![JackXArik](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/JackXArik.png)
''Yaoi'' (; ja, やおい ), also known by the ''
wasei-eigo'' construction and its abbreviation , is a genre of fictional media originating in Japan that features
homoerotic
Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be temporary, whereas "homose ...
relationships between male characters. It is typically created by women for women and is distinct from
homoerotic media marketed to gay men, but it does also attract a male audience and can be produced by male creators. It spans a wide range of media, including
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
,
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
,
drama CDs, novels, video games, television series, films, and
fan works. "Boys' love" and "BL" are the generic terms for this kind of media in Japan and much of Asia; though the terms are used by some fans and commentators in the West, ''yaoi'' remains more generally prevalent in English.
The genre originated in the 1970s as a subgenre of
''shōjo'' manga, or comics for girls. Several terms were used for the new genre, including , , and . The term ''yaoi'' emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the context of culture as a portmanteau of ''yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi'' ("no climax, no point, no meaning"), where it was used in a self-deprecating manner to refer to amateur fan works that focused on sex to the exclusion of plot and character development, and that often
parodied
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...
mainstream manga and anime by depicting male characters from popular series in sexual scenarios. "Boys' love" was later adopted by Japanese publications in the 1990s as an umbrella term for male-male romance media marketed to women.
Concepts and themes associated with ''yaoi'' include
androgynous
Androgyny is the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to biological sex, gender identity, or gender expression.
When ''androgyny'' refers to mixed biological sex characteristics i ...
men known as ''
bishōnen
(; also transliterated ) is a Japanese term literally meaning "beautiful youth (boy)" and describes an aesthetic that can be found in disparate areas in East Asia: a young man of androgynous beauty. This word originated from the Tang dynasty ...
''; diminished female characters; narratives that emphasize
homosociality
In sociology, homosociality means same-sex relationships that are not of a romantic or sexual nature, such as friendship, mentorship, or others. Researchers who use the concept mainly do so to explain how men uphold men's dominance in society.
...
and de-emphasize socio-cultural
homophobia
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...
; and depictions of rape. A defining characteristic of ''yaoi'' is the practice of pairing characters in relationships according to the roles of ''seme'', the sexual
top
A spinning top, or simply a top, is a toy with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom, designed to be spun on its vertical axis, balancing on the tip due to the gyroscopic effect.
Once set in motion, a top will usually wobble for a few ...
or active pursuer, and ''uke'', the sexual
bottom
Bottom may refer to:
Anatomy and sex
* Bottom (BDSM), the partner in a BDSM who takes the passive, receiving, or obedient role, to that of the top or dominant
* Bottom (sex), a term used by gay couples and BDSM
* Buttocks or bottom, part of th ...
or passive pursued. ''Yaoi'' has a robust global presence, having spread since the 1990s through international licensing and distribution, as well as through unlicensed circulation of works by
''yaoi'' fans online. ''Yaoi'' works, culture, and fandom have been studied and discussed by scholars and journalists worldwide.
Etymology and terminology
Multiple terms exist to describe Japanese and Japanese-influenced male-male romance fiction as a genre. In a 2015 survey of professional Japanese male-male romance fiction writers by Kazuko Suzuki, five primary subgenres were identified:
;
:While the term ''shōnen-ai'' historically connoted
ephebophilia or
pederasty
Pederasty or paederasty ( or ) is a sexual relationship between an adult man and a pubescent or adolescent boy. The term ''pederasty'' is primarily used to refer to historical practices of certain cultures, particularly ancient Greece and anc ...
, beginning in the 1970s it was used to describe a new genre of
''shōjo'' manga (girls' manga) featuring romance between ''
bishōnen
(; also transliterated ) is a Japanese term literally meaning "beautiful youth (boy)" and describes an aesthetic that can be found in disparate areas in East Asia: a young man of androgynous beauty. This word originated from the Tang dynasty ...
'' ( "beautiful boys"), a term for
androgynous
Androgyny is the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to biological sex, gender identity, or gender expression.
When ''androgyny'' refers to mixed biological sex characteristics i ...
or
effeminate male characters.
Early ''shōnen-ai'' works were inspired by
European literature, the writings of
Taruho Inagaki,
and the ''
Bildungsroman
In literary criticism, a ''Bildungsroman'' (, plural ''Bildungsromane'', ) is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood ( coming of age), in which character change is impo ...
'' genre.
''Shōnen-ai'' often features references to literature, history, science, and philosophy; Suzuki describes the genre as being "pedantic" and "difficult to understand", with "philosophical and abstract musings" that challenged young readers who were often only able to understand the references and deeper themes as they grew older.
;
:A subgenre that focuses on the worship of beauty, and on romance between older men and beautiful youths.
''Tanbi'' as a term and concept predates male-male romance manga that emerged in the 1970s, having originated to describe prose fiction depicting homosexuality by authors such as
Yukio Mishima,
Yasunari Kawabata, and
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
was a Japanese author who is considered to be one of the most prominent figures in modern Japanese literature. The tone and subject matter of his work ranges from shocking depictions of sexuality and destructive erotic obsessions to subtle por ...
. ''Tanbi'' works are typically defined by their poetic prose and unusual
kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...
, such as
Chinese characters
Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...
appropriated into Japanese script.
;
:Derived from
the eponymous male-male romance manga magazine first published in 1978, the term was originally used to describe works that resembled the art style of manga published in that magazine.
It has also been used to describe
amateur works depicting male homosexuality that are original creations and not
derivative work
In copyright law, a derivative work is an expressive creation that includes major copyrightable elements of an original, previously created first work (the underlying work). The derivative work becomes a second, separate work independent in fo ...
s.
By the 1990s, the term had largely fallen out of use in favor of "boys' love"; it has been suggested that publishers wishing to get a foothold in the ''June'' market coined "boys' love" to disassociate the genre from the publisher of ''June''.
[
;
:Coined in the late 1970s by manga artists Yasuko Sakata and ]Akiko Hatsu
is a Japanese manga artist born on December 16, 1959, in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.(ja) Masao Azuma & Ishidō Ran Nihon Gensō Sakka Jiten, Kokusho Kankokai, (2009), pp.912 to 913. The writer of this article is Akemi Arisato (), who ...
, ''yaoi'' is a portmanteau of , which translates to "no climax, no point, no meaning". Initially used by artists as a self-deprecating and ironic euphemism,[ the portmanteau refers to how early ''yaoi'' works typically focused on sex to the exclusion of plot and character development; it is also a subversive reference to the classical Japanese narrative structure of introduction, development, twist, and conclusion.]
;
:Typically written as the acronym , or alternately as "boy's love" or "boys love", the term is a '' wasei-eigo'' construction derived from the literal English translation of ''shōnen-ai''. First used in 1991 by the magazine ''Image'' in an effort to collect these disparate genres under a single term, the term became widely popularized in 1994 after being used by the magazine '. "BL" is the common term used to describe male-male romance media marketed to women in Japan and much of Asia, though its usage in the West is inconsistent.
Despite attempts by researchers to codify differences between these subgenres, in practice these terms are used interchangeably. Kazumi Nagaike and Tomoko Aoyama note that while ''BL'' and ''yaoi'' are the most common generic terms for this kind of media, they specifically avoid attempts at defining subgenres, noting that the differences between them are ill-defined and that even when differentiated, the subgenres "remain thematically intertwined."
In Suzuki's investigation of these subgenres, she notes that "there is no appropriate and convenient Japanese shorthand term to embrace all subgenres of male-male love fiction by and for women." While ''yaoi'' has become an umbrella term
In linguistics, semantics, general semantics, and ontologies, hyponymy () is a semantic relation between a hyponym denoting a subtype and a hypernym or hyperonym (sometimes called umbrella term or blanket term) denoting a supertype. In other wor ...
in the West for Japanese-influenced comics with male-male relationships, and it is the term preferentially used by American manga publishers for works of this kind, Japan uses the term ''yaoi'' to denote ''dōjinshi'' and works that focus on sex scenes. In both usages, ''yaoi'' and boys' love excludes gay manga (''bara''), a genre which also depicts gay male sexual relationships, but is written for and mostly by gay men. In the West, the term ''shōnen-ai'' is sometimes used to describe titles that focus on romance over explicit sexual content, while ''yaoi'' is used to describe titles that primarily feature sexually explicit themes and subject material. ''Yaoi'' can also be used by Western fans as a label for anime or manga-based slash fiction
Slash fiction (also known as "m/m slash") is a genre of fan fiction that focuses on romantic or sexual relationships between fictional characters of the same sex.Bacon-Smith, Camille. "Spock Among the Women." New York Times Sunday Book Review, ...
. The Japanese use of ''yaoi'' to denote only works with explicit scenes sometimes clashes with the Western use of the word to describe the genre as a whole, creating confusion between Japanese and Western audiences.
History
Before 1970: The origins of ''shōnen-ai''
Homosexuality and androgyny have a history in Japan dating to ancient times, as seen in practices such as and . The country shifted away from a tolerance of homosexuality amid Westernization during the Meiji Era
The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912.
The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization b ...
(1868-1912), and moved towards hostile social attitudes towards homosexuality and the implementation of anti-sodomy laws.
In the face of this legal and cultural shift, artists who depicted male homosexuality in their work typically did so through subtext. Illustrations by in the ''shōnen'' manga (boys' comics) magazine ''Nihon Shōnen'' formed the foundation of what would become the aesthetic of ''bishōnen
(; also transliterated ) is a Japanese term literally meaning "beautiful youth (boy)" and describes an aesthetic that can be found in disparate areas in East Asia: a young man of androgynous beauty. This word originated from the Tang dynasty ...
'': boys and young men, often in homosocial or homoerotic
Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be temporary, whereas "homose ...
contexts, who are defined by their "ambivalent passivity, fragility, ephemerality, and softness." The 1961 novel ''A Lovers' Forest'' by ''tanbi'' writer Mari Mori
was a Japanese writer. New York University Professor Keith Vincent has called her a "Japanese Electra", referring to the Electra complex counterpart put forth by Carl Jung to Sigmund Freud's Oedipal complex.
