Text Hickeys June 26, 2006
Posted by Naughty Ninja in Links, Yaoi.trackback
The form, spectacle, and popularity of yaoi (boy and boy love comics) has always been of high debate and controversy. Most experts and pundits can't even settle on a definition, let alone finalize speculations of why the biggest fans of yaoi are heterosexual women. The following two articles supply an introduction to yaoi, and cover various topics at differing depths from entirely different approaches to the subject matter. (All bold emphasis mine)
Mark McLelland attempts to phenomenologically understand the genre in "Why Are Japanese Girls' Comics Full of Boys Bonking?"
These stories about men bonking created by and for women do not trivialise gay life because they are not about 'gay' men. In women's yaoi fiction, homosexual love has been naturalised which is why so many of the stories are situated in futuristic fantasy societies where the political divides over sex and gender issues that polarise contemporary communities are largely redundant.
"Yaoi Ronsō:Discussing Depictions of Male Homosexuality in Japanese Girls' Comics, Gay Comics and Gay Pornography" by Wim Lunsing is a more recent one that's a heavier but rewarding read:
In 1992, Satō Masaki, a gay activist/civil servant/drag queen, harshly attacked yaoi—using the term in a personifying manner: he attacked women who draw and read yaoi—with the phrase: 'yaoi nan tte shinde shimaeba ii' [that yaoi may die]. He did this in the minikomishi [small-scale non-commercial magazine] Choisir, a feminist magazine devoted to the discussion of female sexuality by women. He felt that his human rights as a gay man were harmed by women drawing and enjoying yaoi manga. He compared them to the 'dirty old men' [hentai jijii] who watch pornography including women engaging in sexual activities with each other. In addition, he accused yaoi of creating and having a skewed image of gay men as beautiful and handsome and regarding gay men who do not fit that image and tend to 'hide in the dark' as 'garbage' [gomi]. In addition, he attacked them for creating the 'gay boom', a media wave of interest in gay issues sparked by women's magazine Crea, which, according to him, did nothing for gay men at large.
*Above image taken from the two volumed manga Passion; story by Shinobu Gotoh and art by Shoko Takaku.
Bento Physics 
Man, that Sato Masaki guy sounds so full of himself… XD
I mean, it’s just porn. X_O
It’s like the equivalent of lesbian porn – which, well, no one expects to represent and respect true lesbians. XD
To go as far as saying that “my human rights are damaged”… jeeze…
Nice blog btw, I’ll be following it. =D
Hey Shamdu, I know what you mean. He may have valid points, but that whole thing about the “ideal gay man” doesn’t seem to hold much water, since we only see highly attractive women in manga as well. Sheesh!
Also, great comic btw! I’m enjoying starting all the way from Chapter 1 of “Resonance”. I’ll be following your stuff too. Great to meetcha! 😀
Wow. Apparently no one in ANY fandom can get that ALL human beings have a right to bitch about the way their gender or orientation are portrayed– and that a gay man has every right to bitch about his objectification by anyone that a woman has, to vent, and be upset about it, and express that opinion publically.
And that they have as much a right to be listened to, and their points respected.
Why don’t you turn this around a moment, and think. It’s just porn. It’s just men jacking off to images of women getting raped and dismembered in guro, too. Who cares about anyone’s feelings?
For the record, I draw, enjoy and consume erotica when I am not involved with a partner. I also respect that some people find this offensive, and do no denigrate them for saying so– or fly off the handle immediately when a person has been upset by something they find troubling.
Rubaiyat, that’s absolutely true. In the full article, the author took time to detail the conversation between Satō Masaki and the various women who read yaoi. The exchange was very interesting, and so was the entire article itself.
The reason I decided to link this up here in Bento Physics was because I’ve heard and read so much about women enjoying yaoi, and women/men speculating on yaoi, but not much in terms of what gay men thought about yaoi. So while the first article insists that yaoi is representative of something else entirely (in a more theoretical/metaphorical sense), and supposedly bypasses gay issues; the second article says, “We shouldn’t ignore this viewpoint either, because we ARE portraying gay men”.
If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of opinions have you come across in producing erotica? How do you take care to respect the genders and/or orientation you portray? It’d be nice to discuss the matter with an artist 🙂
Yo Jammi! funny to see you on manga talk! Wooow~ It’s so fun that you have time to observe these things. lol.
Oh, I have an article from a comic journal in the US that spoke about the yaoi genre and why it is popular among girls. This of course tackles the Asian/Japanese sensibilities as this was written by a female writer. I have a copy here at home, if you want me to send you a scan, I’d gladly send it to you. ( although, I’m still looking for it, prolly tomorrow) Nonetheless, the article tackles on why there is an appeal for girls to actually like yaoi. In this article, the writer notes that the reason why women write Yaoi titles is not because of its homosexuality, but rather the aesthetic beauty of two men falling in love. Not just physical aesthetics, but emotionally, it’s quite a delicate thing that not even shoujo titles could tap into.
I actually understand Sato Masaki’s emotions with regards to the bastardization of homosexuality with the coming of Yaoi. For one, Yaoi is not about homosexual lives but rather the fantasy of women that can only be fulfilled by a representation of two women. Hence, it is no different to loli or yuri that could create an entire world of PWP and all that what’s not. Yaoi is NOT about the lives of gay men, yet female readers are lead to believe that this is how they live just because characters in yaoi titles are basically… two guys.
The ONLY thing that perhaps ‘salvages’ the world of Yaoi is how many of the women mangakas still have a grasp of romanticism in their craft (which might still be simple compared to the complex world of homosexuality). Highly pornographic content doesn’t come with simply a PWP track, but writers would sometimes give in to a little more story just to sway the other female readers.
Yaoi is an interesting aspect of shoujo culture. A double edged sword that really is hard to dabble with. It either corrupts you and makes you a fangirl, or it either gives you another lesson about Japanese culture.
sorry… at paragraph three it’s supposed to be “two men”
I started reading yaoi, knowing that it doesn’t have to do with real gay life, or at least that was how I was led to believe by many articles declaring that BL and yaoi are only fantasies about romances between males made by women mangaka for women. But only a few months ago i encountered some friends who happened to be gay in the yaoi fan forum i joined. One of them has come out before he even knew yaoi. I don’t know about the other five. But it seems that not one of them mind about the gay life portrayal in the BL stories, although they do mentioned that they prefer to read yaoi as a porn manga, while yaoi contains more graphic sex rather than BL which concerns more on romance.
I could understand that there are several gay people who felt that yaoi gives a wrong depiction of how gay life is. I noticed that many yaoi/BL manga takes away the truth that this kind of lifestyle is not yet accepted by most community. In some stories, gay life seems to be taken as a normal life, which was actually not true. But nevertheless, one of my friends told that the gay romance in BL is also their fantasy, that is to find the perfect couple and romantic love, as is in heterosexual people. That’s why he like reading BL as well.
However, a little interview i made with several female yaoist (how we call yaoi fans here), tells that most of us rather chose yaoi/BL because we don’t have to share the hero (the bishonen) in the story with a heroine. It was a matter of jealousy to see the perfect man of our fantasy got together with another girl. It would be better to have another guy, then we could have the both of them.
In the end, my words only tell of what I know….
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