What’s a fujoshi?
“Fujoshi” 腐女子/ rotten woman is a homophonous pun on 婦女子(fujoshi)/respectable wife, replacing the 婦/fu character for “married woman” with 腐 / “rotten” or “fermented”. [source] [source]
Where did the term originate?
“Fujoshi” was coined on 2channel specifically to complain about inclusivity in newer series, and lack of male gaze, ecchi, pantyshots and harem shows in the current lineups, blaming “fujoshi writers” for the ‘increase’ in gay anime shows. [source]
I thought Fujoshi meant rotten women, because they fetishize gays!
Fujoshi is a pun on the word “婦女子” (also read ‘fujoshi’) - which means “grown women” - where the “fu” character for “wife” is replaced with the “fu” character for “rotted/ruined/moldy”. The implication is that if a woman is not a wife or eligible for marriage, she is ruined and worthless. (kifujin, in contrast, is the term for a female BL fan who is married, despite this)
Fujoshi itself is always seen as ダメオタ (useless/broken/not serving its purpose geek) - the fact that they happen to like m x m is what makes them bad and unmarriable (because their interest in m x m means they have their own mind/fantasies and will not be a submissive, chaste, heterosexual housewife that exists only to please her husband, thus they are not serving their purpose and are broken). [source] [source] [source]
Then why do people call themselves Fujoshi if it’s a slur?
Like, historically, it started out as a slur used by mainstream Japanese fans against Japanese women who enjoyed BL as a genre. And let’s be clear - it was that the content was gay that made them trash, not the fact that it was poorly-fleshed-out gay content. It was later reclaimed by Japanese women as an affectionate identifier. So, like, right off the bat, it’s a Japanese term that we can’t just redefine into a slur again. I met a decent number of women over in Japan who will cheerfully call themselves fujoshi explicitly because they were like “what, this content you’re calling trash? These romances that you don’t think I should be reading? Yes, I love them. I don’t care if you call it trash. Fine. It’s my trash.” (The fact that it doubles as a homonym for “princess” helps too.) [source]
What about fujoshi that fetishize gay men?
If you’re going to call out homophobia and “fetishization” (as in, objectifying), meaning, if you place actual real gay people on a pedestal; treating them as objects, seeing them as lesser than human beings, and shipping them without their consent; please do call it out. If someone is enjoying problematic BL content and they’re not hurting real people (as in not involving real people whatsoever), then there’s nothing to really argue about. Most “obnoxious yaoi fans” are young teenagers going through that shitty phase (akin to this western idea of a weeaboo/otaku phase or something like that), and if you calmly tell them to stop treating real gay people as objects, they will more than likely stop. There is no immediate need for hostility. And also, not ever obnoxious fan is like that, please look at things by a case by case basis before jumping the gun. Analyze the situation first. Again, call out actual objectification of real people, and not fictional characters. There’s a distinct difference between the two.
It’s not misogynistic to call out Fujoshi!
When you’re degrading women in your wokeness™, simply because you assume they’re cishet, and those people are “nasty” to begin with (sarcasm) (all because they ID as a fujoshi, enjoy BL, or like something you’re not into); not only are you being a misogynist, but you’re probably being transphobic too and most definitely homophobic. Not all fujoshi who ID as such, are cishet women. Various people in the LGBT+ community (NB+Intersex, etc) use the term on themselves. To say that it’s only cishet women and that we’re all awful is erasure, which by the way – you’re contributing to. It’s even worse when anti-fujoshi people shit on male BL fans (some of us call ourselves Fudanshi), saying we’re only pretending to be men, we’re all women, etc etc etc. There’s a lot of transphobia and trans-misogyny (and surprise, more homophobia!) involved in this discourse. Various people of all genders and sexuality enjoy BL, and if you’re going to erase their identity to justify your bullying and shitty ship wars – that’s not a good look for you, especially if you’re trying to “protect gay men”.
How am I being racist?
I understand that a lot of people, mostly Westerners, do not know the origins and history of Fujoshi. There’s a difference between genuinely not knowing vs. purposefully not educating yourself by continuing to spew the same anti-fujoshi rhetoric: [don’t be some of these people], [and this person], [this person too], [and the motherload of all things horrible], [oh sorry there’s one more I wanted to share] To deny facts and dozens of sources presented to you from Japanese speaking people and those who are Japanese themselves– while also continuing to throw slurs, insults, etc in the same breath, is most definitely racist. You obviously think your opinion is more superior and that nothing else is worth listening to, despite the fact that you’re wrong.
[more information] [additional info]
Side note: Alternative terms to fujoshi/fudanshi
According to my linguist friend who specializes in Japanese:
Closest I can think of would be fujin 腐人, which takes away the gender word and replaces it with the word for person. It also acts as a pun in the same way fujoshi 婦女子 (grown woman) does with fujoshi 腐女子 (dirty woman/lover of BL).
(Fujin 婦人 means wife)
腐人 would basically translate to “dirty person”
Or in this case “a lover of BL/someone who dirties the work of the author” That is not a judgement of taste, but the closest linguistically that I could think of [source]
腐人 (fujin) (literally just ‘rotten person/people’) would probably be the most likely term, though 貴腐人 (kifujin) means “rotten noble woman”, specifically (and is used by older fujos) so exercise caution when using the term.
