 Welker has also written that boys' love titles liberate the female audience "not just from patriarchy, but from gender dualism and heteronormativity".Some gay and lesbian commentators have criticized how gay identity is portrayed in BL, most notably in the "yaoi ronsō" or ""yaoi" debate" of 1992–1997.A trope of "yaoi" that has attracted criticism is male protagonists who do not identify as gay, but are rather simply in love with each other.