There was a time when most cons were cancelled and merch wouldn’t ship due to some trade b.s. Not to mention I was a queer child with secret interests that I didn’t want my family to know about (still is that way). So the internet helped a lot. A lot of BL I’ve consumed was pirated and only recently have I been able to pay for online possessions like webtoon subscriptions etc.
Honestly pirated BL is easy to find and if you’re mad determined you’ll eventually earn your money and buy stuff. But as I wrote earlier my family situation did not allow me to buy official BL physical copies, and I only recently started my internship and earned some money, before which all my money matters would go through my dad first, and trust me he’d ask every tiny detail about things I’d want to buy. Long story short, if not for pirated BL I wouldn’t have come this far both in terms of fandom and my own sexuality and self expression. Literally living in Asia some Asian produced content is not accessible/shippable to us because companies make more profits in the West so they tend to serve the West first. Piracy is at times our last and only resort, it is very much the companies’ fault.
— 21, They/Them, Cambodia
21, THEY/THEM, CAMBODIA
Related Posts
23, HE/HIM, JAPAN
I was maybe 12 and was beginning to question my identity (sexuality and gender), and it was the first time I related to something and felt like I “belonged”, like something clicked and I realized I was different. Since BL is “common” in Japan I […]
23, SHE/HER, INDONESIA
My first BL introduction was around 2000. The Internet was still pretty limited in my country and my family was one fortunate enough to have access. I was around 10 years old snooping around the web, where I was able to find a closed group […]
