Boylove

The boylove symbol

Boylove is a map attraction to boys. A person experiencing such an attraction is called a boylover (commonly abbreviated as BL).

Definition

BoyChat user Alexis proposed the following definition of "boylover" in 1997: "a person who when he or she falls in love, tends to fall in love with a boy". This definition is notable for not assuming the boylover to be male, as well as not implying or demanding sole or exclusive attraction.

Boylovers who are attracted to particularly young boys may call themselves little boy lovers, commonly abbreviated as LBL.

History and Community

Historically the topic of minor attraction is quite closely connected to male queerness, given how non-normative age preferences first gained attention of doctors in connection with non-normative gender preferences. NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association), one of the most widely known and infamous map organizations, also consists of queer men. This gender homogeneity prompted some boylovers to regard their role in the lives of boys they are attracted to as something close to mentorship.

Boylover proponents of this view point to the ability of an adult male to serve as a mentor and role model to a boy, in a sense teaching him "how to be a man," which they claim has no analogue in a girllove relationship.

- BoyWiki on boylove and girllove

The gap between boylove and girllove communities lessened with time due to common spaces such as Life Line or newer groups on mainstream social media platforms.

Symbols

The boylove logo, or BLogo (pictured above) was developed by Free Spirits user Kalos along with his partner in 1997. According to his design, the boylover is presumed to be a man.

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  The logic behind the BL logo design

There also exist a little boy lover and a teen boy lover symbols.

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  The little boy lover symbol

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  The teen boy lover symbol

In 2018 a map ally Charles made a boylover flag, following the pattern of the map flag.

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  The BL flag

International Boylove Day

The International Boylove Day is celebrated on winter and/or summer solstice (21st-22nd of December or June accordingly). A common celebration theme is lighting a blue candle to honor fellow boylovers and boys you love.

Change in Meaning

It's possible to say that the ages of attraction, implied by BL and LBL identities, underwent a change. Older map communities had a higher percentage of hebephiles, compared to pedophiles, so at some point being a boylover was associated with being a teen boy lover, and the little boy lover identity and symbols were created to describe the pedophilic orientation. Meanwhile nowadays there are more pedophiles in the map community. The BL identity became primarily associated with this age range, and the LBL identity is frequently used by nepiophiles.

BoyChat

BoyChat is one of the oldest online map spaces that kept their relevance. It was founded by Kasper on December 29, 1995, and the first few years of its existence are described by Alexis. It changed admins, addresses, and hosts multiple times, but kept connecting boylovers all over the world.

Known BLs

Real Life

• Edward Benjamin Britten (22 November, 1913 – 4 December, 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber pieces. John Bridcut, in his book "Britten's Children", has provided ample evidence that Britten was sexually attracted to boys, but also shows that it is unlikely that Britten ever committed a sexual offense.
• Peter Lamborn Wilson (20 October 1945 – 22 May 2022) was an American anarchist author and poet. Starting from the 1980s he wrote (under the pen name of Hakim Bey) numerous political writings, illustrating his theory of "ontological anarchy". In some of his writings, he supported the idea of allowing adults to have sex with children.
• Irwin Allen Ginsberg (3 June 1926 – 5 April 1997) was an American poet and writer. He became a member of the North American Man/Boy Love Association in the 1980s.
• Alan Mathison Turing (23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science, who played a critical role in Allied victory in the 2nd World War through his cracking of intercepted German coded messages. In his private writing he described people he found attractive as "boys". He also reportedly was interested in photos of boys as young as 5 and 6, published in newspapers.

Fiction

• Hisoka Morow, one of the main antagonists of the anime/manga series Hunter x Hunter. He repeatedly expresses sexual interest in the main protagonist, who is a boy of 11-15 years old.