Boys’ Love as Conditional Resilience: How Gay and Bisexual Men from Hong Kong Consume Boys’ Love

Abstract Boys’ Love (BL) is a fictional genre that depicts homoerotic relationships between two men. As it is often regarded as created by women and for women, most BL-related studies have focused on its female participants. In recent decades, the BL subculture has transformed into a transnational cultural phenomenon. Although such popularity may suggest that more homoerotic media products are available to gay/bisexual men, the heteronormative nature of BL may drive away gay/bisexual audiences. This study investigates the experiences of consuming BL among gay/bisexual men in Hong Kong. The findings show that gay/bisexual audiences enjoy the aspects of BL that resonate with their personal experiences and fantasies. Through the process of queer reading, BL helps gay/bisexual audiences develop resilience to cope with the stresses that they encounter as sexual minorities in Hong Kong. However, due to the gap between what is depicted in BL and reality, such resilience is circumscribed, which means that BL only provides conditional resilience to its gay/bisexual audience in Hong Kong.