documenting the BL fan experience
When I first engaged with BL, I could only do so with a shared desktop and limited connectivity, so I never really had anybody to talk to regarding the manga and fanfiction I’ve read. It’s very, very different now. I have a lot of people…
People saying I transitioned to become a gay man like the comics was a big reason I fell out with the community in my late teens/early 20s. It was only recently that I’ve been more comfortable with interacting with fandom again. BL helped me figure…
I use BL as a good litmus test to find out if my acquaintances are homophobic or not because these are well written stories with well written smut and there’s no reason to be dismissive of it unless you’re homophobic, at least in Asia. I have to commend BL for giving men a good emotional component that mainstream media never bothers touching.
— 21, They/Them, Cambodia
Around the beginning, fandom was mostly my friends, the other people in the local anime forum/community, and some people on Deviantart. Social media didn’t exist yet. Instead of drawing for strangers on the internet, I filled up pages of drawings in my notebooks and brought…
Getting officially translated BL here is impossible, pirated is the only way. But thanks to some online sites I can pay for some webtoons. — 27, She/Her, Bangladesh
I think piracy has a part in making BL popular outside of Japan, but I prefer when people support the official manga.
— 23, He/Him, Japan
Everyone has been crazy about danmei for a long, long time. Sometimes it feels like people prefer danmei to Japanese BL here. They are also very vocal about LGBTQ rights, although the fujoshi phenomenon does come up with reference to younger fans. That being said,…
I would not have been exposed to the content that made me love BL so much if it weren’t for my easy internet access even at age 12. The largest difference in the way the internet has affected BL from the early 2000s to now…
A lot of people now know about the term BL, yaoi, and fujoshi. Indonesians are still very apprehensive about anything related to same-sex relationship, but now people are able to loudly say “I’m BL fan of this pair!” And not be afraid of being singled out from the whole fandom. Implied yuri/yaoi content are shared freely even in the main community hub, just as long as it’s not explicit/NSFW.
— 23, She/Her, Indonesia
I think of BL like a big mirror. BL content in order to be popular at the time of its creation is going to mirror society at that same time. No one in non-Japanese BL fan spaces ever considers when the series was created. Problematic…
