Reademption Literature

My third Shoujo-Ai (Girl-Love) manga of choice is written by Ebine Yamaji, a mangaka famous for her works with lesbian themes. One of them, Love My Life,  was even made into a live-action film in 2006. So far, I've read Blue  and Double House , and both were surprisingly insightful and mediative with little to almost nothing explicit in content. I suppose that I've picked shoujo-ai titles over yuri which isn't intentional at all. I still have at least six other titles and I know some of them do have lesbian fanservice. That being said, I'm pretty happy that the three lesbian-themed mangas I've read so far focused more on the serious issues of sexual identity and relationships for gay women. Yamaji's Free Soul  is definitely the most heartfelt and invigorating manga about lesbian identity I've read as of yet. I no doubt plan on reading and reviewing her two other mentioned works. Going by the content of Free Soul  alone, I'm more than happy to tackl...

As enjoyable and exciting as I find shounen ai/yaoi no matter how ridiculous the lack of real character development or plot are just to make way of what I deem 'sexy times' between pretty boys, my views are a lot more critical when it comes to its counterpart, shoujo ai/yuri. I think it stems from the fact that I have been in relationships with women, both romantic and sexual. In fact, it was only two years ago that I came out as bisexual (and it's been grueling to even admit it). For the longest time, I've identified as a lesbian but my sexual preference for partners is not something I consider as a social or political statement. I'm also not easily offended. That being said, I'm slightly uncomfortable with how pop culture in shows (and porn, but then again, it is porn ) tend to 'fetishize' sexual/romantic relationships between women, mostly when it's geared towards the male gaze. Shoujo ai/yuri's readership and demographic are mostly men too...

Listen: two men going at it is HOT, okay? It sizzles. It pops. It makes me salivate and get a lady boner. DEAL. WITH. IT. Now I've only been a ' fujoshi ' for a short while (since 2014, if you can believe it), and my sudden emotional investment on queer relationships or slash pairings in fandoms (anime, manga or otherwise) is all thanks to Charles and Erik of X-Men: First Class . Since I started rabidly shipping those gorgeous idiots both in film and in real life as the actors themselves, I also did a critical examination of other male friendships that I admired in the past in fiction and a few of them did stand out as ship-worthy. I'm not going to tell you specifically which are these but rest assured that I have been more or less converted to the fujoshi lifestyle. I'm not exactly ashamed of it but I won't advertise it in public during a random conversation with a new acquaintance. OR MAYBE I WILL. Actually, I ALREADY DID. I was hanging out with some guys ...