Feminism or homophobia: an analysis of discourse on female yaoi readers

Abstract

While research on the anime and manga community as a whole has been published, it is of note the sheer scale of interest shown towards women who read the yaoi genre. For every one paper written on men reading yuri, or lesbian anime/manga pornography, there is a dozen written on women who read yaoi. This extent to which these women draw attention means that the academic research on them is both widespread and intense, and the discourse on them equally so. What is of interest with the discourse on these women, known as “fujoshi”, is the dichotomy found within. This paper categorizes the discourses found within academic works published on the topic of “fujoshi” into two categories: “Fujoshi-as-Feminist” and “Fujoshi-as-Homophobic”. In describing the various arguments made by these two discourses, the paper will show the various ways each side tries to support their claims. Finally, the paper analyzes how the idea of “otherness” may have led to the creation and support of these two discourses and their opposition to one another. Each discourse is based around a group with a distinct social identity and their common beliefs. This strong self-identification has led to each group and thus discourse having strict considerations of who is a member, and who is considered and outsider or “other”. It is upon this that the dichotomy between the two discourses is built.