Early life and family
Mari Mori w ...
, which follows the relationship between a professor and his younger male lover, is regarded as an influential precursor to the ''shōnen-ai'' genre. Mori's works were influenced by European literature, particularly Gothic literature
Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...
, and laid the foundation for many of the common tropes
Trope or tropes may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Trope (cinema), a cinematic convention for conveying a concept
* Trope (literature), a figure of speech or common literary device
* Trope (music), any of a variety of different things ...
of ''shōnen-ai'' and ''yaoi'': western exoticism, educated and wealthy characters, significant age differences among couples, and fanciful or even surreal
Surreal may refer to:
*Anything related to or characteristic of Surrealism, a movement in philosophy and art
* "Surreal" (song), a 2000 song by Ayumi Hamasaki
* ''Surreal'' (album), an album by Man Raze
*Surreal humour, a common aspect of humor
...
settings.
In manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
, the concept of emerged in the late 1950s, which sought to use manga to tell serious and grounded stories aimed at adult audiences. ''Gekiga'' inspired the creation of manga that depicted realistic human relationships, and opened the way for manga that explored human sexuality in a non-pornographic context. Hideko Mizuno's 1969 ''shōjo'' manga (girls' comics) series ''Fire!
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion.
Fire also commonly refers to:
*Conflagration, a large and destructive fire
*Structure fire, a house or building on fire
*Wildfire, a fire in a forest, rangeland, or o ...
'' (1969–1971), which eroticized its male protagonists and depicted male homosexuality in American rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
culture, is noted as an influential work in this regard.
1970s and 1980s: From ''shōnen-ai'' to ''yaoi''
Contemporary Japanese homoerotic romance manga originated in the 1970s as a subgenre of ''shōjo'' manga. The decade saw the arrival of a new generation of ''shōjo'' manga artists, most notable among them the Year 24 Group. The Year 24 Group contributed significantly to the development of the ''shōjo'' manga, introducing a greater diversity of themes and subject material to the genre that drew inspiration from by Japanese and European literature, cinema, and history. Members of the group, including Keiko Takemiya
is a Japanese manga artist and the former president of Kyoto Seika University.
Career
Keiko Takemiya (or Takemiya Keiko) is included in the Year 24 Group, a term coined by academics and critics to refer to a group of female authors in the ea ...
and Moto Hagio
is a Japanese manga artist. Regarded for her contributions to ''shōjo'' manga ( manga aimed at young and adolescent women), Hagio is considered the most significant artist in the demographic and among the most influential manga artists of a ...
, created works that depicted male homosexuality: '' In The Sunroom'' (1970) by Takemiya is considered the first work of the genre that would become known as ''shōnen-ai'', followed by Hagio's ''The November Gymnasium'' (1971).
Takemiya, Hagio, Toshie Kihara
is a Japanese manga artist and a member of the Year 24 Group. She made her professional debut in 1969 with the short story in ''Bessatsu Margaret''. She is best known for her manga series , serialized from 1977 to 1984 in ''LaLa'', which follo ...
, Ryoko Yamagishi, and Kaoru Kurimoto
was the pen name of , a Japanese novelist. Imaoka also used the pen name to write criticism and music. She was known for her record-breaking 130-volume ''Guin Saga'' series, which has been translated into English, German, French, Italian and Ru ...
were among the most significant ''shōnen-ai'' artists of this era; notable works include ''The Heart of Thomas
is a 1974 Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Moto Hagio. Originally serialized in '' Shūkan Shōjo Comic'', a weekly manga magazine publishing ''shōjo'' manga (manga aimed at young and adolescent women), the series follows ...
'' (1974–1975) by Hagio and '' Kaze to Ki no Uta'' (1976-1984) by Takemiya. Works by these artists typically featured tragic romances between androgynous ''bishōnen'' in historic European settings. Though these works were nominally aimed at an audience of adolescent girls and young women, they also attracted adult gay and lesbian readers. During this same period, the first gay manga
is a colloquialism for a genre of Japanese art and media known within Japan as or . The genre focuses on male same-sex love, as created primarily by gay men for a gay male audience. ''Bara'' can vary in visual style and plot, but typically ...
magazines were published: '' Barazoku'', the first commercially circulated gay men's magazine in Japan, was published in 1971, and served as a major influence on Takemiya and the development of ''shōnen-ai''.
The (self-published works) subculture emerged contemporaneously in the 1970s (see Media below), and in 1975, the first Comiket
, more commonly known as or , is a semiannual ''doujinshi'' convention in Tokyo, Japan. A grassroots market focused on the sale of '' doujin'' (self-published) works, Comiket is a not-for-profit fan convention administered by the volunteer-ru ...
was held as a gathering of amateur artists who produce . The term ''yaoi'', initially used by some creators of male-male romance to describe their creations ironically, emerged to describe amateur works that were influenced by and gay manga.[Matsui, Midori. (1993) "Little girls were little boys: Displaced Femininity in the representation of homosexuality in Japanese girls' comics," in Gunew, S. and Yeatman, A. (eds.) Feminism and The Politics of Difference, pp. 177–196. Halifax: ]Fernwood Publishing
Fernwood Publishing is an independent Canadian publisher that publishes non-fiction books dealing with social justice and issues of social, political and economic importance.
Fernwood was founded in 1991 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, publishing its fi ...
. Early ''yaoi'' produced for Comiket were typically derivative works, with glam rock artists such as David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
and Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
as popular subjects as a result of the influence of ''Fire!''; ''yaoi'' were also more sexually explicit than ''shōnen-ai''.
In reaction to the success of ''shōnen-ai'' and early ''yaoi'', publishers sought to exploit the market by creating magazines devoted to the genre. Young female illustrators cemented themselves in the manga industry by publishing ''yaoi'' works, with this genre later becoming "a transnational subculture." Publishing house , which published the gay manga magazine , launched the magazines ''June
June is the sixth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the second of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the third of five months to have a length of less than 31 days. June contains the summer solstice in ...
'' in 1978 and ''Allan'' in 1980. Both magazines initially specialized in ''shōnen-ai'', which the publisher described as "halfway between ''tanbi'' literature and pornography," and also published articles on homosexuality, literary fiction, illustrations, and amateur ''yaoi'' works. The success of ''June'' was such that the term ''June-mono'' or more simply ''June'' began to compete with the term ''shōnen-ai'' to describe works depicting male homosexuality.
By the late 1980s, the popularity of professionally published ''shōnen-ai'' was declining, and ''yaoi'' published as ''dōjinshi'' was becoming more popular. Mainstream ''shōnen'' manga with Japanese settings such as ''Captain Tsubasa
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yōichi Takahashi. The series mainly revolves around the sport of association football focusing on Tsubasa Oozora and his relationship with his friends, rivalries with h ...
'' became popular source material for derivative works by ''yaoi'' creators, and the genre increasingly depicted Japanese settings over western settings. Works influenced by ''shōnen-ai'' in the 1980s began to depict older protagonists and adopted a realist style in both plot and artwork, as typified by manga such as ''Banana Fish
''Banana Fish'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akimi Yoshida. It was originally serialized from May 1985 to April 1994 in ''Bessatsu Shōjo Comic'', a manga magazine publishing manga (girls' m ...
'' (1985–1994) by Akimi Yoshida
is a Japanese manga artist and a graduate of Musashino Art University. She made her professional debut in 1977 with the short story , published in ''Bessatsu Shōjo Comic'' magazine. Yoshida is best known for the crime thriller series '' Banana ...
and '' Tomoi'' (1986) by . The 1980s also saw the proliferation of ''yaoi'' into anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
, drama CDs, and light novels; the 1982 anime adaptation of ''Patalliro!
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mineo Maya. The comedy manga was serialized in ''Hana to Yume'' from 1978 to 1990, before switching to ''Bessatsu Hana to Yume'' from 1991 where it continues to be published.
An ani ...
'' was the first television anime to depict ''shōnen-ai'' themes, while ''Kaze to Ki no Uta'' and '' Earthian'' were adapted into anime in the original video animation
, abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...
( home video) format in 1987 and 1989, respectively.
1990s: Mainstream popularity and ''yaoi ronsō''
The growing popularity of ''yaoi'' attracted the attention of manga magazine editors, many of whom recruited ''yaoi'' authors to their publications; ''Zetsuai 1989
is a Japanese yaoi manga known for its melodramatic, almost operatic plot, its "semi-insane characters", and for the controversial style of its artwork. The word "Zetsu-ai" is a compound created by Minami Ozaki which has been translate ...
'' (1989–1991) by Minami Ozaki
is a Japanese mangaka, manga artist, cartoonist and illustrator of novels born on February 27, 1968 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. She is famous for her best-selling manga series ''Zetsuai 1989'', which is considered to have redefined the Shōnen ...
, a ''yaoi'' series published in the ''shōjo'' magazine ''Margaret
Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian.
Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular througho ...
'', was originally a ''Captain Tsubasa'' created by Ozaki that she adapted into an original work. By 1990, seven Japanese publishers included ''yaoi'' content in their offerings, which kickstarted the commercial publishing market of the genre. Between 1990 and 1995, thirty magazines devoted to ''yaoi'' were established: ''Magazine Be × Boy
is a monthly Japanese ''yaoi'' manga magazine published by Libre. The magazine was originally launched by Biblos under the publisher Hekitensha in March 1993 until Biblos' bankruptcy in 2006.
Publications
In addition to ''Magazine Be × Boy'', ...
'', founded in 1993, became one of the most influential ''yaoi'' manga magazines of this era. The manga in these magazines were influenced by realist stories like ''Banana Fish'', and moved away from the ''shōnen-ai'' standards of the 1970s and 1980s. ''Shōnen-ai'' works that were published during this period were typically comedies rather than melodramas, such as ''Gravitation
In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stron ...
'' (1996–2002) by Maki Murakami
is a Japanese manga artist most famous for the boys love manga ''Gravitation'', which, in addition to the ''Gravitation'' novel, is published in the U.S. by Tokyopop.
