Paper short abstract:

I use boys love (BL) as a lens onto ways Japanese media has been consumed, understood, and transfigured in various sites around the world, drawing particular attention to effects of BL media, including challenging local gender/sexual norms and facilitating new forms of cross-cultural exchange.

Paper long abstract:

Created by and for adolescent girls and women, boys love (BL) media, which depicts romantic and sexual relationships between males, first appeared in commercial shōjo manga magazines in early 1970s Japan. BL quickly spread into other commercial and fan-produced media forms, including dōjinshi (fanzines), light novels, anime, drama CDs, live action films and TV series, live theatrical performances, video games, collectible figures, and other goods. In spite of its seemingly niche nature, BL has had an estimated annual domestic market size ranging from 21 to 22 billion yen (USD 195 to 200 million) in the 2010s.

By the 1980s, BL began to attract fans outside of Japan, possibly beginning in neighboring countries, such as Taiwan which saw commercial publication of pirated fanzines by the middle of that decade. In the 1990s, pockets of BL fandom started springing up more globally and since the 2000s BL-focused imprints and presses have been formed alongside BL themed fan events in places like Poland and Mexico and a flourishing global online fan community. More recently, it has been transformed into new forms of media that now seem to emanate from places like Thailand, as well as merged with other narrative genres such as “A/B/O” and slash fiction. It has also been used to raise awareness about LGBTQ issues and been marshalled for other political causes.

In this roundtable, I will use the example of BL as a lens through which to discuss ways that Japanese media has been consumed, understood, and transfigured in various sites around the world. I will draw particular attention to the sociocultural effects of BL media, ranging from helping female BL fans reconsider their attitudes towards romance, sex, and sexuality, to affecting attitudes about and representation of the LGBTQ community, including same-sex marriage, to facilitating new forms of cultural exchange.