Age in Relation to Your Yaoi Experiences

[Aeronwyn]

I'm 18 now but I've been into the yaoi/slash fandom since I was 12. I discovered pretty tame, mostly comedy stuff through reading anime fanfiction (Gundam Wing and Dragonball Z). I used to feel incredibly guilty for reading it, like I was a freak or something. I wouldn't even type "shounen ai" or "yaoi" into a search engine, I'd just read what I came across on Mediaminer or Fanfiction.net. I think it probably was because I was so young and knew I really oughtn't to be reading something that was essentially light porn! Lol.

However once I moved away from anime and started reading in slash fandoms (eg. Harry Potter, Star Trek, SG:Atlantis, Professionals) I felt a lot better about it. Ever since I've always preferred slash. Maybe because the entire fanbase (excluding HP) tends to be older so there's less comments of the "eugh. Gayness is sick" variety. And it's less exclusive. From my experience, there seems to be this thing in anime that unless you've read the entire manga series and seen every episode in Japanese you aren't qualified to be a fan! smile With most slash fandoms watching a few episodes makes you as qualified as the next person.

I've never been discriminated in fandom because of my age; Any websites that have age restrictions I've always just lied in the sign up forms. I've felt that I'm mature enough to handle the content so I haven't deemed it to be a problem. Also I've never been the sort of person to use netspeak or "noob" talk so there was nothing to give me away... Hehe. I'm for the use of ratings (although I still think the UK system is clearer than the whole "R" thing), but once it's labelled I don't see the problem. Like when Fanfiction.net banned NC:17 material - the stuff was already labelled, people didn't have to read it if they didn't want to. But, anyway, that's just my view...  

[~mikenno~]

I'm a 13 year old female. I've been into yaoi for about three years now. When I first learned about it I shyed away and was really against and embarrassed about it because of my Christian beleifs. My best friend (who had shown me it in the first place) was so nice, and I loved her so I couldn't really run away from her. As this was her obsession I slowly became used to it, and liked it in my own kind of way.
But I was still embarrassed about it, and when someone would say "Eww.. gay people are so wrong! It's gross!" I would shrug and nod, because I was afraid of what people would say about me, and what my christian family would think. Anime followed along after, and my parents thought I was weird for it. (damn them mad lol) After a while I started to watch yaoi animes, and writing my own little boyxboy stories, and then after a little bit longer I just thought :"Screw everyone! Guys making out is hot!"
= D And now, Yaoi runs my life, and I tell off any loser who thinks boys and boys, or girls and girls is wrong! Heck, I kiss my girls all the time, No big deal right?
<3Heart<3

 

[Kohaku_of_Darkness]

im 16, but i got into yoai when i was 14, thanks to my friends. I've been into anime and manga since i was 13 though.  

[klausolas]

I'm 17 I've liked yaoi for abou four years now. I stumbled into yaoi when I had read most of the manga I could find in my local Barnes and Nobles (I'm one of the poor fans that take care of their manga urges by reading a stack of mangas for free. With no intention of buying most of them.) Anyway I picked up a copy of Fake and got into the stoty until I realized it was about two guys. Until that point I'd no idea BL manga existed. I gout so into it I started searching for more and more. SDadly Barnes and Nobles screen their manga selection so Fake is as Hardcore as it gets. But I found other places that had yaoi and here I am today immersed in yaoi manga and fanfic with an anime or two under my belt.

I'mn to broke to call myself a hardcore fan. But I do perfer my yaoi without unwanted bodage and pain. I like fluffy romances, comedy action but sometimes I really just want PWP. Shota I'm mnot to comfortable with unless the kid is at least twelve.
I'm not really discriminated against I've drawn some fgriends ands family into my world. Although some people think I'm a lesbian for readnig L but they're narrow minded.

I'm a fan that can read yaoi in public fine but when I'm alone I squeal and jump artound but I do that ith any anime or manga I find exciting.
I lso tend to be shallow I really gorgeouus bishounen could destroy the world and IU'd forgive him but if a bishounen hurts one of my favorite characters I hold a grudge. Like what Seishiro did to Suburu. I could hardly even read the Tsubasa mangas that featured him. Nothing against his fans but I hate him.

I have my favorite pairings like everyone here but if you prefer someone else Then can't hold it against you  

[caligulasNightmare]

[It's because you believed in me]


Well, Im sixteen, and I've been a yaoi fan for....(thinks about it)....well, ever since i was eleven(sugoi! thats a long time!).