Biography History
She began working as an assistant to the older sister of on ...
. Consequently, ''yaoi'' and "boys' love" (BL) came to be the most popular terms to describe works depicting male-male romance, eclipsing ''shōnen-ai'' and ''June''.
An increasing proportion of ''shōjo'' manga in the 1990s began to integrate ''yaoi'' elements into their plots. The manga artist group Clamp, which itself began as a group creating ''yaoi'' , published multiple works containing ''yaoi'' elements during this period, such as '' RG Veda'' (1990–1995), ''Tokyo Babylon
, also known as ''Tokyo Babylon: A Save Tokyo City Story'', is a Japanese manga series created by mangaka group Clamp. The series follows Subaru Sumeragi, the head of the Sumeragi clan, and his sister Hokuto, as they work to protect Tokyo ...
'' (1991–1994), and ''Cardcaptor Sakura
, abbreviated as ''CCS'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the manga group Clamp. Serialized monthly in the ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from May 1996 to June 2000, it was also published in 12 ''tankōbon'' ...
'' (1996–2000). When these works were released in North America, they were among the first ''yaoi''-influenced media to be encountered by Western audiences. BL gained popularity in mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
in the late 1990s; the country subsequently outlawed the publishing and distribution of BL works.
The mid-1990s saw the so-called "''yaoi'' debate" or ''yaoi ronsō'' (や お い 論争), a debate held primarily in a series of essays published in the feminist magazine ''Choisir'' from 1992 to 1997. In an open letter, Japanese gay writer Masaki Satou criticized the genre as homophobic for not depicting gay men accurately, heterosexist by reinforcing the misogyny
Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced fo ...
of Japanese society, and called fans of ''yaoi'' "disgusting women" who "have a perverse interest in sexual intercourse between men." A years-long debate ensued, with ''yaoi'' fans and artists contending that ''yaoi'' is entertainment for women that does not seek to be a realistic depiction of homosexuality, and instead serves as a refuge from the misogyny of Japanese society. The scholarly debate that the ''yaoi ronsō'' engendered led to the formation of the field of "BL studies", which focus on the study of BL and the relationship between women and BL. It additionally impacted creators of ''yaoi'': author Chiyo Kurihara abandoned ''yaoi'' to focus on heterosexual pornography as a result of the ''yaoi ronsō'', while Hisako Takamatsu took into account the arguments of the genre's critics to create works more accommodating of a gay audience.
2000s–present: Globalization of ''yaoi'' and BL
The economic crisis caused by the Lost Decade came to affect the manga industry in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but did not particularly impact the ''yaoi'' market; on the contrary, ''yaoi'' magazines continued to proliferate during this period, and sales of ''yaoi'' media increased. In 2004, Otome Road
is a name given to an area of Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan that is a major shopping and cultural center for anime and manga aimed at women. The area is sometimes referred to as Fujoshi Street, referencing the name given to fans of yaoi.
Geography
...
in Ikebukuro
is a commercial and entertainment district in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. Toshima ward offices, Ikebukuro station, and several shops, restaurants, and enormous department stores are located within city limits. It is considered the second largest ...
emerged as a major cultural destination for ''yaoi'' fandom, with multiple stores dedicated to ''shōjo'' and ''yaoi'' goods. The 2000s also saw an increase in male readers of ''yaoi'', with a 2008 bookstore survey finding that between 25 and 30 percent of ''yaoi'' readers were male.
The 2000s saw significant growth of ''yaoi'' in international markets, beginning with the founding of the American anime convention Yaoi-Con
Yaoi-Con (sometimes YaoiCon) was an annual three-day anime convention, founded in 2001, aimed at fans of yaoi-related anime, manga, and other aspects of Asian culture. It typically took place during the Fall in California.
Since the 2012 edition, ...
in 2001. The first officially-licensed English-language translations of ''yaoi'' manga were published in the North American market in 2003 (see Media below); the market expanded rapidly before contracting in 2008 as a result of the global financial crisis of 2007–2008
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...
, but continued to grow slowly in the following years. South Korea saw the development of BL in the form of '' manhwa'', notably '' Martin and John'' (2006) by Park Hee-jung and ''Crush on You'' (2006) by Lee Kyung-ha.
The 2010s and 2020s saw an increase in the popularity of ''yaoi''-influenced media in China and Thailand in the form of web novel Web fiction is written works of literature available primarily or solely on the Internet. A common type of web fiction is the web serial. The term comes from old serial stories that were once published regularly in newspapers and magazines.
Unlike ...
s, live-action films, and live-action television dramas (see Media below). Though "boys' love" and "BL" have become the generic terms for this material across Asia, in Thailand, BL dramas are sometimes referred to as "Y" or "Y series" as a shorthand for ''yaoi''. Thai Series Y explicitly adapts the content of Japanese BL to the Thai local context and in recent years has become increasingly popular with fans around the world who often view Thai BL as separate to its Japanese antecedents. Thai BL also deliberately borrows from K-pop
K-pop (), short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture. It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, experimental, rock, jazz, gos ...
celebrity culture in the development of its own style of idols known as ''khu jin'' (imaginary couples) who are designed to be paired together by Thai BL's predominantly female fans. For cultural anthropologist Thomas Baudinette, BL series produced in Thailand represent the next stage in the historic development of ''yaoi'', which is increasingly becoming "dislocated" from Japan among international fans' understanding of the genre.
While ''yaoi'' fandom in China traces back to the late 1990s as ''danmei
''Danmei'' () is a genre of literature and other fictional media that features romantic relationships between male characters. ''Danmei'' is typically created by and targeted towards a heterosexual female audience. While ''danmei'' works and thei ...
'' (the Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
reading of the Japanese term ''tanbi''), state regulations in China made it difficult for ''danmei'' writers to publish their works online, with a 2009 ordinance by the National Publishing Administration of China banning most ''danmei'' online fiction. In 2015, laws prohibiting depictions of same-sex relationships in television and film were implemented in China. The growth in streaming service providers in the 2010s is regarded as a driving force behind the production of BL dramas across Asia, as online distribution provides a platform for media containing non heterosexual material, which is frequently not permitted on broadcast television
Broadcast television systems (or terrestrial television systems outside the US and Canada) are the encoding or formatting systems for the transmission and reception of terrestrial television signals.
Analog television systems were standardized b ...
.
Concepts and themes
''Bishōnen''
The protagonists of ''yaoi'' are often , "highly idealised" boys and young men who blend both masculine
Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors con ...
and feminine
Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered fe ...
qualities. ''Bishōnen'' as a concept can be found disparately throughout East Asia
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...
, but its specific aesthetic manifestation in 1970s ''shōjo'' manga (and subsequently in ''yaoi'' manga) drew influence from popular culture of the era, including glam rock artists such as David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
,[ actor ]Björn Andrésen
Björn Johan Andrésen (born 26 January 1955) is a Swedish actor and musician. He is best known for playing the 14-year-old Tadzio in Luchino Visconti's 1971 film adaptation of the 1912 Thomas Mann novella ''Death in Venice''. He also played a ...
's portrayal of Thaddeus in the 1971 film adaptation of '' Death in Venice'', and kabuki '' onnagata'' Bandō Tamasaburō
is a stage name taken on by a series of kabuki actors of the Bandō family. Of the five who have held this name, most were adopted into the lineage. Many members of the Bandō family were also adopted or blood members of the Morita family, who ...
. Though ''bishōnen'' are not exclusive to ''yaoi'', the androgyny of ''bishōnen'' is often exploited to explore notions of sexuality and gender in ''yaoi'' works.
The late 2010s saw the increasing popularity of masculine men in ''yaoi'' that are reminiscent of the body types typical in gay manga
is a colloquialism for a genre of Japanese art and media known within Japan as or . The genre focuses on male same-sex love, as created primarily by gay men for a gay male audience. ''Bara'' can vary in visual style and plot, but typically ...
, with growing emphasis on stories featuring muscular bodies and older characters. A 2017 survey by ''yaoi'' publisher Juné Manga found that while over 80% of their readership previously preferred ''bishōnen'' body types exclusively, 65% now enjoy both ''bishōnen'' and muscular body types. Critics and commentators have noted that this shift in preferences among ''yaoi'' readers, and subsequent creation of works that feature characteristics of both ''yaoi'' and gay manga, represents a blurring of the distinctions between the genres; anthropologist Thomas Baudinette notes in his fieldwork that gay men in Japan "saw no need to sharply disassociate BL from ay manga
Ay, AY or variants, may refer to:
People
* Ay (pharaoh), a pharaoh of the 18th Egyptian dynasty
* Merneferre Ay, a pharaoh of the 13th Egyptian dynasty
* A.Y. (musician) (born 1981), a Tanzanian "bongo flava" artist
* A.Y, stage name of Ayo Makun ...
when discussing their consumption of 'gay media'."
''Seme'' and ''uke''
The two participants in a ''yaoi'' relationship (and to a lesser extent in ''yuri Yuri may refer to:
People and fictional characters
Given name
*Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc.
*Yuri (Japanese name), also Yūri, feminine Jap ...
'') are often referred to as and . These terms originated in martial arts
Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...
, and were later appropriated as Japanese LGBT slang to refer to the insertive and receptive partners in anal sex
Anal sex or anal intercourse is generally the insertion and thrusting of the erect penis into a person's anus, or anus and rectum, for sexual pleasure.Sepages 270–271for anal sex information, anpage 118for information about the clitoris. ...
