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Yaoi,[a] a genre of male-male homoerotic media originating in Japan that is created primarily by and for women, has a robust global fandom.
In Japan, fans of yaoi are referred to as fujoshi (腐女子). Translating literally to "rotten woman" or "rotten girl", the term originated as a pejorative for fans of the genre, but was later reappropriated by yaoi fans as a self-deprecating identity label. The term fudanshi (腐男子, lit. "rotten boy") later emerged to describe male fans of yaoi.
Terminology
[edit]Fujoshi
[edit]In Japan, fans of yaoi are referred to as fujoshi (腐女子). Translating literally to "rotten woman" or "rotten girl", the term is an example of Japanese wordplay: the kanji is pronounced in the same way as the character compound 婦女子, meaning "woman", but with the first character 婦 (fu, meaning 'woman') substituted for the homonym 腐 (fu, meaning 'rotten').[1] While yaoi fandom dates to the genre's emergence in the 1970s, the term fujoshi originated around 2000 on the textboard 2channel, where it was initially used as a pejorative for fans of the genre. Over time, the term was reappropriated by yaoi fans as a self-deprecating and ironic identity label.
Fudanshi
[edit]History
[edit]Male-male romance fiction created by and for a female audience emerged as a discrete genre of manga and literature in Japan in the 1970s. In 1975, Comiket was established as a fan event for the sale of doujinshi (self-published works), and from its origins had a high proportion of female attendees who were fans of Moto Hagio and other creators male-male romance manga.[2] The doujinshi culture nurtured by Comiket saw the emergence of derivative yaoi fan works based on existing media properties,[2] a trend that accelerated in 1984 with a proliferation of yaoi fan works based on the manga series Captain Tsubasa.[3] From the mid-1980s onwards, yaoi fandom was a major presence at Comiket and other doujinshi conventions like it.[3]
Around 2000, the term fujoshi (腐女子) emerged from the textboard 2channel to describe yaoi fans.[1]
The earliest reference to fujoshi in the mainstream press was in a June 20, 2005 article in Aera, a news magazine published by The Asahi Shimbun.[4] The article positioned fujoshi as a female equivalent to male otaku; the success of the film Train Man, also released in June 2005, had provoked significant media interest in otaku as a cultural phenomenon.[4] The following year, fujoshi began to appear in mainstream media as subjects in and of themselves, exemplified by the non-fiction book Otaku Girls Research: Fujoshi Ideology by Yumiko Sugiura and the manga series Tonari no 801-chan ('My Neighbor Yaoi-chan') by Ajiko Kojima.[5]
Characteristics
[edit]Demography
[edit]Fandom activities
[edit]In Japan, yaoi fans frequently congregate at doujinshi conventions, where fans sell their own self-published manga and novels.
Analysis
[edit]In Japan, research into yaoi and BL fandom began in the 1990s. Initially this research was based on psychoanalysis, typically focused on the question of why women were interested in works depicting homosexuality, and discussed the genre in the context of feminist and gender studies.
Psychologist and critic Tamaki Saitō speculates that analysis of yaoi fandom is disliked by yaoi fans because female desire in general is focused on, quoting Jacques Lacan, "the enjoyment of the other", which can be experienced but not talked about because it transcends linguistic understanding.
Fans of yaoi typically do not disclose their interest in yaoi outside of the peer group with whom they share an interest in the genre. Researcher Nato Takako
Notes
[edit]- ^ Alternately known as "boys' love" and its abbreviation "BL".
References
[edit]- ^ a b Suzuki 2013, 2.1.
- ^ a b Suzuki 2013, 3.1.
- ^ a b Suzuki 2013, 3.2.
- ^ a b Suzuki 2013, 2.2.
- ^ Suzuki 2013, 2.3.
Bibliography
[edit]- Suzuki, Midori (2013). "The Possibilities of Research on Fujoshi in Japan". Transformative Works and Cultures. 12. doi:10.3983/twc.2013.0462.