But, regardless, I'm given to understand that yaoi, or at least the yaoi that gets published and scanlated in the U.S., also tends to mimic gendered power imbalances in specific stylizied ways. Is this not a prevalent or significant strain in all yaoi? What about in slash? How does this fit with the attractions stated by the panelists?

Speaking as a westerner who has read quite a lot of yaoi and not so much slash: I feel like the majority of yaoi is not so much about equalizing power dynamics as it is about playing with power dynamics that can be very unequal in a way that doesn't feel like Betraying The Feminist Cause. Like, I may find unequal power dynamics hot or interesting, but when I see it in a het romance I want to go, "Gah, stand up for yourself, woman! Get away from the skanky guy!" And if it's a het romance I have to evaluate it in terms like "Would I want to date the skanky guy in real life?" but yaoi is so much a fantasy that I don't evaluate it in those terms. And in a het romance, usually it's too obvious who has which forms of power and which forms of status: the woman has the beauty, the man has the money and status. You can play with that a little bit in yaoi.

Harris thought that the newer queer community was more flexible, and said probably, yaoi yes, slash no--which I don't understand at all.

So, gay men object more to yaoi than to slash?
I can easily believe that because slash writers seem to see things like realism and writing gay men "right" as a good thing, whereas... that's not even an issue for yaoi. It's like asking whether all the science works out in a science fiction novel. There are writers who'll make sure that it does, and publications that play up the authenticity or realism, but for the majority of readers it's not much of an issue, nor any sense that a particular story would be improved by greater realism/authenticity. And it's pretty obvious to me that "We're going to write about gay people, but we don't actually care how real gay people act" is going to offend. It's an issue that makes me nervous even though I don't actually write either yaoi or slash.