Summary:
A small meta essay comparing certain words like Yaoi vs BL, Yuri vs GL, and older uke terms.
Notes:
Originally, I wrote some musings on the usage of yaoi-adjacent words on Aethy. But I didn't really feel comfortable with the "reach" it was getting, because I am by absolutely NO MEANS an expert on vocabulary let alone Japanese. No one should ever take me as an expert on anything!
So I want to mirror and continue to think out loud about yaoi words here.
Text
Yaoi vs BL
🔥 SPICY FIREY HOT TAKE:
Yaoi is to BL, as, transsexual is to transgender.
The former was more accepted as a term in ye olde days. It may be considered "outdated" with possibly negative connotations amongst normies. To me it has a more playful and fringe/outsider connotation. Those who identify with it now do so intentionally.
The latter term is more popular now. It is the currently accepted academic/commercial term. People use this term if they are in "polite" spaces and don't want to stir anything up.
addendum
The takes I've seen, regarding discarding the term yaoi, are:
- From English speaking people, who say that yaoi is the bad fetishisizing kind of art made by straight cis women. And BL is the "good kind" for some reason.
- From some Japanese people who speak English, who say that the original meaning of "no climax, no point, no meaning" for yaoi is offensive.
- From various groups who say "Japanese publishers/artists no longer use the term yaoi, so English-speakers shouldn't either".
I disagree with all of the points.
- Yaoi is the scapegoat bucket that fans put all the "bad" cartoons in. Bananafish, for example, is regularly used as an example of "good BL representation" because the main characters don't fuck, even though the rest of the story is chock full of tropes that people like to complain about (like child sexual abuse, sad and angry uke backstory, everyone dies, minor/adult relationship, ugly hentai molestors) and throw into the "bad yaoi bin". I feel a need to defend this scapegoat that did nothing wrong! Especially if I myself have gotten shit on for even muttering the forbidden term "yaoi".
- The term "yaoi" is still used in Japanese even though it's an older word - after all, 801 day is a thing in Japanese nerd circles, and the やおい yaoi tag on pixiv has a good amount of art and lore in it! Compare to how many people in western circles still use the 70-90's term "slash" versus just calling it gay shipping. Some words are still just fun to use because of the historical context!
The original meaning of yaoi:
In addition, yaoi has the specific connotation of self-identifying one's own fanart and fanfiction. Versus BL which originated as a term to market published books to an audience of supposedly only women.
その中でも特に、既存の作品（漫画・アニメなど）の男性キャラクターを使用してその同性愛関係を描いた二次創作作品を指して「やおい」と呼ぶことが多い。... 同人誌の界隈において、自分が描きたいキャラクターをただ描いただけでストーリー性がまったくない自己満足ばかりの漫画を「やまなし・おちなし・いみなし」の頭文字をとって「やおい」と呼んでいたのがはじまり
Translation:
Especially among them, 'yaoi' is often used to refer to derivative works that depict homosexual relationships using male characters from existing works (manga, anime, etc.).... In the doujinshi community, self-satisfying manga that simply drew the characters they wanted to draw and had no story at all was called 'Yaoi', an acronym for 'Yamanashi, Ochinashi, Iminashi'.
自分の作品を指して「ヤマもオチもないし、意味もない」と自虐的に謙遜した表現。元は、男性同士の恋愛要素どころか、物語のジャンルすら指す表現ではなかった。... この言葉が産まれた当時は、現在よりもずっと同性愛に対する忌避感、蔑視感があり、男性同士の恋愛作品はあまり公に発表することができなかった。そのためBLに興味のある者だけを対象として、作品を送り届ける隠れたジャンル名、隠語が必要とされていた、という背景もあった。numan.tokyo
A self-deprecating and humble expression, referring to his own work, saying, "There are no twists or turns, and there is no meaning." Originally, it didn't even refer to the genre of the story, let alone the love element between men. ... At the time this term was coined, there was a much greater sense of aversion and disdain for homosexuality than there is today, and it was not possible to publicly publish romantic works between men. For this reason, there was a need for a hidden genre name and jargon to deliver works only to those who were interested in BL.
There is no specific connotation of sexual perversion or even shipping with the original usage of yaoi. It's "no point, no climax" not because it's only porn, but it can apply to non-sexual stories that are self-indulgent with no concern for world-building since the world is already built. Compare and contrast to the english term "fluff".
The note about a "codename" being needed to signal to others that your magazine contained gay elements is also interesting. Especially considering the gay magazine Barazoku coined the term "yuri" [2.5] for female fans who may or may not have been lesbians. Though Barazoku was considered aimed at cis gay men, and yaoi was considered to be aimed at cis straight women, the truth of demographics is that people will read whatever interests them. Compare and contrast with "beefcake/fitness magazines" and "physique photography" in the west.
In fact, following in the steps of Yuricon, I would like the word Yaoi to have a similarly intentionally broad and reclaimed meaning!
Yuri can describe any anime or manga series (or other derivative media, i.e., fan fiction, film, etc.) that shows intense emotional connection, romantic love or physical desire between women. Yuri is not a genre confined by the gender or age of the audience, but by the perception of the audience.
In short, Yuri is any story with lesbian themes.
And there you have it – Yuricon is all about celebrating anime, manga and doujinshi that show girls/women who love other girls/women no matter who the author is, or who the story is for. As long as we, the ‘taku-rezu, the lesbian fans of anime and manga, see some part of our lives reflected in a character or series, it’s Yuri no matter who drew it. As we like to say on the Yuricon Facebook Community, Yuricon is about the celebration of girls/women in love – and we don’t care who brought the drinks!
