What do you think about thumbnails with "bl" label?

[darlingGrim]

I like BL and use to read it a lot, but I've come to associate it with fetishizing gay men. So I tend to avoid comics that put it in their 'advertisement'.
I don't think it should need to be labeled (we don't label hetero as het). It all feels forced and uncomfortable (in the past it didn't). BUT this might be because I've sort of grown detached from romance at least ones whose plot is the romance. I like my romance on the side and gradual.

[villainesayre]

Yes, people don't differ those terms, I usually use yaoi and shounen-ai terms, since it came from Japan (mostly)

[SpavVy]

You asked what we think about it and I told you what I think.

[Jelw]

BL in its assosciated form obviously has its audience so rather than try to mold the term to comics that stray away from the damaging cliches and fetishing, just use a new term! Rather than using BL just add "LGBTQA+ inclusive" at the end of your summary (don't plaster it on the thumbnail). "LGBTQA+ inclusive" has a very different image than BL in my mind. Besides then it's a mystery. Are there lesbians?? Transgenders?? Bisexuals?? Gee I don't know but I want to find out!

[villainesayre]

Yeah, sure - I've seen you've edited your post so I'll say a few words about it.
I don't see the label as a safety precaution, it's a marketing. The thumbnail almost shouts "hey it's a comic about gays".
I won't label my comic just because some people are offended by homosexuality and I hope that maybe because of my comic some people will stop being homophobes and start noticing that it's natural

[villainesayre]

That's nice, I didn't consider that! And LGBTQA+ really sounds like "I want to find out!" I'm off to editing my comic's description!

[SpavVy]

To some people it is a precaution, it really depends on how the author sees it and if some want to label it that way for marketing reasons I don't see that as an issue either, as long as someone finds a comic they like then I think that's all that really matters in the end

[jshockmo]

I prefer they say that it is labeled, so readers know what they are getting.

[villainesayre]

I seen your point but I've got a nice argument here - have you seen any other genre marking their thumbnails? Cause all of the labelled thumbnails of comics I've seen are marked "BL", "GL", "yaoi". No one marks their fantasy comic as "fantasy" cause it's already categorized as fantasy. I think that the same should be used for romance comics.

[villainesayre]

But it can also be described in info about the comic, so readers also would see what it is about?

[SpavVy]

Well last time I checked Tapastic didn't have BL, GL etc in the genre choices and that is a genre (at least in Japan) if Tapastic gave us more than one genre choice to choose from and had those as choices then I highly doubt authors would be putting BL/GL/LGBT/ in their thumbnails.

[UzukiCheverie]

Oh my god, I'm so relieved to see I'm not the only one relatively bothered by the "BL" labels xD

I knew once I started seeing them on a regular basis, it was a result of SmackJeeves/Inkblazers comics immigrating over here.

For anyone who does BL comics or is thinking of making one, you really don't need that small BL label in the corner. Most people don't really care, and can guess pretty easily from the thumbnails or the descriptions that it's going to be BL. Just mark any sexual/adult sensitive pages NSFW.

BL is just a genre, and people here on Tapastic are generally accepting of that specific genre, so you don't need to put it on the thumbnail. It would be like if gag comic creators put "gag" in their thumbnails. Let your art speak for itself!

I also agree with an earlier statement made here about how the label somewhat "cheapens" the comic. It's like, yeah, BL-lovers is the main demographic, but maybe some people just want to read it for the content/humor/characters/whatever it is. Putting "BL" on it, to me, just screams "PRETTY BOYS GOING AT IT" and that shouldn't be the only thing you're trying to sell with your comic. It may not be your intention, but that seems to be the general consensus of people seeing your thumbnail, so don't put your series at risk for it.

[villainesayre]

My comic was one of the first lgbt+ comics on tapastic and it didn't need a "bl" mark to gain attention, I'm still in awe cause on smackjeeves it just drowned under all of those marked gay comics and I just don't want it to happen here.

About the gag comics it's just as I've earlier said about fantasy comics putting "fantasy" on a thumbnail, it's ridiculous! XD

Also as @Savannah said about choosing a genre - it's either a very good and very bad idea, cause yeah, we would have another category to choose from but it's also creating a line between "normal" romance. And I'd like people to see that either it's about hetero or homo romance - it's still a story and we don't need another label!

