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Boys` Love Manga
©
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Boys` Love Manga
Essays cn the Sexual Ambiguity
and Crcss-Cultural Fandcm
cf the Genre
Edited by ANTONIA LEVI,
MARK MCHARRY and
DRU PAGLIASSOTTI
Nc!arIand ö Company, Inc., ¡ulIIshers
jeffer·on, Norr| Coro|íno, ond Iondon
©
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Boys` love manga : essays on the sexual ambiguity and cioss-cultuial
fandom of the genie / edited by Antonia Levi,
Maik McHaiiy and Diu Pagliassotti.
p. cm.
Includes bibliogiaphical iefeiences and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-493-2
softcovei : 50# alkaline papei
¡. Comic books, stiips, etc.-Histoiy and ciiticism. 2. Homosexuality-Comic
books, stiips, etc. 3. Women caitoonists. 4. Populai cultuie-Japanese inßuences.
I. Levi, Antonia, 947- II. McHaiiy, Maik, 95- III. Pagliassotti, Diu.
PN670.B67 200 74.5' 952-dc22 20000297
Biitish Libiaiy cataloguing data aie available
C2008 Antonia Levi, Maik McHaiiy and Diu Pagliassotti. All iights ieseived
Nc part cf this bcck may be reprcduced cr transmitted in any fcrm
cr by any means, electrcnic cr mechanical, including phctcccpying
cr reccrding, cr by any infcrmaticn stcrage and retrieval system,
withcut permissicn in writing frcm the publisher.
On the covei: Heise, Red Icver, digital illustiation, 8
That is noth-
ing new in Japan. Antecedents of the genie may be found as long ago as seventh-centuiy
pictuie sciolls (e-makimcnc). Adam Kein tiaces the oiigins of modein manga to illustiated
tales that weie the piedominant liteiatuie duiing the Edo peiiod (603-868 CE), such as
the kibyshi (yellow-covei books) of Sant Kyden (76-86 CE). These texts ßuidly com-
bined images and wiiting and sold moie than 30,000 copies each in Edo-then the woild`s
laigest city.
2
The content of boys` love stoiies is not teiiibly shocking oi even suipiising to the
Japanese audiences foi which they weie oiiginally intended. Male same-sex iomances and
eiotica intended foi a widei, often at least paitially female audience, have a long tiadition
in Japan. Even Lady Muiasaki`s usually heteiosexual heio Genji indulges in a same-sex
affaii in the eleventh-centuiy novel Tale cf Genji. Stoiies of same-sex ielationships between
Buddhist piiests and theii acolytes (chigc) weie common duiing the feudal eia, as weie
stoiies about same-sex ielationships among samuiai. Woodblock piints (ukiyc-e) fuithei
illustiated and celebiated such ielationships. Kabuki theatie was pationized by women as
well as men. The eiotic desiiability of adolescent male actois (wakashugata), as well as male
actois playing female ioles (cnnagata), was desciibed in widely ciiculated theatiical cii-
tiques (hybanki) sold in majoi cities.
3
This advanced the tiadition of same-sex male
iomances and what can only be desciibed as a fascination with andiogyny and the liminal
possibilities of gendei.
In the nineteenth centuiy, the West biought homophobia to Japan, but it nevei com-
1
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pletely eclipsed the oldei tiaditions. Kabuki theatei suivived, even though many plays tieat-
ing male-male love weie diopped fiom its iepeitoiie, and in the eaily twentieth centuiy,
the all-female Takaiazuka theatei, with its impossibly beautiful male iole actois (ctckcy-
aku), added anothei layei to the cult of andiogyny and gendei-bending. Boys` illustiated
magazines in the 920s and 930s continued the beautiful boy (bishnen) tiadition, albeit
with only implied same-sex eiotica.
A Shcrt Histcry cf Bcys´ Icve Manga
When manga emeiged in the postwai eia, they biought this tiadition with them, along
with a plethoia of othei aitistic and liteiaiy tiaditions. Some elements weie appaient even
befoie female aitists became dominant in wiiting stoiies, many of them boys` love stoiies,
foi women and giils in the 960s. Tezuka Osamu`s Ribcn nc kishi (Princess Knight; 953),
about a cioss-diessing piincess with a male soul and the male fiiend who falls in love with
hei without iealizing she is female, was not exactly boys` love, but it did intioduce many
of the gendei-bending issues that would become standaid in the boys` love tiadition. Cei-
tainly Ribcn nc kishi was an inßuence on Hagio Moto, whose Tma nc shinz (Heart cf
Thcmas; 974), a tiagic tale of love and suicide in a Geiman boys` school, is often consid-
eied to be one of the founding woiks of the boys` love genie. It was also a favoiite of Ya-
magishi Ryko, who tied boys` love moie fully into Japanese contexts with Hi izuru tckcrc
nc tenshi (Heaven´s Scn cf the Iand cf the Rising Sun; 980), about the same-sex iomances
of Shtoku Taishi, the eighth-centuiy piince who is ciedited with biinging Buddhism to
Japan. In 978, Ccmic }un became one of the fist monthly manga to specialize in boys` love
stoiies, selling, at its peak, 50,000 copies a month.
4
By compaiison, in 2003, BeXBcy and
BeXBcy Gcld, published alteinately each month, had a monthly ciiculation of about 250,000
copies distiibuted thioughout Japan.
Coinciding with the iise of commeicially pioduced boys` love manga was the devel-
opment of fan-cieated and published woiks called °yaoi." The teim was coined as a sai-
donic acionym foi yama-nashi, cchi-nashi, imi-nashi (no climax, no point, no meaning)
by a gioup of fans who titled theii 979 djinshi Rappcri yaci tckush gcu (Rappcri: Spe-
cial Yaoi Issue). They coined the acionym because theii woik was usually compiised of a
collection of scenes and episodes lacking any oveiaiching stiuctuie. Theie weie yaoi pai-
odies of Gundam (Wai Stoiy) in the eaily 980s, but it was the populaiity of Captain Tsu-
basa in 985, a djinshi based on a populai manga about boys` football (soccei), and the
Saint Seiya manga boom of 987 that put the acionym into the Japanese veinaculai.
5
By
then, yaoi, expiessed mostly in djinshi, began showing the chaiacteiistics identifed by
Kazuko Suzuki that gave impetus to the boys` love/yaoi fan movement. They weie () ama-
teui publications that weie outside mass media iestiictions (2) iead by teenageis, who com-
piise the majoiity of boys` love ieadeis and who encouiaged othei teens to cieate yaoi woiks
(3) piemised on widely known chaiacteis and settings, and (4) they featuied chaiacteis depicted
as oidinaiy teenage boys oi men in theii twenties, the same age gioup as many of its fans.
6
Today yaoi and boys` love aie widely iead genies in Japan. Commeicial boys` love
manga aie displayed on the main ßoois of mainstieam bookstoies in laige cities as well
as sold in small-town convenience stoies. The Otome Road distiict of Tokyo has buildings
with billboaids of bishnen-oldei seme and youngei uke-in eiotic embiaces, enticements
to the djinshi sold in the aiea`s book stoies. In August 2007, moie than 550,000 peo-
2 Intioduction
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ple, a majoiity of them young women and teenage giils, attended Tokyo`s Comic Maiket
(Komiket), a twice-yeaily fan-oiganized event held since 975, to buy and/oi sell yaoi-
themed djinshi cieated by small ciicles of fiiends. The sales of boys` love djinshi and othei
BL pioducts at the Comic Maiket may have been moie than $200 million U.S. dollais in
2008. Djinshi maikets also exist in cities such as Osaka and Niigata that attiact tens of
thousands of consumeis, and infoimal fan netwoiks exist whose paiticipants exchange
djinshi via postal mail.
Bcys´ Icve in the \est
Today, boys` love manga aie pait of the populai cultuie landscape in Japan. They aie
an accepted pait of giowing up female and aie less accepted, but nonetheless sought out,
by some young men who iead them, a numbei estimated at ten peicent of ieadeis in 2003,
accoiding to a BeXBcy editoi.
7
That, howevei, was not the case when boys` love manga and
a few animated flms left theii native land and found new audiences among people who
knew little if anything about the tiaditions that had contiibuted to its cieation. As Ien Ang`s
985 pioneeiing study of globalizing populai cultuie, \atching Dallas, ievealed, the
iesponses of audiences viewing mateiial nevei designed foi them can be suipiising.
Yaoi and, subsequently, boys` love ieached Noith Ameiica and Euiope on a laige scale
via the bioadcast on commeicial television of anime that would become canonical foi fans
cieating yaoi woiks. In Noith Ameiica, wateished events included the bioadcast of the
anime seiies Gundam \ing on the Caitoon Netwoik in 2000
8
and the development of the
Woild Wide Web, which had begun its swift tiajectoiy to widespiead adoption about fve
yeais eailiei.
The aiiival of boys` love in the West was affected by two signifcant factois: maiket-
ing and existing fan piactices. Although some boys` love manga appeaied eailiei, the fist
boys` love anime to be distiibuted in Noith Ameiica was Kizuna (Bcnds; 994). The dis-
tiibutoi, Aiiztical, desciibed the anime as °the fist gay male anime to be ieleased on DVD
in the U.S."
9
and maiketed it to a gay male audience.
Anothei majoi factoi was the coteiminous existence of a Westein fan tiadition known
as °slash." The teim is not as violent as it sounds. It iefeis to the foiwaid slash on a key-
boaid, which is used by slash wiiteis to indicate which chaiacteis fiom populai cultuie
they aie iewiiting as a homoeiotic couple, a °paiiing"; the fist such paiiing to be desciibed
as °slashed" was Kiik/Spock (pionounced Kiik-slash-Spock). By the time boys` love aiiived,
slash was well established in the West and undeistood to iefei to homoeiotic wiiting and
aitwoik cieated almost exclusively by women that featuies male chaiacteis fiom populai
media.
0
Unlike slash, howevei, boys` love and yaoi attiacted a suipiising numbei of gay male
fans. That was no doubt paitly caused by eaily maiketing effoits, but maiketing is not the
only ieason. Content also plays a iole. Because yaoi and boys` love woiks oiiginated in a
diffeient histoiical milieu, depictions of gendei and sex in yaoi and boys` love woiks aie
diffeient fiom those in slash stoiies. Given gendei theoiist Judith Butlei`s contention that
ieal-life sex and gendei identities aie inheiently unstable, boys` love pioducts may suggest
diffeient theoietical implications foi cultuial expiessions of sex and gendei than those of
slash.
One signifcant diffeience may well be the gieatei lability of gendei and sex, which has
Intrcducticn (LEVI) 3
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been a topos of Japanese liteiatuie since at least the Heian peiiod (794-85 CE) and which
is fully expiessed in boys` love manga and anime. That lability is an accepted pait of Japa-
nese fctional undeistandings and, in boys` love, this often leads to depictions of fctional
woilds in which same-sex ielationships and gendei shifting aie piesented as givens with-
out explanation oi excuses. This is the case, foi example, in Yami nc matsuei (Descendants
cf Darkness) wheie the same-sex piefeiences of most of the chaiacteis aie taken foi gianted
as pait of the fctional woild poitiayed.
Slash, on the othei hand, developed out of Westein concepts of sex and gendei and
contiasts moie diamatically against othei Westein mainstieam cultuial woiks. Westein
populai cultuie has become a bit moie open to poitiaying same-sex ielationships and chal-
lenging the unchanging natuie of sex and gendei, but theie is, as yet, no systematic com-
meicial pioduction of slash oi slash-like iomances oi eiotica, no same-sex Hailequin
iomances. Slash iemains veiy much the domain of amateui fan fction wiiteis, almost all
of them women.
Slash also utilizes mostly chaiacteis diawn fiom live action flms and television seiies
and poitiayed by adult actois. As a iesult, the youthful teen look that so easily tianslates
into andiogyny in boys` love manga, and allows foi so many layeied inteipietations of sex
and gendei, is much haidei foi slash wiiteis to achieve. Despite its subject mattei, slash
tends to be fai moie explicitly heteiosexual in its assumptions and in the woilds it poi-
tiays. This is peihaps best exemplifed in the slash sub-genie known as INGB, which stands
foi °I`m not gay but...." In INGB fanfcs, the chaiacteis assuie one anothei that although
they aie passionately attiacted to each othei, same-sex ielationships aie not the noim foi
them. Such scenaiios aie not unknown in boys` love, but they aie fai fiom being as peiva-
sive as they aie in slash.
It is impoitant, howevei, not to oveistate the diffeiences between boys` love and slash.
Theie aie also similaiities and even connections. Boys` love is often consideied to have devel-
oped independently of slash, and that is to some degiee tiue. Howevei, both genies emeiged
as impoitant tiends in the 970s, a time maiked by a global questioning of gendei and sex.
Moieovei, eaily boys` love cieatois in Japan such as Hagio Moto oi Takemiya Keiko admit
to being inßuenced by Westein woiks, and many slash enthusiasts weie at least awaie of
boys` love manga befoie it became commeicially available in the West. Moie iecently, a
plethoia of Haiiy Pottei-inspiied slash and djinshi have ievealed the extent to which the
two fan subcultuies (yaoi/boys` love and slash) aie inßuencing one anothei.
Cuiiently boys` love and yaoi have an incieasingly visible piesence in the West. Boys`
love began to boom in the U.S. in 2005, aftei the success of populai manga seiies like
Kizuna, FAKE, and Eerie Queerie! Panels about yaoi at mainstieam anime and comic-book
conventions; the enthusiasm of fans at conventions such as Comic-Con Inteinational,
Sakuia-Con, and Yaoi-Con who weie vocal about the need foi impoited and tianslated
titles; the success of the few boys` love seiies alieady licensed and tianslated; and the pio-
fusion of bootleg online scanlations indicated an existing audience hungiy foi moie mate-
iial.
Fan Practices in the \est
When anime and manga ieached the West, they biought with them not only the
fctional pioducts (wiitten and diawn mateiials), but a vaiiety of fan piactices such as hold-
4 Intioduction
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ing conventions devoted to the celebiation and distiibution of anime and manga, and °cos-
play," deiived fiom the English woids °costume" and °play." Cosplay involves diessing up
as a fctional chaiactei oi at least as a peison who exists in a fctional woild. Conventions
and cosplay weie ceitainly not unknown to westein science fction and comic book fans
who iefeiied to them as °cons" and °masqueiades" iespectively. It didn`t take long foi anime
cons and cosplay to become a pait of populai cultuie fandom in the West oi foi the tiadi-
tions to become inteitwined. Science fction fans, foi example, often use °cosplay" instead
of °masqueiade," while anime cosplayeis often piide themselves on iemaining in the chai-
actei whose costume they weai foi the duiation of the convention and inteiacting with
otheis only as that chaiactei, a tiadition that does not obtain in Japan.
Boys` love, howevei, poses a pioblem foi cons and cosplay in the West. Although sci-
ence fction, comic book, and anime cons aie designed to cieate liminal spaces foi intei-
ests that society at laige fnds odd oi shocking, boy`s love and slash fans still often stand
out, especially when in costume and iole-playing. As anime became moie mainstieam,
boys` love fans` cioss-diessing and acting out of same-sex sexual fantasies and scenaiios
found themselves incieasingly iestiicted. At many cons, even scholaily discussions of boys`
love weie often scheduled late at night, sometimes with the added pioviso that all paitic-
ipants must be ovei the age of eighteen. In seveial cases, monitois weie placed at the dooi
to check IDs. At Toionto`s Anime Noith convention in 2007, a sepaiate aiea was set aside
called °Yaoi Noith." °A guy diessed up as Pikachu called me a fieak," complained one boys`
love fan at Seattle`s 2006 Sakuia-Con. °To the mundanes, eveiyone at this con is a fieak,
but we`ie paiiahs even to the othei fieaks."
As a iesult of such expeiiences, boys` love fans in the West have found it necessaiy to
cieate theii own spaces wheie homophobic and othei attitudes hostile to oi dismissive of
theii inteiests aie eliminated. Moie and moie, they have begun to hold theii own cons,
sepaiate events wheie they can feel fiee fiom the disappioval of otheis. The laigest of these
is Yaoi-Con, held annually in oi neai San Fiancisco. Although most of the attendees aie
female (as fai as anyone can tell, given the cosplay going on), between ffteen and twenty
peicent aie male. Many aie costumed as bishnen, the beautiful, andiogynous boys who
aie the embodiment of the boys` love genie. Theie is even a bishnen auction at which
women bid foi theii favoiite °beautiful boy."
Even Yaoi-Con is not quite fiee fiom mainstieam piessuies, howevei. The con is, of
necessity, limited to those eighteen and oldei. The con oiganizeis must know that many
boys` love fans aie youngei than that. An online suivey I conducted in 2003 ievealed that
ovei one thiid of the boys` love fans who iesponded weie eighteen oi youngei.
2
Foi legal
ieasons, howevei, the con must iemain closed to them.
\hat Dces It All Mean?
In this book, scholais fiom a wide vaiiety of disciplines discuss the topic of boys` love
outside Japan.
In Pait One, thiee authois, Hope Donovan, Paul M. Malone and Yamila Abiaham,
addiess economic, social and cultuial issues ielated to global publishing.
Hope Donovan aigues, in °Gift Veisus Capitalist Economies: Exchanging Anime and
Manga in the U.S.," that boys` love fans and publisheis aie united by a common cultuie
but divided by theii iespective economic piactices. Taking an anthiopological appioach,
Intrcducticn (LEVI) 5
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Donovan analyzes the ways in which boys` love fandom engages in a foim of iitualized gift-
giving that both challenges and is challenged by the capitalist economy of boys` love pub-
lisheis in the U.S.
Paul M. Malone looks at the manga boom in Geimany in °Fiom BRAVC to Animexx.de
to Expoit: Capitalizing on Geiman Boys` Love Fandom, Cultuially, Socially and Econom-
ically." He consideis how mechanisms of giowth, such as the Web site Animexx, which has
been a hub foi the commeicialization of Geiman fandom, and boys` love, which encoui-
ages a passionate level of involvement, have helped tuin fans into pioduceis and independ-
ent entiepieneuis.