. Aleardo Zanghellini suggests that the martial arts terms have special significance to a Japanese audience, as an archetype of the gay male relationship in Japan includes same-sex love between samurai and their companions. He suggests that the samurai archetype is responsible for age differences and hierarchical variations in power of some relationships portrayed in ''yaoi'' and boys' love.[
The ''seme'' is often depicted as restrained, physically powerful, and protective; he is generally older and taller,] with a stronger chin, shorter hair, smaller eyes, and a more stereotypically masculine and " macho" demeanour than the ''uke''. The ''seme'' usually pursues the ''uke'', who often has softer, androgynous, feminine features with bigger eyes and a smaller build, and is often physically weaker than the ''seme''. The roles of ''seme'' and ''uke'' can alternatively be established by who is dominant in the relationship; a character can take the ''uke'' role even if he is not presented as feminine, simply by being juxtaposed against and pursued by a more dominant and masculine character. Anal sex is ubiquitous in ''yaoi'', and is typically rendered explicitly and not merely implied; Zanghellini notes that illustrations of anal sex almost always position the characters to face each other rather than "doggy style
Doggy style is a sex position in which a person bends over, crouches on all fours (usually on hands and knees), or lies on their abdomen, for sexual intercourse, other forms of sexual penetration or other sexual activity. Doggy style is a ...
", and that the ''uke'' rarely fellates
Fellatio (also known as fellation, and in slang as blowjob, BJ, giving head, or sucking off) is an oral sex act involving a person stimulating the penis of another person by using the mouth, throat, or both. Oral stimulation of the scrotum ma ...
the ''seme'', but instead receives the sexual and romantic attentions of the ''seme''.[
Though McLelland notes that authors are typically "interested in exploring, not repudiating" the dynamics between the ''seme'' and ''uke'', not all works adhere to ''seme'' and ''uke'' tropes.] The possibility of switching roles is often a source of playful teasing and sexual excitement for the characters, indicating an interest among many genre authors in exploring the performative
In the philosophy of language and speech acts theory, performative utterances are sentences which not only describe a given reality, but also change the social reality they are describing.
In a 1955 lecture series, later published as ''How to D ...
nature of the roles. , a shorthand for "reversible" (リバーシブル), is used to describe couples where the ''seme'' and ''uke'' roles are not strictly defined. Occasionally, authors will forego the stylisations of the ''seme'' and ''uke'' to portray both lovers as "equally attractive handsome men", or will subvert expectations of dominance by depicting the active pursuer in the relationship as taking the passive role during sex. In other instances, the ''uke'' is portrayed as the aggressor in the relationship; in these instances, the roles are sometimes referred to as and .
Diminished female characters
Female characters often have minor roles in ''yaoi'', or are absent altogether. Suzuki notes that mothers in particular are often portrayed in a negative light; she suggests this is because the character and reader alike are seeking to substitute the absence of unconditional maternal love with the "forbidden" all-consuming love presented in ''yaoi''. In ''yaoi'' parodies based on existing works that include female characters, the female's role is typically either minimized or the character is killed off. Yukari Fujimoto
is a manga researcher and professor of global Japanese studies at Meiji University. She was born in Kumamoto Prefecture. She was an editor for Chikuma Shobō. She is a manga critic, gender theorist, family theorist, current events critic, author, ...
noted that when ''shōnen'' manga is used as inspiration for ''yaoi'', that "it seems that ''yaoi'' readings and likeable female characters are mutually exclusive." Nariko Enomoto
Nariko Enomoto (榎本ナリコ) (born 1967) is a Japanese manga author and manga critic who uses this name for children's and women's magazines. She writes under the name for Boys Love and doujinshi, and for critical works. She made her profe ...
, a ''yaoi'' author, argues that women are typically not depicted in ''yaoi'' as their presence adds an element of realism
Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to:
In the arts
*Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts
Arts movements related to realism include:
*Classical Realism
*Literary realism, a move ...
that distracts from the fantasy narrative.
Since the late 2000s, women have appeared more frequently in ''yaoi'' works as supporting characters. Lunsing notes that early ''shōnen-ai'' and ''yaoi'' were often regarded as misogynistic, with the diminished role of female characters cited as evidence of the internalized misogyny of the genre's largely female readership. He suggests that the decline of these misogynistic representations over time is evidence that female ''yaoi'' readers "overcame this hate, possibly thanks to their involvement with ''yaoi''."
Gay equality
''Yaoi'' stories are often strongly homosocial, giving men freedom to bond and pursue shared goals together (as in '' dojinshi'' adaptations of ''shōnen'' manga), or to rival each other (as in ''Embracing Love
is a yaoi manga by Youka Nitta, about two male pornographic actors who fall in love as they attempt to break into mainstream acting. It is published in English by Be Beautiful Manga. In addition to the manga, a drama CD and OVA have been rel ...
''). This spiritual bond and equal partnership is depicted as overcoming the male-female gender hierarchy
In gender studies, hegemonic masculinity is part of R. W. Connell's gender order theory, which recognizes multiple masculinities that vary across time, society, culture, and the individual. Hegemonic masculinity is defined as a practice that leg ...
. As is typical in romance fiction, couples depicted in ''yaoi'' stories often must overcome obstacles that are emotional or psychological rather than physical. Akiko Mizoguchi notes that while early ''yaoi'' stories depicted homosexuality as a source of shame to heighten dramatic tension in this regard, beginning in the mid-2000s the genre began to depict gay identity with greater sensitivity and nuance, with series such as '' Brilliant Blue'' featuring stories of coming out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
and the characters' gradual acceptance within the wider community. ''Yaoi'' typically depicts Japanese society as more accepting of LGBT people than it is in reality, which Mizoguchi contends is a form of activism among ''yaoi'' authors. Some longer-form stories such as ''Fake
Fake may refer to:
* Deception, an act or a statement intended to deceive
** Charlatan, a person who practices deception to obtain money or other advantages
** Counterfeit, a reproduction of an item, intended to deceive
** Cover-up, an attempt to ...
'' and '' Kizuna: Bonds of Love'' have the couple form a family unit, depicting them cohabiting and adopting children. It is also possible that they marry and have children, as in Omegaverse
Omegaverse, also known as A/B/O (an abbreviation for "alpha/beta/omega"), is a subgenre of speculative erotic fiction, and originally a subgenre of erotic slash fan fiction. Its premise is that a dominance hierarchy exists in humans, which are divi ...
publications. Fujimoto cites ''Ossan's Love
is a Japanese television drama produced by TV Asahi. The series follows Soichi Haruta, a romantically unsuccessful office worker whose male boss and roommate confess their romantic feelings for him. Noted as one of the first Japanese television ...
'' (2016–2018) and other BL television dramas that emerged in the 2010s as a "'missing link' to bridge the gap between BL fiction and gay people," arguing that when BL narratives are presented using human actors, it produces a "subconscious change in the perception of viewers" towards acceptance of homosexuality.
Although gay male characters are empowered in ''yaoi'', the genre rarely addresses the reality of socio-cultural homophobia
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...
. According to Hisako Miyoshi, vice editor-in-chief for Libre Publishing, while earlier ''yaoi'' focused "more on the homosexual way of life from a realistic perspective", over time the genre has become less realistic and more comedic, and the stories are "simply for entertainment". ''Yaoi'' manga often have fantastical, historical or futuristic settings, and many fans consider the genre to be escapist fiction
Escapist fiction is fiction that provides psychological escape from reality by immersing readers in a "new world" created by the author.Galgut, E. (2019). Literary Form and Mentalization. In ''The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Psychoanalysis'' ...
. Homophobia, when it is presented as an issue at all, is used as a plot device to heighten drama, or to show the purity of the leads' love. Rachel Thorn
Rachel Thorn (formerly Matt Thorn; born May 12, 1965) is a cultural anthropologist and an associate professor in the Department of Manga Production at Kyoto Seika University's Faculty of Manga in Japan.
She is best known in North America for he ...
has suggested that as ''yaoi'' is primarily a romance genre, its readers may be turned off by political themes such as homophobia. ''Yaoi'' author Makoto Tateno
, who also uses the pen name Shinjuku Tango, is a Japanese manga artist who made her debut in 1986. Tateno regards her influences as being Go Nagai and Osamu Tezuka. Two of her best-known works are ''Yellow'' and ''Happy Boys''. For the latter, ...
expressed scepticism that realistic depictions of gay men's lives would become common in ''yaoi'' "because girls like fiction more than realism". Alan Williams argues that the lack of a gay identity in ''yaoi'' is due to ''yaoi'' being postmodern
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...
, stating that "a common utterance in the genre—when a character claims that he is 'not gay, but just in love with a man'—has both homophobic (or modern
Modern may refer to:
History
* Modern history
** Early Modern period
** Late Modern period
*** 18th century
*** 19th century
*** 20th century
** Contemporary history
* Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century
Phil ...
) temporal undertones but also non-identitarian (postmodern) ones."
Rape
Rape fantasy
A rape fantasy (sometimes referred to as rapeplay) or a ravishment is a sexual fantasy involving imagining or pretending being coerced or coercing another into sexual activity. In sexual roleplay, it involves acting out roles of coercive sex. R ...
is a theme commonly associated with ''yaoi''. Anal sex
Anal sex or anal intercourse is generally the insertion and thrusting of the erect penis into a person's anus, or anus and rectum, for sexual pleasure.Sepages 270–271for anal sex information, anpage 118for information about the clitoris. ...
is understood as a means of expressing commitment to a partner, and in ''yaoi'', the "apparent violence" of rape is transformed into a "measure of passion". Rape scenes in ''yaoi'' are rarely presented as crimes with an assaulter and a victim: scenes where a ''seme'' rapes an ''uke'' are not depicted as symptomatic of the violent desires of the ''seme'', but rather as evidence of the uncontrollable attraction felt by the ''seme'' towards the ''uke''. Such scenes are often a plot device used to make the ''uke'' see the ''seme'' as more than just a good friend, and typically result in the ''uke'' falling in love with the ''seme''.
While Japanese society often shuns or looks down upon women who are raped in reality, the ''yaoi'' genre depicts men who are raped as still "imbued with innocence" and are typically still loved by their rapists after the act, a trope that may have originated with '' Kaze to Ki no Uta''. Kristy Valenti of ''The Comics Journal
''The Comics Journal'', often abbreviated ''TCJ'', is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing re ...
