documenting the BL fan experience
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
I was in high-school and I had just realized I was LGBT+ and I was trying to figure out what that means for me in some way. I found the BL anime Gravitation on Comcast on Demand and so I watched and I fell in…
When I first started, it was mostly stuff available only in Japanese, and nowadays there’s a lot of translations, and also different source material. Also I have a lot of friends in the world that make fanmade stuff, so it’s cool we can connect by that.
— 27, She/Her, Chile
While many fans may not know there is not a difference really between “shounen ai”, yaoi, or BL, numerous sites with translated scanlations categorize them that way. Even though we may know about the history of the BL industry and how some subgenres varied under…
I’ve lost connection with local fandom years ago. My only reference is when I table at local cons, and I interact a bit with the attendees. What I noticed, though, is that the BL public is way younger than when I got into BL. I…
I was watching prince of tennis and I used to come across a lot of m/m fanwork, and the first pair I ever liked was the Silver Pair (Choutarou/Shishido). Some explit work was too much for me as I was young at the time. And I hated how I had to keep it a secret from everyone, I used a shared PC at the time and deleting the history and all traces of BL work was crucial as I felt like I was doing something extremely wrong. I don’t personally have friends who are into BL, but on the internet I come across a lot of fans from the region who are open about their preference. I wouldnt have discovered it without the internet.
— 29, She/Her, UAE
BL, I liked everything I found to be honest. I discovered a lot from it, especially that people could love other people of their own gender. Ironically (or not), it made me discover GL and with GL I discovered my own sexuality. I’m more comfortable…
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 help bring this to English speaking fans. I was initially the editor of the Togainu No Chi fan translation before taking over as something of a group leader.
— 28, He/Him, Australia
Korea has a very active BL fandom. The stores carry many different stories and a wide selection. — 31, She/Her, South Korea
