페미니즘의 시대, 보이즈 러브의 의미를 다시 묻다 : 인터넷의 ‘탈BL’ 담론을 중심으로

Abstract

In this article, I analyze ‘Leaving BL (Boys Love)’ discourses, which recently have emerged in Korean-based internet, and classify them into three types on the basis of their logics. Leaving BL, which literally means ‘escape from BL’ or ‘avoid BL’, is an online-based movement aiming to quit women’s creation and consumption of BL contents by criticizing the problematic aspects of BL from a feminist perspective. BL was imported in the 1990s Korea, and the 2000s observed the emergence of BL fandom as enthusiastic consumers of the thriving cultural industry in Korea. Under this kind of circumstances, Leaving BL has appeared, strongly influenced by amateur fanzines on fujoshi’s self-reflection and ‘feminism reboot’, both in the mid-2000s. Leaving BL comprises of three different types: 1) Leaving BL aggravating deep-rooted homophobia against gay, 2) focusing on BL as strengthening unequal power relations between men and women in BL’s seme (penetrating)-uke(penetrated) relationship, and 3) criticizing the exclusion of female characters in BL. While 1) and 2) are related to homophobia on the basis of religious conservatives and the established BL studies respectively, 3) is relatively new in its emphasis on the importance of ‘women’s narratives,’ following the recent feminist movements on a global scale. All types of Leaving BL, however, tend to simplify the complexity of relationship between reality, representation, and fantasy, and ascribe the problematic aspects of BL to BL creators, most of whom are women. In order to explore the potentiality of BL as one of women’s most popular genres involving their cultural practice, we should pay attention to Leaving BL discourses as a new challenge.