What is "bara"

n. 1 (label en Internet slang) A genre; homoerotic media, usually manga and often pornographic, made by gay men for gay men in Japan. 2 (label en Internet slang) Gay male media of a similar style and aesthetic, regardless of the creator's gender or ethnicity. 3 (label en Internet slang) Any homoerotic media or pornography that accentuates macho masculinity; gay porn.

The Bära is a river in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The Bära is a tributary of the Danube, and originates at the confluence of the Upper Bära (Oberer Bära) and the Lower Bära (Unterer Bära). The Bära, together with the Lower Bära, which is longer and has a larger drainage basin, has a combined length of .

Bara is a given name and a surname. As a masculine Arabic name, Bara براء) means "innocence".

The bara (also called bendré) is a spherical hand drum with a body made from a dried gourd or calabash, used in West Africa (primarily Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and Mali). Its single head is made of goatskin. To make the drum, a dried gourd is cut on one end and a single head made of goatskin is stretched across the opening. Bara drums come in various sizes, some quite large. The instrument is often used to accompany the balafon.

The bara has been used in the music of the Malian musicians Yaya Diallo and Habib Koité.

, also known by the wasei-eigo construction , is a Japanese technical term for a genre of art and fictional media that focuses on male same-sex love usually created by gay men for a gay audience. The bara genre began in the 1950s— ADONIS was launched in 1952—with fetish magazines featuring gay art and content. Besides bara manga, also called , and illustration, a number of bara erotic games exist, as well as novels and memoirs. Bara is mostly a Japanese phenomenon, with limited western exposure through manga scanlations and online homoerotic art communities. While bara faces difficulties finding western publishers, it has been described as "the next big porn wave coming out of Japan".

Bara can vary in visual style and plot, but typically features masculine men with varying degrees of muscle, body fat, and body hair, akin to bear culture in gay culture. While bara usually features hentai (adult content, sometimes violent or exploitative) and gay romanticism, it often has more realistic or autobiographical themes, as it acknowledges the varied reactions to homosexuality in modern Japan.

Western commentators sometimes refer to bara as " yaoi", but yaoi is largely created by and for women and features idealized bishōnen who frequently conform to the heteronormative formula of the dominant and masculine seme and effeminate uke characters. In contrast, bara is considered a subgenre of seijin (men's erotica) for gay males and resembles comics for men ( seinen manga) rather than ones for female readers ( shōjo/ josei manga).

Bara is a 1982 Kannada film directed and produced by M. S. Sathyu. It is based on the story written by U. R. Ananthamurthy. The film starred Ananth Nag, C. R. Simha and Loveleen Madhu in lead roles. The film won many laurels upon release including the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada for its script of an incisive analysis of the socio-political situation in a drought affected district. The film went on floors in 1980 and made its theatrical release in 1982. The Hindi version of the film Sookha was released in 1983. However, unlike the Kannada version, the film couldn't get a theatrical release, and was shown on Doordarshan.