What Will the Religious Right Make of Yaoi Comics?
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual
I remember how startled I was by the Japanese romance comics produced for young girls that feature pretty boys madly in love. Given how much I like fey guys I was quite enchanted by these androgynous visions.
Eliza Strickland visited Yaoi-Con 6:
“I know you’ve all been having fun so far, because there’s been a lot of discussion of DICK,” the announcer says, with a grin for the crowd. “There’s also been some discussion of COCK. But the primary topic of discussion has been about … ” — he holds the microphone out to the audience.
“BUTT SEX!” shriek almost 2,000 women, rearing up from their chairs. This isn’t a convention of wild, wanton sodomites, however; these women aren’t clamoring to perform the act themselves. Instead they want to see, read, and think about the man-on-man version.
And like me the author wonders what will happen when America’s professional cultural conservatives discover the world of Yaoi manga? What would - say, Jerry Falwell - make of women, girls who love depictions of torrid same-sex love and lust?
The surging popularity of yaoi—graphic boy-on-boy comics—might be the genre’s downfall