'' notes that rape narratives typically focus on how "irresistible" the ''uke'' is and how the ''seme'' "cannot control himself" in his presence, thus absolving the ''seme'' of responsibility for his rape of the ''uke''. She notes this is likely why the narrative climax of many ''yaoi'' stories depicts the ''seme'' recognizing, and taking responsibility for, his sexual desires. Conversely, some ''yaoi'' stories such as ''Under Grand Hotel
is a yaoi manga by Mika Sadahiro about two prisoners, Sen and Swordfish, who try to survive the notorious prison "Under Grand Hotel". It is published by 801 Media in English, although at one point, Tokyopop offered a license.
Reception
Brian ...
'' subvert the rape fantasy trope entirely by presenting rape as a negative and traumatic act.
A 2012 survey of English-language ''yaoi'' fans found that just 15 percent of respondents reported that the presence of rape in ''yaoi'' media made them uncomfortable, as the majority of respondents could distinguish between the "fantasy, genre-driven rape" of ''yaoi'' and rape as a crime in reality. This "surprisingly high tolerance" for depictions of rape is contextualized by a content analysis, which found that just 13 percent of all original Japanese ''yaoi'' available commercially in English contains depictions of rape. These findings are argued as "possibly belying the perception that rape is almost ubiquitous in BL/''yaoi''."
Tragedy
Tragic narratives that focused on the suffering of the protagonists were popular early ''June'' stories, particularly stories that ended in one or both members of the central couple dying from suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
. By the mid-1990s, happy endings were more common; when tragic endings are shown, the cause is typically not an interpersonal conflict between the couple, but "the cruel and intrusive demands of an uncompromising outside world". Thorn theorizes that depictions of tragedy and abuse in ''yaoi'' exist to allow the audience "to come to terms in some way with their own experiences of abuse."
Subgenres and related genres
, also known as or is a genre focused on male same-sex love, as created primarily by gay men
Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual and homoromantic men may also dually identify as gay, and a number of young gay men also identify as queer. Historically, gay men have been referred to by a number of different terms, including ' ...
for a gay male audience. Gay manga typically focuses on masculine
Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors con ...
men with varying degrees of muscle, body fat, and body hair
Body hair, or androgenic hair, is the terminal hair that develops on the human body during and after puberty. It is differentiated from the head hair and less visible vellus hair, which is much finer and lighter in color. The growth of androge ...
, in contrast to the androgynous ''bishōnen'' of ''yaoi''. Graham Kolbeins
Graham Kolbeins is a Canadian filmmaker, writer, and fashion designer.
Background
Kolbeins' documentary films have focused on themes of LGBTQ art and activism, including the web series ''Rad Queers'' and the documentary short film ''The House of ...
writes in '' Massive: Gay Erotic Manga and the Men Who Make It'' that while ''yaoi'' can be understood as a primarily feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
phenomenon, in that it depicts sex that is free of the patriarchal
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of Dominance hierarchy, dominance and Social privilege, privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical Anthropology, anthropological term for families or clans controll ...
trappings of heterosexual pornography, gay manga is primarily an expression of gay male identity. The early 2000s saw a degree of overlap between ''yaoi'' and gay manga in BDSM
BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged ...
-themed publications: the ''yaoi'' BDSM anthology magazine had several male contributors, while several female ''yaoi'' authors have contributed stories to BDSM-themed gay manga anthologies or special issues, occasionally under male pen name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
s.
is a genre that depicts prepubescent or pubescent The adjective pubescent may describe:
* people or animals undergoing puberty
* plants that are hairy, covered in trichomes
* insects that are covered in setae
In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for "bristle") are any of a ...
boys in a romantic or pornographic context. Originating as an offshoot of ''yaoi'' in the early 1980s, the subgenre was later adopted by male readers and became influenced by ''lolicon
In Japanese popular culture, is a genre of fictional media in which young (or young-looking) girl characters appear in romantic or sexual contexts. The term, a portmanteau of the English phrase "Lolita complex", also refers to desire and a ...
'' (works depicting prepubescent or pubescent girls); the conflation of ''shotacon'' in its contemporary usage with ''yaoi'' is thus not universally accepted, as the genre constitutes material that marketed to both male and female audiences.
Omegaverse
Omegaverse, also known as A/B/O (an abbreviation for "alpha/beta/omega"), is a subgenre of speculative erotic fiction, and originally a subgenre of erotic slash fan fiction. Its premise is that a dominance hierarchy exists in humans, which are divi ...
is a male-male romance subgenre that originated in American ''Star Trek'' fandom that later emerged in the 2010s as a subgenre of both commercial and non-commercial ''yaoi''. Stories in the genre are premised on societies wherein humans are divided into a dominance hierarchy of dominant "alphas", neutral "betas", and submissive "omegas". These terms are derived from those used in ethology
Ethology is the scientific study of animal behaviour, usually with a focus on behaviour under natural conditions, and viewing behaviour as an evolutionarily adaptive trait. Behaviourism as a term also describes the scientific and objectiv ...
to describe social hierarchies in animals.
The dom/sub universe subgenre was introduced in 2017 and gained popularity in 2021. The subgenre uses BDSM
BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged ...
elements and also drew influences from Omegaverse, particularly the caste system.
Media
In 2003, 3.8% of weekly Japanese manga magazines were dedicated exclusively to BL. Notable ongoing and defunct magazines include '' Be × Boy'', ''June
June is the sixth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the second of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the third of five months to have a length of less than 31 days. June contains the summer solstice in ...
'', ''Craft
A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale prod ...
'', '' Chara'', '' Dear+'', ''Opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
'', ', and ''Gush''. Several of these magazines were established as companion publications to ''shōjo'' manga magazines, as they include material considered too explicit for an all-ages audience; ''Ciel'' was established as a companion to ''Monthly Asuka
, formerly , is a bimonthly Japanese manga magazine published by Kadokawa Shoten, aimed at teenage girls. The magazine was established in 1985. It is released on the 24th of every odd-numbered month as of May 2021. Much like its sibling public ...
'', while ''Dear+'' was established as a companion to '' Wings''. A 2008 assessment estimated that the Japanese commercial BL market grossed approximately annually, with novel sales generating per month, manga generating per month, CDs generating per month, and video games generating per month. A 2010 report estimated that the Japanese BL market was worth approximately in both 2009 and 2010.
Fan works ()
The (i.e., self-published fan works) subculture emerged contemporaneously with ''yaoi'' subculture and Western fan fiction
Fan fiction or fanfiction (also abbreviated to fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF) is fictional writing written in an amateur capacity by fans, unauthorized by, but based on an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, settin ...
culture in the 1970s. Characteristic similarities of fan works in both Japan and the West include non-adherence to a standard narrative structures and a particular popularity of science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
themes. Early ''yaoi'' ''dōjinshi'' were amateur publications that were not controlled by media restrictions, were typically derivative works based on existing manga and anime, and were often written by teenagers for an adolescent audience. Several legitimate manga artists produce or produced ''dōjinshi
, also romanized as ', is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of '' doujin'' (self-published) works, ''doujinshi'' are often derivative of existing works and created ...
'': the manga artist group Clamp began as an amateur ''dōjinshi'' circle creating ''yaoi'' works based on ''Saint Seiya
, also known as ''Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac'' or simply ''Knights of the Zodiac'' (translated from the French title ''Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque''), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada. It ...
'', while Kodaka Kazuma and Fumi Yoshinaga
is a Japanese manga artist known for her shōjo and boys' love works.
Life
Fumi Yoshinaga was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1971. She discovered amateur manga, doujinshi, in junior high school, when a friend showed her a doujinshi depicting a roman ...
have produced ''dōjinshi'' concurrently with professionally-published works. Many publishing companies review ''yaoi'' ''dōjinshi'' to recruit talented amateurs; this practice has led to careers in mainstream manga for Youka Nitta
, born March 8, 1971, is a Japanese yaoi manga artist. Although Nitta was already a fan of manga, she was introduced to yaoi manga when she was in grade five, by an older girl who was her neighbour. Her first manga story, "GROUPIE", was publishe ...
, Shungiku Nakamura
is a Japanese manga artist. She is most famous for creating '' Junjo Romantica: Pure Romance''. Nakamura's distinct style of manga has been identified largely throughout Japanese and English yaoi fanbases. Her works usually include large age ...
, and others.[
Typically, ''yaoi'' ''dōjinshi'' feature male-male pairings from non-romantic manga and anime. Much of the material derives from male-oriented ''shōnen'' and ''seinen'' works, which contain close male-male friendships perceived by fans to imply elements of ]homoeroticism
Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be temporary, whereas "homose ...
, such as with ''Captain Tsubasa
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yōichi Takahashi. The series mainly revolves around the sport of association football focusing on Tsubasa Oozora and his relationship with his friends, rivalries with h ...
'' and ''Saint Seiya
, also known as ''Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac'' or simply ''Knights of the Zodiac'' (translated from the French title ''Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque''), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada. It ...
'', two titles which popularized ''yaoi'' in the 1980s. ''Weekly Shonen Jump Weekly, The Weekly, or variations, may refer to:
News media
* ''Weekly'' (news magazine), an English-language national news magazine published in Mauritius
*Weekly newspaper, any newspaper published on a weekly schedule
*Alternative newspaper, als ...
'' is known to have a large female readership who engage in ''yaoi'' readings; publishers of ''shōnen'' manga may create "homoerotic-themed" merchandise as fan service to their BL fans. ''Yaoi'' fans may ship
A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...
any male-male pairing, sometimes pairing off a favourite character, or create a story about two original male characters and incorporate established characters into the story. Any male character may become the subject of a ''yaoi'' ''dōjinshi'', including characters from non-manga titles such as ''Harry Potter
''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...
'' or ''The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...
'', video games such as ''Final Fantasy
is a Japanese video game, Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and ...
'', or real people such as actors and politicians. Amateur authors may also create characters out of personifications of abstract concepts (as in the personification of countries in '' Hetalia: Axis Powers'') or complementary objects like salt and pepper
Salt and pepper is the common name for edible salt and ground black pepper, which are ubiquitously paired on Western dining tables as to allow for the additional seasoning of food after its preparation. During food preparation or cooking, they m ...
