Hi, guys!
It’s Kayla, or Moon, or your local overthinker.
How’s it going?
I’ve been struggling to find the motivation to do anything, but I’ve come here today
to start a discussion about something near and dear to my heart: GL.
And I don’t know if this video will be polarizing or if I’ll be preaching to the choir, but
either way, it must be said.
And who else to say it but a sapphic BL fan with nothing to lose?
After doing the amount of research I have on societal issues that impact the BL community
and our consumption of LGBTQ+ media, I’ve come to a conclusion: it’s that almost every
problem we face as a fandom circles back to one of two things: misogyny or homophobia.
While this isn’t some major breakthrough in thought, it got me thinking about how these
things not only affect BL, but GL as well.
And so, that’s what today’s video is about—my utter frustration over the glaring lesbiphobia
in the BL community… and how misogyny is the culprit.
In the online sphere, many people have voiced their want for more GL dramas to be produced
alongside BL.
And I’ve been one of those people, actively retweeting the “we want a GL," “where’s
the GL?” tweets and all that.
I think it’s cool when tweets like that get so much engagement because it sparks my
hope that production companies will see that demand and work accordingly.
But here’s where it gets problematic: I’ve noticed that the number of people who engage
with those tweets doesn’t correlate with the number of viewers that actually tune into
a GL when it’s released.
In other words, I’m tired of seeing BL fans claiming all day long that they want a GL
and then ghosting when there finally is one.
The radio silence is deafening.
So you know me.
I start analyzing things, and the result of my totally scientific and not at all emotionally
charged analysis is that BL fans are misogynistic.
First, let me preface this by saying: obviously not every single BL fan holds misogynistic
views—in fact, you’d be surprised at the progress we’ve made towards self and community
education this past year.
But that being said, I don’t think we can keep progressing as a community if we don’t
address the lack of support for GL.
Let’s bring up some examples to show you what exactly I’m referencing.
The first example I’ll be using is the Filipino GL series “Chasing Sunsets” from Camp
Avenue Studios.
Just looking at the show’s analytics, we can see that it did well for an indie series
from a newer studio, garnering 58k views upon airing and decreasing to 15k views over the span
of five episodes.
Compare this to the BL series “Influencers” from the same studio, which received 442k
views at its highest and 146k at its lowest.
With these stark differences in view count, you would never be able to tell that “Chasing
Sunsets” was nominated for Best LGBTQ+ program in Asia.
The next example is one that really gets me heated, and I’m sure that you’ve at least
heard of it: “Pearl Next Door.”
Now this GL series is a spin-off of “Gameboys,” the hugely successful BL from The IdeaFirst
Company.
You guys know, I live and breathe for this franchise, and because of the exponential
growth of “Gameboys,” I expected no less for “Pearl Next Door.”
But when you compare the views for each series, “Gameboys” surpassed a million views on
all episodes, eventually garnering a spot on Netflix.
Then we have “Pearl Next Door,” with views that range anywhere from 510k to 139k, with
most episodes averaging 100k views.
Do you see the discrepancy there?
Now a related topic I’d like to get into is the controversy surrounding the upcoming
Thai GL “GAP the series.”
For context, this series from Idol Factory is based on an 18+ GL novel written by a lesbian.
Recently, the trailer for the adaptation received backlash for containing strong sexual themes.
It got to the point where they made the decision to re-edit the trailer.
The main source of criticism actually came from lesbian fans, who fear that the series
will be portraying the female characters in an oversexualized manner.
To an extent, I understand that.
The oversexualization of lesbians in mainstream and adult media is rampant.
So much of our identity has been fetishized by men, and that’s fucked up.
We’ve been left feeling violated, jaded, and incredibly defensive in the face of such
monetary exploitation.
But here’s the thing.
There is a huge difference between lesbian content that’s created by men for men and
lesbian content that’s created by women for women.
They are not synonymous with each other.
One exists under the male gaze, while the other is free of it.
And honestly speaking, we have to stop treating female sexuality like it’s a bad thing.
When it comes to “GAP the series,” I feel that some of the criticism has aligned a little
too closely with demonization.
It just seems counterintuitive for us to be viewing our own sexuality as something that’s
too shameful to be portrayed on-screen.
At the end of the day, GL should be allowed to explore sexuality in the same way that
BL is able to.
Also, side note: Saint is one of the producers on this series, and if you’ve seen how passionate
he is about LGBTQ+ representation in BL, I doubt it will be any different for his first
GL project.
I do want to say, it’s okay to be skeptical.
Just look at how our identity has been used in the past.
But I do hope this information helps to alleviate some of that worry.
In conclusion, GL deserves just as much love as BL.
Us sapphics have stood in support for series after series depicting the stories and struggles
of gay men, promoting each episode into the fucking hemisphere.
So now, we ask that you’ll give our stories a chance, and that you’ll listen to our
voices like we listen to yours, and that you won’t speak over us, furthering these misogynistic
ideals that serve nobody.
I really love you guys!
Send us some love, too!
Back when I first contemplated making this video, I had a talk with Perci Intalan, the
director of “Gameboys.”
At the time, I posed the question: “Is misogyny to blame for the lack of support that GLs
receive?”
And he responded, “Men have this inherent bias against women that stems from both a
patriarchal society and the way that women have been represented in BL.”
We also got onto the topic of “Pearl Next Door,” and he shared with me that despite
the series being less popular than “Gameboys,” it received far more criticism from male fans.
I remember discussing the implications of that for an hour before Perci sighed and said,
“You know, Kayla.
People have a critical opinion of everything women do.”
In the end, we agreed that solidarity is the most powerful tool against hate, for every
letter under our acronym.
It’s not about pointing the finger at an individual—misogyny is systematic, and to
fight against it, we need to show up for each other.
Thank you to the moon and back for watching!
My goal by making videos like this is to help our community be as inclusive and understanding
as possible.
So I hope you’ll acknowledge my frustrations because as I’ve said before, we can all
learn from one another.
But with that, stay safe, stay healthy, and I will see you in the next video.
Bye!