I’ve also used 腐系(fu-kei)/ rotten group, referring to groups of people who have fu-interests, however it’s a homonym with 腐兄(fukei) meaning rotten older brother which is used by fudanshis, so again you want to be careful when using the term. [source]
Some things in regards to Yaoi
Reminder that “yaoi” was originally called “aniparo” (short for “anime parody”) and refers to anime/manga parody doujinshi (fan comics) that takes characters (generally from popular shounen shows with a heavy homosocial background) and portrays them as being in love/having sex with each other as a way to satirize the common “no homo” and other homophobic messages that a lot of these earlier shounen series have/had, and, as a result of changing social climate growing to accept LGBT+ characters in canon over the past 30 years, yaoi doujin in Japan doesn’t exist in nearly the same capacity that it used to. [source] [source] [source]
As a gay man, I’m uncomfortable with BL and Fujoshi.
And you know what? That’s perfectly valid. Anyone being uncomfortable with certain works regarding BL and yaoi is fine. It’s how you present yourself in regards to the situation that counts. There’s some tropes I’m personally not a fan of, but I don’t hold it against people that do enjoy them. It’s just a personal preference, and as long as they’re not hurting real people, then there’s no reason for me to care. I would love to discuss BL with other people, what we like and don’t like, etc. without having to degrade fans of the series. There’s a lot to be said, and I think we can accomplish that if anti-fujoshis would stop acting like bigots. And also, this whole “lmao as a gay man I’m telling you to”, or anything that implies that I have to listen to you with that shitty condescending tone of yours; no thanks. If you’re not going to show respect to someone (i.e anti-fujoshi in the fujoshi tag who threaten people, insult women, misgender trans people, etc. you know the deal), then there’s really no reason for anyone to respect you or your shitty opinion. “Listen to queer men!” they say as we’re not a hive mind and have varying opinions; which is fine because the point here is to not force anyone into liking BL or NEEDING to get along with everyone. The point is that there should be a base level of respect and conversation that can continue without, you know, demeaning other people in the process. I definitely understand and push for the need that minority voices need to be heard, but if it involves stepping over people who haven’t actually hurt you, then there’s no reason for anyone to listen to you tbh Regardless, if someone is being awful to you for no apparent reason, you’re not obligated to listen to them either; it doesn’t matter if you’re a shipper, anti, whoever. I personally believe that I only give respect to those who treat me with such. If you’re good to me, then I’m good to you. I don’t put up with bullshit and neither should you. At the same time though, I know what it’s like to feel petty, but sometimes it’s better to be the bigger person and walk away. I suggest you do the same. Which brings me to another point: USE THE BLOCK FUNCTION. BLOCK. BLACKLIST. Tumblr literally has a feature for this everywhere! Abuse the shit out of it, you’re not OBLIGATED to see things you don’t like. This is how I’m able to tolerate Tumblr for all of the years I’ve been on here. TLDR: “Stop fetishizing me!” = we more than likely don’t know who you are, and don’t even care to get to know you. You’re free and valid to feel whatever it is that you feel, but how you act on those feelings is what counts, and if it gets really bad, please use the block functions that tumblr has provided.
Representation
What made you come to the conclusion that everything you read in regards to BL and Yaoi are representation? I read Harada, suddenly I go, “Wow these abusive relationships are a reflection of actual gay people!”, no, that’s not how it works and if you blame both authors and readers – you should really be blaming your parents/caretakers and how they’ve failed to raise you. Fiction does not equal reality in the way you think it does.
If you’re upset with BL being made by “cishet women” for “cishet women”, then why not look into mangaka like Gengoroh Tagame? There’s something for everyone out there (and there’s actually a whole lot of fluffy BL out there; it’s not that difficult to find. I personally recommend Konbini-kun, by Junko). If you want to learn more, check out Rotten Boy’s Club, who has provided us with so much information on his blog (he even has recommendations! You’re free to ask me for some as well, if you want to).
There’s a multitude of reasons why people read BL! Some people think it’s hot, some people relate to it, some people find their identity through it, some people project, some people like it because they just do, and much more. If you take a look around, ask questions and I don’t know, maybe just talk to people, it’ll help open your mind up a little more. I’m not here trying to say, “BL is perfect and everyone should read it. If you don’t then you’re wrong and I hate you.” If you happened to get that vibe from this page, then I’ll be frank: You missed the point and you’re more than likely part of the problem I’ve been discussing. The point of this page is to get people to stop misusing the term fujoshi, BL and yaoi by providing actual sources, and to stop people from being gross to one another.
This post serves to act as a kickstarter for people to do their own research, as I’m tired of seeing terminology get twisted around. As I stated before, I am leaving this blog and it will be kept as an archive. But I still wanted to make my info page into an actual post, so that it could easily be spread around. Despite leaving this blog, I will sporadically make changes and I welcome additional commentary, though I probably won’t check it. I’m turning my inbox off and will probably set messages to mutuals/followers only (whatever the hell that option is in the Tumblr settings). Thank you so much for your support, and please remember to take care of yourselves; no one is obligated to be here and your health comes first. Special thanks to @rottenboysclub and @freedom-of-fanfic for providing so much information in regards to this compilation. Small Disclaimer: Please do not harass anyone here that’s been mentioned. I feel like it should go without saying, but just a precaution. Don’t be that asshole.
Some links were broken but I’ve fixed them!! ….I think.
