documenting the BL fan experience
To put it as simply as I can: I experienced gender dysphoria when I was young in a society that heavily prioritized gender roles. As a result I rejected everything feminine, which included “fujoshi tendencies” aka yaoi shipping (yes, it was homophobia). As I grew…
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…
I’m quite grateful for pirated stuff still because that’s how I access even more titles from my country, as opposed to published BL that are mostly US/Euro-centric in its distribution. I do subscribe to Futekiya, but find other publishers a bit too unaffordable at the moment.
— 29, She/Her, Philippines
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…
I think here in the Philippines the more mainstream BL fandom is into Thai BL now, but there’s a large following of the “traditional” Japanese BL manga/anime since a lot of us grew up with general anime/manga. — 29, She/Her, Philippines
The depictions in BL are often exaggerated and don’t always reflect real life. It is a work of fiction after all. I know that as heterosexual person, my understandjng of LGBTQ relationships to not be as deep as an actual LGBTQ person. As long as you recognize that and don’t generalize, or impose things on people, just enjoy what you like.
— 23, She/Her, Indonesia
BL gives me solace but as a person who needs to recharge from ALL real life things and people. From the very beginning, I separated myself from fiction very strictly and BL is simply one of the art forms I enjoy. Fujoshi are so stigmatized…
The first mlm ships I started shipping came from Homestuck, which came with lots of fanart and fanfic. Then I got into the Free! fandom and started reading BL. I remember people kept talking about Junjou Romantica and the likes, although it did feel like…
I liked how I was able to perceive sweetness, romance, and libido in a more positive light, that I was able to unabashedly “squee” over BL without any of the hangups, as opposed to consuming straight/HL content.
— 29, She/Her, Philippines
The only ship wars were like “Naruto is married to Hinata, how can you ship him with Sasuke, that is cheating!!1!1” but ship wars were strictly between groups that preferred X ship over Y ship. Omegaverse was something exciting and scary, not grounds for trans…
