I'll be honest, the "forbidden love" aspect is a huge part of the appeal for me. In our society where homosexuality is somewhat accepted but still judged upon by the majority of people, it takes some brevity for a man to be intimate with another man. I know I sound like I'm glorifying it, but that's not really the point I'm trying to make.
I'm a bisexual (bio) woman, and I don't get weird looks from people when I hold hands with other women, hug them etc. Never did it in public but if I kissed a woman I'd probably get some looks, but mostly guys who are like "omg that's hot lol".
Men do not have this privilege, at all. Even in this day and age, even if you live in a country that is relatively accepting about this kinda stuff (Netherlands in my case), two men can never show affection in public the same way straight or lesbian couples could. Deeply internalized homophobia makes male affection weird, to the point where something like cheek kisses to greet friends and family are always female-female and male-female, never male-male. Stuff like that deeply saddens me because I think everyone should be able to express affection without fearing any sort of repercussions from other people.
TL;DR: the fact that male-on-male intimacy is still so shunned upon makes it more appealing to me. It's cute and makes my heart flutter, and it makes things just a bit more erotic as well desu.
>>2977005Never thought about it like that but damn, yeah, great point.
At the moment I mostly consume JJBA yaoi because the dynamics between male characters can be so fun, interesting and genuine. The sexualized outfits and such help a lot of course, but is not the main appeal for me. For me it's just those interesting/weird/funny/complex male bonds, and I just love seeing those bonds go one step further, not just on a horny level. Some of my favorite doujins are mostly SFW.
I suspect that Araki is bisexual, but can't express it properly because the higher ups wouldn't let him or whatever.
