BL Fan Project

Cleaning and analyzing the data from the BL Fan Interview Project has shown predictable results in some ways and surprising results in others. This is the first chart I wanted to share.

Survey and Participants

The question asked for this part of the survey: “Do you use any of the terms fujoshi, fudanshi, or fujin to describe yourself? ”

Three of the data points are self-explanatory— which participants use Fujin, Fudanshi, or Fujoshi. For the other two options, I felt I should elaborate on why they were organized in this way.

The “No” response recorded participants who made it clear they did not use any of the terms. Their recorded answers did not indicate if there had been a change or not in that decision to not use the fujin terms for themselves.

The “Not Anymore” response was a little different. I felt it would be significant to record these answers when someone else could have filed them into the “No” set of responses. The participants’ replies who were categorized under this answer very specifically replied that they no longer used the terms, but at one point had chosen to use them. It indicated a very clear decision to no longer use these terms to describe themselves.

Why did I choose to categorize responses this way?

With the recent activity and trends in the online BL fan space, I have observed that many fans or readers may have used these terms at one time but were influenced or pressured to stop using them recently (in the last 5-10 years). What I have found to be a large influence over this decision is a negative response to these words online. Generally, this response is due to the misinformation of Japanese culture/language spread around online fan spaces and social media, insisting that these words mean something negative or perpetuate a harmful behavior within fan spaces. It’s important to state that this is not factual at all and not validated by any current academic literature on BL consumers. This trend has lead fans who once used the fujin terms (to describe their fan experience/participation) to no longer use them out of fear of backlash on various social media platforms.

This won’t be the case for every interview participant or fan, as some choose to distance from the terms for personal preferences. These are optional Japanese terms to describe the fan experience.

However, I considered the above trend significant enough to report on as we commonly see misinformation spread through fan spaces and social media to have negative effects on fans and fan participation. It’s an illustration of the rippling effects on the fan experience.

Results

Originally there were 463 online responses when I started to analyze the numbers.

Previous percentages:

“Fujoshi” 32.6%

“Fudanshi” 11.9%

“Fujin” 16.2%

“No” 21.4%

“Not Anymore” 17.9%

Now we have a total of 553 responses by the end of 2020 as the first survey closed.

You can see where there was a notable increase in the “Fujoshi” response percentages, increasing by roughly 2%. The “Fujin” and “Not Anymore” replies also increased. However, I saw that I was receiving more explanations on the “Not Anymore” responses. I found them insightful and telling. So I shared a number of them here.

Fans’ reasons they stopped using fujin/fujoshi/fudanshi terms:

“I stopped using them because of the huge harassment and now I don’t use them that much.”

“In the beginning, I used to call myself a fujoshi. Then people said to me fujoshi was a bad term only cishet girls who fetishized gay couples used. Recently, I found out it’s something made up so I’m back as a fujoshi.”

“Fudanshi for sure. I chose to reclaim the ‘rotten’ when I learned that there was a widespread embracing/reclamation of “fujoshi” by women who self-describe that way, especially since the stereotype in Japan is that fujoshi are likely to be bi. I thought it was interesting that it’s wielded as a misogynist insult and used to misgender trans men with the assumption of straight womanhood as necessary for a fu-identity in current US English fandom. I’m queer and a fudanshi.”

“To be honest, no. There’s a lot of people nowadays that harass fujoshis/fudanshis/fujins on the internet.”

“Yes, I use fujoshi, but only with my friends. Other people might attack me if I say I’m a fujoshi.”

“I use fujoshi since it simply means ‘a woman who likes BL’, but many people use this word as something bad, so sometimes I hesitate before using it.”

“I used to use Fujoshi, but because of the bad image it got, I’m afraid to use it and get bashed on the internet.”

“No, only out of fear, though. If I could openly, I would describe myself as a fudanshi.”

“I used to, but then I saw all the people spreading hate to those who said it and some people who called themselves that were not great and stopped at the age of 16. Thanks to researching for my dissertation I finally properly know the words origin and don’t feel as about it as I was made but I’m still not comfortable saying that I am one out loud because of people.”

“I would use fujin, but don’t describe myself as such to avoid backlash.”

“I only use fujoshi in Japanese so I don’t get attacked by antis online.”

“I do not, but that is largely because I don’t want to suffer the backlash people online would give me because they refuse to learn.”

“I have previously experienced backlash for using the word fujoshi to describe myself, so I tend not to anymore unless I know the person I am interacting with does not have a negative view of the term.”

Tracking these responses over time will help map consumer and fan trends across a global fan space.

Some questions to consider:

Will we see an increase of fans using fujin terms or will more elect not to?

How much of that decision will be affected by behavioral trends in fan spaces on social media?

Will there be observable patterns regionally for preference of fujin terms?