What attracted me to yaoi? Well, I think it was fanfiction. I guess I wanted to try something new. I was getting tired of reading InuYasha and Kagome stories, they were getting a bit old. So then I went to Sesshomaru and Kagome, and got tired of that. Then it was Naraku and Kagome and I got tired of that too. Then I said to myself, "This Riku needs new couples.". So I looked at some InuYasha and Sesshomaru fluff. I squeeled, freaked out, and fainted. But I didn't think about it for a couple of years. Until my friend got Gavitation when we were fourteen. That got me hooked. Now, the only thing I read is shonen-ai and/or yaoi. And sometimes I read het. manga and fanfics.

As for discrimination, I don't pay attention to it. People can think what they want but I will continue reading and watching it. Sometimes people wonder what Im doing reading yaoi because I look like a twelve-year old (im sixteen people!) and I just stare at them. But sometimes its weird, because in July, I bought a hardcore yaoi dvd (Sensitive Pornograph) from FYE. I thought they would say something because I look like Im twelve and they would want ID but they just let me buy it without saying anything. Me and friend walked out of the store stunned and laughing. Im still steamed that I have to be eighteen to go to YaoiCon though.... crying

I do feel mature enough to deal with yaoi. I squeel sometimes and freak out when I watch SE, but I do hold myself with (some) maturity. Enough so, that I feel like Im an exceptional sixteen-year old. 3nodding And I think that any age is mature enough to watch shonen-ai. But yaoi, I would wait until they turned sixteen.( i watched yaoi since i was thirteen. don't follow my example kids!lol)

I really don't go to Y!Gallery so I really can't say anything. How old do you have to be to sign up?

And finally, my preferences are everything but rape. I hate rape. mad


[I believed I could do it]  

[Jade Rotaski]

Hmm where to begin?

Im 21 now and my first experiance of Yaoi was on Fanfiction.net when I was about 11 years old, my family had just gotten the internet then and I had just been browsing webpages randomly when fanfiction.net caught my eye. I've always like to read so I clicked on the link and went stright to the 'Game section' then stright to the 'Final Fantasy 7' section because I was heavily into the game at the time.

After a couple of days browsing the usual AriesxCloud fics I found myself totally bored with then, even at the tender age of twelve liked the charecters to be IN charecter not OOC and I quickley became tired of stright fics. I serched on the site for something diffirent, and that's when i came across a fic that was labeled 'Yaoi' and 'CloudxSeph' FF.net had NC17 ratings then, and being the mischivous 12 year old i was clicked on the link and read the fic.

To my surprise I liked it stright away, not that I was alien to gay relashionships or anything (I can't really seen as one of my very close Uncle's is gay as well as one of my godparents) but to like stuff THAT hardcore at such a young age...well most kids would have freaked but I did'nt, I found something i liked and I continued to read it in secret.

By the time i was 15 I was not only a hardcore Yaoi fan but I was hooked on Yuri to, it was around that time i realized i was Bisexual. I wanted to write Yaoi stories of my own so i signed up to Fanfiction.net with the pen name that i still have to this day 'Jade Rotaski Queen of the Damned' and wrote my first fic 'Dreaming of a demon' which was a JinxHwoarang tekken fic which got pretty good reviews since my first fic.

When I was 16, I saw the anime Akira for the first time, I had bought it for £1 at the local market and a watched it that day, from then on i was hooked on anime, I started watching Pokemon and Digimon even though i got teased for it at school, and with the discovery of anime i discovered that i could see Yaoi parings in everything! I even hooked up Kenada and Tetsuo from Akira once!

Since then I've watched various Anime shows; Trigun, Kara Kuro myou, Papa to kiss in the dark, One piece, Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist, Bleach, Gravitiation, Ninja scroll, Vampire hunter D, Chobits, Fujimuka Orchestra, FAKE, Yu Yu Hakusho. Fruits basket, Azumanga Dioh, Yami no matsui and Yu Gi Oh.

Not long after I got into anime my mom found out about my Yaoi obsession, I'm grateful for the mom i have because she wasn't mad at me or upset she just accepted that her teenage daughter had weird intrests, she didn't understand why I liked it at all and reffered to Yaoi as 'That japanese gay porn' and still does. Ive tried to explain my obsession to her several times but she doesnt seem to understand *Sigh* Parents these days...

Now Im 21 Ive been a Yaoi fan for 11 years and some might call me a vetran of Yaoi but I dont think I am, I'm just a normal Yaoi fan with normal wants and hey who doesnt love two guys sucking each others faces off? I love Yaoi and probably always will there just something about Yaoi that keeps you coming back for more, its just makes you love it.

I like al genres of Yaoi; fluff, angst, humour, non-con, squick, shota, you name it i love it it seems very little disturbs me these days. Im also the kind of fangirl that would squeal quietly to herself at a particulary cute moment but for the most part i keep mysef composed..or at least i try to be XD

I hope people enjoy reading my life story of Yaoi even thought it is long and probably very boring in the eyes of others, I thank you anyway!

