Boys' Love, Girls' Love, Fangirls and A Special Reading Culture in Asia

Have you ever heard about the Boys’ Love (BL) manga or the BL novel? In Asia, especially in Japan, China and Vietnam, reading those kinds of books has become a special culture.

Boys' Love (BL) or Girls’ Love (GL) stories are about the relationship between two men or two women. They can be in the form of a novel, manga or anime. The main audience of those stories is young girls, and they usually name themselves “fangirls."

BL or GL is not only the book genre, but has also become a special reading culture in some Asian countries. Each country has a specific name to identify this culture.

It’s hard for me to translate all the terms about this culture into English because it is mostly popular in Asia. Even in Vietnam, we still use Japanese or Chinese words to talk about these cultures.

For example, in Japan, “yaoi” is the name for BL novels, manga (comics) and anime (animations) which has sex scenes. “Shounen ai” is for the one that have the rating of PG 13+ (no sex). “Yuri” is for GL.

The fandom of BL or GL also has a name, which is fujoshi in Japanese. Fangirl is just a name I use to translate the words fujoshi (Japanese) and hũ nữ (Vietnamese).

If you hear someone identify themselves as fujoshi, it means that they are a fan of BL and GL stories. Fangirls are always proud of their fandom and try to show their support any time they can.

There are several reasons why I became interested in these kinds of stories. As I mentioned in my previous post, one way to spread the message about LGBT+ community is showing the beauty of love. These stories are successful in doing that. While it becomes more and more popular, the messages can reach more and more people.

There is a Vietnamese FB page named Make My Day. The founder asks people to send her their stories anonymously and she will draw a picture of them. I have seen several stories about LGBT+ relationships.

(There is the English translation for all stories so you can take a look if you are interested).

When I read the comments, there are several people who identify themselves as fangirls and give compliments on the storytellers’ relationship.

BL and GL has an impact on people’s perceptions of the LGBT+ community, especially on the youth. While most Vietnamese (and even Chinese and Japanese) people are still conservative due to our traditional culture, BL and GL is a way to encourage people to open their mind.

However, there are still some negative effects of BL and GL. Many BL and GL consist of sex scenes, which are not appropriate for minors. Therefore, many parents do not want their child to be exposed to this reading culture.

In addition, some fangirls become too obsessed with the fandom. Sometimes, when they see two same-sex people walking together, they may overreact and say those two people are in a relationship. That kind of reaction may annoy other people.