Now as for WHY there are hoardes of yaoi fangirls running around screaming and gushing and shipping everything that moves together? Uhm, good question. And that stuff is very different from the yaoi genre. There actually IS gay porn manga and such made BY MEN FOR MEN. (Also adding that NOT ALL yaoi is air brushed and sparkles, but that tends to be the theme.) So its porn with the edges cut off, which is why in yaoi the characters fit a very specific 'uke' (bottom/sub) 'seme' (top/dom) position, and why most of the actual sexual content is very unrealistic, glossed over and air brushed.
Yaoi was a non threatening porn medium to them, they do not have to place themselves in the position of eitehr party, and the males in yaoi are typically very non threatening. Yaoi started off for tween and teen girls who are starting to develop sexual feelings but they still awkward about their bodies. I once read somewhere that yaoi is considered 'training wheels' for porn. Yaoi actually does serve a purpose though, after a fashion. I'm one of the 'its not the gender/bits that matter its all about the banter/character interaction' school of thought. Ah yaoi, I work anime conventions and find myself being very cautious to not reveal that I am apparently one of the few girls there who doesn't get off on the idea of two sparkle-y guys going at it.