Jade xx  

[Erie-danna]

I'm currently 14. I first got into yaoi when I was 11, or mabey I was 10... I forget. Anyway, I was reading yuyu hakusho fanfiction and stumbled across a couple fics that, um... got me VERY hot and bothered. I was seriously confused, sickened, and intrigued by it. (please remember this was my first adult fic ever.) I got myself so weired out by it that I felt like I was gonna barf. After a few days I started getting more curious about the fics, that I went back and reread them, and felt sick again. I started reading different yaoi fics and got my friends into it too. From ages 11-13 EVERYTHING someone said could by processed through my dirty mind into some sort of innuendo. Though, I seem to be thinking less dirtier every day now, 'cause I've been laying off the fan fiction for recently and I takes me twice the amount of time it used to to process a dirty joke. Now I usually go for the lighter stuff. 3nodding
(ps: I still reread the first yaoi fics I found sometimes)  

[palindrome88]

I'm 18, and I got into yaoi/shonen-ai when I was twelve. My friend and I were big Gundam Wing junkies at the time, and she sent me a link to a site with a lot of GW fanfiction, including yaoi (unbeknownst to her.) I scanned around, and came across a 5x13 lemon. I had no idea about what the numbers meant or what a lemon was, so I clicked on it out of curiosity. Five minutes later, I realized what I was in and got a little freaked out. I talked to me friend, who had found something a little lighter and thought it was cute (it was 1x2.) I looked at it and felt a little less weird about it and eventually came to the conclusion that it was just like straight relationships; there was sweet stuff, and there was hardcore smut stuff. From there my friend and I branched out into different fandoms and experimented until we figured out what we liked and what we didn't (I'm more into smut then she is, but she can really get into some super kinky stuff. Overall, we both prefer lighter stuff.) At this point, I can fairly say that not much creeps me out. Incest, shota, bondage, whatever, I'll like it if it's well done and the characters are interesting. I've got a TON of fandoms (too many to list here) but my most recent yaoi obsession is Avatar, which I feel a little guilty about. sweatdrop I'm mostly shipping JetxZuko, SokkaxZuko, and ZukoxAang (no preference with the order of the last one, but I generally like Zuko as the uke). I can't help it; I love those feisty, angry guys in yaoi! heart  

[Harlequin Hisakata]

Let's see, I'm 12... no, damnit, I'm 13. sweatdrop I'm 13... sorry, I lied on the poll. My mind refuses to comprehend that I'm no longer technically a "child."

I got into yaoi around 10, because of fanfiction (and all the yaoi fangirls at my first Otakon that brainwashed me.)

My friends, at the time, were very against yaoi. You know, flaming people who liked it, putting up "YAOI STINKS" webpages, the works. One day, I was in my neighbors basement, and in the middle of a conversation about cell phones said. "I'm a yaoi fangirl! ^_^"

The looks on thier faces were priceless.

Some awkward conversations, a few well-chosen fanfiction, some choice fanart, and we're allright questionable fanfiction and pretending to be gay characters. I'd say things worked out for the best... xd

PS. My parents STILL don't know. (You'd think they'd catch on to the '18+' and 'Boy/Boy' labels on my "cute little comics".)

PSS. I was 12 and 358 days old when I joined this guild.  

[Inunii]

Hmm... I'm 17 now, and I think, I got into yaoi/shonen-ai when I was 13. It was almost direktly after discovering the manga and anime scene. (Okay, I watched a lot of anime before, but never knew that it was anime...) Yeah, my friend gave me ones a manga to read and so my addiction startet. Then I borrowed Fake from her and loved it (I went direcly to our manga-shop and bought the whole sequence ^^'').
But at the beginning I wasn't so obsessive, this whole thing developed over the years. And here I am. A real yaoi fanatist.
I'm not specialized onto one pairing, there are some I read more often than others. But I read so much fanfictions and my manga-shelf pours with shonen-ai ^o^.  