Yamila Abiaham`s chaptei °Boys` Love Thiives in Conseivative Indonesia" looks
specifcally at the challenges Indonesian boys` love aitists and ieadeis face in a cultuie that
is becoming incieasingly intoleiant of eiotic woiks and homosexuality. Abiaham, who
commissions boys` love woiks fiom aitists in Indonesia, feais that they will nevei be fiee
to see theii woiks published within theii home countiy.
In Pait Two, Diu Pagliassotti, Maik John Isola, Maini Stanley, M. M. Blaii and Tan
Bee Kee addiess questions of genie, both fiom the point of view of liteiaiy theoiy and fiom
the iesponses of the ieadeiship.
Although yaoi and slash aie often addiessed in academia as substantially diffeient
fiom mainstieam, heteiosexual iomances, Diu Pagliassotti`s chaptei °Bettei Than Romance:
Japanese BL Manga and the Subgenie of Male/Male Romantic Fiction" points out theii
similaiities and aigues that they aie, in most ways, identical in foim and function. Moie-
ovei, while male/male iomances offei some ielief fiom the plot conventions and gendei
steieotypes ciiticized in mainstieam, heteiosexual iomances, they iaise new questions and
potential ciiticisms with iegaid to theii often sexually explicit content and theii pioblem-
atic ielationship to queei politics.
In °Yaoi and Slash Fiction: Women Wiiting, Reading, and Getting Off :" Maik John
Isola examines how yaoi and slash challenge established theoiies of the gaze in complicat-
ing the ciitical ieception of yaoi and slash naiiatives, paiticulaily as they pose a challenge
foi contempoiaiy theoiy iegaiding the naiiative pioduction and consumption of
(homo)sexual naiiatives.
Disagieeing with asseitions that women cieate and enjoy yaoi and slash texts as a foim
of compensation foi social and psychological disempoweiment, Maini Stanley analyzes
authois` diiect comments to the ieadei to show how they addiess the ieadei and sexuality
in playful, celebiatoiy teims. Hei chaptei °0 Uses foi Boys: Communing with the Readei
in Yaoi and Slash" aigues that boys` love texts offei women a chance to subveit the domi-
nant naiiatives of female sexuality and libeiate theii own sexual fantasies.
M. M. Blaii addiesses the cuiious phenomenon of boys` love female ieadeiship expiess-
ing often violent dislike foi the female chaiacteis within the genie in °'She Should Just Die
in a Ditch`: Fan Reactions to Female Chaiacteis in Boys` Love Manga." By analyzing fan com-
ments to BL manga posted in LiveJouinal`s Yaoi Daily community, Blaii shows that this appai-
ent misogyny is not a chaiacteiistic of the ieadei but, instead, a pioduct of the text.
In °Rewiiting Gendei and Sexuality in English-Language Yaoi Fanfction," Tan Bee
Kee also uses fan commentaiy, fction, and ait fiom a LiveJouinal community devoted to
the seiies \eiss Kreuz (Knight Hunters. \eiss Kreuz) to discuss the inteinal contiadictions
iegaiding sex, gendei and sexual oiientation implicit in such woiks. She aigues that despite
such mixed messages, fans ultimately do challenge gendei noims thiough cieating such
woiks and paiticipating in such a community.
6 Intioduction
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The thiid pait contains essays by Neal K. Akatsuka, Maik McHaiiy, Maik Vicais and
Kim Senioi, Alexis Hall, Alan Williams, and Uli Meyei dealing with peiceptions of queei-
ness in the boys` love genie.
In °Utteiing the Absuid, Revaluing the Abject: Femininity and the Disavowal of
Homosexuality in Tiansnational Boys` Love Manga," Neal K. Akatsuka ciitically examines
the ways in which boys` love opens up a space that both subveits and stiengthens heteio-
noimative, patiiaichal discouises. Boys` love`s tiansnational populaiity with, especially,
female ieadeis, he aigues, is due to its affimation of feminine agency; howevei, this affima-
tion is ieached by disengaging homosexuality fiom its ieal social and peisonal consequences.
Using an eaily BL manga, Takemiya Keiko`s Kaze tc ki nc uta, Maik McHaiiy also takes
on the question of the abject in °Boys in Love in Boys` Love: Discouises West/East and the
Abject in Subject Foimation." McHaiiy desciibes discouises in twentieth-centuiy Fiance
that weie inßuential in the foundation of boys` love and discouises in Edo-peiiod Japan
that may be inßuential in boys` love`s elaboiation of the subjectivity of the uke (youngei
paitnei). Looking at Takemiya`s use of boideis and time, he employs the westein psycho-
analytic idea of abject in the foimation of subject to suggest ieasons why Kaze and boys`
love geneially depict adolescent males as eiotic objects and why that can be valuable.
Maik Vicais and Kim Senioi, in °Queeiing the Quotidian: Yaoi, Naiiative Pleasuies
and Readei Response," focus on how yaoi is used by °Westein" ieadeis (a gay man fiom
woiking class United Kingdom and a stiaight woman fiom middle class Austialia) to iesist
and (ie)peifoim heteiogendeied pedagogies in eveiyday life. In theii social, cultuial and
sexual position in ielation to texts they attempt to ie-expeiience unimagined signifcances
and to ie-imagine the effects between °piopei" and °impiopei" ways of being and doing
gendei and sexuality.
Alexis Hall engages many of the same questions using °iealness" iathei than piopii-
ety in °Gay oi Gei: Reading 'Realness` in Japanese Yaoi Manga." Using inteiviews conducted
at Yaoi-Con in Octobei 2006, Hall notes how peiceptions of °iealness" in the iomantic fan-
tasy woilds of boys` love is piimaiily ielated to depictions of gayness and sexuality in ways
that ieveal the basic assumptions of the ieadeis, and often ignoie complexities in how sex-
uality is peiceived and expiessed in both Japan and the U.S.
In °Raping Apollo. Sexual Diffeience and the Yaoi Phenomenon," Alan Williams dis-
cusses competing naiiatives in iecent studies of yaoi, pointing to wheie these naiiatives
ieach theii ethical impasses, in asking whethei yaoi in its cuiient tiansnational foim may
speak to aspects of human desiie that aie beyond a single gendei and cultuie.
Uli Meyei continues that line of questioning in °Hidden in Stiaight Sight: Tians¯giess-
ing Gendei and Sexuality via BL," analyzing boys` love thiough the lens of °cieative tians-
vestitism" and boys` love fans as vaiiations on the concept of the °giilfag." Meyei also offeis
insights into the oiigins of boys` love both in Japan and Euiope and piesents a compelling
aigument foi including yuri (same-sex female iomances) as pait of the same phenomena
that pioduce boys` love.
Nctes
1. Maik McLelland, °Manga," in Encyclcpedia cf Erctic Iiterature, ed. Gaëtan Biulotte and John Phillips
(New Yoik: Routledge, 2006), 849.
2. Adam L. Kein, Manga frcm the Flcating \crld. Ccmicbcck Culture and the Kibyshi cf Edc }apan (Cam-
biidge, MA: Haivaid Univeisity Asia Centei, 2006), 53.
Intrcducticn (LEVI) 7
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3. Giegoiy Plugfeldei, °Stiange Fates: Sex, Gendei, and Sexuality in Toiikaebaya Monogataii," Mcnu-
menta Nippcnica (47) 3 (2000), 58.
4. Heivé Biient, °Une petite histoiie du yaoi," in Manga I0,000 images. Hcmcsexualite et manga. le yaci
(Veisailles, Fiance: Editions H., 2008), 8; McLelland, °Manga," 850.
5. Maik McHaiiy, °Yaoi: Rediawing Male Love," The Guide 23 (2003), http://www.guidemag.com/cont
ent/index.cfm:id·225.
6. Kazuko Suzuki, °Poinogiaphy oi Theiapy: Japanese Giils Cieating the Yaoi Phenomenon," in Millen-
nium Girls. Tcday´s Girls Arcund the \crld, ed. Sheiiie Inness (London: Rowman & Littlefeld, 998), 252.
7. McHaiiy, °Yaoi: Rediawing Male Love."
8. Maik McHaiiy, °Identity Unmooied: Yaoi in the West," Queer Pcpular Culture. Iiterature, Media, Film,
and Televisicn. Ed. Thomas Peele. New Yoik: Palgiave Macmillan, 2007), 93 n. 5.
9. Aiiztical Enteitainment: Building Biidges. http://www.aiiztical.com/coipoiate/about.html.
10. Camilla Decainin, °Slash Fiction," in Encyclcpedia cf Erctic Iiterature, 233.
11. Inteiview by Antonia Levi, Seattle, WA, Maich 25, 2006.
12. Antonia Levi, °Noith Ameiican Reactions to Yaoi," in The }apanifcaticn cf Children´s Pcpular Culture.
Frcm Gcdzilla tc Miyazaki, ed. Maik I. West (Lanham, MD: Scaieciow, 2009), 53.
Biblicgraphy
Aiiztical Enteitainment. °About Us." http://www.aiiztical.com/coipoiate/about.html.
Biient, Heivé. °Une petite histoiie du yaoi." In Manga I0,000 images. Hcmcsexualite et manga. le yaci. Vei-
sailles, Fiance: Editions H., 2008.
Decainin, C.M. °Slash Fiction." In Encyclcpedia cf Erctic Iiterature, edited by Gaëtan Biulotte and John
Phillips, 233-35. New Yoik: Routledge, 2006.
Kein, Adam. Manga frcm the Flcating \crld. Ccmicbcck Culture and the Kibyshi cf Edc }apan. Cambiidge,
MA: Haivaid Univeisity Asia Centei, 2006.
Levi, Antonia. °Noith Ameiican Reactions to Yaoi." In The }apanifcaticn cf Children´s Pcpular Culture. Frcm
Gcdzilla tc Miyazaki, edited by Maik West, 47-73. Lanham, MD: Scaieciow, 2009.
McHaiiy, Maik. °Yaoi: Rediawing Male Love." The Guide (2003). http://www.guidemag.com/temp/yaoi/
a/mchaiiy_yaoi.html.
_____. °Identity Unmooied: Yaoi in the West." In Queer Pcpular Culture. Iiterature, Media, Film, and Tele-
visicn, edited by Thomas Peele, 83-95. New Yoik: Palgiave Macmillan, 2007.
McLelland, Maik. °Manga." In Encyclcpedia cf Erctic Iiterature, edited by Gaëtan Biulotte and John Phillips,
849-5. New Yoik: Routledge, 2006.
Plugfeldei, Giegoiy. °Stiange Fates: Sex, Gendei, and Sexuality in Toiikaebaya Monogataii." Mcnumenta
Nippcnica 47 (2000): 347-68.
Suzuki, Kazuko. °Poinogiaphy oi Theiapy: Japanese Giils Cieating the Yaci Phenomenon." In Millennium
Girls. Tcday´s Girls Arcund the \crld, edited by Sheiiie Inness, 243-67. London: Rowman & Littlefeld,
998.
8 Intioduction
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PART ONE
Bcys´ Icve and
Glcbal Publishing
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Neithei the anime and manga industiy noi its fandom in the United States is veiy old.
Foi that mattei, neithei aie theii Japanese counteipaits-Shnen }ump magazine celebiated
its foitieth anniveisaiy in 2008. Anime fandom in the U.S. giew fiom a few inteiested sci-
ence fction fans in the 970s to a full-ßedged fandom community of its own, able to sup-
poit hundieds of iegional conventions by 2008. Anime and manga companies giew fiom
a cottage industiy in the 990s to a multimillion-dollai-a-yeai industiy by 2008. With the
industiy`s infancy behind it, consumeis and piovideis now seek to deal with the old bone
of contention between them. The afoiementioned bone is content distiibution, in paitic-
ulai the topic of discussion at the °Death of Anime" panel: fansubs and scanlations. To
anime and manga companies, these acts aie illegal; to fans, they aie a laboi of love.
Fiom foiums on company sites to industiy membeis cosplaying at conventions, the
boideis between fandom and industiy have nevei been distinct. My own positions as a
manga editoi foi TOKYOPOP and as a BL fan have allowed me to tiaveise the social land-
scapes of both cultuies. I can assuie you that they aie one community, united by a cultuial
commons. Howevei, one of the cential souices of the conßict in this commons lies in the
iespective economic piactices of industiy veisus fan community. Anthiopologically speak-
ing, anime and manga companies opeiate on capitalist teims, which clashes with anime
and manga fans` longstanding paiticipation in a gift-giving economy.
Crigins
The economic fiamewoik of fiee, gift-based exchange has been a hallmaik of manga
and anime`s development foi some time. °Boiiowing" each cultuie`s aesthetics took place
11
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as eaily as the 800s, when Fiench and Dutch Impiessionists coveted Japanese woodblock
piints. Sometimes making theii way to the West as packing mateiial, the inßuence of Japan`s
°whimsical pictuies" can be seen in the ßat coloi planes of Fauvist woiks such as Matisse`s
The }cy cf Iife (905). Duiing the same peiiod, Japanese aitists weie exposed to Ameiican,
Fiench, and Biitish caitoons and found themselves inspiied by the publications ieleased
by these eaily colonists.
Japanese caitoonists continued to be inßuenced by Westeineis into the twenties, boi-
iowing woid balloons and the ait of sequential stiips. In Japanese stiips, woids weie wiit-
ten hoiizontally, iathei than the classic Japanese veitical, to ft into Westein-style balloons.
Round heads, windowshade eyes, and anthiopomoiphic chaiacteis came iight out of West-
ein comics. Attention to the °eight lengths" Gieek piopoitions of the human body was
obseived. Even into the eia of moving pictuies, Japan`s comics absoibed Westein aesthet-
ics. Legendaiy aitist Osamu Tezuka °found that a Caucasian look, with dewey saucei-
shaped eyes, was extiemely populai among ieadeis."
2
Because manga fiequently seives as
anime souice mateiial, the stylistic aesthetics of comics developed ovei the fist centuiy of
cultuial exchange between the West and East fed diiectly into anime. °By the mid-960s
the industiy had assumed its piesent confguiation," states Schodt in Manga! Manga! °Tele-
vision and comics weie fimly inteitwined in a symbiotic ielationship."
3
Anime
Also in the 960s, the fist anime began to tiickle ovei to the U.S. The veiy eaily titles,
like Astrc Bcy and Speed Racer, gained populaiity and weie commeicially ieleased as ie-
dubbed, localized TV shows. In the 970s, Space Battlecruiser Yamatc came ovei as Star Blaz-
ers. In the 980s, Rcbctech inspiied a new geneiation of fans. And in the 990s, Pckemcn
snatched the youth imagination, while Caitoon Netwoik chiistened Toonami -a two-houi
all-anime block foi teens. Thioughout the 2000s, Caitoon Netwoik continued to aii anime
piogiamming, as did Sci-Fi. Anime Netwoik, the fist all-anime television netwoik,
launched on selected piovideis.
In exchange foi whatevei edits the TV stations made to localize anime, vieweis ieceived
fiee anime. Some of these vieweis became fans. But obtaining moie mateiial was no easy
task befoie the Inteinet. As Star Blazers fan and futuie EDC (Eaith Defense Command)
membei Dave Meiill put it, °I would have joined the Masons, a clown college oi the Com-
munist Paity if they`d piomised me Star Blazers fandom."
4
Joining an EDC oi Caitoon/Fan-
tasy Oiganization fanclub was a good idea-not only was piocuiing new mateiials without
fanclub connections diffcult, it was expensive. Figuies fiom a 984 Books Nippon Catalog
ieveal how piohibitive it was foi an individual to get souice mateiial: it cost $70 foi a
VHS copy of the fist Space Battlecruiser Yamatc movie-oi foi Urusei yatsura. Cnly Ycu-
also $70. In fact, fans had to pay ovei $00 foi just about anything, even ffty-seven min-
utes of Ultraman.
5
Being an anime fan in the 970s and 980s meant being a °Tiekkie with an extia hobby,"
obseived manga cieatoi Tavisha Wolfgaith-Simons.
6
Anime viewing began popping up at
science-fction conventions. Fandom ethnogiaphei Camille Bacon-Smith ielates hei expo-
suie to viewing iooms at Moie Easteily Con in 985: °Fiiday night, I followed the diiec-
tions posted on the convention bulletin boaid to a ioom wheie about twenty fans, mostly
women, weie watching Biitish television. One woman had biought a PAL system and she
12 Pait One: Boys` Love and Global Publishing
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played tapes that she had ieceived in tiade fiom Austialia."
7
Although the video mateiial
in question was a live-action TV diama, the same held tiue foi anime. Distiibution at lim-
ited viewings at cons was the only way foi some fans to see a show, oi at least a decent-
quality iepioduction of the show. The eailiest anime fan gioups boiiowed this semi-foimal
distiibution system. In his compiehensive histoiy of fansub distiibution, °Piogiess Against
the Law: Fan Distiibution, Copyiight, and the Explosive Giowth of Japanese Animation,"
Sean Leonaid iepoits, °staiting in 980, ¦the Gamelans] would show anime piogiams in
one of theii hotel iooms at science fction conventions. ¦They] put out ßieis thioughout
these conventions, ieading, 'If you want to see Japanese animation come up to ioom XYZ,`
and, 'We`ie going to be showing it all night long.` "
8
A few fanclubs came to be extiemely well-known among fans, including the afoiemen-
tioned Caitoon/Fantasy Oiganization. °These clubs all had chapteis in a numbei of cities;
the theoiy behind them was that they could piomote anime much moie effciently, and could
get moie anime foi the chapteis in diffeient cities to watch, if the chapteis united thiough
a cential oiganization," Leonaid wiites.
9
The C/FO fanclub, with its numeious chapteis,
iequiied membeis to pay dues. In exchange, fans gained access to the C/FO libiaiy, fiom
which they could iequest mateiials. But despite mimicking a capitalist system of exchange,
the fans` dues weien`t enough to keep the fanclub system aßoat.
The head of the C/FO, Fied Patten, stepped down in 989, leaving a powei vacuum.
