In English, yaoi is the most common term for explicit gay fiction. If it's gay porn, it's yaoi, if it's lesbian porn, it's yuri, and if it's not porn, it's called shounen-ai and shoujo-ai for gay and lesbian romance, respectively. What's called yaoi and shounen-ai in English is called BL in Japanese, as such, a lot of yaoi-related things in the west are BL-related things in Japan, like: In Japanese, BL is the most common term for gay fiction in general. Girls that ship male characters with other male characters are called fujoshi 腐女子, 'rotten girls.'įor reference, a comparison of searches in Google for yaoi manga and BL manga in Japan versus yaoi manga and BL manga in the United States.Gay fiction is marketed at a female audience, not at a gay audience.The 'top' and 'bottom' of a gay fanfic are called seme 攻め and uke 受け. Searches for yaoi やおい are practically nonexistent compared to BL in Japanese. In English, although the numbers are very small in comparison, more people search for yaoi manga than BL manga, which the opposite of what happens in Japan. Baraīoth yaoi and bara 薔薇 are genres of gay fiction.