documenting the BL fan experience
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…
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…
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
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
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…
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 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…
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…
Love Stage!!! I saw it recommended on youtube when I was younger and I fell in love with BL/GL and other queer media since. I liked seeing non-heterosexual relationships in media that was not automatically demonized and existed outside of a Christian anti-gay perspective, and seeing characters perform gender roles outside of typical societal standards (feminine/femme men and masculine/masc women).
— 18, She/They, Barbados
My first experience with BL was a NaruSasu fanfic I stumbled across very accidentally when I clicked a link in the comments. There wasn’t any feeling of immediate disgust, because I just never had any experience with LGBTQ representation before this due to my parents…
