(This has been cross-posted from my twitter.)
In reference to the use of the word Bara: There is a blog post with an interview from gay manga artist Gengoroh Tagame going around thatmany people in the online community are interpreting as meaning that the term “bara” is a slur. To give some history on it and to bring clarity, please know that it is not a slur in the sense of it being a discriminatory term. It is an antiquated word that is not used among contemporary artists or even the general community, but does have a history associated with it. The post, whose author posted a portion of an interview with Tagame, is correct in that its usage used to be close to the term “pansy” in English, but in 1971, had become reappropriated with the release of the gay magazine Barazoku.
Contemporarily, the term is used by English fans of the genre and has become a loan word that, at worse, is misused as a category to inapplicable things but is more commonly used to refer to Japanese manga the features “burly men.” It’s is rarely if at all used by Japanese artists but does not equate to a slur against the gay community. Some artists however, as is the case with Tagame, prefer the term “geikomi” ゲイコミ to describe their works due to the antiquated history of the word “bara”.
Their wishes deserve to be respected, but you do not need to panic over the use of the term in regards to the collective idea of a genre. Having spoken with friends from Japan and reading over follow-up posts from the blog that many people are referring to, this has become a case of people misreading and completely over exaggerating the context of a word that is antiquated and rarely used in modern Japan.
If you are looking for more accurate terms to use to describe art or gay men featured in gay manga, there are definitely words that help.
gachimuchi 「ガチムチ」- muscle-chubby
gachidebu 「ガチデブ」- muscle-fatty
gacchiri 「ガッチリ」- muscular
debu 「デブ」- fatTL;DR: Bara has become a loan word and is not actually a slur. It is antiquated and some artists prefer not to use the term for their works. Respect the artist by not mis-catergorizing their works. Do your research, and avoid applying the term liberally.
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