I just realized i have never actually come across any male bl fan or should i use the term fudanshi? To me they are as rare as white rhinos.
Now that were talking about male bl fan what about gl fan? Wait actually are gl novel mainly for male or for female???? Is it rare to find a girl gl fan?
Pretty fucking rare I would say. Like there probably are a bunch who dont mind reading bl but actual male bl fans are like non-existent. Nah, there are quite a few girls who like gl. Visit Yuri Garden, you will find that there are quite a few girls who are active on that thread. I remember someone saying that the bl and gl distributions are mostly so as the bl and gl books are basically shoujo but gay.
Male bl fan is already rare as it is. Let's add another adjective. STRAIGHT male bl fan. I wonder if they exist in the first place.
I know one straight male who reads BL. Not particularly a fan though (I totally didn't make him to read those saying that the plot is good)
About 1 out of every 20 dudes is born attracted to dicks instead of p*ssies. In theory, it would mean that men liking BL wouldn't be that rare. But the thing is that BL is written by women for women. Gay dudes aren't the target audience of BL anime/novels. It is indeed extremely unlikely to find a male bl fan. Source: Dude who knows one or two gay acquaintances that are into anime/manga but not into bl.
Could you ask them why? Doesn't a romance featuring your preferences or the type of people you are attracted to feel more interesting or do they not like the romance genre in general? I do have some gay friends but they don't watch anime or even particularly read novels much...
It's been a while since that conversation but I think that it was along these lines: It's like saying that female love interests in harem animes actually act like women IRL. Particularly horny teenagers might love harems but it simply doesn't feel more real than it is pandering to the audience. It feels, to them, more like the fetished female vision of a gay man rather than a real person. Which puts them off.