Yaoi-Con 2008 | A Celebration of Male Beauty & Passion in Anime & Manga

Figure I will give it a shot at responding. First off..again these are MY views. I have nothing to do with the convention or anything. I am Just a con attendee. Beforwarned this is QUITE long...

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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.

If we are going on a basis of the convention makeing money, and this is how its done. It truely makes me worry about the con continueing. Fees for entry,dealers,artist tables,convention goods (which until recently have been some of the highest fees by any young anime con) is what keeps a convention going. I have helped on start up staff on small conventions this is why those are in place. So how well or not well someone sells really..should NOT be a factor.
As for speaking on putting out the audiance. Do you know a lot of people DON'T go to the auction on the principle its all males? More and more lesbian women are going and while they like the idea of two men together they want nothing to do with a real one. so for just about every person that was put out that one time..there is prorbably one or more that would go now if they where an option.
Also cosplay contest and the action are NOTHING EVEN REMOTELY COMPARABLE. So please don't even try. I am not saying make the auction a cosplay contest. I am not saying let girls go in costume. They have to dress as boys..in normal clothes and do well.


Okie moveing onto opisition #2
we are gonna break this down cause its looooong

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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.

Ummm..this worries me. While its a valid point. What you just said could get the convention in just as much trouble. Cause be it a boy or a girl be it the person who bought or was auctioned that is very much not ok. Even if YOU are ok with it..if they do that do someone that is very much not..cause that one time you let them. It is just as much of a liability.

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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.

But don't you guys have to go through a "elimination" process to know if someone entering the acution is "bishi" enough to be in it? I am not saying let any girl you want in. They have to play by the same rules. I have had 3 of my friends who are biologicly female be BEGGED but y-con staff in previous years to be in the auction cause they where believed to be men. I think if you can pull it off that well. You then you shouldn't be bared just cause you lack the external equipment. Yes, yaoi/shonen ai/BL is all about the astetics of boys loveing boys...of PRETTY boys doing so. Its the Illusion..so if you can pull off the illusion why should you be bared?

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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.

Thing is if you truely sit down with a lot of the things that happen with the acution a lot of it is not safe. I believe a lot of the males that are auctioned are just as easily taken advantage of as any girl could be. While I think the action is a good draw, while is a tradition that I am sure the con will always try to up hold and make a safe event. I believe it needs a LOT of work, and the bias toward haveing to be biologicly male is incredibly offending for many people that do and always have gone to the convention. And to speak honestly and frankly, I believe the auction has become a semi-tacky event, that in the beginning was not so bad ,but now with added convention growth has started to turn down a bad path.
I am sure I have now dug myself a nice hole to lay in. But thats ok. I am just one person speaking their mind. Hopefully it will do some good. Maybe it won't and thats ok too. Like the original post..if one or two..or mroe people feel the same way and know they arn't the only one thats great. If you disagree thats great too. Cause its diffrent views that make this world go.
Wtih that I bow out of this thread. I am sure I've made my views and feeligns pretty clear. I hope everyone enjoys this comeing Yaoi-con. Cause I know I am looking forward to haveing a lot of fun with my fellow freinds and con-goers.

Respectable views. I believe I will attempt to, um, respond.

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If we are going on a basis of the convention makeing money, and this is how its done. It truely makes me worry about the con continueing. Fees for entry,dealers,artist tables,convention goods (which until recently have been some of the highest fees by any young anime con) is what keeps a convention going. I have helped on start up staff on small conventions this is why those are in place. So how well or not well someone sells really..should NOT be a factor.

While this may be correct for a larger con, Y-con is not one of those. To put this in perspective...

Fan tables, for example, at the Fan Market, are 25 dollars a table. That puts the combined income for the con for all of those tables for a day at about 450 dollars, pushed up a little just in case. That was around the -average- income per bishie last year, and there were what, 25 of us?

So yeah. The Auction does pull in a LOT of much-needed money for Y-con each year, and that money is a major concern of funding for the con.

