Abstract
This chapter describes and contextualises the female-oriented media portraying romantic and sexual relationships between, usually young, men that is variously known as Boys' Love (BL), shonen-ai, yaoi and (male–male) shotacon, and often denoted as 'mxm' and 'm/m'. Boys' Love is an umbrella term for female-oriented media, predominantly commercial manga, anime and games, which focus on erotic relationships between men. Shonen-ai – literally 'boy love' – is the name given to a genre of male–male romance developed in Japan by a small number of ground-breaking female mangaka during the 1970s. Of all the manga/anime genres, BL/yaoi has attracted some of the most sustained academic interest. BL has a complex history and unique place in Japanese popular culture. In Australia, the legal concept of 'child abuse material' is notoriously wide and makes vulnerable the country's large BL fandom.
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