Your biggest pet peeve about BL?

[NickRowler]

Yeah, I mean more in the west, I think BL is a sort of newer term generally here. If I recall, it kind of started to get traction on tumblr, but don't quote me on that, lol.

I remember "shonen ai" being a term used since I was in middle school.

Even the Urban Dictionary is dated 2004

Urban Dictionary: boys' love

I am not sure about Tumblr, seeing how I didn't use it in the early days. But the term did exist online when talking about scanlations and webcomics. I think the term probably grew more in webcomic spaces due to people who were not Japanese writing these stories. When I first posted my webcomic 10 years ago, I labeled it as a BL.

[candiedcotton]

Yeah, it's probably just that I wasn't really involved in webcomics at all back then. I only bought books, and usually it was just direct-translation manga of various sorts.

[amouraccompli]

Noncon/Dubcon. Bar none my least favorite foible. I dunno if it's like some internalization of the 'boys will be boys' trope, or if it's supposed to be an indicator of just how much desire is going on, but eff all of that.

Literally wrote my own series because I was so sick of getting my heart broken by sex scenes that also double as crime scenes. Like what the ...stop trying to rape people into loving you or telling you whether they cheated on you or whatever the hell.

If consent is your kink, feel free to read my crap. Lots of sex, zero rape.

Read Free Will | Tapas Web Novels

[UrMom]

1. (This is more of a problem with Yaoi than BL) Self-lubricating assholes. Every time I've seen it my mind goes to watery diarrhea, and I can't unsee it after that. Truly disgusting! I can only imagine the smell.

2. All the chicks are either antagonists or extremely disrespectful fujos. I feel particularly bad for the antagonist women because 90% of the comics they're in it turns out they used to be the love interest's partner, who gets cheated on. While they usually show the dude is miserable with her, or the story treats her like a throne, it's shitty that the guy just doesn't break it off with her until after she find out he's cheating.
   Like, that's a whole ass fictional depiction of a human being treated like crap to make the main relationship look good. How garbage is that!

Other than these two I don't necessarily have a problem with the subgenre, my beef tends to be with how the creators treat others, which has gotten much better over the years. A lot less cis/het teenage girls sexualizing real gay men, or shipping real people like objects than when I was a teen.
Sure, some tropes can be gross, like the SA stuff. Although I don't want to judge the work since the person could be dealing with trauma via their stories. (Even the romanticized SA stuff can be therapeutic for some survivors since they're still taking control over the situation via the fiction.) Children and people incapable of differentiating fiction from reality definitely shouldn't consume that stuff, because they will probably take it to heart, but most adults who like weird/gross art/fiction don't tend advocate for it irl. As long as the creator isn't a rl rape/abuse/sexism/etc. apologist, or isn't a freaken monster themselves, I couldn't care less.

... Admittedly I'm probably a little bias since I am one of those creators making gross fiction. Lol

Bonus romance peeve that isn't just used in BL: Love triangles. Why can't the three of them just hook up and have a nice poly relationship? Especially when they all have good chemistry with one another.

[candiedcotton]

Maybe I'm just weird, but I get a kick out of wet butts. I think it's funny.

I get why people do it though, because pausing to break out the lube can kind of take away from a hot and heavy scene I suppose. I've seen some authors who integrated it as part of the play/fun, but there are others who want to just get to the point. Kind of a "different strokes for different folks" thing.

Also, I've seen people go on about needing a high level of stretching-- I won't go into details but if you know, you know-- and that is not actually always necessary IRL. Can be, sure. But is not always required. So it's a misconception usually perpetrated by women who haven't... uh. Had that experience.

I used to feel really annoyed by omegaverse stuff (I personally just don't get it) but after a very good ftm trans friend of mine said it made them feel kind of cool and represented in an abstract way, I've really changed my perspective. Still not my tastes, but I don't fault it anymore.

[hakei]

Oh this reminds I read a hentai that had a woman do prep for an impromptu booty session and let me tell you I did not enjoy that at all and wished the creator had just skipped that part Truly not everything IRL needs to be depicted in fiction.

