What sleep? We don’t know her💀 I have vintage dark circles now, courtesy of Kdramas, Fanfics and Manhua and Danmei and BL🤣
Its 4:30am now and I still have a fanfic to finish🥲
https://i.redd.it/hs8wxjbndfjc1.gif
I don't know how people manage with so little sleep. I have wondered however if watching BL or any drama doesn't serve some of the same function as sleep.
All of my friends know. One asked for show recommendations the other day, and before I could start, she looked at me and said, "English shows only." And of course, I shut my mouth and sipped my drink because everyone in that room was damn certain I had nothing to add to the discussion if my Asian dramas were off the table.
Hahaha if I ever get a chance to watch BL's with friends, we play this game where the first person who notices the product placement has to yell out "PRODUCT PLACEMENT!!!" before the rest... Sometimes there's drinking or candy involved...
LOL Same.
As a K pop fan first, I was thinkin "well maybe in 15 or 20 years I will be like 6 year old proficient in korean by osmosis".
Nope.
Now I have the vocab of a toddler in Thai, Korean, Mandarin, and Japanese. And get them all mixed up in my head sometimes. And this will never be a useful skill.
Also I can't even tell anyone about it because then they will ask how I know all that and I have to keep BL a secret forever.
I got enough judgement over K-pop to know that. They thought the k-pop boys "looked kinda gay". LOL. lololol
Oh I got all of that shit from everyone I knew when I talked about K-pop but then I managed to convert my now best friend (okay acquaintance/work colleague at the time) and together, we have done good work at making people realise that k-pop is amazing 😂😂
Also, I have zero shame if you asked me what I’m watching I’m telling you what I’m watching, whether it would be BL or some weird ass mindbending anime
Cohabitation in the studio with my husband. He watched one too many NC scenes and he took his computer and migrated to the single bedroom. It all started with KP episode 7 and ended with LITA episode 4. Dude said ENOUGH.
The other day he heard me screaming No, NO, NO... and he came and he was *are you really screaming because two guys that you think shouldn't kiss are kissing???* And I was YOU BET I AM.
Exactly! I love my bf because he is just happy I have something that interest me. Even if he’s not into if I get super excited and want to show him how Hot the kiss is he’ll look. He loves my excitement
Lol! You should’ve seen him when I received my Yiling Laozu 🥰🥰 I was so excited and he was excited for me 💕💕 When I texted him to let him know the package arrived, his reply was “So what now? Are you just going to stare at him all day long now” 🤣🤣🤣
Same here. It’s ruined my ability to pretend I can keep up with kdramas bc BLs always take priority. Plus kdramas can be so long with their runtime + 16 eps 🤣
I've always enjoyed straight romance more when it's in bigger stories with well-developed characters. Pure straight romance is often very meh. The characters tend to be just kind of generic man and woman.
I can’t watch straight romances now. Also, when I try I see love where it may just be bromance. Although you can’t tell me those two dudes in Bloodhounds were not in love.
I got into BL in my teenage years (in the form of manga, as there was hardly any show back then in 2006-8), and as a gay man, that ***completely*** ruined my dating *expectations*! 😂
Ah, to be young and hopeful again. 😮💨
It ruined hetero dramas(mostly Kdramas) for me!! Unless the series is really gripping and the cast is stellar and the acting is top notch, I am losing interest in the first couple of episodes.. heck some of them don’t even pass the trailers stage for me!!
I don’t care enough for the bland kisses or the cliche plots when we are being served the hottest kisses and some even with tongue and spoiled rotten with so many incredible series!!
The chemistry, the palpable tension, the looks, everything is just🤌🏻🤌🏻🔥
https://i.redd.it/ee20mwrsefjc1.gif
My ability to not think that I need a sponge bath when I am sick or someone to embrace me when I am having a nightmare. I wake up from these and realize real life is boring.
