nuance in the consumption of bl
i think as yaoi/bl is becoming more mainstream these days and "trending," certain arguments and accusations are getting rehashed. one being the fetishization and anti-fujoshi side of the debate.
you can check my account. i've made plenty criticism of and questioned the bl genre. however! women enjoying yaoi does NOT equate to men enjoying lesbian porn. men fetishizing lesbian relationships often reinforces a patriarchal system where the male gaze dominates and women's sexuality is performed for men. in contrast, women engaging with yaoi is typically an act of reclaiming the gaze itself. it's about exploring sexuality from a female perspective, free from the traditional role of being the objectified subject. one upholds an existing power structure, while the other subverts it to create a space for female desire.
additionally, consider the cultural, geographic, and historical context of these stories. these ideas aren't entirely my own (many ppl have probs made these points lol, and also i saw a tik tok recently of a woman explaining something similar) btw. but basically, queerness and queer people have been shunned as taboo and exist on the margins of society. therefore, it is natural that queer stories will also follow that pattern - both as reclaiming that social position and also because existing in the mainstream subconsciously feels abnormal. might i add that women being sexual creatures with desires and sex drives is also a taboo and shunned concept, especially in Asia. it makes sense, then, that media that explores these things will represent and resemble that "taboo" dynamic. yaoi/bl as a whole is also a shifting and developing genre that grows over time. the types of stories we see put out reflect that. AND id argue that straight stories honestly depict very similarly harmful topics and ideas and are arguably much more powerful in influencing social dynamics and culture than bl.
really rough argument. i could talk about all this for hours. but its been on my mind for a while, esp because the more people that actually get into yaoi/bl, naturally the more critical people will be without understanding the history and culture of it.
I tend to dislike the argument that women reading yaoi is empowering. Or rather I dislike how people treat it like women reclaiming their sexuality through bl completely negates any of the concerns people bring up about fetishization.
I agree that women consuming smut and expressing their sexuality is empowering, but if women reclaiming their sex......
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and also not to pivot too far from my main point but this kind of includes fanfiction and fandom culture as well. yeah it can be (hella!) toxic, but i've noticed a LOT of moral policing going around and calls from people for stricter moderation of ao3 content, specifically from more recent users of the platform.
i am very much against this. do i oc......
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Yeah but you really can’t blame people for being judgmental when most popular BL sucks ass. Constant grape, weak plot, bottom who is so weak, he might as well be an old shoujo protagonist. Most of you also recommend these ass stories to the beginners. Not long ago there was a thread where somebody asked for recommendations to their beginner frien......
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It is true that women reading BL does not equate to fetishization despite the literal meaning of fujoshi, however this is the viewpoint that is commonly thought of and honestly fetishization I feel is rather a new thing or view of BL because people never paid attention that some were fetishizing it. When I was reading BL I just used to read it just......
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This long ass post reminds me of a certain chinese individual
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Good ramble, I can agree with everything you've said. I feel like especially when it comes to yaoi vs most yuri and hentai you can also see how much more women tend to be objectified and how much of it is well, just, sex, and no plot. I think if fujoshi were as into fetishizing gay relationships as antis claim, we would do it like the men do and ju......
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mira, no voy a pretender que no estoy de acuerdo con lo que estás diciendo porque creo que bastante verdad tiene, pero tampoco hay que pretender que gran cantidad de fujoshis no consumen bl meramente porque ver a dos hombres darse besitos se les hace bien rico y ni se les pasa por la cabeza todo eso de "subvertir las expectativas y reclamar un esp......
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