[candiedcotton]

I completely agree. I mean, it's fiction for a reason. I don't think EVERYTHING has to be realistic.

Besides, with the size of some of those hot dogs I'm pretty sure the buns would be destroyed.

[UrMom]

Maybe I'm just weird, but I get a kick out of wet butts. I think it's funny.

Oh totally! It's pretty hilarious, in a disgusting way.

Kinda NSFW talk

Definitely a "different strokes" thing. I've seen the use of lube in all kinds of het and queer porn, and personally I find it more hot and heavy to see the deliberate use of it. The extra slop can be fun when the characters are super into it. Also it may be the taking care of your bed partner aspect, at least in the cases where some people (Regardless of sexual anatomy.) need the extra lubricant.

[candiedcotton]

I totally get where you're coming from. Honestly, just using... 'things' of any sort outside of the most generic action fathomable seems kind of rare for stories of any sexuality. There is so much more to intimacy than just the uh... grind.

[UrMom]

Riight?? That's why I like BDSM. It's this deliberate act that requires a lot of planning, care and attention, where all parties involved need to be consenting at every stage. It feels way more intimate than just... passionately throwing your partner on the bed to have the world's most vanilla sex. Toys are fun! Exploration is fun! Actively engaging with your partner(s) during sex is fun!

I get so excited when an adult comic goes the extra mile to flesh out the characters in the bedroom... or wherever they decide to bang, it's such a rare sight.

[candiedcotton]

Yeah, same.

My MC's personality is very much a service dom, and when I was thinking about it I couldn't remember a single title that had that specific dynamic. I looked all over and still couldn't find anything, and eventually even asked people in the community. Most people had no idea what it really was and were recommending stories involving abusive dominates who later would become nice, but that wasn't what I wanted. I wanted a genuine story involving a couple where one was a proper service dom.

Still haven't found any examples. It's weird because IRL it's a really common dynamic.

[UrMom]

Aw man, that really sucks! I feel your pain. Sub and dom stuff (That isn't abusive.) is rare in general, the only comic I know of that even mentions it is Sunstone by Stjepan Šejić, and I can't say whether it depicts that kind of relationship well since I haven't had the chance to read it yet.

Also heeeey, one of my MCs may be the same? It's not depicted in my main comic, and he switches positions occasionally but is generally a submissive top or 'service top', which some people consider the same as a service dom? The fictional world needs more service tops/doms.

[candiedcotton]

Yeah it's the same thing, a service dom has different levels but generally is focused on caring for their partner. Pampering and focusing on making them feel good. They tend to be the lead in the relationship and thus have the 'dominant' role, but do so in a unique way that is more typically expected of a sub. It's one of my favorite dynamics in stories, just really hard to ever find.

A bit mature example...

An example might be tying up the sub and focusing on pleasing them (usually without having any sort of S&M but that can sometimes be present) and not letting them go until they're totally spent. The focus is always on pleasing their sub. So the D/S aspect is that the sub doesn't get to control the scene (outside of safe words and the like) but is still at the whim of their partner, but they aren't usually ever made to do anything. They get to lay back and enjoy the ride.

[RiidDisBuk3]

I am asexual myself. So I do not care about anything romance related, nor am I fan of sexual preferences.

I feel have no right to judge, but also feel that people have no right to judge me in this regard.

[krowthecrow]

mine is the couple gets together because one of them harassed the other

[JoshRaed]

It's an actual thing in the gay community where straight women have this weird desire to get trophy "gay guy bestie" and I fully blame media for it. It's a genuine thing and it's so weird.

I have a story idea that is actually built on this but taken to a more extreme version.

[mariamyakubu767]

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[mariamyakubu767]

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[mariamyakubu767]

You guys would make ANY excuse to defend bl Lol..like come on..just accept how weird and disgusting MAJORITY of the genre is and move on..not to mention the the mass amount of women that consume it and think it's okay to objectify real life gay men..like bro..and don't give me that lame excuse that "oh but not all bl is filled with stereotype and not all the fans fetishize it.." just because something bad has some few good things about it DOESN'T automatically make it a good thing..it is still a red flag and it deserves criticism.

[mariamyakubu767]

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