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absolutebl · 10 months

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Hi!

I love your Blog and love to read your takes in everything. So thank you so much for all your Posts and thoughts about the industry etc.

Here is my question: i came across one of your posts where you wrote "actually gay, not bl gay" (it was a Post about Jojo and Only Friends) and while I FELT that I TOTALLY understood what you meant and instantly was like "yes 100% clear" Id love to read and learn more about what this means exactly and why some bls feel quite heteronormative while some dont. Would you mind explain the take on "actually gay Not Bl gay" a little bit? And why some Shows feel just more queer than others (besides the unbelievable stupid "gay only for you" trope lol)

Thank you so much and I hope you will have a nice day!

actually gay, not bl gay

There's actually quite a discourse on this right now mostly originating with @waitmyturtles and @wen-kexing-apologist (Post @killiru references above is here.)

I tend to mostly talk about this in broad brush strokes as a queer lens.

But there's a great ven diagram (which of course I've lost the link to) that approaches the idea of and queer lens by tunneling into its approach and intent:

about queers

by queers

for queers

How do different BLs intersect in different ways with these three elements?

When I said "actually gay, not BL gay" I was alluding to this discourse. Specifically the "about queers" category of BL.

There are characters in BL who read as genuinely gay (as in belonging to the queer family of this terrible reality we live in) and then there are those that seem more performative (to exist in a bubble of fantasy were sexual identity is almost unimportant, only the romance matters, everything is safe sweetness & light). For some queers this can read as manipulative or even exploitive (because it is inauthentic to most queer experiences). For me, it's fine... even desirable. I like the safe bubble. I enjoy the utter delusional escapism of it. Sometimes I will call this sanitized gay. (Since it is designed to make gay palatable to non-gay identified folks e.g. seme/uke.)

A sanitized gay BL may be unintentional but it is nested in origin yaoi and mm romance whose target market has never been the queer community, and whose authors have historically not been members of it, either.

Let's be frank, we queers are generally a terrible target market, we don't have enough spending power - especially not for a piece of pop culture as niched as BL. And as creators we really want our voices to be heard (obvs), which makes us produce content that those unsympathetic or uncaring find uncomfortable. (Yes, I know, fuck them, but also, they have all the money and the entertainment industry is a numbers game.)

So in the arena of office romances, just as an example:

actually gay = The New Employee

sanitized gay = Our Dating Sim

actual gay = Step By Step

sanitized gay = A Boss And a Babe

All of the above have the same tropes, archetypes, and premises. All of them are BL. Some are just... queerer feeling than others. And the characters in those shows (Step by Step and The New Employee) read as more "actually gay."

This has nothing to do with the actors, chemsitry, or how much we may personally like the show (Our Dating Sim is one of my absolute favorite BLs). It has to do with how closely those CHARACTERS intersect with the reality of queerness as we inhabit it today. It will be lots of little touches given to the drama by director and script:

language use,

surrounding friendships (and friendship style),

mannerisms and physicality (specially body language around straights vs other queer characters),

makeup & wardrobe,

facial expressions,

surrounding queer-coded behaviors by side characters,

layers of story nuance that indicate a complicated queer-driven back story.

Markers of specifically a queer identity are given to the leads.

These kinds of BLs are satisfying the "about queers" category. ("By queers" can be difficult to extract because IRL outting is involved. "For queers" is the rarest kind of BL, because making something specifically for us often alienates the majority of the rest of viewership/market. I could be argued that SCOY did this.)

I'm sure I've missed things, but I hope that kinda makes sense?

By/For/About discourse from @wen-kexing-apologist here:

Parts 1

Part 2

Part 3

I'm indebted to them for the links!

More Queer Stuff from Yours Truly

BL Linguistics & Queer Identity - I Am Gay versus I Like Men

Will BL Get More Honestly Queer?

Queer lens (from the director) and chemistry (from the actors) in BL (A Tale of Thousand Stars)

Touch & Daisy in Secret Crush On You - Queer Coded Language and 3rd Gender Identity

BL in Taiwan & Gay Marriage

Debating Queerbaiting in BL ( + Devil Judge... is it queerbaiting?)

BL Actors and the Assumption of Queerness - outing actors, coming out, being out, more: Is that BL actor actually queer?

