The Problem with BL

Content warnings: mentions of sexual abuse, rape, bullying

I was first introduced to Boys’ Love stories in my senior year of high school. I was looking through dramas to watch and I stumbled upon a Thai drama called “Make It Right.” The plot sounded interesting, so I clicked to watch the first episode. Within the first five minutes, the main character Fuse, who was heavily drunk, drops his keys and along comes Tee, a friend whom he hasn't seen in a while bends down to grab it the same time he does. The two characters touch fingers and look into each other's eyes. I was hooked.

BL is a somewhat controversial genre as it depicts romantic relationships between men. It was first introduced in the 1980s and was created mainly for teenage girls. The usual role of a gay man in a show is to be a side character that doesn’t contribute too much to the plot besides being the “gay best friend.” They are mostly shown to be overly feminine and a comic relief. So when a show comes out that actually focuses on their lives, it suddenly becomes interesting and exciting. BL has become immensely popular in Asian countries especially Thailand and Taiwan. Thailand has been producing BL shows since before 2011 but it did not fully blossom and garner its fan base until 2014. Japan also has yaoi, the anime and manga form of BL. Yaoi has been around for much longer than live action BL as it is easier to produce and would get into much controversy.

Though BL had come under attack for depicting men-loving-men relationships, not all of the criticism is rooted in homophobia. BL’s problem isn’t what lies between its harmful and portrayal of gay men or its fans receiving unfair critism because it was made for women (women are always unfairly criticized). It is not because of homophobia or the lack of representation in the genre. BL’s problem is how it was created. Since it was made for women and not solely for representation, the way they have been structured to portray love stories of men is the main problem.

“The ones I've seen are problematic in that--like I've said--they weren't made for me,” said Seth Gozar, a University of North Florida alumni. “The plots and characterizations lean on rigid clichés that appeal to the BL demographic. It gets tiring to see the problematic tropes from that genre repeated over and over again, such as a spineless bottom, an abusive top, leads that aren't too gay, and more varied portrayals of boys love relegated to homophobic punch lines.”

Romanticizing rape and sexual abuse in these shows are very common. One of the more “masculine” characters would often be too aggressive towards the other and force them into situations they expressed they don't want to be in. The latter would then get sexually assualted or even raped by the other character but somehow they fall in love and end up together. If this was a straight romance: the assaulter would've been immediately painted as the villain, the main character would definitely not have fallen in love with them, instead they would be saved by a dreamy man. These tropes in BLs make sexual assault so easy to get away with simply because they are men. People often forget the fact that men, too, get sexually assaulted.

The popular “top” and “bottom” trope is also a heavy topic to point out in the BL community. Most shows would make it obvious which one is the top and which one is the bottom i.e., the character that is the more dominant or masculine one. The top would usually treat the bottom as if they were female and would even refer to them as their “wife.” It is a very stereotypical scenario of what a straight couple would be like. These shows do not address the dynamic between two male couples and their struggles in society. What I’ve noticed in most shows is that the characters would hide their relationship at first but the moment they come out, everyone suddenly becomes accepting of them and everything is all rainbows and unicorns. They don’t show the real struggles of same-sex relationships and how hard accepting people can be.

“I wish I could enjoy BL dramas more,” continued Gozar. “Most of my BL dramas I've seen are Asian productions, and on paper they sound great--watching romance where the leads look like me. However, most of the dramas are obviously not made for me, and that's my main barrier of enjoyment.”

There aren't a lot of women in BL which is understandable, but the few that are present are also not represented very well. The portrayal of women in BL shows are always mean. They're usually the villain. Most of the time, the typical trope that is used towards writing a female character in a BL is that they are used as the main character’s girlfriend as they fall in love with the guy they are supposed to end up with. This ends with the main character cheating on their girlfriend just to be with the other guy they started falling for. They end up becoming the villain when they realize that their man is being stolen (though they were portrayed as a very nice person in the beginning) and they do all sorts of ridiculously mean things to keep their boyfriend. They are made for the audience to hate on, while their feelings are very much valid they are put on a negative light because the woman wasn't the one who's supposed to end up with the main character. It is, afterall, a BL story.

Yuri or GL is the female counterpart of BL. It encounters the same problems as BL as it is often made for men’s viewing pleasures. As of this writing, there aren't many GL shows that are produced as they aren't as popular as BL. Yuri, however, is very mainstream as they focus more on the sexual side of the romance between two women.

There are also themes of rape and sexual assault in Yuri storylines just as much as there are in BL and they shouldn't be given a free pass just because they are aimed towards men.

Though these shows are only a work of fiction, these works of fiction affect people’s perception of reality. These constant inaccurate portrayal of same-sex relationships often give fans false hope. A very good example of this is the Thai BL show that aired in 2016 called “SOTUS.” When the character Khongpobe finally comes out to his friends that he and the character Arthit are going out, his friends asks, “Oh we didn't know you were into guys.” In which, Khongpobe simply answers, “I don’t like guys, I only like Arthit.” These lines give the girl fans the sense of false hope that they can have a chance with the character that they liked from the show, or even the actor themselves. By saying that they're not completely only into men and are only into that one person that the fan approves of, it gives the fans the satisfaction that they crave for and a character to project onto.

There aren’t many Western BL being produced as of yet, however, ”Love, Simon” and “SKAM France” have some very good plots. The tone is much different from Asian BL as Western ones are more direct and open to their desires.

Boys’ Love dramas have become a phenomenon and it will continue to get bigger as years pass by, especially in a generation where everyone is more accepting of their sexuality. I still remember when one or two BL shows would only get produced a year and now there are BL shows that are airing back to back. Representation and community is always good but I hope that the producers of these shows learn the dangers and impact their stories have on society and the LGBTQ+ community. The BL community still has a long way to go but we can always learn from past projects and make something better from our mistakes.