Why Shonen-ai (Boys Love) and Yaoi (hardcore boy's love)???

[RPin]

Finding girlish boys in real life shouldn't be too hard. I mean, isn't the whole emo look based on androginy and stuff?

[RemusShepherd]

He completely lacks definition - chest, abs, legs, arms... it's like he's a tall prepubescent boy. *shudder*

Yeah, and the Ken doll is pretty featureless, too. But isn't the resemblence uncanny?

I'm afraid to search for 'Ken doll yaoi'. Maybe when I get home from work.

[Dr Legostar]

He completely lacks definition - chest, abs, legs, arms... it's like he's a tall prepubescent boy. *shudder*

Yeah, and the Ken doll is pretty featureless, too. But isn't the resemblence uncanny?

I'm afraid to search for 'Ken doll yaoi'. Maybe when I get home from work.

you're afraid.. you? seriously?

[Rkolter]

He completely lacks definition - chest, abs, legs, arms... it's like he's a tall prepubescent boy. *shudder*

Yeah, and the Ken doll is pretty featureless, too. But isn't the resemblence uncanny?

I'm afraid to search for 'Ken doll yaoi'. Maybe when I get home from work.

you're afraid.. you? seriously?

31,900 hits for ken doll yaoi

ZERO hits for "ken doll yaoi" (exact phrase)

I'm going to go wash my brain out with soap now.

[Nanda]

He completely lacks definition - chest, abs, legs, arms... it's like he's a tall prepubescent boy. *shudder*

And I so don't even care what you or any other heterosexual male thinks on this subject!



He's dreamy.

[LAGtheNoggin]

Youth is virile, why shouldn't it be dreamy? Dang hairy old men crowding my scene...

Like Kodama said, I always thought beauty and attraction was in youth rather than specifically feminising, if youth looks girly, then so be it.

As for what makes girly or manly, in Malaysia I'd be called a sissy boy for all the sweets I chomp on. Why should such a thing be girly? I have no idea. Much the same I have no idea why men aren't to ride (more practical) ladies bikes in the UK.

Sex eh.

i could just never figure out why men's bicycles were the ones that HAD a horizontal bar in just the right position to cause serious damage should an accident occur.

The top tube's not that bad, it's the stem that holds the handlebar's that's the killer >.<

[Dr Legostar]

Yeah, and the Ken doll is pretty featureless, too. But isn't the resemblence uncanny?

I'm afraid to search for 'Ken doll yaoi'. Maybe when I get home from work.

you're afraid.. you? seriously?

31,900 hits for ken doll yaoi

ZERO hits for "ken doll yaoi" (exact phrase)

I'm going to go wash my brain out with soap now.

why, ryan, why??

[CJBurgandy]

He completely lacks definition - chest, abs, legs, arms... it's like he's a tall prepubescent boy. *shudder*

And I so don't even care what you or any other heterosexual male thinks on this subject!

[img]Cillian%20Murphy[/img]

He's dreamy.

truely, he is very good looking, except that whole penis thing.

Man I want to see Breakfast on Pluto

[Nanda]

Man I want to see Breakfast on Pluto

I really liked it. His jaw's a little too square to be a convincing lady, mostly, but I still liked it.

[Rkolter]

you're afraid.. you? seriously?

31,900 hits for ken doll yaoi

ZERO hits for "ken doll yaoi" (exact phrase)

I'm going to go wash my brain out with soap now.

why, ryan, why??

My brain secretly wanted a bath.

[RemusShepherd]

I'm afraid to search for 'Ken doll yaoi'. Maybe when I get home from work.

you're afraid.. you? seriously?

AT WORK.

[Dr Legostar]

I'm afraid to search for 'Ken doll yaoi'. Maybe when I get home from work.

you're afraid.. you? seriously?

AT WORK.

okay, that makes sense, i guess.

[CJBurgandy]

Man I want to see Breakfast on Pluto

I really liked it. His jaw's a little too square to be a convincing lady, mostly, but I still liked it.

I can't even find a video store up here that's HEARD of it. Though 3 of my best friends work at blockbuster and are on the hunt to order it if it's out on video.

[Nanda]

Man I want to see Breakfast on Pluto

I really liked it. His jaw's a little too square to be a convincing lady, mostly, but I still liked it.

I can't even find a video store up here that's HEARD of it. Though 3 of my best friends work at blockbuster and are on the hunt to order it if it's out on video.

According to amazon, it is.

[CJBurgandy]

awesome

[Mon Ami]

I personally like yoai, and not for the story line. Maybe it is the whole idea of dominance, or the struggle for it that is the best?

Not sure really.

But the girly boy thing never really cut it with me, I can appreciate that they do look pretty but guys that are built are the best in my small opinion ^__^

[McDuffies]

Let me work out a bit on this subject.

Why are men attracted to lesbian porn?
I think that guy from "coupling" summed it up nicely. When an average guy is looking at regular porn, there is a female body that is all kinds of nice to look at, and then there is a male body which is not as desirable sight for us. In his words, you have to concentrate on what's visible of female anatomy, because if your eye accidentally falls on his butt, there goes your erection.

In my interpretation it's not only a visual thing, there's something of a macho, territorial instinct of men. In a way, they don't see that men in a porn movie as their alterego, don't identlfy with him, they see him as a threat, another male in the pack. That's why they're somewhat intimidated from male person in a porn.
As someone said, preferations differ from case to case, factually, some people have this territorial instinct less present, some are less of macho men, some men simply have a lot of feminine character (or to put it correctly, what's usually considered feminine character) in themselves. To them, the instinct of protecting sexual territory is not present that much.
I have to note that I'm speaking from a perspective of someone who is not attracted to lesbian porn, not as much as to heterosexual porn. I also like to think that I'm not macho, that I am what you'd call a "sensitive male".

