I'm going to talk about yaoi now, which may bother some people. So, right at the start, I want to warn you. This blog WILL contain numerous references to homosexuality, although I'll try REALLY hard to refrain from being salacious about it. If any of that bothers you, you might be happier elsewhere. Okay?
Anyway.
So what is yaoi anyway? I'm SO glad you asked. The answer... differs, depending on how picky you want to be. Okay okay, I'll stop prevaricating.
YAOI refers to a genre of Japanese anime/manga that involves two men having sex with each other. Generally there is very little plot, just lots of nudity and fluids.
YURI is just like yaoi, but it involves two women, instead of two men.
SHOUNEN AI or SHONEN AI refers to two men or two boys being romantic towards each other, but there's no sex involved. Mostly kissing, cuddling, and angst. Lots of angst. Also, shounen ai is much more likely to contain a plot.
SHOUJO AI or SHOJO AI is, surprise surprise, just like shounen ai but involves two women or two girls.
(I won't actually be talking much about anything but yaoi, but I wanted to get all that straight.)
So yaoi is gay porn? Er... sort of. The significant difference is that, while Western gay porn is popular with gay men, the fans of yaoi tend to be heterosexual women.
I've noticed that this tends to bother a LOT of men. Some people (who don't think it through too well) assume that if a girl likes yaoi, she must be a lesbian. The illogic behind this baffles me.
After all, millions of heterosexual males admit that they really, really enjoy 'lesbian' porn, and that doesn't make them gay, does it? Far from it. A male friend of mine was trying to explain that particular fixation to me once. Eventually, the explanation he came up with was this:
"See, it's just as arousing as normal porn, but you don't have to put up with some guy in the shots, or worry that you enjoy looking at the naked guy TOO much. Instead, there's a whole extra girl for you to look at! It's, like, two for one!"
That, in essence, is yaoi's appeal to hetero women. Granted, there's a LOT more to it, but that's pretty much what it's ALL based on... two for one and no damn girls. Of course, they're usually also men of unearthly beauty, astonishingly well-drawn... plus, since most yaoi artists are female, they have a very good understanding of what manipulates the female libido. I'll be the first to admit that well-done yaoi pushes my buttons.
(Also, it makes me laugh when guys complain that there's too much yaoi out there, and there needs to be more yuri. There's about ten times as much yuri out there; it's just that most yuri exists in those immense, scary pay hentai sites that litter the Web like cigarette butts, while most yaoi sites are small, fan-run operations created by people you know.)
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Okay, so now that I've discussed that, it's time to make a Counterintuitive But True Statement:
The men portrayed in yaoi are not necessarily gay.
Yes, it's true. This is why people who appreciate yaoi laugh when you complain that 'such-and-so is not gay!'. Because he's not.
Confused? Okay, more terminology.
The SEME is the 'top', if you will. Basically, he's the man in charge of the action. Look for the smirk.
The UKE, then, is the 'bottom', or the guy being taken advantage of. He blushes and screams a lot.
Almost all yaoi is based on a 'master/minion' relationship. It's very seldom that equal couples exist. The uke is usually smaller, younger, prettier and/or angstier. He's also much less likely to be gay.
You see, hardcore yaoi is, at heart, about taking advantage of weakness. (This has always bothered me, frankly. But more about that later.) The seme, at heart, is not gay, but rapacious enough to have sex with anything that he finds reasonably attractive, because seduction is a power trip; the uke is not gay either, but does not have the strength and/or the willpower to resist.
But what about when they are, in fact, assumed to be gay? This proves to be a much kinder form of yaoi, containing a fair bit of shounen ai as well; in these stories, the couple is an actual couple. They love each other, and we just happen to... uh... spy on their activities. Of course, there is still a dominant partner and a submissive partner. This is by far the most popular kind of yaoi, and when girls talk about 'couples', this is what they mean.
Yeah, so I think about this a lot. I've also been known to overanalyze the concept of sugar cookies. I'm just that philosophical. (Any of you buying that?)
Coming soon: part 2, because this is long enough as it is.
Replies: add your comment: currently 3 comments
...yeah, that makes LOADS of sense. If a girl likes to read comics about two GUYS -- the OPPOSITE sex, mind you -- doing the nasty, they're...... lesbians? Well gee, maybe they like it cos they're not turned on by naked, sticky girls!
Yay double standard!
Posted by Ed @ 05/29/2001 12:45 PM EST
I can't say I've ever heard of someone accusing a woman being a lesbian for liking yaoi, or any other variety of male-male porn. If someone did, I would call them a fool, and laugh at them.
This might be because I'm bi, though, and can see the appeal of 2 men... and many of the straight women I've been with have also told me they are fond of it.
In short, I've never been exposed to this strange "if a girl likes looking at guys, she must want to be with girls" viewpoint.
Excuse me while I laugh.
Posted by Lack Thereof @ 05/30/2001 02:01 AM EST
It does sound pretty damn stupid, doesn't it? But I kid you not. I can think of at least two examples off the top of my head (directed at two different girls by two different guys).
I'm pretty sure that they just weren't thinking things through very clearly. But who knows? They could just be stupid. It's been known to happen.
Posted by Mooncalf @ 05/30/2001 02:37 AM EST