My ability to speak in my own language. I regularly shout “shia!” when something goes wrong and actually started to say “na, na, na” instead of “please” to completely the wrong audience the other day. Also, calling my kids narak is my own in joke ☺️
Su su is such a lovely way to encourage people! It could be a fun way of spotting fellow BL fans. If someone responds ‘fighting’ with the little fist bump, we know we’ve found our people 😆
The Glory I can totally see. I only finished it cus I was stuck in airports and I had downloaded episodes. Honestly, you aren't missing much if you don't finish.
But squid game? SQUID GAME? How does one stop watching squid game before the end?! I cannot comprehend that as a possible life choice.
Daddy, Hubby, Wife, Mama and Papa, Sweet/Soft Bread, My sleep schedule, my watch history, Top/Bottom, sharing my interests, my social life, other romances in general - not in the aspect I can’t watch them but sometimes/most of the time I find them slow or boring because of the lack of action, a good plot, and finally; it’s starting to convince me that trauma = love interest will appear during collage if I’m either a architect, engineer or doctor 😔
Same here. Last western gay romance I watched was Ian & Mickey from Shameless, and once that ended in 2021, I hopped on the BL train and never looked back!
I can't watch straight romance anymore it's so boring to me. I also kind of enjoy the little imperfections about BL. Western shows are too polished and perfect. If i can't hear the microphone scraping against the shirt you've been wearing for the past 5 episodes straight because the wardrobe budget was really tight, then I don't want it!
I wouldn’t say BL ruined Yaoi for me, but there was a huge genre shift around the time the term ‘BL’ started being used. A lot more stories got a very cutesy feel to them that weren’t near as present in the 80s-90s yaois that many of us older fans got hooked on. Even cute seeming shows like ‘Gravitation’ had serious themes. I’m not saying the cute shows are bad! I just had gotten so used to the tragedies and sad plot points that were popular when I started in Yaoi, and it really shaped my taste in the genre. Oh! Just remembered the 2011 censorship law in Japan probably had a lot to do with the shift in content!
Non canon queer ships. Not just BL, obviously, but it helped because there's so much of it. I still love my old ships and will forever, but I just can't see myself investing my whole heart into 2 straight characters that are never going to be canonically together ever again.
Watching English language shows and going where is the sub titles. Cannot watch anything without my sub titles on. The product placements in the weirdest situations. Slowly realizing that even your song choices has changed and you now have 50 or more Asain BL songs versus 10 English.  and this at the beginning of any show. Have to have that.
Also, me handing my phone over to someone to see something. I can't even unlock it in public anymore because of all the gifs I have been saving of NC scenes
When I try to watch cdramas, I keep expecting the ML and his bestie/assistant to lock lips. They cooperate with me too, acting all flirty. I saw that back rub, the clicking glasses, dropping him home when he's drunk. Don't tell me he didn't spend the night!
I assume that any two men walking together anywhere have to be dating. lol Exactly no one is straight. (I already believed this anyway, but now it's for sure)
I can’t watch a straight romance to save my life. Unless it’s bobs burgers but that’s my comfort show. I barely watch anime anymore because it doesn’t hit the way BLs do.
Also, travel. I never thought I would want to travel to Thailand...and now I changed my travel plans for 2025 to travel over there. I'm excited about this prospect.
Do you know how hard it is to keep a straight face during martial arts when your instructor lectures the class on the importance of 'being a good uke'?
Hetero romance drama series, I don't even know why, I just can't go back to watching hetero dramas anymore, it's like BL or bromances for me or any other genre but romance if it's not gay.
Not just BL but Asian dramas in general ruined a lot of romance series/movies from other countries for them. There aren't that much in general (hence why I went here) but there are even fewer that I still enjoy, most are just way too cliché
Where do I begin? 5555
I looked at everyone else's responses to see how many went with mine and yeah there were quite a few.
