't feel like reading straight (except for omegaverse). Because if it's felt like "reading straight," you are not going to find me consuming it because I'm a heterophobe lol.
And don't let me start on people who don't want to read BLs with top POV because it's for the "male gaze." WTF does that even mean? Don't you read BL because it's gay? Why are you making it a men vs. women issue?