The broad definition of creator and audience is perfect for me. I want to escape the trappings of "yuri is gross porn for cis straight men, yaoi is gross porn for cis straight women". Men, women, and everyone else can enjoy anything they want to, regardless of their sexuality, and regardless of strangers assuming their gender (lol). I mean, at this point we have to acknowledge that so many fujoshi we know turned out to be lesbians and trans (man or women)! Even Gengoroh Tagame, an artist heavily associated with gay manga (aka "bara" in the west), questions the gendered rigidity of labels like BL when he himself draws BL at times, and he knows women and trans people who draw both BL (associated with women) and gay manga (associated with men).
In my head, yaoi is anything that you believe it to be. Whether it's the explicit homoeroticism of The Lighthouse, the tongue-in-cheek homosocial aspects of Breaking Bad, or the comics sold as BL with canon gay relationships, it's all yaoi if you love it!
Marketing terms vs fan terms: GL vs Yuri, BL vs Yaoi
From Erica Friedman's "Why we call it Yuri":
Shortly after we all agreed that “yuri” was the genre we would be promoting, several publishers had an idea of their own. Since the “Boy’s Love” genre of manga was still selling strongly, they would call this new genre “Girl’s Love” as an analogous term. This has been rejected by the yuri community for a number of reasons. First, it was created by publishers to make their lives easier. Feh on that. Secondly, and much more important to me, “GL” distances the genre from its lesbian history. We, the Yurizoku, embrace the history of the word “yuri,” laugh at the overblown Victorian symbolism of the flower, and enjoy stories that both genuinely reflect our experiences as well as those that are absurd flights of fantasy into lesbian stereotypes.
TL;DR GL is a marketing term made by publishers to label works regardless of author wants.
In the BL world, there are a lot more fans/artists willing to self-identify their independent art as BL (or BL influenced). Even if they're not traditionally published, it's a familiar term that they probably encountered while looking for gay manga/anime.
I have a slightly different history with BL/yaoi, in that I actually did not grow up with published works like Ai No Kusabi or Gravitation! Almost all my interaction with yaoi is the original definition - fanworks made by fans as self-indulgence "nonsense", with no intention of publishing or marketing. That may play into why I prefer the yaoi term for myself, because I don't know that much about "the classics" while I do have quite a bit of experience with fan culture and being an independent artist.
To me, yaoi symbolizes the kind of freedom to not just be "good LGBTQ representation", but also go completely ham and just make a story for no reason, no climax. The quote from Erica Friedman about yuri being "stories that both genuinely reflect our experiences as well as those that are absurd flights of fantasy" is perfect. I feel very stifled by publisher-approved marketing terms when asked to describe my work. It feels like there's an unspoken expectation for BL to feature skinny guys, or LGBTQ works to be autobiographical, and so forth. Not true for all things under the genres, but there is undeniably an expectation when I'm told that my work doesn't appeal to what the publisher calls a "BL audience" or that my work doesn't fit in the LGBTQ storytelling expectations.
So yaoi it is for me. It's irreverant, it's fluid, it's intentionally broad. People have used the word "yaoi" hatefully towards others, towards me. I feel like I have a history with it. And so I love it. "Dank Yaoi" just feels like a comfortable condom to slip on if I need to describe my work to someone I've never met.
Older Bottom vocab
Courtesy of @deflectric 's thoughts during Citrus Con:
Older Uke vs Old Uke vs Elder Uke
- Older uke can any age older than the seme. Could be 6 months to a couple of years, or more! This is very common when you look for "Older uke" on manga sites, you'll maybe get a gap of a 19 yr old dating a 22 yr old :P
- Old uke is above a certain age, but still vague. What that age is completely up to the viewer. To a teenager, they think a 27 year old (cough Reigen and Aizawa) is old. To the wizened journeyman... sometimes we need that IHOP senior discount card.
- Elder uke is definitely above middle aged. The sims elder stage is above adulthood, y'know? Looking for this term on manga sites is more likely to get you white hair, wrinkles, and other signs of aging. But you still might be shocked when the dude says he's only 42...
Ossan vs Oyaji vs Shorou
Compare the previous terms with Japanese tags like:
"Ossan uke" = old man uke, "Oyaji uke"/ "Oyaji Uke tag 2" = older man uke, which is middle-aged but not quite elder.
"Shorou uke" = elderly uke, the jackpot of wrinkles!
"Chuunen" = middle aged, no position specified. More likely to find oyaji 4 oyaji, or solo art. Art is more for gay macho tastes IRT larger hairier bodies.
Thank god for those pixiv tags! Now, how do I get English-language to tag their works similarly so I can find it easier? 😏
Addendum: Old man yaoi vs Old man uke
I've noticed in western spaces, "Old man yaoi" has become its own meme. But I've found that many people who use it are often using it ironically (especially when the rest of their blog is about bashing fujoshi and "typical bad yaoi tropes". And it's not specific enough for my tastes! "Old man yaoi" can often mean old man as the dom/top... which is not to my taste. Or it could be two old men of similar ages in a pairing, which is not to my taste either.
Unfortunately, some people think that just because I like "old men" in yaoi means that I like anything with the subject... well, it's unfortunate that the default for "old men" is often the dirty old man stereotype. It's the overwhelming majority of works in the tag, to the point that it's considered the default and people don't tag for it. And it's a little saddening when people send me such material.. I may like soy milk, but doesn't mean that I can drink cow milk like everyone else you know? It feels like I'm left out when people tell me to just drink dairy, but I'm lactose intolerant.
So using a more specific term is really helpful for me!
I like "old man uke" as a term to use for myself. Having to specify that the uke is old, implies that the seme is not as old. And I do love my moe age gaps in pairings! And specifying old man UKE will give people a better idea of what I like, and am more excited to discuss! And that's wrinkly raisin hole!