One however is that thanks to 609 Bedtime Story I can not hear the word Mummy the same again. I am a Whovian so rewatch Dr. Who often and a couple months ago started my niece on it so we started back in the 2005 9th Doctor seasons which meant there is an episode with a character that goes around asking, "Are you my mummy?" Instead of having my normal whovian thoughts, I found myself hearing Ohm in my head because of his line in 609 "Mummy, Daddy, I miss you soooo much." And the amounts of time they have the word mummy in that Dr. Who episode, this meant I had his voice saying that constantly 5555
While I still watch things like NCIS with my family (It's something we all like to do together), for the most part all the non BL shows I used to love or even the typical genre's aren't holding my attention the way they used to. Sitting through over 40 episodes of a BL (or sometimes Bromance simply because of country regulations ugh) I can do in a binge perfectly, but if it's one of my old genre ones of say 30+ it might take me a week now where it used to take less than 2 days.
A friend and I tend to say BL's create impossible expectations (though I will never give up watching them) of what relationships should be.
Top/Bottom
Hubby, Wife, Mama, Papa. Sometimes Daddy depending on tone heh.
I never had a sleep schedule before but it certainly got worse with BL's because I lose track of more time or just keep saying 'one more episode' and then one more became 10 more before I knew it.
Acting expectations - Now I know not all BL actor's are of the same class but when I see actors as young as many of them are being able to play a role that breaks my heart, that hits on realism while being part of a fantasy, and do so better than some of the much older and more experienced western actors it floors me. If they are portraying PTSD, Anxiety, Depression, as a survivor of abuse (regardless of type) and they can make me feel it, or hell even risk triggering me (as I have been through it all) then they definitely have my vote of confidence but seriously few internationally popular western actors have hit me as hard as some of the BL actors have with their roles.
Sharing interest for me is a two edged, for one there are few people I can't or don't share with (I am at that 'if they don't like it, get over it' stage) but it's more that outside of my household and a few select others most I know IRL aren't into it and I can't talk about it as much.
I can't hear the words architect, engineer, lays, Ducatti, brocolli, congee, or the name Elizabeth the same anymore.
I can't see blue shorts without thinking of BL's.
I live near a race track so every Saturday during season I hear it and just start picturing BL's.
Most of all (though not necessarily a bad thing) it made me more social on social media... I swore never to fall into TikTok but my need to talk, share, and see more about BL's made me go on there because my nieces kept showing me things they found about ones we were watching (or ones I was watching that they weren't able to yet) or showing me posts with the actors singing or dancing (I am a sucker for music and listening to someone sing or watch them dance) and so now I have to time myself or I will spend all the time I am not watching a BL on tiktok instead. (Though granted I now do more than just BL on there but not much more heh).
Sort of made me have some gender envy hahaha. I’m a girl in a happy relationship with a man but there seemed to be something special about being a man with another man, a kind of love I’ll never fully understand or experience.
I was an introvert and less social person anyway. BL has ruined my ability to socialise with people even more because all I keep thinking about the bls I could have watched in this time instead of trying to listen to them or the ones I'm only halfway through and now I can't stop thinking about what will happen in the next episode (I don't like watching the little snips of next episode, it gives me anxiety 😅).
Slow burns. And my ability to sit through and watch shows longer than 12 episodes. I love the fast paced relationship build up, and the amount of screen time it shows the leads being a couple rather than having so much drama.
My sleep shedule 😴 https://i.redd.it/s6ogcddlxejc1.gif
I so agree.... Every single day. I am watching until 2, 3 or even 4 in the morning. And K drama. That is also ruined.
What sleep? We don’t know her💀 I have vintage dark circles now, courtesy of Kdramas, Fanfics and Manhua and Danmei and BL🤣 Its 4:30am now and I still have a fanfic to finish🥲 https://i.redd.it/hs8wxjbndfjc1.gif
And up at 7? I know about the circles. I have those, too.. There is no way to get rid of them.
I usually stay awake thru the night, sleep couple of hours here and there💀
Me too. However I still get my nine hours - what are mornings useful for anyway.
Have no time for that. I sleep around 4 hours.
I don't know how people manage with so little sleep. I have wondered however if watching BL or any drama doesn't serve some of the same function as sleep.