. In Japan, the labeling of ''yaoi'' ''dōjinshi'' is typically composed of the two lead characters' names, separated by a multiplication sign, with the ''seme'' being first and the ''uke'' being second.
Outside of Japan, the 2000 broadcast of '' Mobile Suit Gundam Wing'' in North America on Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...
is noted as crucial to the development of Western ''yaoi'' fan works, particularly fan fiction
Fan fiction or fanfiction (also abbreviated to fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF) is fictional writing written in an amateur capacity by fans, unauthorized by, but based on an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, settin ...
. As ''yaoi'' fan fiction is often compared to the Western fan practice of slash
Slash may refer to:
* Slash (punctuation), the "/" character
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Slash (Marvel Comics)
* Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'')
Music
* Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band
* Nash ...
, it is important to understand the subtle differences between them. Levi notes that "the youthful teen look that so easily translates into androgyny in boys' love manga, and allows for so many layered interpretations of sex and gender, is much harder for slash writers to achieve."
English-language publishing
The first officially-licensed English-language translations of ''yaoi'' manga were published in the North American market in 2003; by 2006, there were roughly 130 English-translated ''yaoi'' works commercially available, and by 2007, over 10 publishers in North America published ''yaoi''. Notable current English-language publishers of ''yaoi'' include Viz Media
VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...
under their SuBLime imprint, Digital Manga Publishing
Digital Manga is a California-based publishing company that licenses and releases Japanese manga, anime, and related merchandise in the English language.
Digital Manga also owns and operates eManga, a digital publishing site for manga and l ...
under their 801 Media and Juné imprints, Media Blasters under their Kitty Media imprint, Seven Seas Entertainment, and Tokyopop
Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licensed J ...
. Notable defunct English-language publishers of ''yaoi'' include Central Park Media
Central Park Media, often abbreviated as CPM, was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York and was headquartered in the 250 West 57th Street building in Midtown Manhattan (on the corner of Central Park, hence ...
under their Be Beautiful imprint, Broccoli under their Boysenberry imprint, and Aurora Publishing under their Deux Press
Aurora Publishing, Inc. was the American subsidiary of Japanese publisher Ohzora Publishing, the leading josei manga, ''josei'' manga publisher in Japan. Headquartered in Torrance, California, Torrance, California, it licensed and published Jap ...
imprint.[
Among the 135 ''yaoi'' manga published in North America between 2003 and 2006, 14% were rated for readers aged 13 years or over, 39% were rated for readers aged 15 or older, and 47% were rated for readers age 18 and up. Restrictions among American booksellers often led publishers to label books conservatively, often rating books originally intended for a mid-teen readership as 18+ and distributing them in shrinkwrap.] Diamond Comic Distributors
Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. (often called Diamond Comics, DCD, or casually Diamond) is an American comic book distributor serving retailers in North America and worldwide. They transport comic books and graphic novels, as well as other po ...
valued the sales of ''yaoi'' manga in the United States at approximately US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
6 million in 2007.
Marketing was significant in the transnational travel of ''yaoi'' from Japan to the United States, and led to ''yaoi'' to attract a following of LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
fans in the United States. The 1994 original video animation
, abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...
adaptation of '' Kizuna: Bonds of Love'' was distributed by Ariztical Entertainment, which specializes in LGBT cinema
This article lists lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender-related films involving participation and/or representation of LGBT. The list includes films that deal with or feature significant LGBT issues or characters. These films may involve LGBT ...
and marketed the title as "the first gay male anime to be released on DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
in the US." The film was reviewed in the American LGBT magazine ''The Advocate
An advocate is a professional in the field of law.
The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to:
Magazines
* ''The Advocate'' (LGBT magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States
*''The Harvard Advocate'', a literary magazin ...
'', which compared the film to gay art house cinema.
A large portion of Western fans choose to pirate
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
''yaoi'' material because they are unable or unwilling to obtain it through sanctioned methods. Scanlations
Scanlation (also scanslation) is the fan-made scanning, translation, and editing of comics from a language into another language. Scanlation is done as an amateur work performed by groups and is nearly always done without express permission from t ...
and other fan translation efforts of both commercially published Japanese works and amateur ''dojinshi'' are common.
Original English-language ''yaoi''
When ''yaoi'' initially gained popularity in the United States in the early 2000s, several American artists began creating original English-language manga
An original English-language manga or OEL manga is a comic book or graphic novel drawn in the style of manga and originally published in English. The term "international manga", as used by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, encompasses all ...
for female readers featuring male-male couples referred to as "American ''yaoi''". The first known commercially published original English-language ''yaoi'' comic is ''Sexual Espionage #1'' by Daria McGrain, published by Sin Factory
Radio Comix is an alternative comic book publishing company based in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Founded in 1996 by former Antarctic Press employees Elin Winkler and Pat Duke, Radio Comix has published hundreds of comics from many genres, ...
in May 2002. As international artists began creating ''yaoi'' works, the term "American ''yaoi''" fell out of use and was replaced by terms like "original English language ''yaoi''", "global ''yaoi''", and "global BL". The majority of publishers creating original English-language ''yaoi'' manga are now defunct, including Yaoi Press
Yaoi Press is an independent yaoi comic publisher based in Nevada. Founded in 2004 by publisher Yamila Abraham, the company specializes in Global BL, or yaoi comics originally published outside of Asia. Yaoi Press publishes original OEL manga as ...
, DramaQueen, and Iris Print. Digital Manga Publishing
Digital Manga is a California-based publishing company that licenses and releases Japanese manga, anime, and related merchandise in the English language.
Digital Manga also owns and operates eManga, a digital publishing site for manga and l ...
last published original English-language ''yaoi'' manga in 2012; outside of the United States, German publisher Carlsen Manga also published original ''yaoi'' works.
Audio dramas
''Yaoi'' audio dramas
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...
, occasionally referred to as "drama CDs", "sound dramas", or "BLCDs", are recorded voice performances of male-male romance scenarios performed by primarily male voice actors. They are typically adaptations of original ''yaoi'' manga and novels. The first ''yaoi'' audio dramas were released in the 1980s, beginning with ''Tsuzumigafuchi'' in 1988, which was published as a "''June'' cassette". With the introduction of CDs, ''yaoi'' audio dramas continued to proliferate, peaking at 289 total ''yaoi'' CDs released in 2008, which dropped to 108 CDs in 2013.
Live action television and film
Japan
While Japanese BL manga has been adapted into live action films and television dramas
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-gen ...
since the early 2000s, these works were marketed towards a niche audience of BL fans rather than towards a general audience. When these works were adapted for a general audience, same-sex romance elements were typically downplayed or removed entirely, as in the live-action television adaption of '' Antique Bakery'' that aired on Fuji TV in 2001. The development of Japanese live-action television dramas that focus on BL and same-sex romance themes explicitly was spurred by the critical and commercial success of the TV Asahi
JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Compan ...
television drama ''Ossan's Love
is a Japanese television drama produced by TV Asahi. The series follows Soichi Haruta, a romantically unsuccessful office worker whose male boss and roommate confess their romantic feelings for him. Noted as one of the first Japanese television ...
'' (2016), which features an all-male love triangle
A love triangle or eternal triangle is a scenario or circumstance, usually depicted as a rivalry, in which two people are pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with one person, or in which one person in a romantic relationship with so ...
as its central plot conceit. While ''Ossan's Love'' is an original series, it influenced the creation of live-action BL works adpated from manga that are marketed towards mass audiences; notable examples include the television dramas ' (2018) on Fuji TV, ''What Did You Eat Yesterday?
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fumi Yoshinaga. The slice of life series focuses on the relationship between Shiro Kakei and Kenji Yabuki, a middle-aged gay couple living in Tokyo, Japan. The manga has been serialized ...
'' (2019) on TV Tokyo
JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...
, and '''' (2020) on TV Tokyo, and the live-action film adaptation of ''The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Setona Mizushiro. ''The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese'' was serialized in the manga magazine ''Judy'' from 2005 to 2006. The book was followed up with a one-volume sequel titled .
A ...
'' (2020). In 2022, Kadokawa Corporation
, formerly is a Japanese media conglomerate that was created as a result of the merger of the original Kadokawa Corporation and Dwango Co., Ltd. on October 1, 2014.
History
The holding company known today as Kadokawa Corporation was origi ...
employee Kaoru Azuma stated that while establishing Tunku, Kadokawa's label for publishing live-action boys' love drama series, she noticed that prejudice against boys' love has dwindled, and that many people have seemed to accept the genre as "normal.".
Thailand
The Thai romantic drama film ''Love of Siam
''Love of Siam'' ( th, รักแห่งสยาม, , pronounced ) is a 2007 Thai multi-layered romantic-drama film written and directed by Chookiat Sakveerakul. The film tells a story of love, friendship and family. The film was released i ...
'' (2007), which features a gay male romance storyline, found unexpected mainstream success upon its release and grossed over TH฿40 million at the box office. This was followed by '' Love Sick: The Series'' (2014–2015), the first Thai television series to feature two gay characters as the lead roles. Cultural anthropologist Thomas Baudinette argues that ''Love Sick: The Series'' represented a "watershed moment" in the depiction of queer romance in Thai media, exploring how the series adapted tropes from Japanese BL to create a new genre of media. While Japanese BL manga attracted an audience in Thailand as early as the 1990s, the success of ''Love of Siam'' and ''Love Sick'' kick-started the production of domestic BL dramas: between 2014 and 2020, 57 television series in the BL genre were produced and released in Thailand. Beginning in 2020, Thai BL dramas gained international recognition after the release of ''2gether: The Series'', which attracted widespread acclaim for its family-friendly themes, lighthearted plot, and positive depictions of gay men.
Major producers of Thai BL include GMMTV, a subsidiary of GMM Grammy, which has produced ''2gether'', '' SOTUS: The Series'' (2016–2017), ''Dark Blue Kiss
''Dark Blue Kiss'' ( th, Dark Blue Kiss – จูบสุดท้ายเพื่อนายคนเดียว; ''Dark Blue Kiss –'' ; ''Dark Blue Kiss - The Last Kiss Is For You Only'') is a 2019 Thai television series starring Taw ...