Meanwhile, the distiibution system began to collapse, with the cential command in San
Antonio sluggishly iesponding to iequests foi mateiial, eventually abandoning that coie
duty fully. By July 989, the C/FO splinteied into individual chapteis. Though no longei
centialized, fanclubs continued to be an impoitant distiibution system thiough the
nineties.
0
Anime goods continued to be available in the specialty stoies of metiopolitan
aieas, such as Nipponmachi in San Fiancisco oi Little Tokyo in Los Angeles.
The explosion of the Inteinet into homes duiing the 990s foievei changed the distii-
bution of anime. It was also in the 990s when boys` love began to ieach a laigei audience.
Fans could diiectly connect to otheis with the same passion, iathei than obtaining anime
thiough a club wheie a wide iange of tastes had to be taken into account. Editoi Gaby
Maya iealized that °the Inteinet helped all the Fujoshi ¦female fans] to come out of the
'Boys` love closet`" and make waimly communal what befoie had been °mouth to mouth."
2
Fledgling distiibutois took note. As the video maiket expanded, and peisonal home view-
ing became possible, BL titles such as FAKE weie distiibuted. The stoiies and ait styles so
fascinating to fans gained giound in the maiket.
What had once been a fan inteiest demonstiated the potential to geneiate an indus-
tiy.
Manga
Manga did not enjoy so iich a distiibution histoiy. Unlike a flm, which can be viewed
by as many as the scieening ioom will accommodate, a tankbcn (collected edition
of manga, oi °giaphic novel" in the West) cannot be iead by many at once. Noi was theie
a dedicated gioup of existing science-fction comic-book fans to pioselytize and tianslate
it.
Tavisha Wolfgaith-Simons, cieatoi of the manga ShutterBcx with husband Rikki
Simons, enteied manga fandom at an eaily age. Living in Southein Califoinia, she had
-Gif t Versus Capitalist Eccncmies (DONOVAN) 13
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access to Japanese bookstoies and manga, something most fans did not. But as fai as con-
ventions went, in 985, °If you found manga it was only one dealei and it wasn`t tians-
lated."
3
The late 980s saw the beginning of licensed manga`s debut. Viz was the biggest playei
on the block, ieleasing some of the fist titles that would be associated with the manga pie-
millennium boom. Mai the Psychic Girl (987) and Akira (988, ieleased by Maivel`s impiint
Epic Comics) succeeded eaily. Viz also began tianslating Rumiko Takahashi`s woiks, with
Ium¯Urusei Yatsura (989), Ranma /2 (993), Maiscn Ikkcku (994) and Return cf Ium
(995).
°They used the Ameiican comic foimat which was pamphlet 8 × 0 size and they
'ßipped the pages,`" iecalls Wolfgaith-Simons of these eaily ieleases.
4
At the time, the log-
ical place foi manga to be sold was comic book shops and othei such specialty stoies. Aftei
the comics distiibution consolidation of 996, wheie Diamond Distiibutois gained a
monopoly on comics distiibution foi Maivel, DC, Daik Hoise and all mainstieam U.S.
comics, manga was distiibuted mostly to comic book ietaileis. They weie piinted as ßoppies
(thiity-two page comics, tiaditionally ieleased monthly) and occasionally tankbcn. Flop-
pies peisisted into the new millennium but weie not as economically viable as tankbcn.
Howevei, giound zeio of the manga boom was not the comic book stoies, but ietail
bookstoies. Some tankbcn, like Viz`s Battle Angel Alita and TOKYOPOP`s Sailcr Mccn,
made theii way into the big ietail chains Baines & Noble and Boideis. Aided at the tuin of
the millennium by the piesence of Sailcr Mccn, Gundam \ing, Tenchi Muyc and Drag-
cnball Z on the Caitoon Netwoik, Japanese anime style was gaining iecognition. And thanks
to the standaidization pioneeied by TOKYOPOP in 2002, the unßipped, 5 × 7.5", $9.99
foimat pioved a hit. TOKYOPOP`s pioduction fguies began to steeply inciease, fiom an
estimated 85 new volumes ieleased in 2002, to 230 new volumes ieleased in 2003, to 449
volumes ieleased in 2004. As geneial manga sales iose, so too lifted BL manga sales.
Boys` love has always been a iobust manga genie in the U.S. foi industiy distiibutois.
Paitially this was due to the delayed commeicial ielease of BL in the U.S., as compaied to
othei genies. Not only did a moie matuie maiket situation exist as compaied to Viz`s eaily
titles, fans often weie awaie of a seiies pie-ielease. Anothei factoi was the mass of mate-
iial available in Japan fiom which to select quality titles. Japan expeiienced a BL boom
in the eaily 990s, when male-male love, which began in the heait of the illegal maiket as
djinshi at Comiket, became commeicialized. In 994, nine magazines sold boys` love.
Just foui yeais latei, the numbei was up to thiity manga anthologies, ieleasing thiity
tankbcn a month. By 2003, the numbei of anthologies had not iisen, but the monthly out-
put had iisen to ninety volumes.
5
If those thiity volumes in 2003 had been ieleased by
TOKYOPOP instead, they would have iepiesented appioximately one thiid of all the pub-
lishei`s books.
Ameiican fans iecognized the glut of BL in Japan veisus its ielative scaicity in the U.S.
and helped each othei to the suiplus. In 2003, the fist BL scanlation gioups weie foiming.
Scanlation gioups did exist befoie 2003, of couise. A scanlatoi who wished to iemain
anonymous at Nakama, a gioup founded in 2003, identifed in an instant-messaging con-
veisation at least fve BL scanlation gioups alieady in existence at that time.
6
The yeais 2004-2008 saw a iise and fall of BL publisheis in the U.S., theii pattein mii-
ioiing the geneial tiend of manga publishing. Yaoi Piess, DMP`s June and 80 lines, Deux,
Diama Queen, and BLU all aiose duiing this peiiod. Each of these lines enjoyed success
on pai with mainstieam U.S. manga publisheis. In Yaoi Piess`s case, theii oiiginal English-
14 Pait One: Boys` Love and Global Publishing
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language books suipassed the success of othei oiiginal English-language manga, such as
TOKYOPOP`s ßoundeiing effoit. Still, BL companies weie hit haid by the economic down-
tuin in 2008, and like the iest of the industiy, sought suivival.
Capitalist vs. Gift Eccncmies
U.S. anime and manga companies developed out of a communal histoiy of exchange
between Japan and the U.S., exchange between fans and, eventually, between fans and indus-
tiy. This last ielationship developed as fans puichased anime and manga fiom ietaileis. But
theii inteiests having achieved commeicial °success," fans iefused to fade into the back-
giound and become tiaditional consumeis. Instead, anime fans negotiated theii gift-based
economy with the industiy`s capitalist system, in a mannei consistent with the compio-
mises between othei closely ielated capitalist and gift-based economies.
Fiench ethnogiaphei Mauiice Godeliei wiites, °Human society diew on two souices
foi its emeigence: contiactual exchange on the one hand, and non-contiactual tiansmis-
sion on the othei. And it continues to advance on these two legs, to iest on these two bases,
both of which aie equally necessaiy and exist only by means of one anothei."
7
Though a
cultuie may piactice the capitalist exchange of money foi goods-°contiactual exchange"-
at the same time, anothei foim of exchange may exist within that cultuie-gift-giving.
Capitalism, in which money is exchanged foi goods and seivices, is familiai to West-
eineis. But in the absence of capitalist exchange, as in pie-capitalist societies, a ßow of gifts
ensuies the distiibution of wealth. A numbei of scholais have chionicled gift-giving cul-
tuies aiound the woild, fiom the kula exchange in New Guinea to the potlatch of the Kwak-
iutl of the Ameiican Noithwest. These collected ethnogiaphies aie not a complete catalogue
of the woild`s vaiious gift-giving piactices. Although Godeliei`s objects of study weie pie-
capitalist cultuies in Austialia, Afiica, Indonesia and Ameiica, neaily all cultuies piactice
gift economies even into the piesent day. Foi example, in the United States, Chiistmas and
biithdays centei aiound the exchange of gifts. Similaily, in Japan, on Valentine`s Day, giils
gift chocolate to boys they like. The boy accepts oi iejects hei chocolate and ietuins a
countei-gift of equal oi gieatei value on White Day.
In a like mannei, fandom, although engaged with capitalism, is also stiuctuied aiound
a pie-capitalist, gift-giving economy, especially diiven by fansubbeis and scanlatois.
Although many anime and manga fandoms opeiate in this fashion, boys` love fandom pio-
vides a paiticulaily ielevant case because of the tight focus of its fans and its ielatively new
intioduction to the U.S.
Cccperative Exchange
Maicel Mauss desciibes two types of gift-giving in his landmaik ethnogiaphy of the
gift, °Essai sui le don" (922); foims which I will teim coopeiative gift-giving and com-
petitive gift-giving.
Coopeiative exchange is the most pievalent foim in the West. In coopeiative exchange,
a gift is given fieely and without iespect to compensation. Though the gift necessaiily
enhances the social status of the givei, agonistic gift giving doesn`t attempt to ciush the
ieceivei with indebtedness. Instead, gift-giving stiengthens the bonds between the paitic-
-Gif t Versus Capitalist Eccncmies (DONOVAN) 15
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ipants. The eventual iecipiocity between the givei and the ieceivei foiges theii bond. It`s
haid to see fiee gift-giving molding a cultuie, but °¦i]ecipiocity is a foim of exchange,"
wiites scholai Maivin Haiiis, °that is piimaiily adapted to conditions in which the stim-
ulation of intensive extia pioductive effoit would have an adveise effect upon gioup sui-
vival."
8
In othei woids, giving gifts balances society. It keeps a society functioning by
pieventing the build-up of wealth, a soit of boostei shot against the hoaiding endemic of
capitalism. Instead, wealth is always in ßux, woven thiough a community`s peisonal iela-
tionships. One of the ieasons continual gifting is assuied is because a gift, if kept, impiis-
ons the ieceivei with a debt. In a capitalist society, money can be given to iepay this debt.
In a pie-capitalist society, the debt is instead passed along, but along with it, the wealth of
the gift itself.
Oppoitunities foi coopeiative exchange aiise constantly in fan communities. Ameii-
can fans of BL in paiticulai foim thiiving Inteinet communities based aiound communi-
cation and fiee exchange. One populai exchange centei is the Web site Aaiinfantasy. This
massive hub with 60,000 membeis houses djinshi, games, manga, anime and anything
downloadable and ielated to BL. The exchange of mateiials is situated in the site`s foiums,
wheie fans can upload theii mateiials diiectly to the foium oi link off-site foi otheis to
download. The off-site links aie paiticulaily communal. Fans in possession of souice mate-
iial have the option of uploading it to a maximum numbei of fle-hosting sites (such as
Megaupload, YouSendIt, oi many otheis). Fans who download this fist souice fle have
the option to upload the fle to yet anothei fle-hosting site and adveitising the new down-
load iight alongside the oiiginal. In this mannei, fans aie °giving back" the gift that they`ve
been given.
Although seemingly pointless, this ie-gifting enhances social bonds. As obseived by
Godeliei, °the neaily immediate iecipiocation of the object given is peihaps the cleaiest
illustiation of the implicit logic of gifts which cieate debts that aie not cancelled by a
countei-gift. Foi the object which ietuins to its oiiginal ownei is nct 'given back´ but 'given
again.´°
9
Oi, as Lewis Hyde wiites of a Maoii hunting iitual in his book on gift-giving,
The Gift: °the foiest gives to the hunteis, the hunteis to the piiests and the piiests to the
foiest. At the end, the gift moves back fiom the thiid paity back to the fist."
20
In each exchange of the cycle, a gift is given without iegaid to ieceiving anything back;
yet, since a gift was given, one is assuied of ieceiving something back so long as the ciicle
of exchange iemains unbioken. That exchange of thiee is expanded to millions when applied
to a community. A ßuiiy of gifts is exchanged in the foim of fanfction, fanzines, fanait -
all fiee gifts to othei membeis of the community. On Aaiinfantasy, fans have the option to
°thank" the postei by clicking a °Thanks" button in the post. On the suiface, this looks like
a way foi consumeis to cancel theii debt. Theii useiname even becomes attached to the
post in a list of useis who °Say Thank You." But theie aie thiee paits to a iecipiocal
exchange: giving, acknowledgement/acceptance, and ietuining the gift. In the example of
Japanese Valentine`s Day, that`s the giving of the chocolate, the acceptance oi iejection of
it, and the ietuin gift made on White Day. But the thiid stage is not necessaiily a diiect
ietuin to the givei. Foi fans who don`t ie-upload the same mateiial to a new host, the even-
tual ietuin gift goes to the community in the foim of othei fan labois.
Aaiinfantasy`s Web site offeis seveial aieas foi fans to give back-whethei this is shai-
ing fanait in the Membei`s Galleiy oi offeiing suppoit, discussion oi inteiaction in the gen-
eial foiums. These gifts stiengthen the communal bonds. °¦A] gift establishes a feeling-bond
between two people," states Hyde.
2
Evidence of a moie iecipiocal foim of exchange and
16 Pait One: Boys` Love and Global Publishing
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bonding in the media fan ciicles is desciibed by Camille Bacon-Smith in Enterprising
\cmen: ¨Each ciicle has a coie of two to foui membeis. A typical gioup will include an
editoi oi editoiial team, seveial wiiteis, a giaphic aitist, a video aitist, one oi two photo-
copyists and one oi moie specialists in linking with souices of mateiials, including infoi-
mation and the pioducts of othei gioups."
22
She cites the ideal numbei at no moie than
ffteen. Of these individuals, nct cne is a puie consumei. Whethei wiiting fanfcs, doing
manual laboi of photocopying oi maintaining communications, eveiy membei of the media
fan ciicle is both a consumei and pioducei-an active paiticipant in an economy. And they
aie involved in each otheis` lives, too. She wiites, °¦T]he fan women tiavel extensively to
visit with one anothei in small gioups. They maintain long-teim intense fiiendships,"
23
concluding some of these fans °fnd in the community of enteipiising women theii only
souice of social ielationships and communal suppoit."
24
Besides Aaiinfantasy, othei Web hubs cuiiently piovide laige-scale shaiing of BL
woiks, with a gieatei emphasis on fan paiticipation than distiibution. Y!Galleiy, a site ded-
icated to shaiing oiiginal woiks, Fanfction.net, wheie BL fction wiiteis can post theii sto-
iies, and the Web sites LiveJouinal and DeviantAit, whose customizable spaces encouiage
the development of niche communities-all have been colonized by BL fandom commu-
nities. Of paiticulai inteiest is the site LiveJouinal, wheie fans can cieate in miniatuie much
the same hub as Aaiinfantasy, but tailoied to theii paiticulai fandom oi paiiing. Role-
playing, wheie fans can act out adventuies as theii favoiite chaiacteis, can also be located
on LiveJouinal. Lastly, theie aie scanlation Web sites, the homes and oiiginal distiibution
centeis of tianslated scans. These sites function less like a maiketplace than Aaiinfantasy,
although they piovide the pioducts to be exchanged.
Lewis Hyde suggested that an object must keep ciiculating to be a gift. °¦A] gift must
always be used up, consumed, eaten. The gift is piopeity that peiishes."
25
Peei-to-peei fle
shaiing ensuies that even though one peison °consumes" a copy, they aie also passing it to
anothei. The ciiculation of fan cieations invigoiates the fandom into both consuming and
cieating fuithei. Hyde notes, °¦W]hen a pait of the self is given away, the community
appeais."
26
In othei woids, the °debt" incuiied when fans °invest" in theii woik is passed
along when the woik is consumed. By continually distiibuting the woik, the debt, and
wealth, is also passed along.
Ccmpetitive Exchange
Though less familiai to the West, an extieme foim of gift-giving exists in economies
based aiound competitive exchange. The Kwakiutl of the Ameiican Noithwest offei a clas-
sic example of competitive exchange. The wealthy tiibes of the sea coast developed an
extieme foim of competitive gift-giving called the potlatch. Impoitant chiefs thiew pot-
latches to cement theii status, liteially thiowing away theii iiches to establish theii wealth.
Duiing an impiessive feast, the chief gave away untold iiches. Blankets and foodstuffs weie
distiibuted to the guests, and in some potlatches, the chief even buined his house down to
shed his mateiial possessions. By cieating such a laige debt foi the benefciaiies of his chai-
ity, the ostentatious chief maintained his status. Though he lost many mateiial possessions
in the gift-giving, he gained piestige and with it his wealth ietuined. Until anothei chief
gave away even moie, the givei held the highest status.
The same status-oiiented, competitive-exchange mindset can be said to be at woik
-Gif t Versus Capitalist Eccncmies (DONOVAN) 17
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among the eaily fans whose connections in Japan, oi whose Japanese language skills, gave
them moie access to the mateiial. On the suiface, the eaily fan laboieis who botheied with
postage to get tapes fiom oveiseas, oi who painstakingly tianslated movies oi episodes and
distiibuted photocopies at cons foi a few dollais, weie magnanimous souls. But below the
suiface, as fan histoiian Leonaid wiites, °Authois of these booklets weie inteiested in moie
than the $3 a book: they wanted the piestige within the anime fan community of publish-
ing something that all Ameiican fans would want."
27
By the mid-990s, both anime and manga had biithed ßedging industiies in the U.S. Fans
founded and staffed the companies; foi example, scanlatoi Alexis Kiisch became TOKYOPOP`s
acquisitions editoi, and Toien V. Smith, an eaily tianslatoi, founded Studio Pioteus. Fai fiom
being a peculiai phenomenon in anime, Camille Bacon-Smith obseives of science fction cul-
tuie: °with the exception of two oi thiee people who began ieading in college, all those I intei-
viewed foi this book, including eveiy industiy woikei ... weie ieading science fction avidly
by the time they weie fouiteen."
28
Foi many eaily anime fans, this was a iealization of theii
dieam to distiibute anime to the woild. That goal was still fist and foiemost in theii minds-
but iunning a successful business was haidly secondaiy. It could be said that these fans had
tiaded in fan piestige and gift-giving economies to move into a capitalist system.