Regardless of whether people do or do not go because the entire bishie lineup is male, the auction room fills up to the bursting point every year. Thats right. The auction CAPS attendance. Many people don't get in.

In general, Irvine's concern is already addressed by the con. While people may ask us to do things that we do not wish to do, EVERY bishie, without exception, has the perogative to say "No" if we are asked to do something outside of our contract by our buyer. This is in said contract and explicitly stated. As long as bishies are aware that we always have the ability to say no if things get rough then I personally don't see that as a concern either way.

On the rest of your statement: Uh. Well stated. I just don't really have comment. ^_^ Sometimes, for what it's worth, tacky is good. :3

Hello. Isis here. I am the chair of the auction, and maybe I can answer some of your questions.

As Gothkitti mentioned, the auction is one of our major fund raisers. When a bishie can pull in on average 400 dollars, times that by 15. Thats 6000 right there. Keep in mind that many bishies go for more and some go for less. But when you start at 6000, that is a lot of money that goes straight back to the con.

The decision to not include women in the auction didn't have anything to do with how well she sold. In fact, I don't even remember off hand how much that was.

As for the biological question, well, the admins have discussed it. See, it's not that we are trying to exclude anyone. It's more that Yaoi con is about the fantasy of boys. We realize that a good sized segment of attendance is lesbian females. We also realize that while they like the idea of boys together, in Real Life they aren't interested in them. It doesn't change the premise of the convention though. Many gay men tell us that yaoi doesn't reflect the reality of gay life. We realize that too. We aren't going for realism. Yaoi and by extention, YaoiCon is about the aestheticism of beautiful men. That's pretty much what we're celebrating. Men from the womans point of view. A male friend of mine keeps insisting that we would make more money if we did include women, and I tell him that we would, but that's not what the con is about.

We aren't here to stretch political boundries, or to push the gender envelope. We are here to have fun and to bond over a common interest. Yaoi Con was created with a specific vision, and that has never changed. It is a very niche market. That isn't to say there is no place for an auction like the one you suggest, it's just to say that it isn't at Yaoi Con.

Well if women aren't welcome in the bishounen auction, and you want the con focus to be about MEN, why do we have that Cafe Furvehrenwhateverit'scalled? The players/actors in that are not men, yet fans will have to PAY for that as well. What if the Cafe does really well and makes the con lots of money? Will you have to tell them to change the cast to all men? Would you close it down?

It's really quite segregating. It says that even though yaoi is typically written BY women FOR women, and staff JUST ABOVE stated this is meant not to be REAL gay but a FANTASY, it seems it's not really the FANS' fantasy, but only STAFF'S fantasy.

Why not take a poll to see what most of the attendees think? Why not ask what THOSE PEOPLE WHO PAY TO KEEP THIS CON GOING think instead of deciding for them?

The butler Cafe and the auction aren't comparable. The Cafe is run by a fan group outside of the con staff, and it is run off a Japanese buisness premise, namely host clubs and the like. Also, to go to the cafe you're paying a smallish cover charge for food and entertainment, and the people being auctioned are going for something like $400, and you don't have to pay to get into the auction itself. To have the cafe exclude women would go against the original principle and premise of the butler cafe, whereas the auction is just some funny addition to a convention, and is seemingly more based off American bachelor auctions.
I agree there should be some say on behalf of the attendees as a whole, and should be addressed at the con itself, with everyone there able to speak there mind with tone and gesticulation. I don't think the whole thing should be decided by exhibtionist women, men going to auction, and the administration (<-but the punk anarchist in me is the one saying that.).

Hi there,

This is my first con and my first time cosplaying. I have entered the Bishonen auction but I am not if I am wanting to go through with it. I just want to know if stripping a requirement in the auction? I really don't have the body image to do that and I really feel like I don't want to be pressured into something I really can't handle. I'm curious if past bishonens done sort of a tease, Like baring a flash of skin like what did way back in the day. I think leaving the mystery of what is under those robes is so what a good way to help drive the auction up.