Why are female attracted to shonen-ai? They don't have this macho instinct built in them.
(I may be wrong on this one, after all it's just a result of my brainstorming on the subject) Well, the movement for liberation of women is not a new thing, it's another very important process for development of this society. However, there's an interesting thrend in recent years, which includes females adopting patterns of male behaviour.
Namely, 'equal' is not sinonimous to 'same'. When you mix those two terms, you get women wanting to work in coal mines, for instance. Theoretically, females should have right to work in coal mines if they want to, but practically, most of them shouldn't actually work in coal mines simply because of practical reasons. The sight of a woman working in a coal mine just to prove that women can do that too is, to me, ridiculously futile gesture. So there are things that men aren't capable of doing and female are, so what (for instance, it's scientifically proven that women differ colours better than men). That doesn't make them inferior to women, nor is not being quite fit for working in coal mine making women inferior.
An example of this trend, well, I don't know how much you all remember "Sex in the city", that was, the way I see it, a series about women completely adopting male behaviour, a kind of behaviour males have been often critiqued for, by women (ironic? poetic?). They were pretty much acting like the worst cliche about males would.

Is females adopting male patterns of behaviours good or bad? Well, I guess it depends on whether you believe that average female behaviour as you know it, is natural, born-in, or is it just a product of social circumstances world has been in before. In other words, do women want to act like that but couldn't have earlier (because men didn't give them freedom to do so), or are they just doing that to copy men (and eventually take their social position). I don't know.
There are definitely positive sides. For instance, if females accept our patterns of behaviour, we get condemned for them less. If girls are watching porn too, we aren't male pigs for watching porn.

Anyways. So I think that watching gay porn of oposite sex is another kind of standard male behaviour women have taken on lately. It is being suddenly very popular, the popularity that coincides with popularity of the process I just described in two paragraphs above.
But it also displays differently, girls don't like actual porn, they want romance. I guess I explain it by that women are generally attracted to emotional aspects of things rather than to physical. Therefore, it's only logical that they accept male behaviour in a form that fits their nature better, transformed if you will.

There is place for individuality here too. Perhaps females who feel stronger need to take on male position in the world will be more likely attracted to yaoi. Or perhaps those that are more prone to following trends. Or, if you look at it from a completely different perspective, those that are more liberated about their sexuality?

(Whenever you're talking about sociological issues, you have to accept that your conclusions are incorrect when looking at it from case to case. But that doesn't mean that they are completely invalid and useless. Simply, that's the only possible way for examining society. If we always thought along "people are individuals, end of story", sociology would never get anywhere.)

And the fact that male characters in shonen-ai are feminine and boyish-looking?
Well, very simple: that women like males who are butch, insensitive, rugged macho-men, is just a prejudice that men have about women's taste. Men take a picture of what they would want to be like, and wrongly apply it to females.
But really, many women, if not majority, want a man who does have some feminine strokes (not too much of them, though, I'm led to believe). Looking at many of the most desirable men in the world, you'll realise that they have something boyish about their looks. Just think of Brad Pitt's boyish blue eyes (if memory serves me correctly, I've read about some public researchs and polls that confirmed this as well). I don't know why it's so, but one plausible answer seems to be that women want a man who needs them. And little boys are very needful beings.

* * *

Um, plump or skinny thing?
I remember an occasion in which me and my pals were sitting in a park, and in a wave of inspiration of rude behaviour we started giving marks to passing girls, 1 to 10.
The conversation steered to "I'd date her" and "I wouldn't date her" way, and the question arose "what is the lowest score on your scale that you'd date?" It appeared that the consensus was that depending on girl's character, we'd gladly date 4's or 3's. Simply, when you look at a girl passing by, the only thing you have to judge her is her looks. When you know a girl, the knowledge of her character fills the frame and in the end that's the full picture you're looking at.
So when we talk about what kind of women we like, we're actually talking about who we like to see passing by, in the eyes-feasting way, and not who we'd actually like to have laying in bed beside us.
Hell, you know what actress is really hot in my opinion? Catherine Keener.

Then again there are also guys who never bother to get to know girl's character because they never look at girls as beings who have character, but that's a completely different story.

* * *

I tend to dislike people by default. Once get to know them I either continue to dislike them, or start liking them.

Funny, I'm just the oposite.

[Nanda]

And the fact that male characters in shonen-ai are feminine and boyish-looking?
Well, very simple: that women like males who are butch, insensitive, rugged macho-men, is just a prejudice that men have about women's taste. Men take a picture of what they would want to be like, and wrongly apply it to females.

Yes. It irks me to no end when straight men try to tell me what an attractive man is supposed to look like. (How audacious!) Like I'm not fit to judge and they have to explain it to me. It goes both ways, however - I get equally annoyed when women berate men about their taste in women.

[McDuffies]

And the fact that male characters in shonen-ai are feminine and boyish-looking?
Well, very simple: that women like males who are butch, insensitive, rugged macho-men, is just a prejudice that men have about women's taste. Men take a picture of what they would want to be like, and wrongly apply it to females.

Yes. It irks me to no end when straight men try to tell me what an attractive man is supposed to look like. (How audacious!) Like I'm not fit to judge and they have to explain it to me. It goes both ways, however - I get equally annoyed when women berate men about their taste in women.

Yeah, various girls tried to convince me that guys like toothpick-like androginy girls with no hips (how did Jennifer Lopez and Shakira ever get popular then?)
Which serves them as excuse to go on a diet even when they look perfectly fine.

[Sortelli]

I hope body hair comes into fashion again, 'coz if it does I have lots of fashion.