Key points
Here are some of the strands intended to form a cumulative, non-linear, argument about the use of yaoi by Western female readers.
- parallels between the appropriation of cultural
identity and sexual identity - scopic aspects of the female gaze, the straight gaze,
and the western gaze and their role in "othering" and
exoticizing - cultural odorlessness of manga and an imputed parallel
with the sexual odorlessness of yaoi - anxieties straight female readers bring to the text
- tensions between homophobia, internalized misogyny, and
the love of "beautiful boys" - 'transgressive' acts of reading yaoi coupled with a
reinscribing of gender roles - pairing of romance and pornography
- M. Butterfly as a commentary on sexuality, orientalism,
and appropriation - reverse appropriation of Western imagery by Japanese
mangaka - intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and
hegemonies - tensions between localizing, odorlessness, and ‘native’
manga