Sometimes on convention pages I see bans on Yaoi Paddles; canoe-like paddles with Yaoi or similar phrases (For example Seme, Uke or Yuri) written on them.
I understand that someone who has a Yaoi Paddle goes around smacking people on the butt with it, which presumably is why they are banned (as I’ve seen a lot of people complaining that they hurt) – but why is this a thing in the first place?
When and where did Yaoi Paddles originate?
Following up on some stories I heard of yaoi fans I know from conventions, and a lot of trips on the WayBack machine to find old/deleted posts following the first ban, I came down to this pretty consistent story both online and among the fans.
The original yaoi paddle was made as a prank between 2 friends. The one receiving it was a yaoi manga/doujishin artist, which made quite a bit of his income this way. It is said that this event happened at yaoi con, hence the interest of other people at the time, and the huge surge of requests for the yaoi paddles.
I originally made the first yaoi paddle, with woodburned letters and a high gloss acrylic finish for the owner of the company “hen da ne”.
It was meant as a joke since he and I are friends and over 33% of his business relies on the sale of yaoi manga and doujinshi, and his business model includes yelling out catch phrases to passerbys in con dealer rooms (such as “geeeeet your red hot yaoi books right here!” and “hot boys in tight pants right here”).
He liked the present so much, that he decided to mass produce them (to my dismay, without my final consent). And thus, has sold them ever since.