This is a genuine question I’ve had for myself and others. Why do we like BL? Now I know that some read it because they like to fetishize gay relationships, but there are others (like me) who don’t and read it for other reasons. And I don’t even know why I like it! I just can’t seem to stop reading it
Yessss... I'm thinking about this too . Why someone like read BL when they didn't 100% agree with LGBT........ Me too But i can't quit read this..
i read it because i can't understand women at all (at least it feels like that when it comes to romance), yet i feel like reading romance so... bl
I don't mind the tag BL the yaoi genre a lot of the time is written by weird fetishizers on the net who feed other people's weird fetishes and a lot of the time they consist of horrible relationships. I treat BL like any other romance tag bcs that's what it is, romance (the good ones with the normal couples who don't strive off harming the other). And I love reading romance, whether it be sub plot i just really like romance. Though I can't comment on why other people are obsessed with BL. But there's that~ me likey romance , me likey even more normal, sweet romance where the relationship is consensual and built on trust and normal things that aren't Stockholm syndrome.
a person of culture I see~ it's exactly for this reason that I read a couple BL. I enjoy romance and seeing ppl get together(hopefully without a ton of extra drama). getting to see two ppl regardless of gender come together and fall in love is just so sweet and lovely~
I'm a girl, I like men and what is better than one men, it's two men. In all honesty, I like that they are equal, they got the same thing, it takes away the feeling where is physically dominant. Of course, depends on the troupe but Im really picky with my stuff to the point I haven't finished a novel in months. I used to love Shoujo so much since HS but as I grew up, they turned ridiculous to me. I started because I don't like how weak, emotional, and or annoying women are portrayed in novels. If they are strong, they mostly have a rude or sassy personality. A "I'm not like any other girls" pick me persona. Unforgivable no brain chinese novel female characters. I like how in BL, the main character can take a beating physically and mentally and be able to stand up on his own. Tbh now, the novels are just becoming BG but with both male characters, I don't know why such works suddenly floods the market. That's why selection is important for both genre, I usually stick to the Manly Gay tag and troupes where the characters are more of a partner. I also won't feel annoyed if there is a male characters beside MC because I know that he capable of protecting himself unlike a female main character who already have all the signals but still won't believe that their male friend is in love with them, anyway I don't read novels with third male lead. A male character gives a wide realistic possibility for genre, unlimited horror flow, dystopian apocalyptic, etc. and I wouldn't question it. Let's admit how women and men have different physical strength and excel in different aspect that we could use as an advantage. But now I just got used to it that I haven't read BG for three years now because they never have changed, especially Chinese and Korean web novel. F their curly colorful hair.
I think I read an article about a similar topic before. It said something along the lines of women preferring men x men romance because they themselves can’t imagine being in a relationship with a guy and think of it as far fetched and fantastical. There was also another article saying some women see it as a sense of escape. Since there aren’t any female roles, they don’t project themselves into the story. Myself personally? I read it because I’m the straightest girl you’ll ever meet. I think of BL like any other romance, just that the two lovers are both men. Two hot/adorable/sexy/cute/endearing/whatever traits you like men falling in love and reading their romance? Oh my god, you’ve got me hooked. I used to read BG and I still do, but more so for the story than the romance (although I’ll still take it if it’s sweet and cute). BL is my go to for romance. It’s just. I’m so straight that I can’t help loving the idea of two attractive guys getting together.
My BL reading experience was one volume of Antique Bakery while on painkillers following a nasty tooth extraction. But I've heard that most of the stories are basically like BxG romances with the girl swapped out (source: Wotakoi). My working theory was that a girl just dilutes the concentration of what the target audience really wants: hot guys.
