My final dissertation and various other essays and deadlines. Although now that big deadlines are drawing even nearer, I feel like coming on at all might be a dream for a week or so... (*is sneaking on for two minutes midday*)
It is. The English Language side of it is linguistics, just focused on English. It's stuff like what sounds English uses, how sentences are formed, its history, dialects, etc.
And indeed, yuri~! One of the most marvellous genres, don't you agree?
Straight stuff is so-so. I read it if the story looks good, but since the gender roles in such romances tend to be strict, it will probably disappoint me at some point.
BL is a genre almost entirely written by and aimed at straight women. GL is made up of lots of different types aimed at lots of different audiences, which end up getting read by all GL fans anyway.
The biggest difference is probably that BL loves a seme/uke dynamic - can hardly read a BL without it - whereas GL with a pair like that is rare. GL also tends to be less extreme if it does have a dominant woman in the pairing. Oh, and rape is slightly rarer in GL.
Because I'm a woman who also likes women, in a relationship with a woman. It's nice to see relationships like mine in media. Also, I get to admire all sorts of gorgeous women~! And I get to admire them without men getting in the way (usually).
It's well-known that BL is aimed at straight women. Manga with gay men aimed at gay men is an entirely different genre, known as Bara. "Fujoshi" ("rotten women", i.e. women who like BL) are common, whereas fudanshi (male fans) are much rarer, and usually less devoted to BL.
It's also clear from the tropes used in BL. The uke essentially just replaces a woman, being more feminine, always the bottom, having women become their rivals in the stories...
So, in a way, the 'essence' is the same, the person may/could be either a male or a female, few things would change in a relationship with a uke person.
Do you think that the 'bottom' aspect has any corespindent in reality?
It's difficult to say what a gorgeous woman is. There are many, many gorgeous women of many different types. I tend towards tall, strong, big-breasted and cool women, like Erza from Fairy Tail or the original Lara Croft (not the pathetic new one). But shy girls are nice too, and masculine ones... Really, there are many amazing women.
I'm not adverse to admiring men, but I want to appreciate women without them entering the scene. The way men interact with women changes the whole thing...
For example, female knights. In a lot of het stories, a cool female knight would still be made to act submissive and super feminine towards her male love interest. In certain types of stories, she'd be raped for the titillation. In GL, a character like that gets to remain dashing and cool~!
There's a lot of pressure on men to be macho and dominant, so you often get that inside of a relationship too. I just find it stifling to be "protected" all the time... I don't care for being submissive, but men might panic if you act at all dominant, so... Yup, I find it all super unhealthy and I refuse to live like that.
With a woman, it doesn't matter so much. Plus men often can't understand what it is to be a woman, so it's more relaxing to be with a woman, and you're more likely to be able to enjoy activities together like shopping and swapping perfume...
The uke/seme dynamic in BL is super unrealistic. I think there are some men who only bottom and some men who only top, but there are also men who don't do anal at all, and those who do both. And their bedroom positions definitely don't define their personalities.
Well~! You certainly ask a lot of questions. XD But if you don't mind slow responses and long answers like this, I don't mind.
Comments on Profile Post by CDLevit