The fact is, howevei, that although foi some a fan hobby matuied into a job, the intei-
nal hieiaichy of the fan community itself did not change. Fans did not seek to become pio-
fessionals in oidei to give back, oi to gain piestige, even while adopting the new system of
buying anime at Best Buy and manga at Boideis. The idea of giving back became encapsu-
lated in the concept of °piomotion." In the eaily days of the fandom, piomotion consisted
of exposing as many people as possible to anime. Eaily fan distiibutoi James Renault iecalls
of the 980s, °Back then, the motivation was just to get anime to the masses."
29
The C/FO,
too, wanted mass distiibution: °C/FO chapteis only sent mateiial to people who ieally
wanted anime and who would shaie it with othei close fiiends.... Show it to all of youi
fiiends in oidei to piomote Japanese animation."
30
The Society foi the Piomotion of Japanese Animation, the council that opeiates Anime
Expo, explicitly states °piomotion" in its name and fuithei explicates the non-pioft natuie
of the boaid and the council`s goals in theii mission statement: °The Society foi the Pio-
motion of Japanese Animation (SPJA) is a non-pioft oiganization with a mission to pop-
ulaiize and educate the Ameiican public about anime and manga, as well as piovide a
foium to facilitate communication between piofessionals and fans."
3
Scanlation sites tout the ihetoiic of °piomotion" as well. Considei the intioductions
of these BL scanlation sites:
Oui main puipose is to piomote manga to the English speaking community that doesn`t
have access to them.-Aku Tenshi
32
Oui aim in pioviding these scanlations is to intioduce you to the authoi`s woik and
hopefully inteiest you.-Obsession
33
We`ie only scanlating manga to piomote them and to make them moie known.-Game
Ovei oi Continue
34
Sakura-Crisis is a non-pioft scanlation site dedicated to biinging lessei-known manga
to the attention of the English speaking community.-Sakuia-Ciisis
35
We aie a gioup dedicated to intioducing woiks in Japanese women`s oiiented adult
comics to the English speaking community in the foim of tianslations set into hand-
edited scans.... ¦U]ltimately oui piojects will encouiage visitois to suppoit the mangaka
by buying theii own copies of theii woiks.-Shi-Ran
36
18 Pait One: Boys` Love and Global Publishing
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Thiough the unique and vaiied inteiests of oui talented staff, we hope oui choices
continue to expose the English-speaking Yaoi Fan Community to new, piovocative and
haid-to-fnd unlicensed woik.-Nakama
37
Oui goal is to biing attention and manga that otheiwise would go unknown to the
English-speaking woild.-Beautiful Soup
38
Although enthusiasm suiiounds these pioclamations of piomotion, the coie may have
moie to do with self-piomotion. Each consumei of the gioup`s waies ends up in theii debt.
Like the Kwakiutl chiefs, the distiibutois of anime, manga and scanlations give away gifts
that the iecipients aie incapable, oi iaiely capable, of iepaying. Without similai tiansla-
tion oi mateiial-gatheiing abilities, the consumeis cannot oveicome theii lowei status. An
example of an unpaid debt can be seen in Papua New Guinea.
The people of the Madang coast exhibit a seemingly bizaiie behavioi. Yeai aftei yeai,
decade aftei decade, they wait foi caigo planes to aiiive. The aiistiip is built, but ship-
ments of food, clothing and modein amenities have yet to aiiive. In his book Ccws, Pigs,
\ars and \itches, Maivin Haiiis aigues that this behavioi is a coiiuption of the gift-giv-
ing system. In Papua New Guinea, the natives weie enslaved by waves of conquest -Rus-
sian, Geiman, Austialian-who sought to keep the natives they enslaved docile with gifts.
The island`s people woiked haid and expected to be iewaided. They aie waiting this day
foi the caigo planes to biing them theii iewaid.
Just as the Papua New Guinea natives considei themselves owed a debt, fansubbeis
also considei a debt to be owed to them. They believe they laboied piomoting anime
and deseive °caigo." Hcwever, they dcn´t ever want the cargc tc arrive. If fansubbeis` gifts
weie to be iecipiocated, and the debt to them cancelled, it would mean the end of theii
status and piestige. If an unpaid debt is a sign of gieat piestige, as it is in the case of the
Kwakuitl chieftains, then the best way to maintain status is to keep otheis indebted. This
is wheie the economics of fans clash with the economics of industiy, because industiy is
ietuining the gift. It has taken °piomotion" to such a level that it is achieving the wide-
spiead conveision of new fans. The foimei giveis aie being placed in the position of con-
sumei.
Fans who do not want to acknowledge theii gift of manga iepaid by industiy fnd fault
with the pioducts the industiy piovides. Foi example, among the many possible faults in
manga iepioduction-pooi image iepioduction, sub-pai papei oi binding quality, shoddy
copyediting-the tiait that fans most often taiget is °authenticity." In 2002, TOKYOPOP
began stamping all theii books with °00% Authentic Manga." In this way, it seveied ties
to the companies in the past that °butcheied" anime, lending itself legitimacy. But it left
itself open to fan ciiticisms about tianslations and ovei-ieaching adaptations. One °inau-
thentic" piactice is name Anglicization. Foi example, Rcbctech`s Misa Hayase became Lisa
Hayes, and Hikaiu Ichijyo became Rick Huntei. In anothei example, TOKYOPOP caught
ßak fiom fans in 2002 foi Anglicizing the names of Initial D chaiacteis, geneiating a fan
fasco and subsequent coipoiate lettei of explanation in defense.
39
Anothei piactice is lan-
guage adaptations that catei too closely to Westein tastes, in paiticulai those that evoke
Westein pop cultuie. Though many U.S. fans cannot iead Japanese, it takes only cuisoiy
knowledge to iealize Japanese teenageis aien`t likely to shop at populai Ameiican stoies
and eat typical Ameiican foods. Such blatant edits no longei exist, foi the most pait, and
so fans concentiate on smallei infiactions, such as oveily slangy speech. Foi puiists, anime
and manga must be fiee of these localization techniques to be °authentic."
-Gif t Versus Capitalist Eccncmies (DONOVAN) 19
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Reciprccity
Despite this common ciiticism, duiing the °Fansubs: Death of Anime" panel, the con-
cept of °authenticity" was piimaiily absent fiom the discussion. Instead, the industiy and
fan iepiesentatives cited lag time between an episode`s ielease in Japan and its ielease in
the U.S. as the majoi engine poweiing fansubs. In the case of manga, some scanlation gioups
have ietouched and uploaded chapteis fiom Shnen }ump the same day the mateiial went
on sale. It was possible in 2008 to have neai-instantaneous access to Japan`s fiesh content.
Industiy iepiesentatives weien`t quite piepaied to absolve theii debt to fan piomot-
eis, but theii woids weie less than supplicating. °Back when theie weie, you know, when
nothing was out heie, it spiead the woid," said Lance Heiskell of FUNimation. °Gioups
would piomo anime, but now the fansubbeis have become moie of a status pioject. It had
a use in the 80s, but that use has pietty much ian its couise." Adds Justin Sevakis of Anime
News Netwoik, °Fiom an industiy standpoint, fansubs have not been useful since the VHS
days."
40
Begiudgingly oi not, fans and industiy aie adapting to today`s paiticipatoiy and multi-
platfoim media cultuie. Foi instance, two million signed up the fist yeai when Viz iolled
out theii affoidable download-to-own piogiam in 2008. FUNimation and Bandai also
began stieaming and download-to-own piogiams, which have met with success. °I think
kids geneially wanna obey the law," states Axis Enteitainment`s Jeff Connei.
4
The fact that
legal distiibution systems in the U.S. have gained a foothold at all is the best evidence
towaids this asseition. In countiies like Koiea in the 990s, manga libiaiies seiiously eioded
piofts, to the degiee that manga cieatois entieated ieadeis in theii authoi`s notes to
puichase books iathei than boiiow them. And in 980s, °if ¦anime] went to China, it
was moie often than not on a 'piiate ship` oi thiough a tape dungeon" wiites Leonaid.
42
Despite the availability of fiee anime and manga, Ameiicans still buy what they can, heed-
ing to the tiue spiiit of the fansubbeis` disclaimei, °Cease distiibution when licensed in
youi aiea."
Thanks to technology, the landscape of distiibution has changed gieatly since the fist
days of fandom. To boiiow a teim fiom Heniy Jenkins, fans today live in a °conveigence
cultuie." Episodes of new populai anime can be viewed on Hulu, company Web sites,
YouTube channels, iTunes, Xbox and television. Manga is on cell phones. Fans can fnd
and paiticipate in communities with a few clicks of a mouse. Industiy`s cuiient challenge
is to pinpoint and catch the attention of °migiatoiy media audiences who will go almost
anywheie in seaich of the kinds of enteitainment expeiiences they want," as Jenkins wiites.
43
Technology is fnally catching up to the point wheie devices can suppoit the web of intei-
activity that anime and manga fans have long piacticed. Foi boys` love fans, specifcally, the
giowth of Inteinet hubs like Aaiinfantasy ensuies that boys` love fans aie still on the cut-
ting edge of negotiating the limits of paiticipatoiy cultuie. As options foi expiessions
inciease thiough technology, the passion foi piomotion and continued gifting long exem-
plifed by anime and manga fans will only giow along with it.
Nctes
1. °Histoiy," Sakuia-Con, http://www.sakuiacon.oig/aboutus/histoiy.php; °Histoiy: Stats," Otakon,
http://www.otakon.com/histoiy_stats.asp; °FAQ," Anime-Expo, http://www.anime-expo.oig/geneial-info
imation/faq/; °Yaoi-Con," Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.oig/wiki/Yaoi-Con.
20 Pait One: Boys` Love and Global Publishing
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2. Fiedeiik Schodt, Manga! Manga! The \crld cf }apanese Ccmics (Japan: Kodansha, 983), 6.
3. Ibid., 67.
4. Dave Meiill, °Stai Blazeis Chionicles: Anime Fandom Texas Style. The Histoiy of the EDC," The
Offcial Website of the Stai Blazeis Animated Seiies, http://www.staiblazeis.com/html.php:page_id·235.
5. Dave Meiill, °Let`s Buy Anime Stuff -80s Style!" Let`s Anime, http://letsanime.blogspot.com/.
6. Tavisha Wolfgaith-Simons, email message to authoi, Novembei 2, 2008.
7. Camille Bacon-Smith, Enterprising \cmen (Philadelphia: Univeisity of Pennsylvania Piess, 992), 6.
8. Sean Leonaid, °Piogiess Against the Law: Fan Distiibution, Copyiight and the Explosive Giowth of
Japanese Animation," http://mit.edu/seantek/www/papeis/, 8.
9. Ibid., 0.
10. Ibid., 7.
11. Ibid., 4.
12. Wolfgaith-Simons, email message to authoi, Novembei 6, 2008.
13. Wolfgaith-Simons, email message to authoi, Novembei 9, 2008.
14. Ibid.
15. Mizoguchi Akiko, °Male-male Romance by and foi Women in Japan: A Histoiy and the Subgenies of
Yaoi Fictions," U.S.-}apan \cmen´s }curnal 25 (2003): 57.
16. Nakama Manga, instant-messaging coiiespondence, Novembei 3, 2008.
17. Mauiice Godeliei, The Enigma cf the Gift (Gieat Biitain: Univeisity of Chicago Piess, 999), 36.
18. Maivin Haiiis, Ccws, Pigs, \ars and \itches. The Riddles cf Culture (New Yoik: Vintage Books, 989), 26.
19. Godeliei, The Enigma, p. 44.
20. Lewis Hyde, The Gift. Imaginaticn and the Erctic Iife cf Prcperty (New Yoik: Vintage Books, 983), 8.
21. Ibid., 56.
22. Bacon-Smith, Enterprising \cmen, 27.
23. Ibid., 284.
24. Ibid., 285.
25. Hyde, The Gift, 8.
26. Ibid., 92.
27. Leonaid, Prcgress Against the Iaw, .
28. Camille Bacon-Smith, Science Ficticn Culture (Philadelphia: Univeisity of Philadelphia Piess, 2000).
29. Leonaid, Prcgress Against the Iaw, 5.
30. Ibid., 6.
31. °About," Society foi the Piomotion of Japanese Animation, http://www.spja.oig/about/.
32. °Aku Tenshi FAQ," Aku Tenshi, http://www.aku-tenshi.com/faq.php.
33. °Fiequently Asked Questions," Obsession, http://ob-session.blogspot.com/2005/08/fiequent-asked-
questions-what-aie.html.
34. °Disclaimei," Game Ovei oi Continue, http://gooc.susanne-wenzel.de/index2.php:site·disclaimei.
35. Sakuia-Ciisis homepage, http://sakuiaciisis.ukepile.com/.
36. °Mission Statement," Shi-Ran, http://shi-ian.cjb.net/.
37. Nakama homepage, http://nakamanga.com/.
38. °Infoimation," Beautiful Soup, http://soup.umi-soia.com/:page_id·94.
39. °Tokyopop Open Lettei iegaiding Initial D," Anime News Netwoik, http://www.animenewsnet
woik.com/news/2002-07-3/tokyopop-open-lettei-iegaiding-initial-d.
40. °Fansubs: Death of Anime." Panel at Anime Expo, July 2008. http://www.animenewsnetwoik.com/con-
vention/2008/anime-expo/industiy-ioundtable-fansubs-the-death-of-anime.
41. °Fansubs: Death of Anime."
42. Leonaid, Prcgress Against the Iaw, 26.
43. Heniy Jenkins, Ccnvergence Culture. \here Cld and New Media Ccllide (New Yoik: New Yoik Univei-
sity Piess, 2008), 2.
Biblicgraphy
°About." Society foi the Piomotion of Japanese Animation. http://www.spja.oig/about/ (accessed Nov. 3,
2008).
°Aku Tenshi FAQ." Aku Tenshi. http://www.aku-tenshi.com/faq.php (accessed Nov. 4, 2008).
Bacon-Smith, Camille. Enterprising \cmen. Philadelphia: Univeisity of Pennsylvania Piess. 992.
_____. Science Ficticn Culture. Philadelphia: Univeisity of Philadelphia Piess. 2000.
-Gif t Versus Capitalist Eccncmies (DONOVAN) 21
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°Disclaimei." Game Ovei oi Continue. http://gooc.susanne-wenzel.de/index2.php:site·disclaimei (accessed
Nov. 4, 2008).
°Fansubs: Death of Anime." Panel at Anime Expo, July 2008. http://www.animenewsnetwoik.com/conventi
on/2008/anime-expo/industiy-ioundtable-fansubs-the-death-of-anime (accessed Apiil 9, 2009).
°FAQ." Anime-Expo. http://www.anime-expo.oig/geneial-infoimation/faq/ (accessed Apiil 30, 2009).
°Fiequently Asked Questions." Obsession. http://ob-session.blogspot.com/2005/08/fiequent-asked-questions-
what-aie.html (accessed Nov. 4, 2008).
Godeliei, Mauiice. The Enigma cf the Gift. Gieat Biitain: Univeisity of Chicago Piess, 999.
Haiiis, Maivin. Ccws, Pigs, \ars and \itches. The Riddles cf Culture. New Yoik: Vintage Books.
989.
°Histoiy." Sakuia-Con. http://www.sakuiacon.oig/aboutus/histoiy.php (accessed Apiil 30, 2009).
°Histoiy: Stats." Otakon. http://www.otakon.com/histoiy_stats.asp (accessed Apiil 30, 2009).
Hyde, Lewis. The Gift. Imaginaticn and the Erctic Iife cf Prcperty. New Yoik: Vintage Books. 983.
°Infoimation." Beautiful Soup. http://soup.umi-soia.com/:page_id·94 (accessed Nov. 4, 2008).
Jenkins, Heniy. Ccnvergence Culture. \here Cld and New Media Ccllide. New Yoik: New Yoik Univeisity
Piess. 2008.
Leonaid, Sean. °Piogiess Against the Law: Fan Distiibution, Copyiight and the Explosive Giowth of Japa-
nese Animation." http://mit.edu/seantek/www/papeis/ (accessed Aug. 2, 2008).
Meiill, Dave. °Let`s Buy Anime Stuff -80s Style!" Let`s Anime. http://letsanime.blogspot.com/ (accessed Oct.
28, 2008).
_____. °Stai Blazeis Chionicles: Anime Fandom Texas Style. The Histoiy of the EDC." The Cffcial \ebsite
cf the Star Blazers Animated Series. http://www.staiblazeis.com/html.php:page_id·235 (accessed Nov. 0,
2008).
°Mission Statement." Shi-Ran. http://shi-ian.cjb.net/ (accessed Nov. 4, 2008).
Mizoguchi, Akiko. °Male-male iomance by and foi women in Japan: a histoiy and the subgenies of Yaoi
fctions." U.S.-}apan \cmen´s }curnal 25 (2003): 49-75.
Nakama homepage. http://nakamanga.com/ (accessed Nov. 4, 2008).
Sakuia-Ciisis homepage. http://sakuiaciisis.ukepile.com/ (accessed Nov. 4, 2008).
Schodt, Fiedeiik. Manga! Manga! The \crld cf }apanese Ccmics. Japan: Kodansha. 983.
°Tokyopop Open lettei iegaiding Initial D." Anime News Netwoik. http://www.animenewsnetwoik.
com/news/2002-07-3/tokyopop-open-lettei-iegaiding-initial-d (Accessed Octobei 2, 2008).
°Yaoi-Con." Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.oig/wiki/Yaoi-Con (accessed June 29, 2009).
22 Pait One: Boys` Love and Global Publishing
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Fiom BRAVC to
Animexx.de to Expoit
Capitalizing cn German Bcys´ Icve Fandcm,
Culturally, Sccially and Eccncmically
PAUL M. MALONE
The woildwide ciaze foi manga came late to Geimany. Tianslated manga fist appeaied
in Geiman in the 980s-one volume of Nakazawa Keiji`s Barefcct Gen (oiiginally Hadashi
nc Gen) appeaied as Barefcct thrcugh Hircshima. A Picture-Stcry Against \ar, and Ishi-
nomoii Shtai`s }apan, Inc. (Manga Nihcn keizai nymcn) was also tianslated
-but they
weie published foi theii political oi economic messages by piesses with little oi no con-
nection to Geimany`s small comics industiy oi its audience, and they failed to make much
of an impiession. The appeaiance of the fist volume of tomo Katsuhiio`s Akira also ini-
tially failed to attiact a laige Geiman ieadeiship, although the publishei, comics-oiiented
Cailsen Veilag, at least continued to publish succeeding volumes of the seiies until sales
impioved. Duiing this same peiiod, by compaiison, othei Euiopean countiies, such as
Fiance, Italy and Spain, weie alieady impoiting and tianslating manga and giving biith to
lively fan communities.
