Definition

Yaoi is an acronym that stands for "yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi," which means "no climax, no point, no meaning." A strict definition would have it mean "sex between men just for the sake of sex," and drawn by an amateur doujinshi managaka (person who writes/draws manga). But it has evolved from that meaning, especially in the west. It's now used as a general term for male/male relationships, but still emphasizes the sex over the emotions. Or at least, if there are emotions, there's sex, too. It's also supposed to be used for non-original material (i.e. putting Lantis and Eagle in bed together, instead of making up one's own characters). June (ju-nay) is the term used for professional, original stories about homosexual male love/sex. It's also the name of a company in Japan (who publishes original malexmale manga). The term hardly ever gets used in the west, though. So now you know why it said "June Video" on your Ai no Kusabi tape. ^_~ Shounenai means "boy love," and emphasizes the emotions over the sex. There can still be sexual tension, but nothing's shown. For better, more in-depth definitions, check out Aestheticism's definition page.

Explainations

Seme: the guy "on top" during sex. Or if not on top, the one doing the inserting. Performing oral sex is also a typical seme activity (usually before penetration). Uke: the guy "on the bottom" during sex. Or the guy getting inserted into. There are all sorts of conditions for being a typical seme or uke. Aestheticism's page (linked above) goes into it in more detail. I don't really like convention, though, so I just make up my seme/uke preferences myself (so do the Japanese, apparently, because I've seen quite a few QuatrexTrowa doujinshi...). The seme and uke are separated by an 'x.' So, for DuoxHeero, Duo's the seme and Heero's the uke. ^_^

Fandom (aka "what do a bunch of straight girls know about gay sex?")

It's really a good question. After all, how much _can_ we know? We probably learned a lot of it ourselves from reading yaoi fanfics/yaoi doujinshi. So, is this a case of "exploding girl orgasms," like when guys try to write yuri lemons? (no, we don't explode...) From watching Queer as Folk, we definitely seem to be on the right track. ^_^ Actually, I haven't read a lemon scene lately that was unrealistic. The yaoi fanbase is made up of probably 97% women (straight, bi, and lesbian). Maybe even more than that. All yaoi manga/doujinshi are shoujo and are produced for women. This isn't to say that guys can't get into yaoi... After all, it's completely natural for a gay/bi man to want to read material about his lifestyle (it's not like there are a lot of mainstream gay romantic novels out there...). But, at the same time, gay men might be turned off, because yaoi isn't exactly realistic. These are women writing for women. The emotions we write about are what we want men to be like, not necessarily what men are actually like. We sort of idealise situations, and what we write about might not reflect real life at all. ^^;; I'm not a gay man, though, so it's really hard to say. As for straight men...well, obviously there's the whole homophobia thing. And some guys, while not homophobic, don't really want to read about gay sex. Understandable. I think straight men (the unhomophobic ones) might be more inclined to read shounenai. But, again, I'm not a straight guy, so what do I know? ^^;;; Yaoi's certainly not for everyone. There are a lot of women out there that don't care for it. But it's found it's niche, and has a really big fan following. Heck, it accounts for over 50% of shoujo manga in Japan. If you're just starting out, I recommend you read some shounenai first before delving right into the yaoi lemon stuff. ^_^