So... reading hetero romance is also fetishization? ╮(￣▽￣)╭
I think yaoi is considered bad because it fetishizes gay relationships by displaying only very graphic and detailed sex which y'know, isn't the main point of a romantic relationship. But there are a lot of very good gay manga or manhwa that doesn't do that, displaying healthy relationships and good character development. They're called BLs. I think that is why people consider yaoi problematic, and BLs as good. Some people say yaoi and bl is the same thing tho, so idk.
It is obviously not the best representation for gay men, but man am i tired of people saying that i fetishize gay men just cause i read BL. To me people who fetishize gay men are people who do not support real lgbt members and still read BL cause it's 'hot' and 'special' or sumthing. The peeps who go "UwU OwO gay men~"...? Ya know what i mean? Now is all yaoi bad? It depends on how you see the work as honestly. Yaoi is just a work of fiction with fictional characters. Reality is real humans with emotions, who do not live for a persons approval. Hope this clears some of the doubt. If ya still have questions you can ask! :)
Porn in general is fetishizing things, and like 99% of it is fake. it'd actually be kinda weird if yaoi wasn't fetishizing gay relationships. Yaoi fetishizes mlm, yuri fetishizes wlw, hentai fetishizes women, along with irl porn. As long as we understand that it's not real and that everything is heavily exaggerated AND NOT SEE IRL GAY MEN AS UWU GAYBIES, then it's fine. It doesn't mean you're a bad person or anything.
I think that what matters is that we understand that yaoi does not reflect irl gay relationships. The things we see in yaoi, especially the saucy ones, are greatly exaggerated for the reader's entertainment. It's usually the readers who think that yaoi is a reflection of irl gay relationships who ruin the fun for the rest of us.
Thank you all for the replies it's enlightened me quite a bit
Is all yaoi Bad and why cuz I was on tiktok and a girl said it's all bad because it's all fetishization but I don't really get it. Detailed explanations only