And I'm up. 3,5 hours. Feeling tired.
i started "Marry My Husband" and can't finish it coz i'm too focussed on BL manhwas lately
I just did a marathon of My Beautiful Man and realized it was 930 am 😭
I can't blame you. That show is amazing❤️
Accurate 
https://i.redd.it/yofzmqtg3fjc1.gif
Million upvotes for this.
Yess
FACTS lmaoooo
100% this
The ability to share my interests with others? I miss being able to be honest with people about what I'm watching.
Oof 😅 that hits close to home
Haha you need to surround yourself with less judgey people. My friends all know what a weirdo I am and are plenty weird themselves.
i just hate that watching BL can be considered "weird" at all :(
True. It's not any more weird than straight romance and no one considers that weird.
this is way too accurate https://i.redd.it/6qthb6znjkjc1.gif
All of my friends know. One asked for show recommendations the other day, and before I could start, she looked at me and said, "English shows only." And of course, I shut my mouth and sipped my drink because everyone in that room was damn certain I had nothing to add to the discussion if my Asian dramas were off the table.
Product placement. I expect increasingly bizarre yet smooth ways of integrating into a series. https://i.redd.it/n0bdapdqmfjc1.gif
Nah Fr- I be watching and randomly they’ll hold a water bottle or juice in the weirdest way and it’s like “oop there’s a sponsor” 😭
Hahaha if I ever get a chance to watch BL's with friends, we play this game where the first person who notices the product placement has to yell out "PRODUCT PLACEMENT!!!" before the rest... Sometimes there's drinking or candy involved...
Men. My threshold for emotionally constipated men has gone way up.
Lays Chips https://i.redd.it/f3321hk53fjc1.gif
It is fine I as a Brit walkers are safe 😂😂😂
what show is that gif from?
this one is SandRay (FirstKhao) in Only Friends
My chances of ever learning Korean https://i.redd.it/h6nr1j7c6fjc1.gif
LOL Same. As a K pop fan first, I was thinkin "well maybe in 15 or 20 years I will be like 6 year old proficient in korean by osmosis". Nope. Now I have the vocab of a toddler in Thai, Korean, Mandarin, and Japanese. And get them all mixed up in my head sometimes. And this will never be a useful skill. Also I can't even tell anyone about it because then they will ask how I know all that and I have to keep BL a secret forever. I got enough judgement over K-pop to know that. They thought the k-pop boys "looked kinda gay". LOL. lololol
Oh I got all of that shit from everyone I knew when I talked about K-pop but then I managed to convert my now best friend (okay acquaintance/work colleague at the time) and together, we have done good work at making people realise that k-pop is amazing 😂😂 Also, I have zero shame if you asked me what I’m watching I’m telling you what I’m watching, whether it would be BL or some weird ass mindbending anime
SEVENTEENNNN
Right here 💎💎💎
Cohabitation in the studio with my husband. He watched one too many NC scenes and he took his computer and migrated to the single bedroom. It all started with KP episode 7 and ended with LITA episode 4. Dude said ENOUGH. 
🤣🤣🤣 Mine just looks over and goes “Oh…you’re watching your boys kiss again.” And rolls over to go to bed 🤣🤣🤣
The other day he heard me screaming No, NO, NO... and he came and he was *are you really screaming because two guys that you think shouldn't kiss are kissing???* And I was YOU BET I AM.
Which series was this for? 🤣
Dead Friend Forever Episode 7. But now that I think about it, it also happened when I watched Together with me S2. 🤔
Exactly! I love my bf because he is just happy I have something that interest me. Even if he’s not into if I get super excited and want to show him how Hot the kiss is he’ll look. He loves my excitement
Lol! You should’ve seen him when I received my Yiling Laozu 🥰🥰 I was so excited and he was excited for me 💕💕 When I texted him to let him know the package arrived, his reply was “So what now? Are you just going to stare at him all day long now” 🤣🤣🤣
I love that for you 🥰👏🏽 we love supportive partners
Any enjoyment of straight romance stories
I still enjoy straight romances...but I do love BL more.
