Achillean
| Synonyms: | MLM, Men Loving Men, Man Loving Man |
| See also: | M/M, Slash, Yaoi, Boys' Love, Danmei |
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Achillean, more known as MLM, Men Loving Men or Man Loving Man, is a term used in wider queer circles as an umbrella term for men who desire to be in a relationship with other men, though this definition is very loose and can encompass a wide range of identities.
The term is often used in media fandom as a way to label ships and characters under an umbrella term, as "gay" could be considered inaccurate to Bisexual people, as could "same sex" for transgender people. It is a great umbrella term that avoids having to "choose" between sexuality options regarding characters.
It is fandom-independent, unlike related terms such as Slash and Boys' Love. Achillean is primarily used in the English-speaking world and unknown elsewhere. Although the term looks similar to M/M, it has different connotations and use cases. Sapphic and WLW are similar terms for women. Sapphic is more widely used than the similar term Achillean.
The terminology and the community surrounding it are very accepting of Non-Binary people, who may be under both umbrella terms. Variants of the "MLM" acronym such as MLNB, NBLM and NBLNB are common.
Sometimes, the acronym is poked fun at for being the same as Multi-Level Marketing, aka pyramid schemes, but the terminology is well-liked for its wide reaching use cases by many.
Fannish History
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