'' (2019), and ''Theory of Love'' (2019); and Line Corporation
Line Corporation is a Tokyo-based subsidiary of Z Holdings, which is jointly owned by Softbank Group and Naver Corporation. The company's business is mainly associated with the development of mobile applications and Internet services, particular ...
, which produces BL dramas in Thailand for distribution on its Line TV platform. The genre has seen some backlash from conservative elements in Thai society: in 2020, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission introduced new guidelines around material containing "sexually explicit or suggestive" scenes, while public broadcaster MCOT cancelled the BL series '' Love by Chance'' in 2018. Thai BL dramas are noted as having gained popularity in Indonesia, where LGBT representation in domestic television is less common; as well as in the Philippines, where many fans view BL as an originally Thai form of popular culture. It has been suggested that BL dramas could become a source of Thai cultural soft power
In politics (and particularly in international politics), soft power is the ability to co-opt rather than coerce (contrast hard power). In other words, soft power involves shaping the preferences of others through appeal and attraction. A defin ...
in Southeast Asia and beyond.
China
Homosexuality is neither prohibited nor legally recognized in mainland China, and laws regarding the censorship of LGBT material are unevenly enforced; regardless, such content is "deemed sensitive and is inconsistently but regularly removed" from distribution. '' Addicted'' (2016), the first Chinese BL web series, accumulated 10 million views before being pulled from the streaming platform iQiyi. In reaction to state censorship, Chinese BL works typically depict male-male romance as homoerotic
Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be temporary, whereas "homose ...
subtext: the web novel ''Guardian
Guardian usually refers to:
* Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another
* ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper
(The) Guardian(s) may also refer to:
Places
* Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...
'' (2012) depicted a romance between its two lead male characters, though when it was adapted into a television drama on the streaming platform Youku
Youku Tudou Inc. (formerly Youku Inc.), doing business as Youku (), is a video hosting service based in Beijing, China. It operates as a subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Limited.
Youku has its headquarters in the Sinosteel Plaza in Haidian ...
in 2018, the relationship was rendered as a close, homoerotic friendship. The BL Xianxia novel
''Xianxia'' ( zh, s=, t=仙俠), directly translated to 'immortal heroes', is a genre of Chinese fantasy heavily inspired by Taoism and influenced by Chinese mythology, Chan Buddhism, Chinese martial arts, traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese ...
''Mo Dao Zu Shi
''Mo Dao Zu Shi'' () is a chinese animation, donghua series based on the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, novel of the same name written by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (). It is produced by Tencent Pictures, Tencent Penguin Pictures and B.C May Pictures ...
'' (2015) was adapted into an animated series in 2018 and the live-action television series ''The Untamed'' in 2019, which similarly revise the nature of the relationship between the lead male characters. Despite this, ''The Untamed'' was praised for avoiding censorship while maintaining the "slow-burn heat" of the source material; fans of both ''Guardian'' and ''The Untamed'' discussed the series' gay content under the hashtag " socialist brotherhood" to avoid detection from state censors.
Video games
Boys' love and ''yaoi'' video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s typically consist of visual novel
A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...
s or '' eroge'' oriented around male-male couples. The first ''yaoi'' game to receive an officially-licensed English-language release was '' Enzai: Falsely Accused'', published by JAST USA in 2006. That same year, the company published '' Zettai Fukujuu Meirei'' under the title ''Absolute Obedience'', while Hirameki International
Hirameki International Group Inc. was an American company founded in March 2000 which specialized in translating visual novels from Japan and releasing them to the American market. It is named after the Japanese word for the noun "flash" or "insi ...
licensed ''Animamundi
''Animamundi: Dark Alchemist'' (アニマ・ムンディ 終わりなき闇の舞踏 ''Anima Mundi: Owarinaki Yami no Butou'') is a Japanese gothic horror visual novel developed by Karin Entertainment and distributed by Hirameki, Hirameki Interna ...
''; the later game, although already nonexplicit, was censored for US release to achieve a "mature" rather than "adults only" ESRB
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games in the United States and Canada. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Asso ...
rating, removing some of both the sexual and the violent content. Compared to ''yaoi'' manga, fewer ''yaoi'' games have been officially translated into English; the lack of interest by publishers in licensing further titles has been attributed to widespread copyright infringement of both licensed and unlicensed games.
Demography
Suzuki notes that "demographic analyses of BL media are underdeveloped and thus much needed in ''yaoi''/BL studies," but acknowledges that "the overwhelming majority of BL readers are women." 80% of the ''yaoi'' audience is female, while the membership of Yaoi-Con
Yaoi-Con (sometimes YaoiCon) was an annual three-day anime convention, founded in 2001, aimed at fans of yaoi-related anime, manga, and other aspects of Asian culture. It typically took place during the Fall in California.
Since the 2012 edition, ...
, a now-defunct American ''yaoi'' convention
Convention may refer to:
* Convention (norm), a custom or tradition, a standard of presentation or conduct
** Treaty, an agreement in international law
* Convention (meeting), meeting of a (usually large) group of individuals and/or companies in a ...
, was 85% female. It is usually assumed that all female fans are heterosexual, but in Japan there is a presence of lesbian manga authors and lesbian, bisexual
Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...
or questioning female readers. A 2008 survey of English-speaking readers of ''yaoi'' indicated that 50-60% of female readers self-identify as heterosexual.
Although the genre is marketed to and consumed primarily by girls and women, there is a gay, bisexual, and heterosexual male readership as well. A 2007 survey of ''yaoi'' readers among patrons of a United States library found about one quarter of respondents were male; two online surveys found approximately ten percent of the broader English-speaking ''yaoi'' readership were male. Lunsing suggests that younger Japanese gay men who are offended by "pornographic" content in gay men's magazines may prefer to read ''yaoi'' instead. Some gay men, however, are put off by the feminine art style or unrealistic depictions of LGBT culture in Japan
LGBT Culture in Japan has recently begun to distinguish. The Japanese adopted the English term gender (, ) to describe cultural concepts of feminine and masculine. Previously, was used to distinguish the binary biological sexes, female and male, a ...
and instead prefer gay manga
is a colloquialism for a genre of Japanese art and media known within Japan as or . The genre focuses on male same-sex love, as created primarily by gay men for a gay male audience. ''Bara'' can vary in visual style and plot, but typically ...
, which some perceive to be more realistic. Lunsing notes that some of the ''yaoi'' narrative elements criticized by homosexual men
Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual men, bisexual and homoromantic men may also dually identify as gay, and a number of young gay men also identify as queer. Historically, gay men have been referred to by a number of different terms, ...
, such as rape fantasies, misogyny, and characters' non-identification as gay, are also present in gay manga.
In the mid-1990s, estimates of the size of the Japanese ''yaoi'' fandom ranged from 100,000 to 500,000 people. By April 2005, a search for non-Japanese websites resulted in 785,000 English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, 49,000 Spanish, 22,400 Korean, 11,900 Italian, and 6,900 Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
sites. In January 2007, there were approximately five million hits for ''yaoi''.
Female fans of ''yaoi'' are often referred to as , a derogatory insult that was later reappropriated as a self-descriptive term. The male equivalent is or , both of which are puns of similar construction to ''fujoshi''.
Analysis
Audience motivation
''Yaoi'' has received considerable critical attention, especially after translations of ''yaoi'' became commercially available outside Japan in the 21st century. In ''Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics
''Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics'' is a 1983 book by Frederik L. Schodt. Published by the Japanese publisher Kodansha, it was the first substantial English-language work on Japanese comics, or ''manga'', as an artistic, literary, comme ...
'', the 1983 book by Frederik L. Schodt
Frederik L. Schodt (born January 22, 1950) is an American translator, interpreter and writer.
Biography
Schodt's father was in the US foreign service, and he grew up in Norway, Australia, and Japan. The family first went to Japan in 1965 wh ...
that was the first substantial English-language work on manga, Schodt observes that portrayals of gay male relationships had used and further developed bisexual themes already extant in manga to appeal to their female audience. Japanese critics have viewed boys' love as a genre that permits their audience to avoid adult female sexuality
Human female sexuality encompasses a broad range of behaviors and processes, including female sexual identity and sexual behavior, the physiological, psychological, social, cultural, political, and spiritual or religious aspects of sexual ac ...
by distancing sex from their own bodies, as well as to create fluidity in perceptions of gender and sexuality and rejects "socially mandated" gender role
A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cent ...
s as a "first step toward feminism". Kazuko Suzuki, for example, believes that the audience's aversion to or contempt for masculine heterosexism is something which has consciously emerged as a result of the genre's popularity.
Mizoguchi, writing in 2003, feels that BL is a "female-gendered space", as the writers, readers, artists and most of the editors of BL are female.[ BL has been compared to ]romance novels
A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pre ...
by English-speaking librarians. In 2004, Paul Gravett summarized the dominant theories for the popularity of with a female audience: that Japanese women were disillusioned or bored with classic male-female relationships in fiction, that the populating the genre were a backlash against male sex fantasies of a feminized ideal of adolescent girls, that the genre offered a safe space for sexual fantasies with the free choice of identification figure in the relationship, and the boys of are interpreted by female readers as girls, thus making the stories expressions of readers' same-sex fantasies.
Other commentators have suggested that more radical gender-political issues underlie ''yaoi''. Parallels have been noted in the popularity of lesbianism in pornography
Lesbian erotica deals with depictions in the visual arts of lesbianism, which is the expression of female-on-female sexuality. Lesbianism has been a theme in erotic art since at least the time of Culture of ancient Rome, ancient Rome, and many ...
,[ and ''yaoi'' has been called a form of "female ]fetishism
A fetish (derived from the French , which comes from the Portuguese , and this in turn from Latin , 'artificial' and , 'to make') is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a human-made object that has power over oth ...