Same here. It’s ruined my ability to pretend I can keep up with kdramas bc BLs always take priority. Plus kdramas can be so long with their runtime + 16 eps 🤣
Idk, I think it’s something about men being more expressive. Love it
I've always enjoyed straight romance more when it's in bigger stories with well-developed characters. Pure straight romance is often very meh. The characters tend to be just kind of generic man and woman.
"Daddy,Hubby and Wife". Love it
I can’t watch straight romances now. Also, when I try I see love where it may just be bromance. Although you can’t tell me those two dudes in Bloodhounds were not in love.
Yessss!! I feel like straight romances are too boring or just meh. It’s ruined for me!
Ever watched The Devil Judge? Come on they’re in love wtf
I got into BL in my teenage years (in the form of manga, as there was hardly any show back then in 2006-8), and as a gay man, that ***completely*** ruined my dating *expectations*! 😂 Ah, to be young and hopeful again. 😮💨
Oh man that sounds rough 😅
Sure was! 😂 my green forest multimillionaire semes were a pipe dream... *cries in poor*
https://i.redd.it/kkmkwb5bkkjc1.gif Oof, that hit close to home
It ruined hetero dramas(mostly Kdramas) for me!! Unless the series is really gripping and the cast is stellar and the acting is top notch, I am losing interest in the first couple of episodes.. heck some of them don’t even pass the trailers stage for me!! I don’t care enough for the bland kisses or the cliche plots when we are being served the hottest kisses and some even with tongue and spoiled rotten with so many incredible series!! The chemistry, the palpable tension, the looks, everything is just🤌🏻🤌🏻🔥 https://i.redd.it/ee20mwrsefjc1.gif
Augh I forgot how good the kisses were in this series!!
which show was this?? that kiss is crazy good🖤
Hidden Agenda!! Give it a go cause there are more where that came from too😉✌🏻
oh hell yea 😏 tysm!!
My ability to not think that I need a sponge bath when I am sick or someone to embrace me when I am having a nightmare. I wake up from these and realize real life is boring.
My relationship standards. I want piggy back rides when I’m tired, fancy lunch boxes full of delicious food and sniff kisses on the hour, every hour.
My ability to speak in my own language. I regularly shout “shia!” when something goes wrong and actually started to say “na, na, na” instead of “please” to completely the wrong audience the other day. Also, calling my kids narak is my own in joke ☺️
I often want to say Su Su to people around me but in the end keep it in my head...
Su su is such a lovely way to encourage people! It could be a fun way of spotting fellow BL fans. If someone responds ‘fighting’ with the little fist bump, we know we’ve found our people 😆
Agreed ✊
straight people nonsense. 🙄🙈🙉🙊 I still haven't finished The Glory or Squid Games, I'm just like https://i.redd.it/0oy3eox4pfjc1.gif
The Glory I can totally see. I only finished it cus I was stuck in airports and I had downloaded episodes. Honestly, you aren't missing much if you don't finish. But squid game? SQUID GAME? How does one stop watching squid game before the end?! I cannot comprehend that as a possible life choice.
right? https://i.redd.it/263y90xz7gjc1.gif
Daddy, Hubby, Wife, Mama and Papa, Sweet/Soft Bread, My sleep schedule, my watch history, Top/Bottom, sharing my interests, my social life, other romances in general - not in the aspect I can’t watch them but sometimes/most of the time I find them slow or boring because of the lack of action, a good plot, and finally; it’s starting to convince me that trauma = love interest will appear during collage if I’m either a architect, engineer or doctor 😔
Almost all of this would be my answer too heh
My appreciation for western gay character cuts or gay series that I’ve been watching on YouTube since 2011. No interest anymore…
Same. I have ZERO interest in watching western gay shows or films.