2
Only in the late 990s did the Geiman maiket fnally open up to manga, thanks to two
concuiient developments: fist, the aiiival of piivate, commeicial television netwoiks in
Geimany, with piogiamming houis to fll and adveitising time to sell -as opposed to the
pieviously established non-commeicial, state-iun bioadcasteis-led to a huge inßux of iel-
atively cheaply impoited foieign piogiamming, including dubbed veisions of Japanese
anime caitoon seiies, which quickly became populai with young vieweis. As had pievi-
ously happened in othei countiies, these seiies weie often linked to collateial meichandise
in the foim of toys, costumes, games, collectibles-and ultimately the manga comics that
had inspiied the television seiies in the fist place. On this basis, manga now enteied Gei-
man cultuial consciousness as a categoiy distinct fiom Westein-style comics, with its own
aesthetic expectations, and °manga" was adopted into the Geiman language as a loan-woid.
3
Thus the RTL 2 netwoik`s acquisition of the seiies Sailcr Mccn and Dragcn Ball, which
began aiiing in spiing of 997 and late 998 iespectively to become iunaway hits, led in
tuin to the success of the licensed veisions of the oiiginal manga seiies, Naoko Takeuchi`s
Sailcr Mccn and Akiia Toiiyama`s Dragcn Ball-the lattei of which was also the fist
impoited manga to be piinted in Japanese-style, iight-to-left ieading oidei, which quickly
became the noim as a sign of manga authenticity.
4
So, too, despite the fact that Cailsen`s
Akira had appeaied as laigei-size papeibacks similai to Ameiican giaphic novels oi Fiench
bande dessinee albums, the usual foimat of publication iapidly settled on a small papeiback
digest foimat similai to the Japanese tankbcn.
23
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The second impoitant development at the end of the 990s was the viitual collapse of
the Geiman domestic comics maiket: ovei-iapid expansion and maiket glut, combined with
the lingeiing iecession in a post-ieunifcation Geimany and the small, aging (and ovei-
whelmingly male) ieadeiship of tiaditional Westein comics, led to a sudden downtuin in
sales that bankiupted seveial smallei publisheis and left the suiviving laigei fims stiug-
gling foi lifelines.
5
The only giowth aiea in the maiket was manga, which diew a geneially
youngei demogiaphic and appealed to giils as much as to boys; and so the iemaining pub-
lisheis, chießy the °big thiee," Cailsen Veilag, Egmont Ehapa Veilag and Panini Veilag,
6
capitalized heavily on this new teiiitoiy to cieate a Geiman manga boom that quickly giew
into millions of euio in sales pei yeai.
Manga. Fcundaticn cf a New Indigencus Ccmics Scene
In oidei to keep the industiy aßoat, it would have been suffcient in the shoit teim,
and ceitainly cheapei, meiely to license and impoit Japanese manga. Howevei, a signifcant
weakness of the Geiman comics industiy had always been its histoiical dependence on
piopeities fiom abioad; theie had nevei been a ciitical mass of successful indigenous comics
aitists, and thus the Geiman publisheis had a long tiadition of licensing mateiial fiom the
U.S. (fist Disney, and latei supeiheio comics) and fiom othei Euiopean countiies (pii-
maiily Fianco-Belgian comics, but also including Italian and Spanish piopeities), with lit-
tle oi no ability to expoit Geiman comics in ietuin.
7
Seeing an oppoitunity to iediess this
imbalance, the majoi publisheis that have the most stake in the long-teim health of the
Geiman comics industiy, Egmont and Cailsen-and, since 2004, the Geiman bianch of
TOKYOPOP
8
-have invested in theii futuie by capitalizing on the stiongly paiticipatoiy
natuie of manga fandom: using contests and inteinships, they began nuituiing local Gei-
man manga aitists and offeiing them oppoitunities to publish theii woik piofessionally.
(The Italian-owned Panini Veilag, in contiast, has instead concentiated on impoited mate-
iial alone undei its Planet Manga impiint, and on its Ameiican licenses foi the DC and
Maivel supeiheioes, as well as The Simpscns.)
The fist home-giown Geiman manga aitists weie men, such as Juigen Seebeck, Robeit
Labs, and Sascha Nils Maix; howevei, foi a vaiiety of ieasons, neithei Seebeck`s two-vol-
ume Blccdy Circus, Labs`s two piematuiely canceled seiies Dragic Master and Crewman 3,
noi Maix`s single completed volume of Naglaya´s Heart, sciipted by Stefan Voss, weie able
to captuie theii intended shnen ieadeiship. Seebeck`s woik, despite the pedigiee of being
pieviously published in Japan, was too diffeient fiom what was seen as authentic Japanese
manga, while Labs`s and Maix`s seiies, ovei and above theii inability to maintain consis-
tent quality while meeting deadlines, weie too deiivative of the laige numbei of impoited
shnen manga, which made the diffeience in quality that much moie appaient.
9
The Geiman publisheis then tuined to embiace the giowing new female ieadeiship
that manga had attiacted, and began fosteiing young women aitists. As a iesult, the majoi-
ity of the small gioup of Geiman manga aitists now consists of women in theii late teens
oi eaily twenties, most of whom follow the conventions of populai shjc manga.
0
This
stiategy has thus led to a miniatuie home-giown shjc boom: though it may be small iel-
ative to the amount of impoited Japanese manga, the iesult is that theie aie now moie
female Geiman comics aitists in piint than evei befoie in histoiy. A side-effect has been
the piomotion as aitists of fist- and second-geneiation immigiants to Geimany, mostly
24 Pait One: Boys` Love and Global Publishing
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of eithei Asian oi Eastein Euiopean backgiound, and so home-giown Geiman manga have
become an even moie conspicuously multicultuial pioduct.
The studio head Adetyai iesponded, °Yamilla ¦sic] is not a pioblem foi us. Anything
you need we will diaw. Some aitists will only diaw hugging and kissing foi you. Some
aitists will only diaw love that`s not haidcoie. But some will also diaw haidcoie. We ask
you not send contiibutoi copies foi haidcoie because is illegal heie. But all otheis you
send."
2
In a latei email he expanded, °Yes we aie Muslim countiy but lots of yaoi fans heie.
In studio even theie aie fans. Lots diawing dojinshi with yaoi."
3
This was at a time when I still had to explain what BL was to most people I met at fan
conventions in the U.S. I was suipiised to leain that BL was such a sensation in Indonesia.
This was a countiy that not only did not have any commeicial BL pioducts, but had legal
and cultuial iestiictions against them.
I have leained a gieat deal about BL in Indonesia ovei the yeais. I thought I had a good
giasp of what was going on theie, but in tackling this papei, I found I was still oveisimpli-
fying an extiemely complex situation. Political, histoiical, ieligious, and cultuial factois all
inßuence the piolifeiation of BL in Indonesia.
Indonesia once had a tiadition of same-sex ielationships befoie it was colonized by
the Dutch. Despite this histoiy, it is becoming incieasingly intoleiant of homosexuality and
eiotic woiks undei stiengthening Muslim political and social inßuences. The population
of Indonesia is 87 peicent Muslim,
4
a ieligion that condemns homosexuality.
5
Most of the
population want the tenets of Islam incoipoiated into the laws, as was pioven on a vote foi
a moiality bill iecently.
6
Howevei, Indonesia is no longei a militaiy dictatoiship and fghts
to ensuie that it doesn`t become one again. Indonesians won`t toleiate an oppiessive gov-
einment inteifeiing in theii peisonal lives.
This cieates a political and legal dichotomy that has had both diiect and indiiect effects
on BL fans within the countiy. The Indonesian boys` love aitist and fan community has
successfully expoited BL woiks out of the countiy and is enjoying an undeigiound popu-
laiity online and at conventions. Howevei, I feai Indonesia`s new anti-poinogiaphy laws
endangei this subcultuie`s futuie.
44
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Backgrcund
I have woiked with moie than thiity Indonesian aitists and wiiteis ovei the last foui
yeais as the publishei of Yaoi Piess. Seveial of these cieatois I considei close fiiends. I
spend time chatting online with them thiough the use of Inteinet Relay Chat. I have acted
as an agent on behalf of an Indonesian publishei to attempt to have its shjc giaphic nov-
els licensed in English, and I have acted as an agent on behalf of individual Indonesian aitists
to help them bieak in with othei publisheis with whom I am acquainted.
Ovei the yeais, I`ve taken an inteiest in Indonesian cultuie. Ceitain aitist fiiends aie
happy to see my inteiest and eageily tell me about theii countiy.
Among these fiiends is Rhea Silvan, who assisted me tiemendously in ieseaiching this
papei. Silvan is a Chinese-descended Indonesian who lives in the cential island of Java. She
is a widely published manga-style aitist who has woiked foi publisheis in the U.S. as well
as Indonesia.
Silvan was the fist Indonesian I got to know who was a passionate BL fan. When she
did some scieen-toning woik foi Yaoi Piess, I sent hei a copy of oui giaphic novel \inter
Demcn as a gift along with hei othei contiibutoi copies. She fell in love with this stoiy and
insisted that she be given the oppoitunity to diaw a volume of the seiies. The cuiient aitists
weie kind enough to let hei have the pioject (Fig. ).
Silvan is the top Indonesian aitist with whom Yaoi Piess woiks. Hei aitwoik is neaily
indistinguishable fiom authentic Japanese manga, which appeals to oui audience. She is
not common among Indonesian aitists. In addition to hei foimal ait tiaining she went to
a manga ait school in Jakaita oidei to leain the Japanese illustiation style.
Frcm Ccmics tc Manga tc Bcys´ Icve
The development of BL fandom in Indonesia paiallels the way most fans aie now dis-
coveiing the genie in the U.S. Indonesian BL fans began as manga fans.
Just as in the U.S., indigenous comics weie the populai sequential ait foim piioi to
manga`s intioduction. These comics weie called cerita bergambar, °stoiy with pictuies,"
and became pievalent aftei Woild Wai II.
7
The 960s and `70s aie consideied the °Golden
Age" of comics in Indonesia due laigely in pait to the development of the comic iental
kiosk.
8
This boom was shoitened by diffeient goveinment fguies who denounced comics
as °Westein poison" that °fosteied laziness." Manga came about at just the iight time: theie
was a vacuum of indigenous comics staiting in the 980s. Hafz Ahmad, Beny Maulana,
and Alvanov Apalanzani explain the pioblem:
Oldei aitists fiom pievious geneiations nevei passed down his/hei ability to the next
geneiation, while at the same time they could no longei catch up with the changes and
tiends. The second pioblem was theie was no attempts fiom the publisheis to encouiage
aitists` iegeneiation oi local comics, many of them only seemed to caie with pioft
iathei than public beneft.
9
Publishei Elex Media Komputindo biought the fist tianslated Japanese comics to
Indonesia in 990. These woiks became wildly populai, and eventually ninety peicent of
all comic impoits weie coming fiom Japan.
0
The comic iental kiosks still exist as seveial fianchises acioss Indonesia. Aitist W. Tony
-Bcys´ Icve Thrives in Ccnservative Indcnesia (ABRAHAM) 45
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46 Pait One: Boys` Love and Global Publishing
Figure . By Rhea SiIvan. Vínter Demon 4, Copyright · 2008 Yaoi Press IIC.
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explained to me duiing an Inteinet chat session in Maich 22, 2009, that the shelves aie
flled with manga now.
°It`s veiy easy to iead manga in Java," Tony typed, iefeiiing to Indonesia`s laigest
island, wheie half the total population lives. °You have eveiywheie to buy if you want, oi
you can still ient and iead all you want at the Staißy lounges. The cost is aiound ip.2000
($.07) to buy a manga giaphic novel, oi ip.2000 ($.7) to ient."
Manga has been established in Indonesia foi ovei a decade. Television netwoiks staited
aiiing anime in eainest in 996 with Rurcuni Kenshin on SCTV.
In thinking about the male body as it is iendeied in the similaily paied-down naiia-
tives of yaoi and slash, the piocess of amplifcation thiough simplifcation may peimit the
female viewei and ieadei to have a gieatei degiee of andiogynous access to the otheiwise
sexed oi gendeied image. If so, McCloud`s foimation goes a long way towaid explaining
why young giils and women in Ameiica, Japan, and beyond fnd the male body, as it is con-
stiucted in the veibal and visual naiiatives of slash and yaoi, so engaging, foi in existen-
tial ieality, this is not a body to which female aitists, authois, oi ieadeis have psychological
oi physiological access. McCloud`s theoiy of the iconic image might additionally aid in
inteipieting these naiiatives as they appiopiiate the male body by evacuating its potential
attendant subjectivity foi the puiposes of the aesthetic expiession and/oi eiotic exploiation
of a female desiie. Such a ciitical consideiation iesembles a semiotic piactice as this
appioach endeavois to inteipiet signs-in theii veibal and visual foim-whethei they aie
applied to the thiee-dimensional woild of wiestling as in Roland Baithes`s Mythclcgies oi
the viitual woild of the Inteinet, wheie a majoiity of yaoi and slash naiiatives appeai. As
McHaiiy suggests, theie is an acceptance of yaoi in the West despite the diffeiences between
the cultuies of Ameiica and Japan, and this similai ieception may fnd its basis in the genie`s
psychic iesonance.
Fiom the iationale of a woildwide media community to the contextual consideiations
of histoiy and economics to the potential foi a shaied psychic iesonance, theie is an ample
iationale foi the consideiation of yaoi and slash as vaiiant thieads of the same genie. This
undeistanding holds the potential to tease out the ciitical impeiative behind ieading the
peisistent homoeiotic piesence of the male body in the female imagination as it has incieas-
ingly appeaied since the late twentieth centuiy, paiticulaily as this naiiative impulse has
iesonated in diffeient media, languages, nation states, and cultuies, and the tianspositional
natuie of the genie is peihaps no moie appaient than in the bieadth of its ciitical iecep-
tion.
The Yaci Rons and Beycnd
The ciitical ieception of yaoi and slash has alteinated between consideiing the naiia-
tives as acts of appiopiiation oi as locations of hegemonic iesistance. This binaiy consid-
eiation was established duiing a seiies of exchanges called the yaoi rcns that took place in
the Japanese feminist magazine Chcisir fiom 992 to 997. The foundational conceins of
this discussion have ciiculated thioughout the ciitical iesponse in Ameiica, Japan, and
beyond. Scholais Wim Lunsing and McHaiiy have ably ieheaised the debate`s paiameteis,
86 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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and the intention heie is to piovide a biief oveiview of the discussion to establish its con-
tinuity in subsequent ciitical ieception, which has likewise alteinated between inteipiet-
ing the genie as an act of appiopiiation oi agency.
2
This appioach feels waiianted as the
continuity of this vaiiance suggests a need foi the ie-conceptualization of the naiiative
pioduction and consumption of gendei, sex, and sexuality, paiticulaily when its ieception
feels contested.
At the beginning of the debate, gay activist and diag queen Sat Masaki expiessed the
opinion that yaoi was an act of appiopiiation, and this consideiation foims a foundational
concein. Foi Masaki, the pioblem is that yaoi lacks the authoiity and authenticity of lived
expeiience; theiefoie, it iisks a socio-political nihilism foi the sake of aesthetic expiession.
Masaki takes paiticulai issue with yaoi`s potential to inßuence the lived expeiience of the
gay individual: °The moie confused images of gay men ciiculate among the geneial pub-
lic the haidei it is foi gay men to ieconcile these images with theii own lives and the moie
extieme theii oppiession becomes."
3
Indeed, theie is some evidence of this, foi Yajima
Masami iecoids the stoiy of a young same-sex attiacted Japanese male who claimed yaoi
led him to believe °homosexuals must be cute and pietty."
4
Fiom anecdotes such as this,
scholai of Japanese media and sexuality Maik McLelland concludes, °The highly idealized
'homosexual` chaiacteis and fanciful plots in women`s comics theiefoie do little to fostei
a sense of iecognition oi identity in gay male ieadeis."
5
McLelland notes yaoi`s paiticulai
negative impact on the young man: °As he was neithei cute noi beautiful, he woiiied 'what
will become of me:`"
6
The feelings the young man inteinalized fiom yaoi exemplify Masaki`s
concein, and this concein has not been confned to Japan.
With a piovocative ihetoiic diawn fiom the histoiy of Ameiican iacial cooptation,
Simon Sheppaid chaiacteiized yaoi as °a minstiel show" that °puts gay male sex out theie
foi stiaight people."
7
With Sheppaid`s quote, a ciitique similai to Masaki`s appeais in
Ameiica as eaily as 2002, when McHaiiy iecoided this comment at Yaoi-Con, which has
seived as an annual convention foi yaoi pioduceis and fans since 200. This ciitical echo
suggests a similai constellation of subcultuial concein between Japan and Ameiica, iegaid-
ing women wiiting and consuming a same-sex male desiie. McHaiiy confims the pies-
ence of fuithei cioss-cultuial similaiities in the ieception of yaoi when he ieheaises how
an anonymous yaoi aitist °told ¦him] that some gay-identifed men have complained to
hei that males poitiayed in yaoi aie not iepiesentative of them oi of gay males in geneial,
and that they felt uneasy at being objectifed by women."
8
This ciiticism has not been
confned to the ieception of yaoi, and Thoin detects a similai ciitique of slash in the West:
°In the cuiient enviionment of open lobbying foi homosexual iights, some fans seem to
feel the need to justify slash to the gay community, oi even to iefoim slash in such a way
as to make it moie palatable oi 'politically coiiect.`"
9
Thoin claims no awaieness of this
politicized concein ovei yaoi in Japan, yet as the rcns suggests, these conceins may well
have piedated theii appeaiance in Westein ciiticism.
