documenting the BL fan experience
My identity makes me a bit more critical of the portrayal/manifestations of queer experiences in BL. Though when I turn to BL for escapism, the realistic portrayals hurt a bit more since I’m reminded of the real-life challenges of being a queer person. In reverse,…
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…
My friend used to talk with other BL fans via forums. When I started liking it, on the internet, I was mostly by myself, liking and reblogging stuff on tumblr, not really interacting with anyone. In real life though I was a member of a Hetalia cosplay community, and when we met we usually talked about Hetalia ships, but I was pretty shy with it at the time, since my OTP was not a big one.
— 27, She/Her, Chile
My first experience was in a Hispanic forum called Foros Dz. There was a section called “Clubes” and for some reason, I got myself in a Kai/Rei (Beyblade) club, thinking that it was a club dedicated to their friendship and to them as characters. I…
My earliest memory is of encountering boyxboy content in a fanfic I didn’t expect, when I was around 12 years old. I don’t remember if the fic was hosted in ff.net or yahoo groups or somewhere else. I didn’t think too much of it back…
The quality of internet overtime made it easier to consume, relate to, and make content for. It’s easier to read on the go, talk about it to friends at the same time, live react, etc. There’s a lot more doujins that have been translated to English and a lot more quality scans. Rather than learning basic Japanese to get by. If people can afford the officially published BL then they should buy it but fan translations also have a lot of work put into them. Also keeping people out because they can’t afford to buy a whole novel is unfair.
— 27, He/Him, New Zealand
My first BL experience is linked to fan work. I was around 8 and I actually through that Oscar from Versailles no Bara was a guy so I thought he/she was a gay couple with André. My first experience with “real BL” was from the…
I don’t participate in many real-life fandom things, although a few of my closest friends are also BL fans. It’s still something that I largely interact with online. The past few years the fandom has gotten stranger as people are more quick to gatekeep, criticize,…