So is it really fetishization? straight women loving bl

Some BL fans are sasaengs, and it’s a problem in this fandom

BLs That Highlight How Society Treats Queers

10 BLs That Are Honest to a Queer Experience

(source)

#asked and answered #bl and queer identity #intersection between BL and queer stories #about queers by queers for queers #thai bl #korean bl #the new employee #step by step the series #actually gay #not bl gay #actually gay not bl gay #BL university

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emtrobarasalaplatja2 · 8 months

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#ja bu #st sc #bl sc #boys in bed #men kissing #gay hot

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angstydiaz · 10 months

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can i just say the weird standard people try and hold queer romcoms(and queer media but) in general is so weird

its always "its too juvenile" and "its too wholesome" but then its "this is too sexualised" and apparently queer ppl having sex scenes is automatically "fetishizing". Always "too corny" "too angsty" and dont get me started on people who act like something has to be bad representation just because they didn't like it

"its cringey" it is a fucking romcom bro. like half of the appeal of a romcom is the kinda cringey fun of it all . not your thing? fine go watch something that is,not being the audience for something is fine but god stop acting like one romcom is gonna dismantle the movement for queer rights.

#Since this keeps getting notes pls read:it's not about NOT judging queer media #also but im a cheerleader did not be the campiest lil 90s movie ever FOR SOME OF YOU TO ACT LIKE YOURE BETTER THAN A ROMCOM.#red white and royal blue #crush(2022)#heartstopper #bottoms movie #lgbtq+#gay #lesbian #lgbtq media #first kill #willow 2022 #yellowjackets #WLW ESPECIALLY #but yeah #posts of mine i like #bottoms 2023 #thai bl

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rythyme · 5 months

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"please tell me the omegaverse show is another joke like the thai goncharov remake" my brother in christ the "goncharov remake" was real too

#something something cassandra of troy #pit babe the series #pit babe #omegaverse #goncharov #kinnporsche #lgbt drama #thai drama #god that's a lot of improbably related tags #pbts #100 #theo.txt #this is not unreality btw. the only thing that's unreality is goncharov.#the ''goncharov remake'' is referring to a thai bl show that truly does exist #(but is not actually a remake of goncharov bc goncharov is not real)#it just happens to be about gay mobsters so ppl drew the parallels #500 #1k

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live-from-flaturn · 1 year

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American Television after 5 years of pushing for queer representation: I hope you wanted unnecessary drama, angst with a maybe resolution, and three unfulfilling seasons of questionably written flirtation. And that all comes before anything is half-confirmed with a singular lukewarm kissing scene between two conventionally attractive, white bisexual women!

Thai Television .3 seconds after they figured out queer content is marketable: Did you want something kinky, soft, or stupid? Did you want cat ears? We’ve got cat ears! We’ve got safe/sane/consensual OR off-the-charts bad etiquette BDSM. We’ve got college students out the ass! As long as they’re an engineer or architect, choose your flavor. Do you want an age gap or classmates? Something for adults? Teens? Everyone was childhood besties, how about that??? This is a short order restaurant and I will flip you some gays like they’re hotcakes, just tell me what you want.

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dykealloy · 17 days

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“we sent yuan away so his feelings could subside” you sent him to gay rizz bootcamp is what you did

#watching this as it airs week to week is torture but it also means more free time to be generate shitposts and be unwell #i like to think that the new york gays welcomed him with open arms #'oh he learned about the 21-day habit theory at college' that man majored in IT or game design.#if he studied psychology he would know that theory is a busted myth #the queer club on the other hand was just throwing ideas at him left and right #mutuals feel free to ignore this one #unknown 2024 #unknown the series #taiwanese bl #CJ's edits

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heretherebedork · 1 month

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The hands that grasp and love and cling and need.

#love is better the second time around #japanese bl #iwanaga x miyata #koi wo suru nidome ga joto #asianlgbtqdramas #asian lgbtq dramas #bl drama #bl series #jbl #japanese bl drama #japanese series #japanese bl series #japanese drama #hands hands hands #hands are for the gays

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apathetic-microwave · 3 months

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They make me cry

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leedongwook · 8 months

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“Stay away from him, if you don't want to hurt him."

Kiseki: Dear to me 奇蹟 // Episode 1

#kiseki: dear to me #kiseki dear to me #taiwan bl #taiwan drama #taiwanese bl #taiwanese drama #taiwandramaedit #dramasource #gay romance #boy love #bl series #Chen Yi #Nat Chen #Jiang Dain #Ai Di #haleyskisekideartome #mone #my gifs

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absolutebl · 10 months

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BLs to Recommend to Your Queer Friend

I put these in each bracket in levels of accessibility, as in “how easy I think they are for a non-BLer to enter into” without explanations of genre needed.