". While early approaches to the popularity of the genre often referred to the role of women in patriarchal Japanese society, to which the genre offers a resistance and escape, this approach has been rejected by others who note that ''yaoi'' and ''yaoi''-like media became popular outside of Japan in other social circumstances, such as slash fiction
Slash fiction (also known as "m/m slash") is a genre of fan fiction that focuses on romantic or sexual relationships between fictional characters of the same sex.Bacon-Smith, Camille. "Spock Among the Women." New York Times Sunday Book Review, ...
in the west. Against this background, theories emphasizing pleasure gained support: ''yaoi'' could be compared to pornography or even considered a specifically female form of pornography, appealing to desires for eroticism, voyeurism, or a desire to push against established gender roles. Mariko Ōhara
is a Japanese science fiction writer. She won the 6th Hayakawa SF Contest in 1980, when she was still a student. Later she published various SF works and became the 10th president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan. Ōhara is th ...
, a science fiction writer, has said that she wrote ''yaoi'' Kirk/Spock fiction as a teen because she could not enjoy "conventional pornography, which had been made for men", and that she had found a "limitless freedom" in ''yaoi'', much like in science fiction.
In 1998, Shihomi Sakakibara asserted that ''yaoi'' fans, including himself, were gay transgender men
A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. The label of transgender man is not always interchangeable with that of transsexual man, although the two labels are often used in this way. ''Transgender'' is an umbrella term that inclu ...
. Sandra Buckley believes that ''bishōnen'' narratives champion "the imagined potentialities of alternative ender
Ender may refer to:
Given name
* Ender Alkan, Turkish footballer
* Ender Arslan, Turkish basketball player
* Ender Inciarte, Venezuelan baseball player
* Ender Konca, Turkish footballer
Surname
* Erika Ender (born 1974), Panamanian singer, s ...
differentiations", while James Welker described the ''bishōnen'' character as "queer
''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...
", commenting that manga critic Akiko Mizoguchi saw ''shōnen-ai'' as playing a role in how she herself had become a lesbian. Dru Pagliassotti sees this and the ''yaoi ronsō'' as indicating that for Japanese gay and lesbian readers, BL is not as far removed from reality as heterosexual female readers like to claim. Welker has also written that boys' love titles liberate the female audience "not just from patriarchy, but from gender dualism and heteronormativity".
Criticism
Some gay and lesbian commentators have criticized how gay identity is portrayed in BL, most notably in the ''yaoi ronsō'' or "''yaoi'' debate" of 1992–1997 (see History
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
above). A trope of ''yaoi'' that has attracted criticism is male protagonists who do not identify as gay, but are rather simply in love with each other, with Comiket
, more commonly known as or , is a semiannual ''doujinshi'' convention in Tokyo, Japan. A grassroots market focused on the sale of '' doujin'' (self-published) works, Comiket is a not-for-profit fan convention administered by the volunteer-ru ...
co-founder Yoshihiro Yonezawa
was a Japanese manga critic and author. He is also known for being Comiket's co-founder and president. He died of lung cancer at 53. He won the 2007 Seiun Award in the special category and 2010 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Special Award.
Biogra ...
once describing ''yaoi'' ''dōjinshi'' as akin to "girls playing with dolls".[ This is said to heighten the theme of all-conquering love,] but is also condemned as a means of avoiding acknowledgement of homophobia
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...
. Criticism of the stereotypically feminine behaviour of the ''uke'' has also been prominent.
Much of the criticism of ''yaoi'' originally rendered in the Japanese ''yaoi'' debate has similarly been voiced in the English-language fandom. Rachel Thorn
Rachel Thorn (formerly Matt Thorn; born May 12, 1965) is a cultural anthropologist and an associate professor in the Department of Manga Production at Kyoto Seika University's Faculty of Manga in Japan.
She is best known in North America for he ...
has suggested that ''yaoi'' and slash fiction
Slash fiction (also known as "m/m slash") is a genre of fan fiction that focuses on romantic or sexual relationships between fictional characters of the same sex.Bacon-Smith, Camille. "Spock Among the Women." New York Times Sunday Book Review, ...
fans are discontented with "the standards of femininity to which they are expected to adhere and a social environment
The social environment, social context, sociocultural context or milieu refers to the immediate physical and social setting in which people live or in which something happens or develops. It includes the culture that the individual was educate ...
that does not validate or sympathize with that discontent".[ Thorn, Rachel. (1993) "Unlikely Explorers: Alternative Narratives of Love, Sex, Gender, and Friendship in Japanese Girls' Comics." New York Conference on ]Asian Studies
Asian studies is the term used usually in North America and Australia for what in Europe is known as Oriental studies. The field is concerned with the Asian people, their cultures, languages, history and politics. Within the Asian sphere, Asian ...
, New Paltz, New York, 16 October 1993.
Legal issues
''Yaoi'' has been the subject of disputes on legal and moral grounds. Mark McLelland suggests that BL may become "a major battlefront for proponents and detractors of ' gender free' policies in employment, education and elsewhere", while ''yaoi'' artist Youka Nitta
, born March 8, 1971, is a Japanese yaoi manga artist. Although Nitta was already a fan of manga, she was introduced to yaoi manga when she was in grade five, by an older girl who was her neighbour. Her first manga story, "GROUPIE", was publishe ...
has said that "even in Japan, reading boys' love isn't something that parents encourage." In Thailand, the sale of unauthorized reproductions of ''shōnen-ai'' manga to teenagers in 2001 led to media coverage and a moral panic
A moral panic is a widespread feeling of fear, often an irrational one, that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society. It is "the process of arousing social concern over an issue", usua ...
. In 2006, an email campaign pressuring the Sakai City Central Library to remove BL works from circulation attracted national media attention, and promoted a debate over removal of BL works constituted a form of discrimination. In 2010, the Osaka Prefectural Government included boys' love manga among with other books deemed potentially "harmful to minors" due to its sexual content, which resulted in several magazines prohibited from being sold to people under 18 years of age.
Anhui TV reported that in China, at least 20 young female authors writing ''danmei'' novels on an online novel website were arrested in 2014. In 2018, the pseudonymous Chinese BL novel author Tianyi was sentenced to ten-and-a-half years in prison under laws prohibiting the production of "obscene material for profit." Zanghellini notes that due to the "characteristics of the ''yaoi''/BL genre" of showing characters who are often underage
In law, a minor is someone under a certain age, usually the age of majority, which demarcates an underage individual from legal adulthood. The age of majority depends upon jurisdiction and application, but it is commonly 18. ''Minor'' may also ...
engaging in romantic and sexual situations, child pornography laws in Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
"may lend themselves to targeting ''yaoi''/BL work". He notes that in the UK, cartoons are exempt from child pornography laws unless they are used for child grooming.[
]
See also
* Glossary of anime and manga
*'' Boys' Love Manga: Essays on the Sexual Ambiguity and Cross-Cultural Fandom of the Genre''
*Pornography in Japan
Pornography in Japan has unique characteristics that readily distinguish it from western pornography. Pornographic films are known as " adult videos" (AV) in Japan, so Japanese adult videos are "JAV", referring to the Japanese pornographic ...
* Gay pornography
*Gay pulp fiction
Gay pulp fiction, or gay pulps, refers to printed works, primarily fiction, that include references to male homosexuality, specifically male gay sex, and that are cheaply produced, typically in paperback books made of wood pulp paper; lesbian pulp ...
*
*"Tweek x Craig
"Tweek x Craig" is the sixth episode of the nineteenth season and the 263rd overall episode of the animated television series '' South Park'', written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker. The episode premiered on Comedy Central on Octob ...
"
*Men who have sex with men
Men who have sex with men (MSM) are male persons who engage in sexual activity with members of the same sex. The term was created in the 1990s by epidemiology, epidemiologists to study the spread of disease among all men who have sex with men, r ...
Notes
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
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*Aoyama, Tomoko (1988) "Male homosexuality as treated by Japanese women writers" in ''The Japanese Trajectory: Modernization and Beyond'', Gavan McCormack
Gavan McCormack is a researcher specializing in East Asia who is Emeritus Professor and Visiting Fellow, Division of Pacific and Asian History of the Australian National University. He is also a coordinator of an award-winning open access journal ...
, Yoshio Sugimoto eds. Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press
A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
, .
*
*Haggerty, George E. (2000). Encyclopedia of Gay Histories and Cultures. Taylor & Francis. .
*Kakinuma Eiko, Kurihara Chiyo et al. (eds.), ''Tanbi-Shosetsu, Gay-Bungaku Book Guide'', 1993.
* Lewis, Marilyn Jaye (editor), ''Zowie! It's Yaoi!: Western Girls Write Hot Stories of Boys' Love''. Philadelphia: Running Press, 2006. .
*
*McHarry, Mark (2011). "Girls Doing Boys Doing Boys: Boys' Love, Masculinity and Sexual Identities". In Perper, Timothy and Martha Cornog (Eds.) Mangatopia: Essays on Anime and Manga in the Modern World. New York: ABC-Clio.
*
*McLelland, Mar
Australia's proposed internet filtering system : its implications for animation, comic and gaming (ACG) and slash fan communities
Media international Australia, incorporating Culture & policy, 134, 2010, 7-19
*
*
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*Saito, Kumiko (2011) "Desire in Subtext: Gender, Fandom, and Women's Male-Male Homoerotic Parodies in Contemporary Japan" in ''Mechademia
''Mechademia: Second Arc'' is a biannual (formerly annual) peer-reviewed academic journal in English about Japanese popular culture products and fan practices. It is published by the University of Minnesota Press and the editor-in-chief is French ...
'' 6.
*Solomon, Charles (30 June 2004)
"Young men in love"
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''.
*
External links
Chil-Chil: Japanese BL Database
The boys’ love phenomenon: A literature review
an open-access article from the Journal of Popular Romance Studies
{{Portal bar, Anime and manga, LGBT
Hentai
Shōnen-ai
Anime and manga genres
Anime and manga terminology
Gay male mass media
Gay male erotica
Gay art
Japanese sex terms
LGBT terminology
LGBT-related mass media in Japan
LGBT in anime and manga
Male homosexuality