I actually never given it much thought but you are fully completely right, thank u for your consideration
I don’t agree really, There is a great character variation in yaoi, tha Includes preferences and types; I find it refreshing that not everything is Bara
WE DO NOT CARE
That couldn’t be more wrong it depends what you’re looking for if you’re looking for a buff uke you’ll find it, yaoi used to be obvious gender roles but now the art is more diverse
Exactly it’s not that deep
Think the point people are getting it, is how unprogressive yaoi is when it tries to subvert gender norms. The character can't just have "long hair", he needs to physically look feminine and be mostly likely the "uke". Uke and seme stereotypes are homophobic af in yaoi, and rarely do you ever see a "cross dressing" "short" or "feminine" character who is the "seme".... uke- replacement woman. Authors do manage to create characters with long hair who don't look like a josei heroine... look at Alessandro from The devil's temptation, or the ML in "Dark eyes". Yamashita Tomoko usually has her cross dressing characters being the one to "top" but as said this is a rarity in a genre that projects heteronormality onto gay relationship.
Don't bring up kpop please, kpop beauty standards are not universal or even attractive to everyone in Korea... goodness knows the amount of webtoons on here that poke fun at how male idols dress up.