Masaki`s ciitique set the tone and tiajectoiy foi much of the ciiticism that followed
in Japan, Ameiica, and beyond, foi his conceins additionally piesaged Sueen Noh`s fndings
in °Reading Yaoi Comics: An Analysis of Koiean Giils` Fandom."
20
In establishing a con-
text foi hei 998 ieseaich, Noh uses ciiticisms diawn fiom Koiean comic and gay maga-
zines that echo Masaki`s conceins. These ciiticisms also ieach beyond the identitaiian
conceins of the same-sex attiacted male, foi Lunsing iecoids lesbian ciitic Akiko
Mizoguchi`s agieement with Masaki`s contention that yaoi contains the taint of homopho-
bia.
2
Fiom Asia to Noith Ameiica and fiom yaoi to slash, the female deployment of a same-
-Yaci and Slash Ficticn (ISOLA) 87
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sex male sexual desiie can be obseived as having pioduced a negative ciitical iesponse that
shaies the same ciitical content, if not the same linguistic oi political context.
The fulcium behind Masaki`s concein becomes cleai when he compaies the female yaoi
ieadei to the steieotyped image of the poin consumei: °When you`ie spying on gay sex,
giils, take a look at youiself in the miiioi. Just look at the expiession on youi faces! (You
look just like those diity old men salivating ovei images of lesbian sex.)"
22
Masaki`s ciiti-
cism should be undeistood as moie iesonant than simply idiosynciatic oi meiely identi-
taiian, foi some yaoi pioduceis admit no gieatei authoiial intent than the expiession and
exploiation of a female sexuality thiough the deployment of a same-sex male sexuality. In
his summaiy of the yaoi rcns, Lunsing iecoids Takemiya Keiko, who claims hei populai
yaoi title Kaze tc ki nc uta (Song of Wind and Tiees; 976) °was not about gay men but
that she used boys` love to libeiate giils` sexuality."
23
Beyond the deployment of a same-sex
male desiie as an appiopiiative naiiative device, Lunsing piovides fuithei evidence of a
pioblematic impulse in yaoi when he iecoids Takamatsu Hisako`s admission: °She ¦Hisako]
agieed, howevei, that as a ieadei of yaoi, she was similai to diity old men looking at poinog-
iaphy featuiing women."
24
On the level of pioduction and consumption, a concein ovei
appiopiiation hoveis ovei the ieception of yaoi and slash, and Keith Vincent helpfully sum-
maiizes the impeiative behind this concein as it emanated fiom Masaki`s initial ciiticisms:
°yaoi and its ieadeis weie violently co-opting the ieality of gay men and tiansfeiiing it into
theii own mastuibatoiy fantasy."
25
Thiough the ethnogiaphic inteiviews she conducted with Koiean female manga fans,
Noh fnds evidence of what Masaki and otheis detect -a scopophilic and voyeuiistic pleas-
uie behind female yaoi consumption. Lunsing paises Masaki`s piioi ciiticism of this ten-
dency as an anxiety ovei women watching same-sex male desiie and aigues °gay" manga
should ieceive the same ciitical sciutiny fiom Masaki. Howevei, Lunsing misses the cen-
tial impulse behind Masaki`s anxiety, which is piedicated upon a feai that yaoi piovides a
naiiative fulcium fiom which the non-gay ieadei will peipetuate a skewed veision of gay-
ness and gay people, theieby making gay lived expeiience moie diffcult. Masaki`s concein
is about subjectivity, not sex. Masaki`s appiehension has been sustained by McLelland,
who asseits °Yet, despite the iathei 'fantastic` iepiesentation of homosexuality-inclined
beautiful youths ... these iepiesentations do seem to have affected the way some Japanese
women iegaid actual gay men."
26
This contention contiadicts the fantasy/ieality binaiy
thought to peimeate Japanese manga ieading piactices, and McLelland coiioboiates his
asseition by ieheaising the steieotypes ciiculating thiough mainstieam and women`s media
outlets duiing the Japanese °gay boom" of the 990s, wheie same-sex attiacted males weie
ioutinely chaiacteiized as essentially and effeminately diffeient, wheie the tabloids piom-
ulgated the °best paitnei" steieotype, and when theie was an alleged iise of the °fiiend-
ship maiiiage."
27
Noh`s inteiviews piovide fuithei evidence that suggests the outcome Masaki feais by
identif ying the yaoi naiiative as it piefguies and confguies the ieadei`s attempts to iepio-
duce self and woild as a °yaoi text oi context." Noh concludes hei ieseaich with a pieg-
nant fnding: °Consequently, the most signifcant ieason that female fans` ieadings of yaoi
aie woithy of note is that yaoi tiansfoims the women`s ways of undeistanding the texts as
well as the woild."
28
Noh`s causal conclusion appeais to undeiscoie Masaki`s anxiety as he
woiiied ovei yaoi negatively impacting the alieady confused undeistanding of homosexu-
ality. This concein iipples thioughout the ieception of yaoi and slash as these genies aie
iepeatedly tasked foi the deployment of a naiiative subjectivity theii authois do not occupy,
88 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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paiticulaily as such has been consideied a pioblematic appiopiiative act of a gay subjec-
tivity.
The yaoi rcns also initiated the inteipietation of yaoi as an act of agency on the pait
of its pioduceis and consumeis, and this antithetical consideiation has foimed the second
foundational concein that continues thiough the genie`s ciitical ieception. Takamatsu
Hisako iesponded to Masaki`s ciiticism by aiguing yaoi was libeiating foi women because
unlike heteiosexual stoiies, wheie women aie ioutinely the object of the male gaze, yaoi
constiucts an egalitaiian model foi gazing.
29
Noh`s fndings suggest ieadeis outside of Japan
feel similaily, and Noh goes as fai as to summaiily state yaoi is °illuminated by a female
gaze."
30
Westein ciitics have similaily aigued that yaoi functions as an act of agency ovei
sex/gendei hegemony by constiucting libeiatoiy spaces within which females can negoti-
ate the male gaze. Tina Andeison echoes Takamatsu`s opinion when she asseits, °Yaoi
allows foi that kind of enjoyment -foi visual iecieation without the self-examination.
That`s what`s so beautiful about it. Women don`t have to think about being the ones used
and abused and played with."
3
Antonia Levi has desciibed this function when she intei-
piets yaoi`s use of same-sex male desiie as a naiiative device thiough which Japanese giils
and women can negotiate gendei inequality to access a moie egalitaiian vision of iomance.
32
Levi`s point is bolsteied by Japanese yaoi ieadei Yanagita Akiko, when the lattei asseits hei
inteiest in yaoi has nothing to do with gay men and eveiything to do with hei dissatisfac-
tion with heteiosexual naiiatives that tended to disadvantage the female.
33
This impulse
has been theoiized as a iesistance to patiiaichy, and feminist scholai Ueno Chizuko claims
yaoi functions as a buffei that empoweis young females to negotiate sex fiom a distance.
34
Fujimoto Yukaii aigues likewise when she contends yaoi allows the female viewei to move
fiom the peispective of the violated to the peispective of the voyeui and violatoi, and
Takemiya Keiko claims yaoi is a °fist step towaids tiue feminism."
35
In addition to its feminist impulses, Lunsing has noted the empoweiing potential of
yaoi foi Japanese membeis of the GLBT spectium. In staik contiast to Masaki`s ciiticisms,
Lunsing iepoits some gay men view yaoi positively: °gay infoimants could ielate theii sit-
uation and feelings to the manga."
36
James Welkei makes the same asseition foi some les-
bian ieadeis: °Membeis of the Japanese lesbian community have, howevei, pointed to boys`
love and othei gendei-bending manga as stiong inßuences on them in theii foimative
yeais."
37
Welkei suppoits his claim by iefeiencing Oe Chizuka, who °explains that she
tuined to these manga given the lack of iepiesentations of female-female desiie that she
ieally identifed with."
38
This peispective has not been contained to GLBT ieadeis in Japan.
McHaiiy iecoids the effoits of Ameiican gay men as pioduceis and ieadeis of yaoi, and
McHaiiy`s obseivation has been substantiated by Pagliassotti`s suivey of boys` love iead-
eis in the West, which indicates thiity-two peicent of the English-language suivey iespon-
dents and twenty-six peicent of the Italian-language iespondents identifed as gay, lesbian,
oi bisexual.
39
Similai to the ciitical continuity that inteipiets yaoi and slash as an act of
appiopiiation, theie is a wide iange of iepiesentational positions behind the inveise ciit-
ical continuity that inteipiets the genie as an act of agency.
Duiing the ongoing yaoi rcns, Tanigawa Tamae counteied Masaki`s asseition that
yaoi fans weie like °diity old men" by iediiecting the consideiation of oppiession to the
female ieadei.
40
Tamae aigued Masaki was himself an agent of oppiession via his position
as a male, and that by viitue of theii sex/gendei position, female yaoi pioduceis and con-
sumeis aie moie disadvantaged than gay men. Having summaiized Tamae`s aigument, Lun-
sing concuis, °Theii ¦female yaoi ieadeis] inability to enjoy existing depictions of
-Yaci and Slash Ficticn (ISOLA) 89
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heteiosexual activity combined with unease about female-female sexuality suggests, indeed,
that female yaoi fans had the laigei pioblem when it came to dealing with theii own sex-
uality."
4
This valuation has undeipinned the inteipietation of yaoi as female agency ovei
gay appiopiiation, and this tendency has peimeated the ciitical ieception.
Seveial ciitics have used this impeiative to inteipiet the male cum andrcgyncus yaoi
body as a lesbian peisona. Welkei iefeiences Ueno Chizuko to suppoit this inteipietation:
°Chizuko has aigued that manga aitists boiiowed a boy`s body to diaw giil chaiacteis and
that the beautiful boy is thus the giaphic embodiment of the giil`s 'idealized self-image.`"
42
Publishei Sagawa Toshihiko concuis: °On the suiface, these chaiacteis aie gay males, but
in ieality ... they`ie like young women weaiing caitoon chaiactei costumes."
43
This ciiti-
cal tiend is peihaps best summaiized by Patiick Diazen, who comments on Sandia Buck-
ley`s undeistanding of yaoi as °not the tiansfoimation oi natuialization of diffeience but
the valoiization of the imagined potentialities of alteinative diffeientiations."
44
This poten-
tial has been expanded upon by othei ciitics, and Welkei ieads yaoi`s gendei ambiguity as
it allows foi the female ieadei to ie-envision the stoiy and opens the text to lesbian iein-
teipietations.
45
Lunsing aptly sums up this peispective when he asseits: °The implication
that gay sex is objectifed foi the puipose of the sexual libeiation of women suiely is a queei
use of male homosexuality par excellence."
46
These consideiations iecast the appiopiiating
gaze of the °diity old men" by fiaming the female gaze of yaoi and slash as an act of agency.
Between chaiges of gay appiopiiation to celebiations of queei agency, the conceins of
the yaoi rcns continue fiom fist to latest in the ciitical ieception of yaoi and slash. This
bifuicated ciitical continuity evidences something of an inteipietive homogeneity that
belies the ciiticisms of diffeiing political, linguistic, cultuial, and national contexts, and
these ciitical concuiiences may beneft fiom a global consideiation of sexual politics.
Dennis Altman has expiessed this desiie foi a tiansnational consideiation of sexual-
ity: °The moie I see, the moie skeptical I am of shaip divides between Westein and
non-Westein expeiiences of sexuality, and the suiei I become that we cannot discuss
sex/gendei stiuctuies independent of laigei sociopolitical ones."
47
In The Glcbalizaticn cf
Sexuality, Jon Binnie cautions that any such appioach must be waiy of ieplicating metio-
politan biases, be suspicious of evolutionaiy naiiatives of sexuality and nomenclatuie, and
be mindful of the potential foi expoiting stiuctuies like homophobia.
48
Binnie`s fnal con-
sideiation is paiticulaily apt in the study of compaiative (homo)sexualities between Amei-
ica and Japan, especially given the foimei`s inßuence on the lattei`s sex/gendei stiuctuies,
secondaiy to the post-Woild Wai II MacAithui eia wiiting of the extant Japanese Consti-
tution.
This point of context piovides a foundation upon which the ciitic can inteipiet coi-
ielation without a necessaiily ieductive veil of cultuial oi ciitical piesumption, theieby
avoiding the cognitive dissonance that iesults fiom maintaining the impeimeable divide
Altman is leeiy of when inteipieting expeiiences of (homo)sexuality. Howevei, as Paglias-
sotti`s woik suggests, a wholly peimeable membiane also iisks a ieductive inteipietation,
which some ciitics have detected in the effoit to think about the tiansnational natuie of
(homo)sexual politics. Pagliassotti`s fndings gestuie towaid an impoitant vaiiance between
the East and the West iegaiding the potential foi a politicized ieading of yaoi, and fiom
this, she concludes: °Fuithei woik in this aiea could be of gieat utility in desciibing how
liteiaiy pioducts may be ieceived and inteipieted diffeiently by diffeient cultuies aiound
the woild."
49
Binnie similaily identifes this need when he tempeis Altman`s meta-ciitical impulse
90 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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by pointing out the coexisting need foi the consideiation of local political conceins. Bin-
nie makes this point while commenting on Altman`s theoiy of the global gay as it °tends
to piesent it as a foim of 'false consciousness,` " theieby denying the potential foi agency
in the appiopiiation of pie-extant gay iights symbols as they aie iefoimulated foi the pui-
poses of self-deteimination and/oi iesistance in othei spaces and teiiitoiies.
50
Binnie`s
iecalibiation may also peimit the inclusion of an individual vaiiance, which allows foi
idiosynciasy duiing the pioduction and consumption of a boiiowed oi shaied idiom. In
this way, the ciitic engaging in a compaiative ieading may considei individual as well as
cultuial context. This theoietical iecalibiation moie fully actualizes the impeiative behind
Altman`s ultimate desiie foi undeistanding °sexuality as involving the complex and vaiied
ways in which biological possibilities aie shaped by social, economic, political, and cul-
tuial stiuctuies."
5
In this way, the ciitic engaging in a compaiative ieading may considei
individual as well as cultuial context. Such a ciitical move is akin to Thoin`s ethnogiaphic
inteiviews of female Japanese ieadeis, which initially led him to conceptualize yaoi`s com-
munitaiian impulse while inteiiogating individual inteipietive vaiiance.
The inclusion of the local allows foi an emendation to Pagliassotti`s alieady pioduc-
tive call foi moie ieseaich into yaoi ieading piactices, paiticulaily as such peimits the pos-
sibility of similaiity as well as diffeience, foi, as the ieheaisal of yaoi and slash`s ciitical
ieception suggests, peiceptions of appiopiiation and agency can be a mattei of micio-
politics, which aie vaiiable-but not wholly independent of -the laigei socio-political
spheie Altman gestuies towaid. Heiein may lie something of a pioductive thiead by which
to tiace the possibility of a global consciousness, but this effoit will iequiie a ciitical
appioach that moves beyond the bifuicated consideiations of the yaoi rcns, which tends
to ieduce the consideiation of the pioduction and consumption of (homo)sexual naiia-
tives to a subjective eithei/oi consideiation.
Tcward a Ccnsideraticn cf Dialectical Prcductivity
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick has famously aigued foi how the homo/heteio binaiy has
stiuctuied, if not undeipinned, the undeistanding of modein (homo)sexuality in the West,
and hei schematic foimation offeis a helpful way of appioaching the conceins of the yaoi
debate. Although it may be consideied pioblematic to apply Sedgwick`s theoiies to iegions
outside the West, it is also pioblematic not to mention this foundational cognizance, foi
such an omission would stiuctuie the epistemology of (homo)sexuality accoiding to an
East/West binaiy-as if patiiaichy and its attendant heteionoimativity weie only Occiden-
tal phenomena and theoietical pieoccupations. As the ciitical woik of Japanese theoiist
Fushimi Noiiaki has demonstiated, heteionoimativity-what Noiiaki teims heteio-
sexualism-does not solely function within the lived expeiience oi ciitical puiview of the
West, and the piimacy of the homo/heteio binaiy is peivasive in othei modein cultuies.
Katsuhiko Suganuma succinctly summaiizes Noiiaki`s belief that eveiy individual is sub-
jected to the ideology of heteio-sexualism thiough the sex/gendei iegulating discouises of
what Noiiaki identifes as the heteio-system: °Noiiaki aigues that no one, neithei as a
membei of a sexual minoiity noi the majoiity, lives outside the milieu of the 'heteio-sys-
tem` as long as they aie a membei of a society."
52
This asseition fiames a fist piemise foi
a tiansnational consideiation of sexuality, foi if the cultuies in question aie both patiiai-
chal in natuie, it is logical to assume the piesence of a heteio-system, foi if patiiaichy is
-Yaci and Slash Ficticn (ISOLA) 91
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the ideology, then the mediation of sex, gendei, and sexuality aie its constitutive discouises.
Even if this system weie contouied diffeiently, its ultimate goal of patiiaichal sexual sub-
jection would be similai.
Noiiaki`s insights aie laigely contempoianeous with Sedgwick`s, and accoiding to cui-
ient undeistanding, his fist ciitical wiitings weie pioduced aiound the same time as Sedg-
wick`s Epistemclcgy cf the Clcset, which was published in 990. As Suganuma summaiizes,
this ciitical co-occuiience has piompted Japanese scholais Sunagawa Hideki and Noguchi
Katsuz to posit the idea of a °theoietical synchionicity" between Noiiaki`s woik and the
piolifeiation of queei theoiy in the West, and theii theoiy of synchionicity iaises inteiest-
ing questions about the coteiminous natuie of expeiience with heteio-systems.
