SEXTANT - Sexualities, Masculinities & Decolonialities - Vol 1 - Issue 1

Aug 20, 2026

This paper examines the Japanese BL/yaoi genre and its straight-identifying male audience. While BL/yaoi is largely written and consumed by women, research has mostly overlooked heterosexual men and their reasons for engaging with content that frequently depicts sexual gay relationships. The study introduces key terminology and genre history, then investigates motivations, how identifying as a straight fudanshi can be problematic, and how it may also challenge hegemonic masculinity. It concludes by analyzing the yaoi ronsō debate and its criticism.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Boys’ love and yaoi: definitions and history

Masculinity, gender norms, and straight fudanshi

Motivating factors for straight identifying fudanshi to consume BL/yaoi

SEXTANT-Sexualities, Masculin ities & Decolonialities Hendrika M . K . Y . ter Keurst1 University College Dublin SEXTANT–Sexualities, Masculinities & Decolonialities 2023, Vol. 1(1) 64-69 © The Author(s) 2023 UCD School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice University College Dublin Abstract This paper will examine the Japanese genre BL/yaoi and its straight-identifying male audience. Since BL/yaoi is mainly written by and for women, most research is focused on women, leaving its male audience-specifically its heterosexual male audience-neglected. This paper will therefore focus on its straight-identifying male audience. To begin, the paper presents the relevant terminology and briefly examines BL/yaoi’s history. Following this, I investigate potential reasons why heterosexual men engage with BL/yaoi content, which display gay relationships that are often sexual in nature. I also explore how identifying as a straight fudanshi can be perceived as problematic, while also challenging hegemonic masculinity and gender and sexual norms. Lastly, I explore theyaoi ronsō and how this debate brings up some concerns and criticism about BL/yaoi. This debate shows both sides of the argument and their reasons for liking or disliking BL/yaoi. Key words Boys’ love; Yaoi; Sexuality; Japan 1 Corresponding Author: ter Keurst, Hendrika Ma Ke Yun Email: [sterkeurst@hotmail.com](sterkeurst@hotmail.com) SEXTANT – Sexualities, Masculinities & Decolonialities Vol 1, Issue 1 Introduction Since the internet was invented, it has become widely used by people all around the world. This has made it substantially easier to obtain information about things that were happening on the other side of the world. This is also how boys’ love (BL/shōnen ai), something hugely popular in Japanese entertainment, could become such a big phenomenon in the West. Boys’ love is a genre of anime, manga, games, dramas, dōjinshi, etc. that focuses on male same-sex relationships, mostly directed by, and for, women (Zanghellini, 2009) . It started in the 1970s, when it was referred to in Japan as bishōnen, literally meaning “beautiful boys”. Later, around the 1990s, the term bōizu rabu (boys’ love) was coined and it is still widely used to this day in Japan and in the West (Mizoguchi, 2003) . While BL (bīeru) focuses mainly on the romantic side of this relationship, something called yaoi focuses on the sexual side of this relationship (Zsila, et al., 2018) . The term yaoi originated in the 1970s, and was used to refer to dōjinshi (self-published works) of amateur artists that made parodies of already existing anime or manga characters, depicting them in sexual ways without any regard to character development or story. This is very fitting, since the term yaoi can be broken down into yama nashi, ochinashi, imi nashi which roughly means “no climax, no plot, no meaning”(Mizoguchi, 2003; Olsen, 2022) . The term yaoi is also still used, with yaoi and BL sometimes being used interchangeably, although most fans do distinguish between the two in the way I just described. This is also how I will use these two terms when it is relevant to distinguish between the two. BL/yaoi depicts its male characters in a more feminine way, thereby challenging how society normally perceives masculinity and gender and sexual norms. They specifically challenge hegemonic masculinity by portraying subordinated masculinity in their characters through defying sexual and gender norms. This could explain why even men might enjoy consuming BL/yaoi content, even though this media is made by and for women. Naigake (2018) talks about fudanshi (“rotten boy”) and how their reasons for consuming and liking BL/yaoi are in line with this view of challenging hegemonic masculinity and gender and sexual norms. She mainly talks about fudanshi that identify as straight which is unexpected because BL/yaoi depict male same-sex relationships. Research on BL/yaoi in regards to its f

FAQs

Why does this paper focus on straight-identifying male audiences for BL/yaoi?

Most research on BL/yaoi centers on women because the genre is mainly written by and for women. This leaves heterosexual men—especially straight-identified fudanshi—largely neglected.

How does the paper describe the difference between BL and yaoi?

BL emphasizes the romantic side of male same-sex relationships, while yaoi centers on the sexual side of the relationship.

What does the paper say about motivations for straight fudanshi to consume BL/yaoi?

Research results highlighted factors such as sexual titillation, art and aesthetics, female-oriented romance/erotic appeal, and identification/self-analysis, with straight participants showing a stronger preference for sexual and aesthetic aspects over pro-gay messaging.

Aug 20, 2026

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