Okay this is not rlly an unpopular opinion/discussion? Or an new one by any means, but just something that has been on my mind lately, and I wasnt really sure what other tag to put it that would accurately accumulate attention I wanted.
Basically I have enjoyed BL since I was a young teen (13 maybe) and now I am 19(F). But as I get older, the weirder it is to enjoy BL as a whole because a huge bunch of it is written about minors (highschoolers, and sometimes even middleschoolers!). With regular smutless shounen-ai this obv isnt a problem, but as many of you on this site know, the most popular stories have at least some kind of smut in it. Im using this question board to gather and express my thoughts about this and maybe promote a discussion about it?
- My prime example I think of when I think on this topic is the notorious Yaoi "Yarichin Bitch Club". Its such an interesting case, and especially so since its gaining widespread popularity due to tiktok. Even tho it treads on romcom territory its still essentially a porn. Porn about boys who are as old as my younger brother in his second year of highchool. Its gross when I think about it like that, but its true :/ and people who r definitely even older than me wrote it and read it! While Im sure a lot of teenage girls read this stuff, it still is available for anyone to read, and Im 100% positive a large chunk of those people are older than me.
- BUT a weird factor to add into it is that they dont LOOK (or really act) like highschoolers? This is what kinda makes it less unsettling ig, is that the characters really all do look like grown men! And it's a piece of media I wanted to enjoy but I can't get past the fact a majority of these boys are in high school! A lot of this media I want to enjoy but a lot of the characters are straight up like 15 or something.
- The worst part is stories like yarichin WOULD WORK 100% in a college setting! In fact i think yarichin would work like 10x better in a lot of ways if it was in college! They look colleged aged, they would have similar, (if not more) daily freedoms, their overdeveloped sexual habits would make sense! And when I think about it it makes me so frustrated!! But because ppl love to fetishize the fact theyre minors ://// it turned out the way it did, and still garnered enough success for an actual OVA!
- This is supper apparent in Doujins too! As one of the doujins Ive always seen on top 5 is a kiribaku doujin (you prob know the one im talking about) and its really gross when you remember those charas are like 15 :/
The main reason I'm bringing this up is also because no one really talks about it that much on here? Maybe most of you are like 15 and 16 and I'm just yelling to the wrong people but... still, this is a public site for anyone to use...
- And idk what Im trying to get from this, because I've enjoyed these stories (less so now that im older :/) and some of them really do hold a place in my heart. But when you strip everything away all of these kinds of comics are essentially CP (at least here in America)??? But unlike lolicon content they arent really treated that way and im not entirely sure why. And again this is probably masked by the fact in a lot of these stories the highschoolers dont look like highschoolers butttt... they still are explicitly in highschool, very often under 18. But I also don't think the people who enjoy these stories are necessarily bad people either? Until recently BL in highschool was kind of just the norm and a majority of us were and are still teens. IRL Minors arent really harmed from this, but IG im just afraid of the consistent normalization of the sexualization of minors (in all kinds of media). I think if you are consciously getting off on the fact these characters are minors though, you are definitely gross and need help :ppp
Also I'm aware that in Japan yaoi in highschool probs technically isnt CP but even with that cultural difference a lot of ppl in America still enjoy it. Also its still creepy even if it isn't legally/culturally wrong in Japan. I'm not going to put the blame about this on Japan (lol ofc not! wtf) because BL has clear overseas popularity that perpetuates this issue
~One thing I will bring up is how a lot of popular stories in BL Korean manhwa that actually is more often than not about college aged and older characters! And these stories are really good! Thats one thing that keeps me happily reading and hopeful for the future of BL :)))~
Anyways sorry this was so long Im half drunk and needed to ramble abt smth. Hope this gets to someone, I just needed to put out my thoughts on this! ╮(￣▽￣)╭
Also sorry its so long without a solid conclusion. Treat this as kinda a half assed ramble for me to place my thoughts if that bothers you.