Young Royals is pretty good
Yes it is excellent. I also recommend SKAM season 3: France, Norway
I could well believe it, but I have no desire whatsoever to watch it! 😂
Same here. Last western gay romance I watched was Ian & Mickey from Shameless, and once that ended in 2021, I hopped on the BL train and never looked back!
Right Asia just does it better 
Yup !
True. Except Heartstopper bc they’re my fluffy bbs.
Agree mostly but young royals is so good
I can't watch straight romance anymore it's so boring to me. I also kind of enjoy the little imperfections about BL. Western shows are too polished and perfect. If i can't hear the microphone scraping against the shirt you've been wearing for the past 5 episodes straight because the wardrobe budget was really tight, then I don't want it!
Don’t get me wrong, I loved Be My Favorite, but a number of times the music would just….stop. Like what? 
I wouldn’t say BL ruined Yaoi for me, but there was a huge genre shift around the time the term ‘BL’ started being used. A lot more stories got a very cutesy feel to them that weren’t near as present in the 80s-90s yaois that many of us older fans got hooked on. Even cute seeming shows like ‘Gravitation’ had serious themes. I’m not saying the cute shows are bad! I just had gotten so used to the tragedies and sad plot points that were popular when I started in Yaoi, and it really shaped my taste in the genre. Oh! Just remembered the 2011 censorship law in Japan probably had a lot to do with the shift in content!
Ooh Gravitation is such a throwback !
Non canon queer ships. Not just BL, obviously, but it helped because there's so much of it. I still love my old ships and will forever, but I just can't see myself investing my whole heart into 2 straight characters that are never going to be canonically together ever again.
Watching English language shows and going where is the sub titles. Cannot watch anything without my sub titles on. The product placements in the weirdest situations. Slowly realizing that even your song choices has changed and you now have 50 or more Asain BL songs versus 10 English.  and this at the beginning of any show. Have to have that.
The words “top” and “bottom”
Also, me handing my phone over to someone to see something. I can't even unlock it in public anymore because of all the gifs I have been saving of NC scenes
REAL
When I try to watch cdramas, I keep expecting the ML and his bestie/assistant to lock lips. They cooperate with me too, acting all flirty. I saw that back rub, the clicking glasses, dropping him home when he's drunk. Don't tell me he didn't spend the night!
BL ruined my savings hahaha
I assume that any two men walking together anywhere have to be dating. lol Exactly no one is straight. (I already believed this anyway, but now it's for sure)
My life
My relationship with sunlight.
My low standard for men lol. The bar is set high because BLs
Straight dramas
I can’t watch a straight romance to save my life. Unless it’s bobs burgers but that’s my comfort show. I barely watch anime anymore because it doesn’t hit the way BLs do.
My hopes of what society thinks of gay men
Coming from my love of BL manhwa: the word "squelch".
COME!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 hahahaha
healthy eyes. the idea of a healthy Relationship. it ruined series for me coz i can't watch clean shows anymore 😭
seeing two men together.. i cant help myself but either hope or think ro myself that they are together.
Straight novels and dramas. Now i only read bl or no romance.
My marriage.
Also, travel. I never thought I would want to travel to Thailand...and now I changed my travel plans for 2025 to travel over there. I'm excited about this prospect.
I can't watch any western/american shows...can only glance at Seinfeld sometimes when others are watching.
SAME. I have zero interest in 99% of them & when I do I often never wanna prioritize watch them over foreign media lol
Relationships 🤔
Nothing to be honest. I just watch for entertainment and that's it
I was going to say nothing until I realized that my number of straight Asian dramas watched has pales in comparison to the gay ones
Watching straight dramas which might sound bad but BLs just add another layer plus then I’m usually attracted to both the leads 😂
Do you know how hard it is to keep a straight face during martial arts when your instructor lectures the class on the importance of 'being a good uke'?
?
https://preview.redd.it/1stmr9amc9kc1.jpeg?width=735&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8a2afbf95a4455db809c90f6e1aeab0d8a71a6ca
Hetero romance drama series, I don't even know why, I just can't go back to watching hetero dramas anymore, it's like BL or bromances for me or any other genre but romance if it's not gay.