[abbastudios]

All of the comics are labeled, romance, action, comedy, etc. The "bl" label is a sub-genre.

The labels help me to decide what to read. I'm not interested in "bl" so I will not read it, yet it will help the audience for that to find it.

I also wasn't interested in romance comics and never clicked on one to read. Now I'm doing a romance comic and am checking out that genre all the time.

[joannekwan]

it's either a very good and very bad idea, cause yeah, we would have another category to choose from but it's also creating a line between "normal" romance.

Totally agree with this.

Also on a side note, I was reluctant to label my series a romance at all because I myself don't really like romance stories (maybe because I'm not a romantic person). I see it more as, "here are my characters, watch them interact, maybe they'll be a couple in the end." But then again it's not really a drama and it's about the two of them so... it's a "romance."

[keii4ii]

have you seen any other genre marking their thumbnails?

erotica comics (including, but not limited to, BL) tend to do this often -- not as a precaution, but as a neon sign saying "psst, hawt steamy stuff in here." Like putting "18+" in the corner of the thumbnail, or even a really porny looking thumbnail with a "clever" (lol not) censoring squat in the middle. XD

[RiverKai]

I just created my LGBTQA+ comic a little less than two days ago and put that on the front because, as some of my readers have already told me in less than a day, they do not want to support that and therefore I do not want them to read it. Maybe I should take it off, seeing how annoyed everyone is.

[RiverKai]

But you know, people are going to be annoyed either way right? If it's going to "market" your comic for something that is being celebrated HERE where it is otherwise hated, is it really all that bad?

[Kura]

I'm not a fan of how homesexual relationships have become a kink in general, with these fanbases making it more difficult for the actual community to push that it's not just a sexual thing, that it's a normal thing.

As for the BL label, I don't like it being used as a warning in the way that "there is homosexual content in this story" that's not something you should have to warn people about like the "will explode if placed near heat" label on a can of spray paint. I've learned to tolerate it being used as to label kink where there is literally absolutely nothing else to the story except gay sex, but even then I would rather not see it used and would rather just see an +18 warning or something.

That being said if the comic feels that it NEEDS to warn me with a BL tag, then I will not read it. I like BL relationships just about as much as I like another other kind of relationship, but if you throw that on I find it well... first off insulting as f*ck, and second, I pretty much just read it as an 18+ warning now, and I don't really care for any sort of comics that revolve around highly sexual 18+ content.

[AnnaLandin]

I personally don't have much of a problem with it. It's just an extra bit of info on the thumbnail. Some people are specifically looking to read bl-comics, and the labelling helps them find it. Some people are specifically not looking for bl-comics, and the labelling helps them avoid it. I treat it the same way I treat an 18+ label; it's further information about the content.

Personally, if I want to read a romance comic, I'll read it regardless of the genders of the main couple, so I don't need the bl-label - but some might.

Whether the "bl" denotes a particular subset of homosexual romance comics - a subset steeped in the more unfortunate tropes of yaoi - or not is not really something I am equipped to make an argument about. There certainly ARE harmful and terrible tropes present in yaoi/bl comics (most specifically rape-as-love, and the weirdly entrenched heterosexual gender roles that the same-sex couples are often trapped in), but whether ALL comics labelled "bl" - or even the majority -here on Tapastic fall into those pitfalls, I don't know. I haven't exactly waded very deep into the romance-genre here. I try not to make assumptions about a comic's contents before I've read at least a few pages of it. If the thumbnail hooks me, I'll click and read a bit. If the comic appeals to me, I'll subscribe - but there's no way of knowing what will appeal to me without reading it.

The romance-genre in general is rife with wish-fulfilment, though, so I won't ignore a comic just because it's cute and fluffy and "unrealistic". It can still be a very good comic. The things that put me off are, as mentioned, the rape-as-love trope, and characters reduced to the seme-uke setup - where one is super-masculine and the other is feminised simply for the sake of fitting into pre-packaged relationship norms.