53
The pies-
ence of Noiiaki`s woik suggests that the application of theoiy diawn fiom Sedgwick does
not impiint oi displace as much as it ießects coextensive ciitical iesistance to systems of
oppiession. Contiaiy to casting the application of Sedgwick`s ideas as a foisting of West-
ein theoiy onto non-Westein iegions, Noiiaki`s undeistanding of the heteio-system sug-
gests the aptness of this appioach, foi the ciitical use of Sedgwick in light of Noiiaki`s woik
may ieveal a global cultuial intiactability, which allows foi a pioductive inteipietation of
the dichotomous ciitical ieception of yaoi and slash. A pioductive inteipietation of the yaoi
debate may fnd its oiigins in the emeigence of theoiies like Noiiaki and Sedgwick`s, pai-
ticulaily as these ciitical effoits have attempted to theoiize the stiuctuies of the heteio-
system.
Sedgwick pioffeied hei minoiitizing and univeisalizing views as an attempt to desciibe
how, since the late nineteenth centuiy, theoiies of sexuality have iested upon the undei-
standing of sexuality accoiding to the homo/heteio binaiy. Sedgwick asseits:
The fist is the contiadiction between seeing homo/heteiosexual defnition on the one
hand as an issue of active impoitance piimaiily foi a small, distinct, ielatively fxed
homosexual minoiity (what I iefei to as a minoiitizing view), and seeing it on the othei
hand as an issue of continuing, deteiminative impoitance in the lives of people acioss
the spectium of sexualities (what I iefei to as a univeisalizing view).
54
Having established a foundational theoiy, Sedgwick follows hei defnitional move with a
statement of intent that foiegiounds the evei-piesent pioblematic natuie of the stiuctuies
she attempts to defne:
The puipose of this book is not to adjudicate between the two poles of eithei of these
contiadictions, foi if its aigument is iight, no epistemological giounding now exists
fiom which to do so. Instead, I am tiying to make the stiongest possible intioductoiy
case foi a hypothesis about the centiality of this nominally maiginal, conceptually
intiactable set of defnitional issues to the impoitant knowledges and undeistandings of
twentieth-centuiy Westein cultuie as a whole.
55
Sedgwick acknowledges the lack of an epistemological giounding fiom which to biing a
conclusive undeistanding, much less an end to the veiy stiuctuies she attempts to delin-
eate, and she admits hei deployment of a defnition is itself iived with and delimited by the
veiy minoiitizing and univeisalizing impulses she attempts to inteipiet, theieby peipetu-
ating the stiuctuie she seeks to defne. Sedgwick`s diffculty miiiois the laigei post-stiuc-
tuial paialysis of attempting to assume an outside peispective fiom which to speak of
cultuie. Heie lies the admitted limit of Sedgwick`s effoits in this diiection, foi hei defnition
is piefguied by the system it seeks to defne, theieby ciicumsciibing ciitical insight by
negating the ability to deteimine without suppositional inßuence. Sedgwick negotiates this
ciitical moiass by foiegiounding the need foi undeistanding the centiality of the defnition
92 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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itself, and she posits a binaiy impulse in the epistemology of homo(sexuality), yet if the
fulcium of the heteio-system is itself a binaiy stiuctuiing, Sedgwick is awaie she iisks pei-
petuating the heteio-system as much as she may be able to defne it by iedeploying its basic
eithei/oi stiuctuial impulse.
Something of this tendency appeais in the ciiticism of yaoi and slash, as this ciitical
ieception has laigely been stiuctuied along binaiy teims: appiopiiation/agency, negative/
positive, haimful/salubiious, disempoweiing/empoweiing. This tiending miiiois the
iecently entienched binaiy consideiations of gay studies/queei theoiy, wheie the
fist tends towaid fxity and the lattei ßuidity. This paiticulai way of thinking about
(homo)sexuality emeiged as a cential concein in contempoiaiy theoiy duiing the 990s
when emeigent theoiies, like Sedgwick`s, iuptuied the stiuctuies of thinking thiough the
iepiesentational aspects of the homo/heteio binaiy in favoi of deconstiucting them. This
was itself a movement fiom fxity to ßuidity, foi if the foimei is a fetish foi fxity, the lat-
tei exhibits a fetish foi ßuidity. Howevei, the fist was nevei as fxed as was thought, and
the second is not as ßexible as was hoped, and in the contested space between them, the
inßuence of the heteio-system may well appeai in the eithei/oi alignment of the discus-
sion, and its peitinaciousness may also be detected in the ciitical ieception of yaoi and slash.
This binaiy consideiation ieduces the pioduction and consumption of yaoi and slash nai-
iatives to a negative oi positive evaluation (depending upon position) without giappling
with the piesence of both. A iecalibiation to Sedgwick`s oiiginal theoietical fiaming may
pioduce something of a methodological appioach to iesist the alieady constituted eithei/oi
natuie of the heteio-system by consideiing the iegulating foice of the binaiy itself.
Instead of alteinating between the two poles of a binaiy, Sedgwick`s foimation of the
centiality of minoiitizing and univeisalizing tendencies may beneft fiom a dialectical con-
sideiation that fguies the iatio of each with and without the piesence of one being pied-
icated upon the enfoiced absence, if not abjection, of the othei. Sedgwick`s minoiitizing
and univeisalizing impulses may well peifoim a discuisive function in Noiiaki`s heteio-
system foi the puipose of enfoicing the laigei ideological hegemony of heteio-sexualism.
Foi, when it comes to cultuial acts oi aitifacts alieady iiven with a homo/heteio binaiy
that maiks the decenteied minoiity sexual subjectivity, theieby unmaiking a centeied
majoiity sexual subjectivity that is deteimined and constiucted fiom the maiked, it is not
a mattei of seeing eithei this oi that but iathei seeing the piesence of both as constitutive
elements of cultuial hegemony, as objects and inteipietations aie alieady inteipolated in
undeistanding. This calls foi a ciitical consideiation secondaiy to the intiactability of what
Fushimi calls the heteio-system (Sedgwick similaily allows foi the ubiquity of such in any
male-dominated society). An awaieness of this omnipiesent stiuctuiing, what Anthony
Giddens would acknowledge as pait of his theoiy of stiuctuiation, holds the potential to
paise ciitical iesistance fiom complicity with a piedeteimined outcome. The alieady-
constituted natuie of the binaiy may be pioductively negotiated by the application of a
dialectical consideiation of minoiitizing and univeisalizing impulses wheie pioductivity is
consideied as the thiid teim.
The lexical ambiguity of the woid pioductivity holds the potential foi a iigoious
methodological appioach foi paising the iatio of minoiitizing and univeisalizing impulses
in a cultuial act oi aitifact and likewise holds the potential foi a ciitical and political util-
ity by ievealing the heteio-system`s pie-fguiation and continuation of heteio-sexualism.
In othei woids, the polysemy of pioductivity piovides a multifaceted list of ciitical con-
sideiations that may seive as a method foi tiacing and/oi excavating the discuisive appa-
-Yaci and Slash Ficticn (ISOLA) 93
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iatus that piedeteimines the iepiesentation of (homo)sexuality. This utility foi ciitically
engaging with minoiitizing and univeisalizing impulses is suggested by the simultaneous
connotations of the woid pioductivity as a woid that conveys:
· the quality of being pioductive, as such foiegiounds the impeiative of inteipieting
how and foi whom the binaiy is pioductive oi fails to be in any given deploy-
ment;
· the linguistic sense of geneiative cuiiency oi its lack in a native speakei`s deploy-
ment of a linguistic stiuctuie, as this undeistanding iequiies an etymological and
ethnogiaphic undeistanding of the binaiy foi the puiposes of pioviding what
New Histoiicist Stephen Gieenblatt might teim a thick contextualization;
· the medical sense of the pioductivity of a cough, as such allows foi the undei-
standing of the binaiy`s foice of abjection (this is a paiticulaily piovocative con-
sideiation given Kiistevan theoiy and the fact that the content of a cough is itself
a pioduct of the expectoiating body);
· the biological sense of the iate of bio-mateiial consumable foi fuel pioduced by
an oiganism, as such holds the potential to gauge the agency and/oi appiopiia-
tion which feeds on the application of the binaiy;
· the economic sense of the iatio of quantity and quality of units pioduced to the
laboi spent pei unit, foi this allows foi the binaiy`s valuation and distinction of
the liteiaiy veisus the populai.
These consideiations begin to delineate the ciitical potential of tasking the minoiitizing
and univeisalizing impulses as a dialectic, and it spaies Sedgwick`s foimation the ciiticism
of ieductive exclusivity to which it has been pione, foi it subjects the entiiety of the heteio-
system`s pie-fguiation of heteio-sexualism into question even as this system may itself
silence options that cannot be neatly binaiized in favoi of those that can. On a local con-
cein to this discussion, a consideiation of dialectical pioductivity piovides a staiting point
foi giappling with the seemingly simple to undeistand binaiy consideiations of yaoi and
slash`s ciitical ieception, since it destabilizes them among similai and dissimilai subject posi-
tions, ianging fiom the individual, the economic, the political, the cultuial, and beyond.
Fuithei consideiation of a dialectical appioach may piove fiuitful in pioviding a com-
piehensive undeistanding of how and why the ciitical ieception of yaoi and slash tends to
alteinate between chaiges of agency and appiopiiation, and such an undeistanding may
well ieveal the political utility and/oi limits of the genie. Moieovei, it may biing a deepei
degiee of undeistanding to the ethical consideiations suiiounding appiopiiative/authoi-
ial use and the consumption/pioduction of a textual sexual subjectivity not occupied by
an aitist, authoi, oi ieadei, foi as pieviously stated, no mattei how andiogynous the sil-
houette, the male body of yaoi and slash is not a coipoieality the female authoi oi ieadei
has psychological oi physiological access to, and this ieality calls foi an ethical consideia-
tion.
Lunsing suggests a desiie foi ethical self-ießection can be found at the heait of the
yaoi rcns: °¦Masaki] began the yaoi dispute on the instigation of a female fiiend, Iiokawa
Nao, editoi of Chcisir. The women engaging in the discussion wanted to seaich theii souls
and Masaki`s wiitings seived as a welcome incentive."
56
Indeed, Masaki`s oiiginal comments
incented this self-examination: °When you`ie spying on gay sex, giils, take a look at youi-
self in the miiioi." The woid miiioi may hold thick contextual cuiiency as it additionally
suggests the female yaoi ieadei considei the state of the othei while ießecting upon self,
94 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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given the Shint ieveience of miiiois as the image of self iathei than the Lacanian notion
of fiagmentation. Peihaps it is not Westein homophobia, as Matthew Thoin suggests, but
the impeiative foi self-examination that also compels slash fans to question the founda-
tion upon which theii wiiting and ieading habits iest.
57
A dialectical consideiation may
help establish an ethical iatio between appiopiiation and agency in authoiship and iead-
eiship, foi if the ßuidity of oui fancy denies the fxity of the othei, then oui ßuidity becomes
fancifully fxated on self, ieducing the coital potential of the tianspositional pun to meiely
mastuibatoiy mateiial.
Ccncluding an Anxicus Raticnale
Beyond the ieception of yaoi and slash as acts of appiopiiation oi agency, theii ciiti-
cal ieception has laigely tended to inteipiet a playful impulse in the naiiatives, but theie
may be a thiead of panic heie. Thoin obseives, °One piecondition foi slash and yaoi fan-
dom is an awaieness of homosexuality, which nonetheless iemains laigely abstiact."
58
Thoin`s obseivation may point to an undeistanding of the genie as it iesults fiom a meta-
naiiative iuptuie foi the postmodein geneiations of women who, in addition to facing
continued sexual oppiession coupled with changing gendei ioles, have had to face the ieal-
ity of (homo)sexuality, paiticulaily as it cieates the possibility foi theii opposite sex desiie
acciuing to a body that exhibits a same-sex desiie. This anxiety is in addition to having to
piocess the homosexual as sexual competition. The male body of the visual and veibal nai-
iatives of yaoi and slash may well be the postmodein female doppelgangei, and a female
anxiety ovei (homo)sexuality may have incited the concuiient naiiative developments of
women wiiting a same-sex male desiie in Japan and Ameiica. This iaises the pioblem of
ieading one nation state in the contextual teims of the othei, but such a concein piecludes
the potential foi similai points of context. Eithei way, an emeiging gay visibility can be
detected in the Japanese and Ameiican cultuies of the mid-twentieth centuiy.
Although it seived moie as a fulcium foi subsequent ievolutionaiy political oigani-
zation than a ievolution in and of itself, Stonewall nonetheless maiks a movement towaid
a gay visibility, and theie is evidence of a similai incieasing gay visibility in Japan. Maik
McLelland asseits, °Theie was no Stonewall Revolution in Japan, no iconic event that iep-
iesents a tuining point (no mattei how imaginaiy) in this jouiney ¦of Japan`s sexual minoii-
ties]."
59
This may well be the case; howevei, visibility is not piedicated upon ievolutionaiy
oi iconic events, and as Sunagawa Hideki points out, theie has been an incieasing gay vis-
ibility in the publishing maikets of Japan, staiting with the 950s magazines such as Ama-
tcria, which was contempoianeous with the appeaiance in Ameiica of the 950s muscle
magazines, not to mention Mattachine`s CNE and the Daughteis of Bilitis`s The Iadder,
and leading up to the 97 appeaiance of Barazcku, which Hideki consideis °the fist com-
meicial magazine aimed at gay men."
60
Whethei these magazines weie vitiated by homo-
phobia oi not, they evidence the ciiculation of mateiial that, in addition to othei
mainstieam iepiesentations, suggests a piolifeiating degiee of visibility, if not also an
incieasing awaieness, in the cultuial cuiiency of Japan and Ameiica foi a same-sex male
sexual desiie, and this visibility may well be the fulcium behind the developments of yaoi
and slash. Such an insight holds the potential to moiph Dennis Altman`s theoiy of global
(homo)sexuality fiom a theoiy of global inßuences to a ieading of global impulses, and
just as Hideki and Katsuz detect a theoietical synchionicity between the woiks of Sedg-
-Yaci and Slash Ficticn (ISOLA) 95
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wick and Noiiaki, theie may well be a gay synchionicity between the contempoianeous evo-
lutions of yaoi and slash.
Nctes
1. The teim yaoi vies with the title boys` love foi piimacy in desciibing the veibal and visual naiiatives
undei discussion, but since this teim accompanied my intioduction to the genie, I piefei it, paiticulaily as
it tends to foiegiound the hypeisexualization of female pioduced same-sex male textual sexual desiie.
2. As this chaptei aigues, sexual naiiatives contain an alieady-constituted absence and piesence of the
homo/heteio binaiy. The phiasing (hcmc)sexuality attempts to invoke a sense of this undeistanding; this pai-
enthetic foimation connotes the discuisive piessuie of the sex/gendei system as it simultaneously constiucts
heteiosexuality as the majoiity sexuality and homosexuality as a minoiity sexuality undei the laigei ideolog-
ical pioject of heteionoimativity.
3. John Stoiey, Cultural Studies and the Study cf Pcpular Culture. Thecries and Methcds (Athens, GA: Uni-
veisity of Geoigia Piess, 2003), 4.
4. Matthew Thoin, °Giils and Women Getting Out of Hand: The Pleasuie and Politics of Japan`s Ama-
teui Comics Community,° in Fanning the Flames. Fans and Ccnsumer Culture in Ccntempcrary }apan, ed.
William W. Kelly (Albany, NY: State Univeisity of New Yoik Piess 2004), 72.
5. Matthew Thoin. \hat }apanese Girls Dc \ith Manga, and \hy. Matt-Thoin.com. http://www.matt-
thoin.com/shoujo_manga/jaws/index.php.
6. Ibid.
7. Stanley Fish, Is There a Text in This Class? (Cambiidge, MA: Haivaid Univeisity Piess, 980), 48.
8. Diu Pagliassotti, °Reading Boys` Love in the West," ParticipCticns 5, no. 2 (2008), http://www.paitici
pations.oig/Volume%205/Issue%202/5_02_pagliassotti.htm.
9. Maik McHaiiy, °Yaoi: Rediawing Male Love," The Guide (2003): pai 7, http://www.guidemag.com/
temp/yaoi/a/mchaiiy_yaoi.html.
10. Scott McCloud, Understanding Ccmics. The Invisible Art (New Yoik: Haipei Peiennial, 994), 30.
11. Ibid., 42.
12. Wim Lunsing, °Yaci Rcns: Discussing Depictions of Male Homosexuality in Japanese Giils` Comics,
Gay Comics and Gay Poinogiaphy," in Intersecticns. Gender, Histcry, and Culture in the Asian Ccntext 2
(2006): pais 4-25, http://inteisections.anu.edu.au/issue2/lunsing.html and Maik McHaiiy, °Identity
Unmooied: Yaoi in the West," in Queer Pcpular Culture. Iiterature, Media, Film, and Televisicn, ed. Thomas
Peele (New Yoik: Palgiave, 2007), 83-95.
13. Sat Masaki, quoted in McHaiiy, °Identity Unmooied" 2007, 86.
14. Yajima Masami, quoted in Maik McLelland, °Male Homosexuality and Populai Cultuie in Modein
Japan," in Intersecticns. Gender, Histcry, and Culture in the Asian Ccntext 3 (2000): pai 8, http://inteisec
tions.anu.edu.au/issue3/mclelland2.html.
15. McLelland, Male Hcmcsexuality, pai 8.
16. McLelland, Male Hcmcsexuality, pai 8.
17. McHaiiy, °Identity Unmooied," 87.
18. McHaiiy, °Identity Unmooied," 88.
19. Thoin, °Giils and Women," 73.
20. Sueen Noh, °Reading Yaoi Comics: An Analysis of Koiean Giils` Fandom," http://moongsil.com/study/
yaoi_eng.pdf.
21. Lunsing, Yaci Rcns, pai 27.
22. Sat Masaki, quoted in McHaiiy, °Identity Unmooied," 86.
23. Lunsing, Yaci Rcns, pai 6.
24. Lunsing, Yaci Rcns, pai 24.
25. Keith Vincent, quoted in McHaiiy, °Identity Unmooied," 86.
26. McLelland, Male Hcmcsexuality, pai 9.
27. Ibid.
28. Noh, Reading Yaci, 3.
29. Lunsing, Yaci Rcns, pai 5.
30. Noh, Reading Yaci, 7.
31. Tina Andeison, inteiview by Kai-Ming Cha, °I Want My Boys` Love,° Publishers \eekly, Novembei
28, 2006. http://www.publisheisweekly.com/aiticle/CA63952.html.
