Yaoi

Yaoi is a popular term for female-oriented fictional media that focus on homoerotic or homoromantic male relationships, usually created by female authors. Originally referring to a specific type of dōjinshi parody of mainstream anime and manga works, yaoi came to be used as a generic term for female-oriented manga, anime, dating sims, novels and dōjinshi featuring homosexual male relationships.



























Yaoi began in the dōjinshi markets of Japan in the late 1970s/early 1980s as an outgrowth of shonen-ai. BL (Boys Love, another term for yaoi) creators and fans are careful to distinguish the genre from “gay manga,” which are created by and for gay men.