Why do people rarely use the word lesbian in discussions?
Alright, to preface, I am a straight woman, so if I'm totally off here, feel free to tell me off. However, I am still queer, so that's where I'm coming from at least. To me, it feels like there is this barrier I see with people using the word lesbian for some reason. So often, it's yuri or gl or sometime gay, but lesbian just never seems to be used. I understand the series might not use it. That tends to be based on how seriously it takes itself and how much they delve into being queer outside of the queer romance part. But even in discussions around those, I feel like the word lesbian never gets used. It's like people talking about trans-coded characters in media but skirting around calling them trans, but like these aren't coded characters, this is a lesbian romance series. These women are kissing, there's no subtlety here. And maybe this is just me, but it feels like a lot of times those discussions tend to stray away from the fact that this is queer romance, specifically in the aspect of it being queer. That's probably the biggest reason I read lesbian romance as a straight woman, cause I can't find straight trans romance, but I still want that queer aspect in the story. I feel like that goes double for bl. I couldn't find it to specifically mention, but I remember a subreddit for bl that explicitly said there's a difference between lgbtq manga and bl, and...no there isn't? Bl is inherently gay...cause it's literally gay romance? I might be off base here, again feel free to yell at me. But this is just my thoughts on it.