I treated myself to a copy of Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia, edited by James Welker recently and I honestly found it to be really inspiring. Obviously, Boys Love media as such is not terribly interesting to me, but the way fandom creates, interacts with and consumes it, is. While I read the various essays in this book, I found myself having some of my questions answered and new ones forming. As a result, I will (eventually) be making a survey to do some primary research on Yuri fandom and I hope you’ll help me out when it’s done by filling it out. ^_^
In the meantime, I found the various essays in this book really interesting in part for the history of how BL media made inroads in various Asian countries outside Japan (mostly through scanlations,) and how various local fandoms have absorbed and adapted BL concepts to fit their own ideals and circumstances. Additionally, a few of the essays discuss the response to BL from queer fandom (and in a few, the impact queer fandom has had on BL.)
Which is where my brain kind of stuck. There’s a lot of throwing the word “queering” around in regards to BL and this got me thinking. IMHO, there are a number of gaps between 1) media being queered by a straight audience and media being queered by a queer audience or; 2) between queer media and straight media being queered; or 3) by queer media being consumed by straight folks as opposed to queer folks. Fundamentally, it is hard for me to credit the “queering” of straight media by straight people as being “queer” in any meaningful sense. Nonetheless, this appeared to be a commonly held assumption about BL based on this selection of articles. (Of which some of the writers are, I know, to be queer themselves.)
My thoughts as I read these essays often turn to the idea of replacing “BL” with “lesbian porn.” If a writer is making a statement about BL’s inherent queerness that might sound absurd if I replaced it with “lesbian porn,” I question if it could be true. Is straight people creating queerness out of mainstream media “queer?” Is a straight folks imagining lesbian sex between two female movie stars “queer?” Why might one be “queer” and the other not? I have no answers, but I do have a lot of questions. Some of which I will ask James when I interview him for Casa Con this December!
Also interesting for me was the several mentions of misogyny in BL and BL fandom and it’s impact on and relation to local feminisms. I have seen how BL empowered women…and also how some empowered by fandom, turn on other marginalized folks in their communities. Is that changing? Is it worse or better than it used to be? I can answer that a little for Yuri, but not for BL.
Lastly, there were some tidbits of research subjects talking about how BL helped them either empathize with gay issues, or find their own queer identities and that interested me a lot, so that’s probably where I’m going to be focusing my research. How has Yuri made an impact on fans’ identities and sympathies? Let’s find out!
Overall, I found this book to be a fun and interesting read. Few of the articles were bogged down in over-dense language. I was especially interested in the section on China as mostly everyone can see that danmei is already the next big cultural export from China…even as it’s not apparently acceptable by their own media laws.
Ratings:
Overall – 9
If you’d like to understand how fandom studies look from the inside, or are interested in BL and/or queer media studies, I highly recommend Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia. It got me thinking – I look forward to seeing what comes out of this thought and I hope you do, too. ^_^
I feel that theirs a significant difference in BL and lesbian porn. In that BL at least currently has a large LGBT following. There are studies that gay and bi men make up atleast half of BL’s readership. And that many of the women that are bisexual or lesbian.
On whether BL fandom has changed. From my experience in the 2000’s I observed quite a few people with very questionable attitudes towards queer people in the fandom. But nowadays almost everyone I know in the BL fandom is queer.
I know a lot of LGBT people that came to accept their identity because of media like BL and Yuri, myself included. And I think because media that has queer themes but isn’t explicitly queer. Creates a sort of safe space for queer people that are questioning or closeted. The fact that the reader isn’t the same gender as the characters. Helps prevent the reader from accidentally outing themselves. While the idealized depictions of romance helps alleviate worries about persecution over your sexuality.
It’s like dipping your toe in a pool of water before diving in.
Good point. Seeing someone(s) who are like you is so important, which is why diversity in media is so critical
Yeah. Back when I was younger. I was in extreme denial of my sexuality. Every time I experienced attraction to a women I would invent rationalizations for why I my feelings weren’t real.
Reading BL and Yuri helped me come to terms with my sexuality. Because it helped me realize that there were positive aspects to being queer. That it wasn’t just being hated and ostracized for being different. But it also meant being able to find love and happiness with my own gender. Because of this realization I went from seeing my sexuality as a hindrance. To viewing it as something to be proud of.