Furthermore, most studies on yaoi and BL's cross-cultural appropriations to date are mainly focused on the United States, Australia, Europe and East Asia.
The use, interpretation, function and experiences of yaoi are all inextricable from its various audiences and their contexts, as they struggle to make sense of themselves and the world from their specific socio-historical positions. Explanations on the Japanese case may not necessarily hold true for its overseas fans, for the expression, reception and interpretation of any story or cultural text vary depending on its context and medium. However, despite its growing international fan community, these genres' draw and significance for non-Japanese audiences remain to be thoroughly discussed. The creation and/or consumption of romance between beautiful boys is one way Japanese women explore and negotiate the expression of female sexual desires within the values of a patriarchal society, whether be it in a manner complicit or resistant to the current gender and sexual order (Kaneda 2007). Japanese literary critics and scholars assert that as an aesthetic expression, yaoi and BL were developed as a reaction to Japan's patriarchal restrictions on women's sexuality. Rather than a gay genre, as most people would readily assume, yaoi and BL were developed by women, and to this day continues to be produced primarily for and by heterosexual women. First, they have a largely female heterosexual authorship and audience. Two particular characteristics make yaoi and BL particularly noteworthy genres.
#WHAT IS YAOI SERIES#
anime, live action drama series and movies) or text form (e.g. On the other hand, "BL" generally refers to original and oftentimes commercially-produced stories that can either be in visual (e.g. Fan writers use this strong connection as a basis for reinterpreting them as indulging in a homoerotic relationship. However, yaoi stories highlight two male characters that are not originally involved with each other romantically, but somehow share a strong bond (e.g. Fan artists and writers, in general, appropriate characters and settings from original mainstream works and imagine alternative scenes or reinterpretations of the official story. In the Japanese context, "yaoi" refers to fan-produced parodies or adaptations of original visual or text-based fiction, many of them taking the form of self-published amateur parody manga ( yaoi dōjinshi) or novels. There is still much debate within the fan community as to the precise definitions of these terms, but the main difference seems to be based on the question of original authorship. These are umbrella terms often used interchangeably to refer to romantic genres of manga, animation and text-based fiction, such as short stories and novels, whose storylines revolve mainly around love relationships between beautiful boys or bishōnen. Yaoi and Boys' Love (BL) are considered as some of the most curious Japanese popular culture genres. Keywords: Yaoi, Boys Love, globalisation of Japanese fan practices, women's sexuality, LGBT issues. However, differences in socio-cultural contexts result to differences in fan reception and production, namely: (1) a ready identification of yaoi and BL with issues of homosexuality, (2) sympathy towards LGBT social condition and causes, (3) the idealisation of male homoerotic relationships as a more intense kind of "ultimate love," and (4) the imagination and longing for a "Yaoi and BL Japan."
Using data from key informant interviews, participant observation in yaoi and BL fan activities in Manila, and Filipino fan fiction analysis, I argue that due to similar experiences of patriarchy in Japan and the Philippines, yaoi and BL act as alternative erotic media that help fans realise their sexual subjectivity and agency. This article explores the ways cross-cultural appropriations of Japanese popular culture genres create new sites of conflict, tools for resistance and facilitate imaginations of contemporary Japanese society, using an ethnographic account of Filipino Yaoi and Boys Love (BL) fan practices as a case study.
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