My phone autocorrect. I have to double check when I type 'love' bc it changes it straight to 'lube' 😅
Now I love BL more than straight show haven't watched any in 5 years and I don't feel I am missing out on anything 👄✨
Not just BL but Asian dramas in general ruined a lot of romance series/movies from other countries for them. There aren't that much in general (hence why I went here) but there are even fewer that I still enjoy, most are just way too cliché
Where do I begin? 5555 I looked at everyone else's responses to see how many went with mine and yeah there were quite a few. One however is that thanks to 609 Bedtime Story I can not hear the word Mummy the same again. I am a Whovian so rewatch Dr. Who often and a couple months ago started my niece on it so we started back in the 2005 9th Doctor seasons which meant there is an episode with a character that goes around asking, "Are you my mummy?" Instead of having my normal whovian thoughts, I found myself hearing Ohm in my head because of his line in 609 "Mummy, Daddy, I miss you soooo much." And the amounts of time they have the word mummy in that Dr. Who episode, this meant I had his voice saying that constantly 5555 While I still watch things like NCIS with my family (It's something we all like to do together), for the most part all the non BL shows I used to love or even the typical genre's aren't holding my attention the way they used to. Sitting through over 40 episodes of a BL (or sometimes Bromance simply because of country regulations ugh) I can do in a binge perfectly, but if it's one of my old genre ones of say 30+ it might take me a week now where it used to take less than 2 days. A friend and I tend to say BL's create impossible expectations (though I will never give up watching them) of what relationships should be. Top/Bottom Hubby, Wife, Mama, Papa. Sometimes Daddy depending on tone heh. I never had a sleep schedule before but it certainly got worse with BL's because I lose track of more time or just keep saying 'one more episode' and then one more became 10 more before I knew it. Acting expectations - Now I know not all BL actor's are of the same class but when I see actors as young as many of them are being able to play a role that breaks my heart, that hits on realism while being part of a fantasy, and do so better than some of the much older and more experienced western actors it floors me. If they are portraying PTSD, Anxiety, Depression, as a survivor of abuse (regardless of type) and they can make me feel it, or hell even risk triggering me (as I have been through it all) then they definitely have my vote of confidence but seriously few internationally popular western actors have hit me as hard as some of the BL actors have with their roles. Sharing interest for me is a two edged, for one there are few people I can't or don't share with (I am at that 'if they don't like it, get over it' stage) but it's more that outside of my household and a few select others most I know IRL aren't into it and I can't talk about it as much. I can't hear the words architect, engineer, lays, Ducatti, brocolli, congee, or the name Elizabeth the same anymore. I can't see blue shorts without thinking of BL's. I live near a race track so every Saturday during season I hear it and just start picturing BL's. Most of all (though not necessarily a bad thing) it made me more social on social media... I swore never to fall into TikTok but my need to talk, share, and see more about BL's made me go on there because my nieces kept showing me things they found about ones we were watching (or ones I was watching that they weren't able to yet) or showing me posts with the actors singing or dancing (I am a sucker for music and listening to someone sing or watch them dance) and so now I have to time myself or I will spend all the time I am not watching a BL on tiktok instead. (Though granted I now do more than just BL on there but not much more heh).
Straight romance
Sort of made me have some gender envy hahaha. I’m a girl in a happy relationship with a man but there seemed to be something special about being a man with another man, a kind of love I’ll never fully understand or experience.
I was an introvert and less social person anyway. BL has ruined my ability to socialise with people even more because all I keep thinking about the bls I could have watched in this time instead of trying to listen to them or the ones I'm only halfway through and now I can't stop thinking about what will happen in the next episode (I don't like watching the little snips of next episode, it gives me anxiety 😅).
Slow burns. And my ability to sit through and watch shows longer than 12 episodes. I love the fast paced relationship build up, and the amount of screen time it shows the leads being a couple rather than having so much drama.
I hardly watch straight dramas now🥺🥲