Nowadays, everybody talks about female empowerment (I don't desagree), but in BL series context we have to talk about MALE empowerment

[yumos7]

I have read all of you and one thing I can say is that maybe BL was made for straight women but not necessary is like that today. I was an fansub admin and translator for, not exclusively Bl, but almost all the series were Bl related. Here in latinoamerica We have seen that most, maybe half or more of the people in all of the fansubs are men. At first, I remember the first fansub and community were I was, the admins were all women, not all straight but women at least but that changed over time and more gay men took control or were more involve in the bl World.
The cliche in thai bl is something more complex to talk about and maybe because of the saturation of the same stories again and again start to change and create stories more real or less idealize.

 

[Trybogus01]

A lot of BL cater to WOMEN because THE GAYS ALWAYS COMPLAIN if the actors are straight, if the pairs are handsome, well-built and equally-attractive, and both guys are manly and not feminine.... Meaning, both guys are crush-worthy and look really good and really hot together.

Gay love stories, on the other hand, push for the liberal agenda that a gay would find some knight in shining armor who would truly love him. Here, most gay couple involve a hot/handsome, fairly attractive straight guy AND a less attractive, twink built, typically feminine, gay guy... That type of uneven pairing is a gay man's fantasy for themselves but such pairings are a turnoff to women and men who are legit BL fans.

 

[repof]

A lot of BL cater to WOMEN because THE GAYS ALWAYS COMPLAIN if the actors are straight, if the pairs are handsome, well-built and equally-attractive, and both guys are manly and not feminine.... Meaning, both guys are crush-worthy and look really good and really hot together. View attachment 154478341View attachment 154478331

Gay love stories, on the other hand, push for the liberal agenda that a gay would find some knight in shining armor who would truly love him. Here, most gay couple involve a hot/handsome, fairly attractive straight guy AND a less attractive, twink built, typically feminine, gay guy... That type of uneven pairing is a gay man's fantasy for themselves but such pairings are a turnoff to women and men who are legit BL fans.

Well, that's certainly a take.

I find that it's typically the female-catering BL series that want to portray one man as soft and feminine (perhaps as a self-insert) while the other is a more masculine "only gay for you" straight. The gay fans meanwhile want to see two hot men being gay, particularly two men who identify as liking men.

I would also say gay male fans tend to be more interested than women in shows that at least dabble in portraying the gay experience somewhat accurately (grappling with identity, issues around homophobia/internalized homophobia, less defined sexual roles, more frank approach towards sex), while female fans trend towards cute, fluffy moments and shyness toward sex.

That's not to say that gay male fans aren't also into the escapism and fantasy sides of BL shows where everyone is gay and homophobia doesn't exist, but all it takes is a glance at the history of LGBT films/series to see that gay-created/gay-consumed content has a tendency towards grit, drama, and often straight-up tragic plotlines with heavily flawed characters, disfunctional families, cheating, betrayals, etc. -- far from "knight in shining armor" trope. Gay romcoms as you described are a pretty recent thing and not yet a norm, which is why shows like "Heartstopper" (I'm guessing this is what you are alluding to in your post) feel fresh and ground-breaking by comparison, despite being rather simplistic in composition and execution.