[asphyxiatemysoul]

I'm 17, but I've been a shounen-ai/yaoi fan since I was 13, almost as long as I've liked anime. I used to think it was gross because I used to be Christian, but some hot Inu/Kouga fanart converted me (that is, into liking yaoi. I became agnostic or whatever on my own). Then I discovered I was bi at age 15. And I've always been perverted.
...yeah, that was real descriptive. oO  

[Dream of Existence]

I'm 13, 14 in december whee , and I like yaoi because I think I was a gay boy in my previous life or something because I find the idea of two guys kissing or more (if you know what I mean) uber sexy! I didn't really pay attention to manga or anime before I discovered yaoi. No one knows about yaoi in my school except a person that said the word yoi in a conversation and I went all "Yaoi! Where! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You like yaoi!!!!!!! So do I!!!!!!!" we were in the middle of a competition in civics and I was sitting in the front row! Thank god the teacher wasn't in the room. I first saw yaoi here in gaia when I saw a guild and sig that cotained it. I then stubbled onto Level C on youtube and that is where it started. Even though Level C is the only yaoi I've ever watched (I realy appreaciate it if you guys told me where I can see other yaoi/shounen ai). I have yet to own any yaoi dvds or books but I have decorated my profile with gravitation (which I have never watched). Yaoi also got me into drawing manga but sadly I can only draw girls good so no luck for yaoi fans but I guess the yuri fans will be thrilled. I think that maybe those episodes I watched from queer as folk (this is kind of embarassing) might have helped spark my interest in yaoi too becaus ethere is a guy in there that draws gay comic books. So basically that is about it. I think that maturity should be mesured by your mental age not your normal one. I really wish yaoi was more easy to get for kids who are underaged.  

[Sacher Torte]

I'm 20 I first found out about yaoi when I found out Daley from Bubblegum Crisis 2040 was gay, it freaked me out a little coz i was 15 or 16 at the time....

then about a year pasted and i got into gravitation, after that my yaoi addiction spun outta control i was wanting more than just gravitation, so i looked on the web to find other stuff like ai no kusabi and zetsuai, etc etc then i started to find tons when i was about 18 and since then i've liked it... (oh yeah i read alot about yaoi in magazines/books)  

[Wulfston]

Quote:

That said, I'm curious about how you got into yaoi and how you feel about it. Were you drawn into yaoi because of anime or some other way, like Harry Potter perhaps? Was if fanfiction that converted you, or maybe fanart? Do you find that you're discriminated against because of your age? Do you feel that perhaps you're not mature enough to deal with some of the content? What age do you consider to be mature enough? Are there fans that annoy you? Are you angry that places like Y!Gallery won't let you join because of your age? Are you a "squeeeee" type of fan or do you feel that you hold yourself with more maturity? What are your yaoi genre preferences (fluff, hardcore, etc)?

I wasn't drawn to Yaoi by fanart, or fanfics, or any such thing.

Yes, I find myself highly descriminated against thanks to my age.

No, I'm more than able to deal with the content. I've experienced most of it.

Yes, there are MANY fans that annoy me. Particularly the ones who either don't like REAL male to male relationships, as well as those that think every male to male relationship is as interesting, bizzare and forbidden as a Yaoi episode.

I'm very annoyed that I can't get into 18+ areas. The 18+ laws for most things, in my opinions are wrong. I'll go into this later.

I'm not a squeeler. I'm mature. Besides, my boyfriend wouldn't like me squeeling. He's always paranoid of hurting me... Silly boy.

As for genre? I like the hardcore stuff. It's awesome. But it can't just be porn, it still needs the story and the romanticism... -wistful sigh-

Now, as to this 18+ thing. It's rediculous. Really. Once you hit puberty, your body and your mind is ready for sexual contact. So you should be allowed to have it. I was looking at explicit content BEFORE I hit puberty, and I lost my virginity at thirteen. I'm not scarred. I'm not perverted and messed up. I was ready, and I wanted it. I asked the birds and the bees question when I was three. Got the answer straight out (Although minus the explicit details. But still a full explanation) from my parents. I was ready for sex. I was aware of the consequences of my actions. This stupid claim that people aren't ready untill they're 16, or 18, or 21, depending on where you are, is crap. It's a drag-over from ultra conservative christian values from victorian times.

Your sexual prime is from 13-14 to 21-ish. It's when you look your best. It's when you're body is flooded with hormones. It's when your sex drive is at it's highest. Why have it wasted? Sex is too good, too fun, and too beautiful to be moderated. With the exception of unwanted, exploitative sex, such as rape, ***** and so forth. Well, theres my opinion.  

[Hane no Kori]

Well... I started to like shonen-ai when I was about 12. My friend got me into it... very slowly. And I liked Yu-Gi-Oh! pairings. (And my friend is a year younger than me, BTW... sweatdrop ) However, I got myself in the rest of the way. Fanfiction was first (of course, there was daydreaming too), and then I started to actually read yaoi. Not too often, but eventually I was reading it all the time.
Now I'm almost 18, and I like just about anything that's shonen-ai or yaoi. Me and my friend (another friend, whom I got into it after my other friend got me into it) often read BL manga, and we play a game called Dungeons and Dragons, where we have characters that like each other. So, BL roleplaying. (If you know what D&D is... we don't play the game on the computer... it's the actual sheets of paper and dice and stuff...)

BL is HAWT heart