What is -Yaoi-? a.k.a. Boy Love

Deann, who has gone and gotten herself a really beautiful new site [ check it out: TV Goddess ], wanted to know what "yaoi" is.

I am not too sure if it will be something of interest to her (though I cannot possibly imagine why not, but I will explain it regardless, because she is a great gal and it will be my site-warming present to her...tee hee.

Plus, I figure since I talk about it a lot and if people come across my blog, I guess it would be nice to know what the hell I am talking about, right!?

Right.

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WARNING WARNING WARNING !!!

[ I can go on and on about this stuff, but I will try and hold myself together. ]

/end warning
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Ok, onto the good stuff.

According to Wikipedia.com,

"The word Yaoi (pronounced "Yah-oh-ee") was originally used to refer to fan manga (such as doujinshi) that focused on homosexual relationships between male characters, especially two bishōnen - the manga equivalent of slash."

Now, what is bishonen, you may ask?

Well, bishonen is the japanese term for "pretty boys" or "hot-pieces-of-ass", as I like to call them. (see below)

Ex. 1 of Hot-Piece-of-Ass




Continuing on...

"The term is an acronym derived from the Japanese phrase ( yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi ), meaning "no climax, no punch line, no meaning." Its target audience, readership and creators are mostly young to middle-age women, with men of the same age comprising most of the rest. The generally accepted theory as to the cause of its popularity among women is that heterosexual women find male-male relationships erotic, as much as some men consider lesbian relationships appealing, and that while gay and bisexual men do have just as large an interest, there are simply fewer of them in the world than there are women.

The attraction is often focused on the romantic situations more than the actual homosexuality and homoeroticism."

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[ Read more of Wikipedia.com's definition here. ]
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While, I agree with a lot of Wikipedia's scriptures on the whole thing, I just want to give my point a view on it and why I find it so interesting.

For me, it's all about the thin lines between male and male sex/interaction/love/whatever. Kind of like how society puts the make on who we should love, how men deal with it, how women deal with it and the psychological nature of it all.

Never mind the fact that I find it very erotic, I think raising awareness in everyone on the subject can make the concept of homosexual relationships a bit easier for some people to digest, rather than just sucking it up to be "disgusting" since we are all just human.

The public on the whole, seem to deal with two women getting together than two men, and that's a bit unfair, considering men have a lot they have to deal with as the "masculine" gender of our species, the breadwinner, the stoic male front that they [usually] have to deal with.

I am simply fascinated with the male form in every capacity, so it's only natural I may be swayed towards this genre...*shrugs*, who knows, I could just be a big 'ol pervert, but I have never denied that either.

Yaoi is not for everyone. But, I have found that even some men who swear they would never look at a man in the light of sensuality, have found some semblance of eroticism in yaoi or boy love (BL) manga.

I cannot stress enough to some poor boy who might think he is gay just because he finds another man attractive that it's ok if you do. So, what?

Be open-minded, live your life, forget everything else. Beauty is to be admired.

I have nothing against the real thing either (since manga is obviously all illustration). Those Ambercrombie models have tons of bishonen qualities going for them.



*dies*

I hope this long ass posting answers some questions on what is yaoi, but if you perhaps do not find it even remotely interesting, that's your opinion, and I would appreciate if no negative responses were left on the site in regards to my preferences.

^_^