What Does BL (Boys' Love) Mean?
Content TermThe umbrella term for media and fanworks centered on romance between male characters, originating in Japanese publishing and now used internationally. BL covers everything from chaste romance to explicit work, replacing the older yaoi/shounen-ai split.
BL (Boys' Love) in Practice
Boys' Love began as a Japanese commercial genre descended from 1970s shoujo manga, and the abbreviation BL gradually became the industry and fandom standard in Japan, then worldwide. The term's reach expanded enormously in the 2010s as Thai BL dramas, Chinese danmei novels, and Korean BL webcomics built massive international fandoms with heavy AO3 presence. Unlike slash, which describes fan-created pairings, BL usually refers to source material where the m/m romance is the canonical point. Fans of BL franchises still write fic, of course — canon romance has never stopped anyone from wanting more of it.
Example usage
"She got into the Thai BL pipeline during lockdown and emerged three months later with a 60k WIP."
Related Terms
Danmei
The Chinese genre of male/male romance fiction, primarily web novels, which produced some of the largest fandoms on AO3. Works like Mo Dao Zu Shi and Tian Guan Ci Fu brought danmei to massive international audiences.
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Yaoi
A term from Japanese fandom for male/male romantic and sexual content created largely by and for women — adopted by Western anime fandom in the 1990s-2000s as its word for M/M fanworks. Largely supplanted in English by 'BL' and 'slash.'
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Slash
Fanfiction centering a same-gender pairing, historically male/male — named for the literal '/' in 'Kirk/Spock.' One of fandom's oldest and most culturally significant genres.
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GL (Girls' Love)
The umbrella term for media and fanworks centered on romance between female characters, used in parallel with BL. GL and yuri are largely interchangeable in modern usage.
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