The word itself comes from 'yamanashi, ochinashi, iminashi' (or 'no climax, no ending, no meaning'), though fans have also come up with another memetic acronym: 'Yamete! Oshiri ga itai!' ('Stop it! My ass hurts!') However, the term is outdated in Japan and now uses the more neutral term 'Boys' Love' to describe the genre, which also refers to any gay content in general. Typical pairings have the seme and the uke roles, which signify the characters' roles during sex, penetrative and receptive respectively, and often times even dictate their personalities and masculinity relative to each other. Yaoi, also known in Japan as 'Boys' Love', is a subgenre of Shoujo focusing on male homosexuality, for a predominantly female audience.
