can BL/Yuri considered as part of LGBTQ art & literature?
Monday, 12 January 2026 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
michifuguA bit of a midnight thought before I sleep.
People here would probably be surprised that most JP queer folks think it’s important to distinguish BL and Yuri from reality and consider them fiction, while western queer communities tend to view BL and Yuri as LGBT representation. Honestly, I’m pretty 50/50 on this.
I get the JP side’s argument because, in general, BL and Yuri weren’t created with LGBT representation in mind, and most creators at least identify as """cishet"" (especially on the BL side). Yuri is also going through something similar because the genre is currently growing and becoming popular among male otaku. picrel is a GLFes 2024 queue—lots of men.
So yeah, the genre as a whole was marketed toward cishet audiences rather than LGBTQ folks. Because of this, most of the genre comes from straight people's fantasies. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I can see why it wouldn't work for people who want real LGBT characters and experiences made by queer people.
Btw, I’m not generalizing BL/yuri as cishet-only things, and I know a lot of LGBT people are involved in the genre and that it’s very important to many LGBT folks (especially closeted queer people). This is just me using the common assumption of how most people perceive the genre. So please don't get angry at me, trust me, I know better & this is just me trying to rationalize/understanding the argument from this assumption.
But I also agree with the western side that there’s nothing wrong with categorizing BL and Yuri as part of LGBT literature, and that it’s essential for the preservation and documentation of queer literature—especially, with how scarce and stigmatized queer works are.
In a way, BL and Yuri can help destigmatize the genre. Not to mention, there are many studies and surveys showing that a lot of BL and Yuri fans are queer. Also, in my opinion, LGBT literature doesn’t need to be “realistic,” and “unrealistic” or “fantasy” works aren’t any less legitimate than realistic LGBT literature.
I think the best compromise is acknowledging that BL and Yuri works are fantasy and don’t always represent real queer experiences, however that doesn’t make them less queer than works about realistic and authentic queer experiences. I’ve seen so many queer people find comfort and solace in BL and Yuri works created by cishet authors (myself included).
A recent example is a tweet I saw from a young closeted Japanese lesbian whose sexuality felt affirmed by Watanare, a yuri harem work made by a male author and marketed toward a male demographic. There’s also gay man who loved Ossan Love, even though it was targeted at a female audience.
The thing is, even though BL and Yuri were built and marketed for cishet audiences, it doesn’t change the fact that they resonate deeply with queer people and have helped many closeted individuals realize their sexuality and gender identity. I don’t think we should dismiss that.
In general, I’m in favor of BL and Yuri being considered part of LGBT literature, as long as we acknowledge that they’re not always intended to represent authentic queer experiences and honestly? that’s fine!
Sometimes the best representation is accidental or unintentional. Some lesbian and gay works I love and resonate with the most are yuri ecchi manga and BL visual novels full of sex scenes.
The fact that we’re even having this discussion is proof of how scarce LGBT works still are, and how stigmatized media containing any hint of homosexuality remains. But I’m not worried. BL and Yuri are still juvenile as genres. Although BL is more established since it’s been around much longer than Yuri and that’s exactly why these discussions exist in the first place.
You could say BL is like an aniki who’s just entered college, while Yuri is the imouto still in middle school and going through puberty. It fits the current situation: yuri is growing but unstable because it only recently became popular, leading to lots of experimentation. BL, on the other hand, is more like a young adult—more mature, experienced, already have it's up & down behind it, but still young enough to grow and with plenty of untapped potential.
I believe both genres can continue to evolve. BL and yuri constantly try to break out of boxes, and since there’s proven demand for them, it’ll be interesting to see how they evolve, especially given how “juvenile” LGBT issue itself still is in this era. I’m genuinely excited to see how these genres will exist within the LGBT sphere in the future.
Frankly, I’m kind of glad to be part of the generation that gets to witness this. I’m really curious about how the discourse will evolve over time, which is why I want to write and post about this sometimes (even if it's discourse, sorry). Because I want to see how far these conversations go, and in a way, me talking about it feels like documenting it. Maybe a decade from now, I’ll look back at these tags or old posts and see how the discourse changed over time, lol.
Well, that was a bit poignant, wasn’t it? But as a Fujoshi and Yuributa who’s also a lesbian, I want to see the journey and how the ride goes. BL and Yuri are incredibly important to me. Because they shaped my interests, and I genuinely don’t think my life would be the same without them.
Can BL and Yuri coexist within LGBT arts, or will they end up segregated from queer arts? Honestly, I don’t know. I’m scared, but also bracing myself to see how it plays out.
Thanks for reading this random post, I really needed to get it off my chest, lol.
People here would probably be surprised that most JP queer folks think it’s important to distinguish BL and Yuri from reality and consider them fiction, while western queer communities tend to view BL and Yuri as LGBT representation. Honestly, I’m pretty 50/50 on this.
I get the JP side’s argument because, in general, BL and Yuri weren’t created with LGBT representation in mind, and most creators at least identify as """cishet"" (especially on the BL side). Yuri is also going through something similar because the genre is currently growing and becoming popular among male otaku. picrel is a GLFes 2024 queue—lots of men.
So yeah, the genre as a whole was marketed toward cishet audiences rather than LGBTQ folks. Because of this, most of the genre comes from straight people's fantasies. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I can see why it wouldn't work for people who want real LGBT characters and experiences made by queer people.
Btw, I’m not generalizing BL/yuri as cishet-only things, and I know a lot of LGBT people are involved in the genre and that it’s very important to many LGBT folks (especially closeted queer people). This is just me using the common assumption of how most people perceive the genre. So please don't get angry at me, trust me, I know better & this is just me trying to rationalize/understanding the argument from this assumption.
