can you fetishize BL without fetishizing gay people?
Hi there, this is OhLookAQueer. I'm not here for satire, this is a discussion that i'm actually really interested in seeing the results of.
What I'm wondering is if it is possible to fetishize BL without fetishing real life gay people in addition to the LGBT community.
If this seems too long, then just go down into the comments and say what you think about the subject.
However, if you'd like some more insight into what i'm saying, feel free to read the rest of this.
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I've seen a lot of people going against BL fans and BL because they accuse it of fetishizing gay people. While I do think that it is doing that (and BL isn't the only thing we can point at; most mainstream hentai fetishizes women and lesbians too), that's not the issue that I'm going to be debating.
Let me explain.
Let's take an example of a parallel: Girl-on-girl hentai aimed at straight men. If you look at the people reading them, the reason why they're reading them is not because they're "lesbians"; it's because they find 2 naked women having sex as arousing, because they're straight men who are attracted to women. However, there are also people that take that attraction to another level and start to see lesbians as a whole as arousing, even outside of their erotica.
I'd say that these are two groups of people that are similar, but have different ways of thinking.
If you ask people that read BL why they read it, there's 3 catagories: people that just want to see hot guys, people that like the relationships, and people that are looking at it purely because it is gay.
In the case of people that "fetishize" it, you could say that there are ALSO 3 catagories:
-People who are fetishizing the characters because they're male
-People who are "fetishizing" the emotional interactions and feelings of the characters. (not sure who would do this, but you could count people that "fetishize" trauma and stuff)
-People who are fetishizing the idea and concept of homosexuality as a whole.
The first 2 catagories don't really count as fetishizing gay people, because the fetish isn't focused on the fact that they are gay.
The last catagory is the main example that I think would count as fetishizing gay people.
Now, this within itself can potentially be harmful, but in all seriousness most "fetishes" don't end up effecting people; most people keep them to themselves. If you do fetishize gay people solely for the fact that they are gay, while it is concerning and does raise some issues that you might need to work out on your own, as long as it remains within your own life and doesn't effect others, it isn't a very pressing issue.
The MAIN issue are those people who fetishize gay people on the basis of their homosexuality and go out of their way to effect others.
THESE are the people that are the issue. The people that obsess over gay people and force their interests upon anyone. Those that see gay people as objects and expect them to have amazing sexual experiences. Those that expect all gay people to be like their BLs.
In the other cases that I have stated (i.e. fetishizing men and "fetishizing" romantic and sexual relationships), most outward behaviors that could occur wouldn't impact and objectify the LGBT community. It's still not GOOD to let any of your fetishes effect other people, but it's not the issue that we're trying to stop.
Hence, I believe that it is possible to fetishize certain aspects of BL without fetishizing the LGBT community and its concepts. However, this is all purely hypothetical, and everything i've stated is from my observatipns only.
Has anyone else had any experiences that support or disprove my claims? Let me know, I'm really interested in seeing how this discussion goes.
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so yeah anyways hope you have a nice day i'm gonna go eat a sandwich-