Update 8/9/11:
A little while ago, Noah asked me to put a few words together on my perspective as a gay male reading yaoi. I didn’t have any particular thesis pulled together on the subject but I was thrilled to be given a soapbox. What ended up happening was that in an attempt to pull together my unsorted notions into a cogent article, I talked waaaaaaaay out of school. What’s more, the glib tone I picked ended up fruitlessly teasing people for no reason and for some reason felt it was necessary to define women’s experience with something that they had done a good enough job defining for themselves.
It isn’t that I’m merely embarrassed to have my name attached to the thing because it makes me look like an idiot, but that I genuinely repent of the impulse for writing it in the first place. I’m reading more yaoi. It still isn’t my thing, but that’s neither here nor there. It’s hardly for me to be miffed about an air of exploitation with all of the BBC period costume dramas I consume. I mean, seriously.
I’ve asked Noah to remove the article but left the ultimate decision up to him, since the discussion in the comments is well worth preserving. If the text remains below this, keep in mind to disregard it, as I’ve changed my opinion about pretty much every point I brought up. I’m listening and learning people. Thanks for calling me out, and next time I write for HU, it’ll be about something I damned well know a little more about.
Thanks for reading. Hugs and kisses. Comics are awesome.
Michael