Um, it's too complex indeed. I can write a whole essay about this topic. So, let's take fetish out of the equation, though it's certain that it's one of the reasons for some people. I'll describe my self-analysis for liking BL. It'll get rambly, no doubt. 1. I call this the entry level for BL readers. At one point, I was too tired of the tropes in shoujo/hetero romances. It's like the authors couldn't come up with anything other than bad boy with good girl, playboy with bookworm, step-siblings, jerk boy with saintess girl, smart boy with dumb girl... Modern romances have improved a bit on that front, but most authors still lean comfortably on the well-used tropes (see nearly all CEO romances with abusive/jerk male lead and victim complex/saintess female lead ). In that regard, BL offered something else with newer tropes. That's the reason I get so annoyed when I see a BL with abusive/jerk ML and victim complex/saintess MC. It's not enough to just make the female MC into a male MC. That's not why I'm reading BL. Spare me the hetero melodrama, especially when mpreg is involved. At that point, just write hetero romance, it makes no difference. Sigh... 2. The excitement of the forbidden fruit. You want endless pining for each other? Welcome to BL. Again, modern BL has progressed a lot more. But part of the appeal of BL when I started reading it, was that the characters had to keep their love secret and dance around each other never knowing if they could ever tell the truth. Like if a boy falls for a girl, or vice versa, it's a matter of admitting their feelings. Even if they get rejected, society won't particularly punish them for it. But if a boy confesses to another boy, he faces a huge risk if he gets rejected. It's not that easy to just go ahead. There's even a whole process of admitting he has feelings for the same sex, especially if he was raised conservatively. The emotions are more complex, the romance is more rewarding. And if that love perseveres even after facing societal rejection and various difficulties, then you know it's sincere love. As someone who really enjoys reading romance, I just found this love pure compared to shoujo romances where the greatest obstacles for their love were their social standing or their attractive levels being too different from each other. Of course, this is highly idealized, but then, that's why I'm reading fiction and not biographies. 3. The dynamics between the main characters, sexism, misogynism, all that... Simply put, some men don't respect the woman they fuck, but they'll respect another man because they perceive him on the same intellectual level. It's like eros vs agape. The love they hold for women is always tainted with sexual desire, while the love they hold for men is as equals - brotherly. (I was about to say non-related women, but I've seen enough hentai with sisters, mothers, and daughters to say that with any conviction.) I can't speak for all men throughout the ages, but it's something I perceive on a subconscious level when boys/men talk to me, ever since kindergarten till now. I won't go into details, but it's my personal experience, so naturally, as a reader, I could sense a difference in some BL dynamics. Most BL writers are women, so I suppose it's kinda subconscious to them as well. So this is why I find it annoying when the top refuses to bottom and finds all sorts of excuses. It's fine with me when their roles are strictly into top and bottom (like the man-woman dynamics, I guess it's easier for women to write and read about), and I'm fine if the bottom strictly bottoms and is happy there, or the top just doesn't get sexual gratification from bottoming. But I've seen some BL mangas where the top finds it humiliating to bottom for his partner. And that should tell you enough about how much he respects his partner. And we go back to that familiar "you don't respect what you fuck" territory. So other than that, the more equal relationship and another layer of purity in BL love are what draws me to it. 4. Sex and violence. Which can be related from a philosophical point of view. Let's just say, if I watch porn, I'm 100% going to empathize with the woman. So I'll feel beyond shitty if she's not "treated right", to put it mildly. Now, remove the woman and have two men (or more) going at it. The object of my empathy is gone, and I can just view the sexual act more simplistically, maybe even get the same enjoyment of it as men do. It's another topic I can elaborate on endlessly, but I hope this made my point. As for violence, there's something to be said about your partner being able to hit back just as strongly as you give. Being able to brawl and then make peace is just not something you can see in hetero dynamics... It makes me feel more assured for the MC. Oh, now's the time to say I get annoyed by the girly bottom trope. Like the one in Okane Ga Nai. It's not just about looking small and feminine, but the whole "he might as well be a woman" kind of character writing. I really don't want to see it in my sacred BL. 5. 1+1=2, plain and simple. You get to look at hot guys being together and being sexy together. I might be asexual, but I'm hetero-oriented, so looking at other women is boring to me. Especially naked. Well, that's why GL isn't appealing to me either. Funny enough, a few years before I even knew what yaoi was and never considered that homosexuality exists, I was writing DBZ fanfics where the women were conveniently away and Goku and Vegeta had to live together and deal with each other. It was platonic, but it was more exciting to me to have them together without any female presence. Who knew. Then I discovered BL and realized. I still ended up writing an essay, but it's short compared to the dissertation I can write, trust me. It took me a while to sum up the reasons for my attraction to BL. I'm curious how other fans would self-analyze BL's appeal to them.