THANKS FOR READING IF U DID ヾ(❀╹◡╹)ﾉ~
Basically I have enjoyed BL since I was a young teen (13 maybe) and now I am 19(F). But as I get older, the weirder it is to enjoy BL as a whole because a huge bunch of it is written about minors (highschoolers, and sometimes even middleschoolers!). With regular smutless shounen-ai this obv isnt a problem, but as many of you on this site know, the most popular stories have at least some kind of smut in it. Im using this question board to gather and express my thoughts about this and maybe promote a discussion about it?
- My prime example I think of when I think on this topic is the notorious Yaoi "Yarichin Bitch Club". Its such an interesting case, and especially so since its gaining widespread popularity due to tiktok. Even tho it treads on romcom territory its still essentially a porn. Porn about boys who are as old as my younger brother in his second year of highchool. Its gross when I think about it like that, but its true :/ and people who r definitely even older than me wrote it and read it! While Im sure a lot of teenage girls read this stuff, it still is available for anyone to read, and Im 100% positive a large chunk of those people are older than me.
- BUT a weird factor to add into it is that they dont LOOK (or really act) like highschoolers? This is what kinda makes it less unsettling ig, is that the characters really all do look like grown men! And it's a piece of media I wanted to enjoy but I can't get past the fact a majority of these boys are in high school! A lot of this media I want to enjoy but a lot of the characters are straight up like 15 or something.
- The worst part is stories like yarichin WOULD WORK 100% in a college setting! In fact i think yarichin would work like 10x better in a lot of ways if it was in college! They look colleged aged, they would have similar, (if not more) daily freedoms, their overdeveloped sexual habits would make sense! And when I think about it it makes me so frustrated!! But because ppl love to fetishize the fact theyre minors ://// it turned out the way it did, and still garnered enough success for an actual OVA!
- This is supper apparent in Doujins too! As one of the doujins Ive always seen on top 5 is a kiribaku doujin (you prob know the one im talking about) and its really gross when you remember those charas are like 15 :/
The main reason I'm bringing this up is also because no one really talks about it that much on here? Maybe most of you are like 15 and 16 and I'm just yelling to the wrong people but... still, this is a public site for anyone to use...
- And idk what Im trying to get from this, because I've enjoyed these stories (less so now that im older :/) and some of them really do hold a place in my heart. But when you strip everything away all of these kinds of comics are essentially CP (at least here in America)??? But unlike lolicon content they arent really treated that way and im not entirely sure why. And again this is probably masked by the fact in a lot of these stories the highschoolers dont look like highschoolers butttt... they still are explicitly in highschool, very often under 18. But I also don't think the people who enjoy these stories are necessarily bad people either? Until recently BL in highschool was kind of just the norm and a majority of us were and are still teens. IRL Minors arent really harmed from this, but IG im just afraid of the consistent normalization of the sexualization of minors (in all kinds of media). I think if you are consciously getting off on the fact these characters are minors though, you are definitely gross and need help :ppp
Also I'm aware that in Japan yaoi in highschool probs technically isnt CP but even with that cultural difference a lot of ppl in America still enjoy it. Also its still creepy even if it isn't legally/culturally wrong in Japan. I'm not going to put the blame about this on Japan (lol ofc not! wtf) because BL has clear overseas popularity that perpetuates this issue
~One thing I will bring up is how a lot of popular stories in BL Korean manhwa that actually is more often than not about college aged and older characters! And these stories are really good! Thats one thing that keeps me happily reading and hopeful for the future of BL :)))~
Anyways sorry this was so long Im half drunk and needed to ramble abt smth. Hope this gets to someone, I just needed to put out my thoughts on this! ╮(￣▽￣)╭
Also sorry its so long without a solid conclusion. Treat this as kinda a half assed ramble for me to place my thoughts if that bothers you.
THANKS FOR READING IF U DID ヾ(❀╹◡╹)ﾉ~