It does to a certain sense, but that is mostly the readers fault.
I've seen too many people- some I know personally- like a relationship simply for the fact that it was gay.
From my perspective, gay relationships aren't any different from hetero ones( except for the fact that they face more hurdles along the way, but yaoi mangas don't really focus on being accepted, but that's another discussion entirely) so when I see people fantasize about them purely for the fact that they are both boys, it annoys and vexes me.
The fact that a lot of the younger readers seem to idealize them is also problematic, as it paints their relationship as perfect and dehumanises it.
But yaoi/BL/shounen ai isn't inherently at fault- it just influences easily impressionable people, in most cases, children who have never seen or read about real homosexual relationships.
i can’t really answer your question but one problem i do see a lot with yaoi is the portrayal of the “bottoms”, which suggests that in gay relationships there has to be a “woman” in the relationship, which is unrealistic. Same with the 18+ scenes, a lot of it just isn’t realistic, but I mean what do you expect, its porn. i agree with your points on it, idk if what i said helps at all, those are just my ideas on why it’s so hated in the lgbtq+ community. someone else could probably explain it a lot better and be more correct than i am though
damn you are a smart 13 year old
i completely agree with what you said
I think people need to separate Yaoi and the Lgbt+ community because they are two different things. I think the problem is from people who cant separate fantasy and reality and start shipping real people e.g Larry fans.
Love everyone's replies!! Each point is valid and we have some super smart people here! I think i may repost this exact question in the future to get more of a conversation going not sure tho
Oh it definitely does. Now, were lucky to have authors that acknowledge that gay relationships are actual relationships and work off that but yaoi as a form of manga was started off to be porn for straight women. This article here is a good brief explanation of it all straight forward, though it's not to in depth.
https://scalar.usc.edu/works/embodying-japan-cultures-of-sport-beauty-and-medicine-2017/fetishization-of-gay-men-in-manga
I asked this question to get different opinions and information. I really liked the article! Thank you!
So something has been bothering me ever since it happened. I was reading a Yaoi here on mangago and I get a notification from one of my favorite BL webtoons and I click so fast. After reading I left the comment "i left another yaoi to read this", just a lighthearted funny comment. Then almost instantly, a person replies with "yaoi fetishizes queer relationships. Maybe try BL?" and I was in shock. At first I was just baffled by this comment's stupidity and was about to leave an angry reply back (but that wouldn't make anything better so I just left it). But then if really got me thinking, is Yaoi this terrible thing within the LGBTQ community and I just never knew about it? And sure I'm not going to say that all yaoi has good representation of a healthy gay relationship. Often yaoi contains rape, ridiculous misunderstandings, and other stupid shenanigans, but definitely not all of them are like that. And what does (basically a hentai but gay) fetishize about an ENTIRE community of people. Wouldn't that mean that hentai fetishizes straight relationships? I would really like to know the thoughts from you guys who are most likely yaoi and/or shounen ai (BL) readers yourself. Does Yaoi fetishize queer relationships and how?