Yaoi

[talktooloose]

What is the meaning of making overt and graphic sexuality cute? Does it mean that society is finding sexuality itself less threatening? Or is it an attempt to take the hairy sweaty reality of sex and make it feel safer by putting it into the world of Disney kids cartoons? Much of what I write below could probably extend to the fur world, but I don't know much about that world.

I've joined yaoi_daily to see manga homosexuality and there are at least there distinct streams of depiction: The first is men as men who find themselves suddenly attracted to or in a relationship with another man unexpectedly (including historical war dramas and a prison drama called UGH). The second is pretty, androgynous young men either falling for each other or for a manly man. These latter follow the classic pattern of the romance novel with the young man being a blond, willowy bottom who finds himself drawn to the dark, strong, sexually aggressive top. The third is little pubescent sexual dramas drawn cute style but with hard-ons. Or else little pubescent-looking smooth demons with hard-on.

I find this third stream very odd personally but I'm interested in the teenage girls who are very drawn to it. It's interesting that for them, the world of KYOOOOOT (Hello Kitty style) gets extended to a world of ass-humping and ejaculation.

In evidence in all three is the relative Japanese comfort with bodily fluids. Cum, sweat and tears practically drench each page even when penises are artistically blurred out.

I rented the anime Level C and it falls into the second of my three categories with the very feminized, blond 19 year old fashion model boy learning about man/man love from an older, black-haired lothario. The sex is explicit, but the penises are transparent! They drip with pre-cum and cum that clearly outlines them but they are themselves invisible. It's a funny kind of delicacy in scenes where the lothario jacks off the young man and then licks the cum off his hands and spreads it to the boy's ass.

Interestingly, I find little or none of this to be stroke material and instead find myself fascinated and grateful to actually see male/male love depicted in comics. Not surprisingly, I find the ones that are actually about men in love and lust to be more interesting than the ones that seem to be coded het-love with a twist -- perhaps designed for teenage girls who aren't yet ready to imagine their own legs opening to the lothario and need a feminized male substitute to take the plunge for them.

Comments

[untoward.livejournal.com]

those fuckers take their shit seriously. the rules are hilarious.

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

"Nudity, sexual activity, fluids"

Thinking with yr wrong head

[yoella.livejournal.com]

Both sex and the Japanese are weird. End of story.

Re: Thinking with yr wrong head

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

With wasabi on top!

[painglass.livejournal.com]

perhaps designed for teenage girls who aren't yet ready to imagine their own legs opening to the lothario and need a feminized male substitute to take the plunge for them.

This is am appt observation. I wonder what poles results would show if 1000 young people who watched these were questioned about this.

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

The observation is not originally mine I think, but having expressed it in my own words, I'm pretty sure it represents some version of the truth for some people 19 times out of 20.

[to-cry-about.livejournal.com]

I find yaoi creepy myself. There's some sort of objectification going on, some sort of "Other-ing" process, that makes me uncomfortable.

I've also known more than one yaoi-enthusiast, and they often exhibit the same attitudes right in front of you. "OMG YOU'RE MY GAY FRIEND RAINBOWZ FOREVAR!!" Making kind of inappropriate sexual jokes, bringing up your sexuality all the time. With one friend it actually came to touching, and then vehement denials that she was (a) gay, and (b) doing anything wrong.

It really is a fetish, not just a fandom thing.

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

I find yaoi creepy myself. There's some sort of objectification going on, some sort of "Other-ing" process, that makes me uncomfortable.

I don't see the genre as so uniform. There are exploitative tales and non-consensual tales and there are tales of real love and support. I just finished reading Maki Muikami's 12 volume music biz gay romance, Gravitation and while the central relationship was wildly unhealthy for a lot of the manga, the two men ended up really helping each other to find something true. There is the potential for other-ing and objectification any time you tell a tale... or anytime you meet an actual person, for that matter. For me, it's a question of whether you take the time to go deeper following the initial objectifying.

I don't really give a rat's ass about Yaoi fans and their community anymore than I do about fanfickers; I'm not a community kind of guy. I have affinities with certain people and therefore it's not surprising that I have more fic friends (or Rheos fan friends) than rugby player friends or day-trader friends; but the fact that some supposed "average" yaoist is creepy is neither here nor there for me. I read both fic and yaoi when and if it interests me.

This kind of disloyalty to community makes me unsympathetic to some people; I am aware of this.

[jodyd.livejournal.com]

i've somehow come across your journal. i could probably trace it, but i'm not very inclined to do so. ;-)

anyway, i like your journal. i'm adding you. i hope you dont mind. feel free to add me back, or dont.

i bid you a wonderful weekend.