young_machete

Wow. I reported a member who was policing a yaoi/yuri manga thread because the manga carried a 'romance' tag. To me, a regular user who does not comment a lot, this seemed absolutely ridiculous and homophobic, so of course I would report it! And yet somehow I am the one to receive a warning? If this is the official policy of batoto, that romance can only be defined as heterosexual, then I guess i don't really need another warning to know that this isn't the place for me. It's a shame because I appreciate the way this site tries to give credit where it is due, but supporting homophobic practises that discriminate against people like me is NOT something I can ignore.

If your argument is that yuri/yaoi/shounen ai/shoujo ai are enough to imply romance and therefore that the romance tag should be reserved for heterosexual pairings, you are obviously someone who does not understand how othering and divisive that attitude is. What if the situation was reversed and the romance tag was reserved only for homosexual relationship content? And the hetero stuff was labelled 'het - smut' or 'het - puppy love'? The idea that romance is strictly the realm of heterosexual relationships is archaic and hurtful. Romance is an English word (or French? Idk) that has strong traditional and emotional connotations for English readers and by telling LGBTQ readers "this is not for you" you are being homophobic.

My ex-girlfriend and I had one of the best nights of my life when we attended a local street fair and watched the parade. We bought some roast chestnuts, which neither of us had ever tasted before, and snuck away somewhere quiet to kiss. That was one of the most romantic nights of my life. I love yuri, but for me that was not yuri or shoujo ai; that was romance. As a narrative, sure, both of us being women means it falls under the category of shoujo ai or yuri, but I use the word romantic to describe it because that is the kind of resonance the word romance holds for a western person. If you cannot understand the distinction here, and why limiting romance as a genre accessible only to heterosexual stories is so hurtful to people like me, then I don't really know what else to say to you. If there are any other LGBTQ people out here who would like to chime in I would appreciate it.

Additionally, the original poster said that he was concerned that heterosexual people need a tag to distinguish what kind of romance they are looking for, much in same way that LGBTQ people (or those interested in LGBTQ stories) can filter for those stories if they choose using the yaoi/ yuri/ shounen ai/ shoujo ai tags. If this is a real concern, please consider creating a less divisive alternative to reserving the romance tag strictly for heterosexuals. There are so many other ways you could do it. In fact, can't people now simply search 'romance' and exclude the homosexual tags they don't want to see?

As I said, I really like batoto and what it is trying to do, but this policy has honestly shocked me. I will wait to hear if there are any changes, but until then I will do what I do with all homophobic things that happen to me and avoid it like the plague.