So I've read a couple of articles about this from psychologist, gender studies specialists, etc. (some translated from Japanese) and there's a couple of bullet points I remember. Most of these apply to straight females reading Male|Male romance. 1: Male|Male relationships are non-threatening. It's no surprise to anyone that people treat the protagonist as substitutes for themselves in the story in a way. When it's male|male, female readers have a certain disconnect to anything threatening in the story. If a male character is forced into a dub-con, or otherwise dangerous, situation, it just hits differently than if it was a female character. Males, no matter how feminized they are portrayed, are conditioned in female readers minds to be able to take care of themselves. As douchy as that sounds. This is also why females are usually the antagonists in BL. Not because we can empathize with them more, but because other females are often seen as a threat to romantic relationships. And female readers see them as actually more of a threat than a male antagonist in a romantic setting. 2: a male main character acting catty is allowed way more lee way than a female one by female readers. Again, we're playing off our conditioning. A sweet innocent whiney shou/uke male lead acting like a baby instills maternal feelings. Of course the ML is doting. A sweet innocent whiney female lead acting like a baby is just annoying. She should be independent and as self reliant as any other adult female. Again, the gender disconnect means the reader doesn't need to emphasize as closely to the protagonist. Same romance story, same character cliches, different genders, different responses from readers. Female leads are actually held to a higher standard. 3: When it comes to smut, twice the eye candy. Simple as that. No boobs to get in the way. The same reason gay guys prefer gay porn to straight porn. There's more but I have to eat dinner.
Agreeing with all points by ikhors and LeniSnow. They summarized my views perfectly. Also, I just find that most FLs from BG novels I have read (with few exceptions) are just terrible and unlikeable. (Maybe it's just me or I might not have much luck in finding novels with my preferences, but) i just found some to be just too weak and incapable, a cookie cutter characters, too dependent on their partners, or too vicious and vindictive. Some have questionable morals or they just have unhealthy relationship with their partners but the novels painted them as the good. Also, some have horrible plot or is basically a mainstream lit. And I found more of these junks in BGs than in others. (There are definitely bad MLs but they exist a lot in BLs as well, so... yeah) Also. God I hate those harem novels. Simply because the novels treat the FLs like stamps collected at the supermarket. What do the authors think of women really. And the personality is basically cut from the same mold. I just find most male MCs to be a more whole and acceptable characters, I suppose, so reading two men in love just feel like a normal romance compared to BG romance. And the plot is usually pretty interesting. The same can actually be said with GLs. Of course there are also a lot of bad MCs or relationship in BLs or GLs that do have negative points I said BG has, or literature with clear fetishizing of gay couples whose characters' gender can be switched at will and be a typical BG, but I suppose I feel more comfortable without the female characters being stupid or something like that, (dissociation I suppose?). So I gravitate more towards BLs and GLs. In short, I found more badly written characters and novels in BGs, found more gems in BLs and GLs. Some authors (even female authors) think horribly about women and it shows in their writings. And I suppose I don't take it as personal as I would of I found the FL or the relationship between them is ridiculous.
They're the same to me as normal romance. I also like more diversity. Except for yaoi which is (usually) just girls fetishizing gay people.
"I don't know why, but I just freaking love it!" Quoted from my sister when I asked how she come to love BL.
Personally, I like BL because of the variety of the stories. The translated BG novels on this site tend to mostly stick to the same genres. For instance, I really like unlimited/infinite flow novels, and there's a lot more BL novels in that genre compared to BG ones. Also, BL novels tend to have more of a focus on the plot than BG novels. I prefer a slow romance in the background with a interesting plot, rather than a novel entirely focused on the romance. That's not to say that all BG novels are boring. There's some good gems out there! As someone who just enjoys reading, I'll read anything that I think is fun, regardless of the gender/sexuality of the MC.
I have only been reading BL for 3 years, I am relatively new, unlike others. It may sound odd, but one of the reasons I like reading them is because I don't think I would ever exist long enough to see in reality, the beautiful things I see in these stories. I hardly have time to go out and appreciate the world, at least when I am reading I can be around wonderful situations. Plus, I believe the stories that I read happen somewhere out there, but how would I ever be able to see it? It would take more than a lifetime to see love like I see it in BL.
most BL I've read have better plots and romance than BG or GL I've read. repetitive, yes. but not too cringe or mary sue. okay, maybe a bit mary sue but reasonably. I also read BG but most make me lose interest after 10 to 25 chapters. the only bg I've stuck with for more than 50 chapters that kept me interested was ' villainess maker'. besides, if the bottom is too soft or mc is too hypocritical I lose interest.
I read BL but only because I do not particularly read BL for the BxB action, it would be the same if I read BG or GL I do not relate to any type of romance but it's really entertaining to read