But I also agree with the western side that there’s nothing wrong with categorizing BL and Yuri as part of LGBT literature, and that it’s essential for the preservation and documentation of queer literature—especially, with how scarce and stigmatized queer works are.
In a way, BL and Yuri can help destigmatize the genre. Not to mention, there are many studies and surveys showing that a lot of BL and Yuri fans are queer. Also, in my opinion, LGBT literature doesn’t need to be “realistic,” and “unrealistic” or “fantasy” works aren’t any less legitimate than realistic LGBT literature.
I think the best compromise is acknowledging that BL and Yuri works are fantasy and don’t always represent real queer experiences, however that doesn’t make them less queer than works about realistic and authentic queer experiences. I’ve seen so many queer people find comfort and solace in BL and Yuri works created by cishet authors (myself included).
A recent example is a tweet I saw from a young closeted Japanese lesbian whose sexuality felt affirmed by Watanare, a yuri harem work made by a male author and marketed toward a male demographic. There’s also gay man who loved Ossan Love, even though it was targeted at a female audience.
The thing is, even though BL and Yuri were built and marketed for cishet audiences, it doesn’t change the fact that they resonate deeply with queer people and have helped many closeted individuals realize their sexuality and gender identity. I don’t think we should dismiss that.
In general, I’m in favor of BL and Yuri being considered part of LGBT literature, as long as we acknowledge that they’re not always intended to represent authentic queer experiences and honestly? that’s fine!
Sometimes the best representation is accidental or unintentional. Some lesbian and gay works I love and resonate with the most are yuri ecchi manga and BL visual novels full of sex scenes.
The fact that we’re even having this discussion is proof of how scarce LGBT works still are, and how stigmatized media containing any hint of homosexuality remains. But I’m not worried. BL and Yuri are still juvenile as genres. Although BL is more established since it’s been around much longer than Yuri and that’s exactly why these discussions exist in the first place.
You could say BL is like an aniki who’s just entered college, while Yuri is the imouto still in middle school and going through puberty. It fits the current situation: yuri is growing but unstable because it only recently became popular, leading to lots of experimentation. BL, on the other hand, is more like a young adult—more mature, experienced, already have it's up & down behind it, but still young enough to grow and with plenty of untapped potential.
I believe both genres can continue to evolve. BL and yuri constantly try to break out of boxes, and since there’s proven demand for them, it’ll be interesting to see how they evolve, especially given how “juvenile” LGBT issue itself still is in this era. I’m genuinely excited to see how these genres will exist within the LGBT sphere in the future.
Frankly, I’m kind of glad to be part of the generation that gets to witness this. I’m really curious about how the discourse will evolve over time, which is why I want to write and post about this sometimes (even if it's discourse, sorry). Because I want to see how far these conversations go, and in a way, me talking about it feels like documenting it. Maybe a decade from now, I’ll look back at these tags or old posts and see how the discourse changed over time, lol.
Well, that was a bit poignant, wasn’t it? But as a Fujoshi and Yuributa who’s also a lesbian, I want to see the journey and how the ride goes. BL and Yuri are incredibly important to me. Because they shaped my interests, and I genuinely don’t think my life would be the same without them.
Can BL and Yuri coexist within LGBT arts, or will they end up segregated from queer arts? Honestly, I don’t know. I’m scared, but also bracing myself to see how it plays out.
Thanks for reading this random post, I really needed to get it off my chest, lol.
(no subject)
Date: Monday, 12 January 2026 04:08 pm (UTC)OMG so much! Some of my fave lit fiction by queer people are also queer fantasies rather than queer experience.
(no subject)
Date: Monday, 12 January 2026 09:34 pm (UTC)I think the reason a lot of queer people like queer works that's not about queer experience is because the characters feel like an actual character and person. We get to see different facet of personalities & sometimes we just prefer fantasies than having to see our real life experiences that we've faced IRL, lol.
Doesn't make queer experiences stories is bad, I think both are important.
(no subject)
Date: Monday, 12 January 2026 07:18 pm (UTC)I agree!! I also like your mention of queer people finding out that they're queer through reading these works. Even if some stories aren't necessarily meant for an LGBT audience or meant to be realistic, it can be really important for people to see any queer characters at all. Because maybe that's all they've been exposed to and it helps them come out to themselves? I totally get wanting stories about gay/trans/etc characters to be written by LGBT people (since I love that too). But, I do think there's something to be said about cishet authors sort of normalizing writing about experiences that are different from their own.
(no subject)
Date: Monday, 12 January 2026 09:45 pm (UTC)Especially with how stigmatized LGBT in society is, it's pretty hard for a lot of people exploring their identities & struggle, so reading BL & Yuri does help a lot.
>I do think there's something to be said about cishet authors sort of normalizing writing about experiences that are different from their own.
And this is why I never liked the sentiment of many queer people dismissing ""cishet"" author or queer works made by cishet author, because there's a lot instance this cishet author get to exploring queer identities on their own term or challenging heteronormative society in fictional world.
And not coincidence there's a bunch of them ended up being not a "cishet" person or if they are, some even become an ally.
I really do think there's need a study why that's the case because sometimes a lot BL/Yuri authored by cishet is written makes it feels like queerness is a normal & honestly, I am curious lol.
(no subject)
Date: Tuesday, 13 January 2026 12:18 am (UTC)how much work has been done exploring western queer otaku as a distinct community? there's gotta be something about "i'm getting into this subculture because i'm alienated from the mainstream" that's an intersection of cultural forces there
(no subject)
Date: Tuesday, 13 January 2026 04:37 am (UTC)I recommend reading their essay/journal.
There's also Erica Friedman if you wanted the yuri perspective on it.