JennyN, one of the intrepid posters over at the Flipped Forum, has found an interesting scholarly piece on yaoi manga. Author Sueen Noh interviews a group of devoted yaoi fans and explores their perspectives on the work and why it speaks to them. Noh also provides some useful insights on the genre and its origins and yaoi’s rather gauzy take on same-sex romance.
Reading it helped me understand some of the reasons I’m a bit ambivalent about yaoi titles. While I’ve always been aware of the fact that I’m not the target audience for these stories, Noh’s piece went farther in articulating why that is and what some of the genre’s underlying intents are.
But ambivalence doesn’t keep me from being curious about yaoi, and I’m looking forward to some of Digital Manga’s upcoming releases.