documenting the BL fan experience
The internet helped me connect with other BL fans and was a big part of me growing up. In particular was when I took part in the Togainu No Chi fan translation. Without the internet, I never would have met others with such passion to…
Korea has a very active BL fandom. The stores carry many different stories and a wide selection. — 31, She/Her, South Korea
I am very grateful to the internet for exposing me to BL. I would be a different person without the exposure and I enjoy reading the wonderful stories.
— 18, He/They, Jamaica
Acquiring BL can be complicated, because some older BL is hard to find when you want to buy it in English. Sometimes it can be very pricey as well. But at the same time these authors deserve money for their work that they have put…
Getting content is a dilemma because if hadn’t pirated BL would not have existed. I would have never come across it online. It is hard for me to find it legally. I have a Futekiya account and Crunchyroll and Netflix, but the selections are very…
Spanish fandom is awesome. Like, there’s antis, sure, but there’s nothing like it compared to the North American/English fandom, because we’re still in the mindset of “don’t like, don’t read”. I do have friends from other Hispanic countries and they’re all supportive, even if they don’t like some kind of content I do like (for example, very dark fiction).
Mexican fandom is very good, too, because they don’t care what you ship if it’s not harmless to real people.
— 26, She/They, Mexico
I feel BL is extremely diverse, there is no one linear way of how representation is/can be showcased in that medium and this applies to all queer media in general. Once again, at first glance it can be seen as “iffy” representation, but it’s just…
I feel like officially published BL is better since it supports translators and artists. But on the other hand, it’s really hard to find/get them here in Latin America, especially in Venezuela, since we can’t even buy stuff on the Internet. — 22, He/Him, Venezuela
People who are open about their taste in BL and being fujoshi/fudanshi/fujin are extremely accepting! The only times I’ve felt unwelcomed, was misgendered, and even accused of faking my gender and sexuality, was by people who seemed to be more ashamed of being into BL as a whole, and accused the fu-terms of being problematic.
— 24, He/Him, Canada
The BL fandom experience is directly intertwined with my own queer identity discovery experience, I can’t extricate one from the other, it’s how I found community, love and confidence within the LGBTQ+ community, and it’s how I continue to engage my own sexual expression and…
