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I guess, other than the obvious, that the biggest reason is that the one girl who was auctioned, in 2003, really didn't sell very well. One of the big factors of the auction, I believe, is that it is one of the big events that helps to make Y-con happen. This is why there's even a sort of 'Try-out' phase for the bishies in general. It brings in money that allows all of our favorite con to exist. It seems that the general sentiment is that if you know it's a girl, then a lot of the auction allure just isn't there and, for some, the moment disappears when it becomes something of a cosplay contest (which is held beforehand) as opposed to, well, an auction of beautiful boys.
I do have some sympathy for your point... it's just that those who have the auction as it has been since that one girl came up on stage, putting out many members of the audience also have a very valid stance from which to do what they are doing.
Well put. I actually purchased that one girl way back when, too... and she identified as a male, which made perfect sense to me. I don't know how to take a stance on this issue, as I've never been able to come to a decision on it either way myself... but I most certainly respect the decision made by the Yaoi-Con staff to make it a truly "male only" auction.
The problem is in how you define a "male". If a woman has a sex change and is now a man, is that good enough? What if the person hasn't completed the entire sex change operation? What about the people in the auction who have male parts, but identify as a female? The lines are all blurry, and I have no way of making a decision on any of that.
Deep down, I see two major points of controversy here. First, I know that there's the concern that women being "purchased" may cause a man to get the wrong idea. Ironically, this also happens when women have purchased me and other guys... and they don't always listen when I say "no". However, that's not a problem for me... and I'm comfortable with it.
Imagine the reverse situation, though. A horny guy buys a young woman who's crossplaying, and wants his money's worth. While I can't even imagine this happening at Yaoi-Con, that's really not what we're looking for here... and I'd imagine that it's exactly what the people running Yaoi-Con are trying to avoid. I don't want to see this convention shut down, ever.
Also, opening the auction up to crossplaying females is truly a can of worms in some regards. Any young lady can throw on a boyish t-shirt and do up her hair in a male fashion, and suddenly be a crossplayer. This convention really is about boys loving boys, hence the original focus of the auction to begin with. I'm inclined to leave it all as it is now.
While I don't like the idea of anyone being excluded from the auction, I think that keeping it as it is may be the only "safe" and good idea. I apologize to any of you who may feel that my opinion is biased, as a male who has been auctioned off for many years in a row now... but I've been considering all of this for all of those years, hence my verbosity.
I do hope that you'll at least see my opinion as valid in this case. If you don't, I will always accept criticism on it.
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