We Love A Rotten Woman
Jacey Chen (ISB 10)
Jacey Chen is a staff writer at Buddy! and a self-identified Fujoshi— aka 腐女子, “spoiled girl,” or yaoi fangirl.
With the power of God and anime on her side, she illuminates the popular yet foreign Fujoshi culture in her second article “We Love a Rotten Woman.”
She sits there, reading, her eyes move back forth as she steadily reads onwards. You can’t hear anything except for the scraping of her nails on the trackpad. The contrast between her laptop’s dimmed screen and her dark room was prominent as she stares towards her screen, wide-eyed. cReAk. Her head turns so fast it could’ve snapped. She stares at you and squints. You’re unsure if she’s glaring at you or if she’s adjusting to the dark. Her under-eyes have sunken into dark circles and her face remains stoic. There it is, the fujoshi in her natural habitat.
I know what you’re probably thinking: What’s going on? Don’t panic! It can all be explained in due time. I just need you to understand what turned her into this creature, the fujoshi. It all started with a genre, yaoi, this genre would then proceed to grasp this girl’s attention until it’s too late. So, what exactly is yaoi? Though other people detest, I would describe it as the genre of narratives with gay romantic relationships (which is precisely what yaoi is.) Yaoi is different from western homosexual books or movies; it originated in Japan and has a particular set of "rules." Not all mangakas, yaoi authors, follow these rules, but they're generally used in most works. To keep things short, yaoi is usually known as a genre written by women for women. Yaoi, also known as shonen-ai or BL, is also known to have a large and "spoiled" community called fujoshis.
(From Totsugimasen Kara!)
Ah, fujoshis, the most rotten of the rotten. The girl in the beginning of this article is a fujoshi herself and you disturbed her reading time. No wonder she was so mad, how rude. The name fujoshi, 腐女子, literally means "spoiled girl" and is the terms used for women who like anime, manga, or dramas with homosexual relationships. "Fujoshi" comes from a pun of another word: "fujoshi" (婦女子), which means a respectable woman. Our fujoshi was created by replacing the "fu(婦)," meaning married woman, with the character "fu(腐)," which means fermented or spoiled. This indicates that women who enjoy fictional gay romance are spoiled for marriage. (and honestly, I wouldn't mind as long as I get to keep reading.) "Fujoshi" can also carry connotations of being a fallen woman whose no longer able to be useful (so harsh). Fujoshi was first coined as an insult, but then was reclaimed as a self-descriptive term and is proudly used by many fans.
(From On or Off Manhwa)
So, where do these fujoshi's come from? And who are they? Most yaoi fans are either teenage girls or young women, and in a school that contains grades Pre-k - 12 there are a lot of those. In Thailand, the female readership of yaoi works is estimated at 80%, and the membership of Yaoi-Con, a yaoi convention in San Francisco, is 85% female. It is usually assumed that all female fans are heterosexual, but in Japan, there is a presence of lesbian manga authors and lesbian, bisexual, or questioning female readers. Recent online surveys of English-speaking readers of yaoi indicate that 50-60% of female readers self-identify as heterosexual. Although the genre is marketed at girls and women, there is a large male readership as well. However, the reason they're here to read is a different matter for a different time.
(From Ookami he no Yomeiri)
Here's the big question, why do fujoshis exist? There is a lot of psychology surrounding why females are attracted to reading yaoi. They're not complicated psychology and social study facts, there are also some simple factors to go along with my explanation as well. First, it is believed that yaoi is a safe space for women. If a woman is seen in public reading manga with heterosexual sex (if anyone dares to), she would be seen as readily available to men around her (almost in the same way as men justifying their actions with clothing). If a woman was being seen reading yuri (lesbian fiction), she would be identified as a lesbian and harassed or talked to accordingly, regardless of if it's true. Another reason may be that heterosexual females are not very interested in reading yuri manga because it's just not relatable. When women read yaoi, however, most straight men would leave them alone, act like it doesn't exist, or be appalled. Some women see yaoi as an outlet to be free of male harassment, and it could be used as "man-repellent."
Yaoi also provides a utopia style of romance. They contain the classic cliches of "childhood/best friend" cliche, "we meet again" cliche, "they happen to be the only young and available people in their workplace" cliche. No matter what cliche, it usually ends in a "pure love" situation. (There is an amazing manga making fun of yaoi cliches called "Zettai BL." I highly recommend it.) Reading yaoi does not only make fujoshis want to see good-looking men flirting with each other because it’s not all about sex. Fujoshis also like the idea of the romance trope of a "soul-mate" and the "pure love" that comes from these stories. Yaoi fuels their imagination with an ideal world that makes them want more. (ya'll better watch out, it could also make them have higher standards.) It's also hard for women to escape from gender-roles, and reading stories with hardly any women in them allows fujoshis to relate to characters without having to worry about being a perfect woman or observe a female role model.
“Fujoshis also like the idea of the romance trope of a "soul-mate" and the "pure love" that comes from these stories. Yaoi fuels their imagination with an ideal world that makes them want more.”
Besides all the psychology facts and statistics, it has become clear why fujoshis exist, yaoi has advanced through the ages, from being dull and repetitive to exciting and unique. There are so many tropes and new genres that have routed from yaoi, and they’re SO GOOD. Honestly, go pick up a story or something, maybe even a manhua, or just ask me to give you a recommendation! There is so much yaoi for different personalities, and I’ll bet you’ll find a perfect one. Just don’t end up like me and obtain around 500 perfect ones…
(From Fellow_otaku1234 on Instagram)
Citations:
(all titles mentioned earlier)
Totsugimasen Kara!
On or Off (Manhwa)
Ookami he no Yomeiri