Okay I don't care about the netflix please tell me about the importance of all-girls schools in Yuri it sounds fascinating

ok so first of all i recommend reading the wikipedia page for yuri because it really is fascinating and talks abt stuff i won't, cause then this would get Too long

but let's start this saying that in its origins, yuri wasn't necessarily a Romance genre as we know them, nor were the girls in it necessarily lesbians. it follows a literature genre called Class S (from around 1900-1930 i believe) which depicts intense relationships between girls that sort of blur platonic and romantic lines. in fact, i'd say a lot of yuri manga are a rather good example of queerplatonic relationships

the appeal is that, despite homosexual relationships being very much forbidden then, in an all-girls school setting, it Is seen as normal to be in a relationship with a girl. schools are written as if they're havens, separated from the outside world, and where usual society rules don't apply. like some world where gay is the norm and straight is a minority

but because these rules are school-only, same-sex relationships were also seen as a (at times childish) phase that one grows out of, and once they graduate they're expected to go and find a husband anyways. which is often a source of conflict in more modern yuri manga, finding a way to maintain that school-only relationship in the outside world, or find if it's something that can survive post-graduation. because while not all characters are lesbians, some of them are indeed "that kind of girl"