Yaoi is a genre created by women for women. Real gay men are honestly rarely involved. Its literal purpose is to sexualize gay couples for the entertainment of girls. Also, traditional yaoi (Japanese manga) can be very toxic in the way it 1) leads to girls fetishizing and dehumanizing male gay couples 2) portraying the bottom as the "woman" and 3) ...... reply
It's a straight woman's perspective of what a gay man is for woman to enjoy and/or get off to. I.e sexualizing gay men from the "female gaze" and not something that accurately represents the majority of gay men. Same way yuri is often a fetishistic view of lesbians for straight men to get off to. There's nothing wrong with this kinda stuff though a...... reply
bl isn't necessarily a fetish for straight girls, but a lot of bl creators and readers do fetishize mlm relationships (especially porn). the people who say bl is purely fetish media are just ignorant, as well as the people that do fetishize it. it's similar to how, as someone else mentioned, lesbians are fetishized by straight men. I guess the idea...... reply
to add to the answers already posted, the female gaze and yaoi can be avoided if you read mlm manga made by actual gay Japanese men; for ex. bara manga is made by men and for the male gay audience. trust me it's alot more refreshing than yaoi's fetishistic qualities. reply
Asking the people who answered, is a normal/plot focused yaoi or a cute Shonen ai also fetishization by women for women? Isn't only porn seen as fetishization? 1 reply
