Looking back, I think I really liked these stories as well because sex itself was such a taboo subject in my childhood (so….repression lol). I had this mental image that it was something that was “taken” from you (you “took” someone’s virginity etc.) — rather than something that’s more of an experience that’s shared.
I understand consent and there’s actually never been an instance in real life when that’s been a problem, but what I consume has always had underlying ethics that would be questionable to a less informed/educated audience. This is what I always just remind myself when I see people who criticize the presence of questionable elements, especially in Eastern media.
Something I think needs to be contextualized with this manhwa is that the original novel was published in 2006 when the world of BL was a wild, wild west of stories.
The genre itself was pretty taboo and freaky to a general audience at that time and so adding to the publish date (the questionable things that came out back then), there wasn’t the same filter of morality being projected toward it. Most BL stories back then were more short stories oriented around kinks & sex tropes, with a rare few having actual plot.
I remember stories with rape being big when I was more actively consuming it in the 2010s. There are deeper psychological and cultural factors that contribute to this kind of media being arousing, and I kind of feel bad for people who are shamed for enjoying reading something like this because oftentimes, the reaction is triggered by repression or trauma. There’s also the nuance that some people consume stories for the sake of storytelling and not as a mirror for ethics. Anyway, went into a tangent — just wanted to share that author wrote this in 2006 damn…..