documenting the BL fan experience
I think French BL fandom is pretty chill still, thankfully. I have seen anti-adjacent takes from some folks who are younger than me but we have a lot of well-established institutions that defend and promote BL especially through an LGBT/queer lens. We have a convention…
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…
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…
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 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
I can’t read Japanese, but I have been on and off learning since I was a young teen for the sole purpose of reading BL. — 24, He/Him, Canada
I think it was kind of the stereotypical idea that people have in mind when they’re denouncing BL— teenagers, mostly girls (and/or people who identified as girls at the time) who were very loudly into this stuff, having fun, and not really caring about the…
I randomly came across an old BL manga online. I believe it was “Yokan Ex Noise”. I didn’t know what the BL/yaoi tag meant at the time so I was pretty shocked when I saw the interaction between two male characters. I dropped it before coming back to it, I was debating whether to continue reading it or not. Since I grew up in a homophopic environment I felt ashamed for reading it. I did start reading more in secret after a while.
— 20, He/Him, Bosnia and Herzegovina
My first experience was actually adults getting me, an 11 years old “girl”, into a group called anti-yaoi brigade. In which they willingly taught me what it was and told me how it was gross (despite my mom being pro LG). A year later I…
