I was doing some research on Yaoi manga and came across a Squidoo** page (squidoo is such a funny word to say out loud) of a girl who talked about how Yaoi manga has had a huge impact on her life (I tried to go to her blog but it was by invitation only but after reading more of her Squidoo pages she mentioned that she was going to stop blogging so I don’t even know if she still owns the site – but anyway). After reading how manga has impacted her life I started to think how manga has impacted my life.
I’ve always been an avid reading but I think my life would be totally different if I had never heard or read a manga, ever. It would have been one boring and depressing life. Reading manga has been a great way for me to leave all my worries, stresses and fears behind. While I am reading I am no longer Micah. I become a character in the story (I tend to bounce back and forth between characters – one instant I’m Charley being teased by Rayflo or in the next chapter I’m Rayflo having “fun” with Charley) but it allows me to relax and to clear my head. And after each of my readings I start to realize that my troubles weren’t all that bad and usually come up with a solution to my problems and other times it’s just a nice break from the same old some old.
Manga and reading in general allows me to experience things I wouldn’t or couldn’t experience in “real” life. I can be a vampire, a person with cat ears (or no cat ears) I can be a wallflower living in a mansion with extremely attractive guys or whatever the manga calls for. I don’t view it as I am running away from my problems or not living in the real world I view it as a break (like people who take vacations or like a person who goes to the spa) that’s what manga is for me a quick break from reality where I can recharge and pull myself together in order to get back on the right track.
So, how has manga impacted your life?
** Below is the Squidoo page created by the girl I mentioned above or you can also read it here
My blog on yaoi
Why am I doing this?
When I type in the words “yaoi” and “blog” together into google, I get some things, but I don’t get any blogs that deal mainly with yaoi.
So…I made this blog. On yaoi. Well, mostly yaoi. I have other stuff on there too occasionally. But mostly yaoi. Reviews, discussions, ~stuff~, “yaoi finding tutorials,”
I did some soul-searching recently and it finally hit me how …nice yaoi has made it for me. I’m female, I’m kind of naive, and I don’t have any older siblings to guide me in the growing up process. I honestly feel that one of the reasons why I didn’t go down a really dark and scary path that other people sometimes unfortunately fall into, is because I had yaoi (and fandom) to catch me and keep me happy. Instead of giving away parts of myself or exploiting my body (which the media sadly encourages), through yaoi (and fandom), I found a really nice, sanctuary-like place. Yaoi distracted me from lots of pressures that a young woman faces, such as, for example…body image issues. I was too busy drawing and drooling over beautiful bishounen to criticize myself and say how I physically didn’t measure up to glamor magazines (note: this works for me, I don’t know if it does for other people).
And, especially now that I’m in college, I feel that yaoi kind of also helps prevent me from becoming kind of desperate and lowering my standards and respect for myself in order to feel valued and less lonely. Basically, yaoi made me too happy and busy to angst over men, loneliness, and insecurity. Sure, such issues do arise, but I feel that yaoi really mitigated it for me.
An equal action deserves and equal and opposite reaction, right? I honestly love yaoi. I know that some people oppose it and say that it’s unrealistic and enforces stereotypes. But think about it: doesn’t…EVERYTHING do that? Pretty much?
So, it’s kind of my way of giving back. Yaoi took good care of me, and I feel that I might as well take good care of it in return and do what I can to promote it and show at least one fan’s view and knowledge of yaoi.
What do I write about? Oh…stuff that has to do with me, what I notice, and yaoi. Pairings I like, stuff in anime I notice where I raise my eyebrow and go “hmmm…that is yaoi-worthy, those two totally want into each other’s pants,” and anything else that I think is interesting, or at the very least, amusing.