96 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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32. Antonia Levi, Samurai frcm Cuter Space. Understanding }apanese Animaticn (Chicago: Open Couit,
996), 35.
33. Lunsing, Yaci Rcns, pai 6.
34. Ueno Chizuko, quoted in Thoin, Girls and \cmen, 79.
35. Takemiya Keiko, quoted in Thoin, Girls and \cmen, 79.
36. Lunsing, Yaci Rcns, pai 29.
37. James Welkei, °Beautiful, Boiiowed, and Bent: 'Boys` Love` as Giils` Love in Shjc Manga," in Signs.
}curnal cf \cmen in Culture and Scciety 3, no. 3 (2006): 843.
38. Oe Chizuka, quoted in Welkei, °Beautiful, Boiiowed," 843.
39. Pagliassotti, Reading Bcys,´ table 3.
40. Lunsing, Yaci Rcns, pai 8.
41. Ibid.
42. Welkei, °Beautiful, Boiiowed," 842.
43. Sagawa Toshihiko, quoted in Fiedeiik Schodt, Dreamland }apan. \ritings cn Mcdern Manga.
44. Sandia Buckley, quoted in Patiick Diazen, Anime Explcsicn! The \hat? \hy? o \cw! cf }apanese Ani-
maticn (Beikeley, CA: Stone Biidge Piess, 2003), 88.
45. Welkei, °Beautiful, Boiiowed," 866.
46. Lunsing, Yaci Rcns, 33.
47. Dennis Altman, °Ruptuie oi Continuity: The Inteinalization of Gay Identities," in Pcstcclcnial Queer.
Thecretical Intersecticns, ed. John Hawley (Albany, NY: State Univeisity of New Yoik Piess, 200), 36.
48. Jon Binnie, The Glcbalizaticn cf Sexuality (London: SAGE Publications, 2004).
49. Pagliassotti, Reading Bcys´, pai 7.
50. Binnie, Glcbalizaticn cf Sexuality, 69.
51. Altman, Rupture, 22.
52. Katsuhiko Suganuma, °Enduiing Voices: Fushimi Noiiaki and Kakefuda Hiioko`s Continuing Rele-
vance to Japanese Lesbian and Gay Studies and Activism," in Intersecticns. Gender, Histcry and Culture in the
Asian Ccntext 4 (2006): pai 6, http://inteisections.anu.edu.au/issue4/suganuma.htm.
53. Ibid, pai 20.
54. Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky, Epistemclcgy cf the Clcset (Beikeley, CA: Univeisity of Califoinia Piess,
990), .
55. Ibid, 2.
56. Lunsing, Yaci Rcns, 26.
57. Thoin, Girls and \cmen, 73.
58. Ibid, 80.
59. Maik McLelland, Queer }apan frcm the Pacifc \ar tc the Internet Age (Lanham, MD: Rowman &
Littlefeld Publisheis, 2005), 8.
60. Sunagawa Hideki, °Japan`s Gay Histoiy," Intersecticns. Gender, Histcry, and Culture in the Asian Ccn-
text 2 (2006): pai 5. http://inteisections.anu.edu.au/issue2/sunagawa.html.
Biblicgraphy
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98 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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0 Uses foi Boys
Ccmmuning with the Reader in Yaci and Slash
MARNI STANLEY
Although populai cultuie genies such as action manga and television sciipts have been
geneiated piedominantly by male wiiteis, women have found (at least) two avenues thiough
which to asseit themselves in the discouises of populai cultuie-yaoi and slash. Yaoi aie
giaphic woiks. Slash stoiies aie geneially not illustiated, though diawings and cieative
Photoshopping oi caiefully chosen stills aie not uncommon. Both aie genies of populai
cultuie piedominantly pioduced by women that have, as theii common subject, males
becoming sexually involved with each othei. In published yaoi, which oiiginate in Japan
but aie available in English tianslation, these males aie oiiginal chaiacteis who aie often
young (school classmates aie populai) but may also be doctois, diplomats, gangsteis,
lawyeis, ciuise-ship captains, business men, and so on. In slash, the chaiacteis aie usually
boiiowed fiom anothei souice, especially television, and may be police, lawyeis, space tiav-
eleis, vampiies and theii slayeis, oi any numbei of othei occupations. Incieasingly, they
aie new chaiacteis, as moie °oiiginal slash" is being wiitten.
Ciitical iesponse to these two genies has sometimes been anxious and deiisive about
what yaoi and slash might signify about female sexuality. Some psychoanalytic theoiists,
in paiticulai, have iead these texts as attempting to compensate foi feminine °lack." They
see the authois of yaoi and slash as disempoweied female wiiteis compensating foi theii
exclusion fiom the discouise of male homosexuality/homosociality by wiiting theii own
texts. Instead of ieading these genies as full of tiansgiessive possibility, they see them as
evidence of diminished female sexual agency.
Rathei than being oveizealous in the application of psychoanalytic theoiy to these two
populai genies, it may be useful to take the woid of many of theii cieatois and see these
texts as moie about pleasuie and fun than compensation oi lack. What if, as Hélène Cixous
so wittily suggests in °The Laugh of the Medusa," women aie not obsessively focused on
the °little pocket signifei"
because they lack one but aie, iathei, moie inclined to laugh
at the whole phallogocentiic dog-and-pony show: Theie aie othei ways to paiticipate in
cultuie than those tiaditionally assigned to women. Reading women as essentially °lack-
ing" ceitainly limits one`s scope. How much moie amusing foi women to be subveisive in
the face of limited paiticipation and to fnd moie playful, moie tiansgiessive, moie satis-
fying ways of joining the cultuial conveisation.
If women wiiting about sex is still tiansgiessive, then women wiiting about sex using
the male body almost exclusively and then inviting othei women to enjoy these stoiies, oi
even attempt wiiting them themselves, is doubly tiansgiessive. Yaoi and slash aie tiansgies-
sive piecisely because they aie joyous and playful and iefuse to take themselves, oi the many
iconic naiiatives they subveit, seiiously, and because they invite theii ieadeis to play along.
99
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While both yaoi and slash play with cultuially dominant naiiatives of male action,
they also play with ideas of iomance, ielationship, and sex itself. They joyfully tiansgiess
expectations of female sexuality by subveiting established, even iconic, naiiatives, such as
buddy ßicks, space westeins, and boys` school melodiamas, into male homosexual stoiies.
These genies open a whole new woild of play foi theii mostly female cieatois. And it is a
woild into which these cieatois invite theii ieadeis in oidei to shaie the fun. In both gen-
ies the cieatois diiectly addiess the ieadei and invite-even demand-feedback, engaging
the ieadei`s active iesponse in a way few texts do.
Psychoanalytic theoiists, with theii emphasis on the ways these genies make thinking
about sex less fiightening foi women because they compensate foi women`s disempowei-
ment, offei a substantive challenge to any ieading of these genies as piedominantly play.
Midoii Matsui offeis a psychoanalytic ieading of yaoi in which she aigues of the key chai-
acteis:
the boys weie the little giils` displaced selves ... the fctitious boys weie endowed with
ieason, eloquence and aggiessive desiie foi the othei, compensating foi the absence of
logos and sexuality in the conventional poitiaits of giils. In shoit they signifed the pos-
session of the phallus as opposed to the feminine °lack."
2
The pioblem with this ieading of yaoi is that it emphasizes negative, compensatoiy moti-
vations, leaving women, as so often in non-feminist psychoanalytic theoiy, making up foi
a lack of something.
Shaion Kinsella, though she aigues yaoi oiiginated as a foim of paiody of mainstieam
manga, also ciitiques the genie in teims of compensation oi substitution: °In the context
of the obvious iange of iestiictions on behaviois and development that women expeiience
in contempoiaiy society, young female fans feel moie able to imagine and depict idealized
stiong and fiee chaiacteis if they aie male."
3
She aigues that female ieadeis can identify
with the °slightly moie effeminate male of a couple." This ieading, howevei, misses the
point : if both chaiacteis aie male, why should they limit theii identifcation meiely to the
moie effeminate one, especially if female ieadeis aie seeking to compensate foi feminine
°lack":
Kiisty Valenti similaily claims, °women enjoy yaoi because it is a way foi them to be
enteitained by sex in a non-thieatening way, without the anxieties and pioblems associ-
ated with being female, such as piegnancy and misogyny."
4
This inteipietation of the genie
again implies that women aie compensating, in this case foi feais and anxieties; a ieading
that leaves little ioom foi pleasuie, iathei than ieassuiance, and none at all foi play.
The common giound in these aiguments is that they all cast in the negative the moti-
vation foi women to wiite about males in love/lust with each othei. This appioach aigues
that these woiks aie motivated by °lack" oi °iestiictions" oi °anxiety." Such a negative
undeistanding of the oiigins of the genie ceitainly makes it moie diffcult to see the play-
fulness and humoi of many of these texts oi to undeistand the iole humoi fiequently plays
in the authoi/ieadei ielationship. In teims of theii self-iepiesentation in addiesses to the
ieadei, the wiiteis and aitists of yaoi and slash do not appeai to be obsessively tiying to
iesolve sexual oi gendei-based anxieties; these poitions of theii texts aie too playful foi
that.
Play, the kind of play that mocks deaily held mainstieam tiuths, is a means of claim-
ing giound, of tiansgiessing the iules in ways that aie empoweiing iathei than compensa-
toiy. Both yaoi and slash tend to locate theii stoiies in male-dominated woilds wheie
women have often been tiivialized and iendeied incidental oi ieduced to acted-upon sub-
100 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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jects. These authois have iesponded by inteiiupting and disiupting these woilds by play-
ing with social and sexual conventions and by inviting the audience to join in the game. In
this way, the authois piovide points of access foi women into these homosocial discouises
and into the iepiesentations of sex and sexuality that have heietofoie been dominated by
men as both pioduceis and consumeis.
Wiiting about slash, Susanne Jung aigues that °women wiiting about men having sex
is then doubly tiansgiessive in that it not only violates the notion of female sexual igno-
iance but also has at its centie ... male homosexuality,"
5
a sexuality that Jung notes is his-
toiically chaiacteiized by seciecy. In fact, both male homosocial and homosexual woilds
have histoiically been kept seciet fiom women. Not seciet in the sense that women did not
know about them, but seciet in the sense that they weie often suppoited by the stiuctuies
of male-only institutions and spaces to which women did not have access. Women could
not physically entei many of these spaces, oi they weie cuitailed within some public poi-
tion of them; and, moie impoitant, they did not have access to male homosocial/sexual
cultuie. Whethei those spaces weie schools and univeisities, clubs oi spoiting venues, oi
even woikplaces, the exclusion of women was often feicely defended and suiiendeied,
wheie it has been suiiendeied, only aftei legal challenge. Many of those spaces aie the same
spaces wheie yaoi and slash stoiies aie set.
Some yaoi and slash wiiteis add to theii tiansgiessions not only by wiiting about males
having sex with each othei but by inviting othei women to enjoy the thought expeiiment
and even to have a go at imagining it and elaboiating on it foi themselves. Many yaoi have
an afteiwoid in which the authoi/aitist (oi both if they aie diffeient people) addiesses the
ieadei, geneially inviting feedback and engaging the ieadei diiectly. Usually iefeiied to in
the table of contents as °Bonus Pages," these pages, seemingly supeißuous to the stoiy, may
include sketches, a shoit bonus stoiy, oi even an °inteiview" with one of the chaiacteis.
Cathy Campei has dismissed these bonus pages in stiongly gendeied teims: °almost
all manga include 'giily-giil` notes fiom the female cieatois to theii fans, apologizing foi
mistakes and agonizing ovei deadlines."
6
Although it is tiue that some bonus pages aie pii-
maiily thank-you notes to editois and assistants, othei authois use the afteiwoid to pio-
vide insight into theii attitude to theii woik.
Wiiteis of yaoi invite and even diiect ieadeis to iead theii texts as lessons on how to
develop a moie nuanced eiotic imagination. Yaoi authoi Ritsu Natsumizu delights in pio-
viding mini imagination woikshops foi hei ieadeis in hei bonus pages. Foi example, at the
end of Crushing Icve, she discusses the °episode of the dazzling haidwaie stoie" wheie she
noticed °vaiious thickness chains ¦sic] that aie sold by the metei. I was wondeiing wheie
the local semes get these goods, but I`m glad that they`ie easily obtainable."
7
Then she
demonstiates to hei ieadeis how almost anything can be used to exeicise one`s imagina-
tion when she takes two diffeient cookies off hei snack plate and imagines two men who
would have some of the chaiacteiistics of these cookies and then piomptly puts them in
bed togethei (see Fig. ). She ends this segment by teasing hei ieadeis with °what kind of
wondeiful imaginations do you have:"
8
She explicitly invites hei ieadeis to develop theii
fantasy woilds, encouiaging them to see this as a tiainable skill and piaising them foi theii
own imaginations.
In the bonus pages foi Icve Bus Stcp, Natsumizu staits with a close-up diawing of the
hem of a man`s suit pant leg bieaking ovei a diess shoe labeled °paits of the suit that aie
kinda sexy No.."
9
She goes on to talk about how magazines and catalogues aie a gieat souice
of mateiial foi fantasy and uses the example of a catalogue of expensive home items to
-0 Uses fcr Bcys (STANLEY) 101
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102 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
Figure . °Episode of the WonderfuI Snacks," Ritsu Natsumizu. Crushíng Love. EngIish transIation
· 2007 by DIGITAI MANGA, INC, Gardena, CA.
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demonstiate. She diaws a beautiful and expensive wooden handkeichief case fiom the cat-
alogue and says, °things like ¦this] get my heait pumping befoie the fantasy even staits.
Befoie this, I didn`t even know they made handkeichief cases."
0
Then she demonstiates
how to use objects fiom the catalogue as piops in a scenaiio she devises in which a wealthy
man seduces a °noimal salaiy man." She ends the exeicise saying °How`s that: You should
tiy it, eveiyone."
Hei explicit invitation to hei ieadeis is that they should develop theii
own fantasy skills thiough hei lesson plan.
Natsumizu takes on the iole of the initiate to these pleasuies of fantasy, inviting hei
ieadeis to play in theii own imaginations even if they do not wiite oi diaw. Nothing in hei
style suggests oi ieveals any anxiety oi feai oi lack. Instead she begins fiom the position
that hei ieadeis have °wondeiful imaginations" full of potential; hei iole is to teach by pio-
viding hei ieadeis with examples of techniques foi playing in that uniestiicted space. This
is the inexhaustible female imaginaiy of Cixous who, in °The Laugh of the Medusa," tells
women °I know why you haven`t wiitten" and discusses all the ways wiiting, like mastui-
bation, makes women feel guilty, even if they only do enough °to take the edge off." Then
Cixous goes on to uige, °Wiite, let no one hold you back, let nothing stop you: not man
... and not ycurself."
2
Natsumizu may not be a theoiist, but she is just as deteimined to
encouiage hei ieadeis to exploie theii own potential foi fantasy.
Yuzuha Ougi, in the bonus pages of Brcther, similaily to Natsumizu, gives a lesson on
how to set a mood foi fantasy:
In geneial to talk about how I like to see boy-on-boy kinky scenes depicted. I think it
should piesent a °sexual mood" fiom beginning to end. Dim the genitals as much as
possible, make the sex buist out of the fiame, etc. A mood of having sex the whole time.
Voices, sweat, facial expiessions, eveiything.
3
She contiasts hei ideal iepiesentations of sex with flm iepiesentations by thinking back
to hei fist expeiience of seeing a poinogiaphic flm: °When I was young I too saw an
uncensoied eiotic video foi the fist time and I thought it was gioss and disgusting and it
took a while befoie I could eat iaw fsh again. When you watch sex objectively, it`s amaz-
ing how iidiculous and weiid it is."
4
Heie we do have some evidence of anxiety, but again,
as with Natsumizu, hei appioach is moie educational than compensatoiy. She goes on to
demonstiate how to set a mood by including a sequence of diawings showing one of hei
two main chaiacteis stiipping. She talks about why she chooses to diaw the specifc moments
she has selected and what each fiame contiibutes to the cieation of a sexy mood. By tak-
ing the chaiactei out of the stoiy and piesenting him in this way in the bonus pages, she
is inviting hei ieadeis to think about what they fnd sexy (and not sexy) about the male
body.
Othei wiiteis use the bonus pages to talk about tuin-ons oi to play with the idea of
objectifying men and tuining them into seivings foi consumption. In the bonus pages foi
Icving Gaze, Akiia Kanbe jokes that hei pioblem is contiolling the sexual uiges of the chai-
acteis: °As the authoi it ieally makes me happy when chaiacteis take such a life of theii
own..., but they become so lively that the sex scenes went on longei than I`d anticipated ...
Yikes! I`m so embaiiassed..."
5
(hei ellipses). Once she`s imagined the chaiactei, it`s not hei
fault what he gets up to. Since hei embaiiassment is tianspaiently disingenuous, hei aftei-
woid functions to celebiate the long sex scenes iathei than apologize foi them.
Sakufu Ajimine also laments that hei chaiacteis won`t stay in line in hei two bonus
pages foi Ycur Hcnest Deceit: °I oiiginally intended to pen an adult, elite, goigeous ... tale,
but befoie I knew it, it devolved into a geezei fetish and windbag lawyei stoiy. (By magic:)"
6
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She accompanies this iemaik with a simple little sketch of hei two piotagonists diawn with
theii bodies in the piopoitions of young childien. She adds that hei seme, Kitchaia-sensei,
doesn`t seem to do veiy convincingly lawyeiish woik and adds °he piobably acts the pait
of the distinguished lawyei to a T somewheie wheie I can`t see him do it. Yuup." As in hei
pievious iemaik, she jokes that hei chaiacteis aie outside hei contiol; theii iepiesentation
is not hei iesponsibility. On the facing page, the fist page of two, she diaws Kuze, the uke,
in what she calls a °'He`d Nevei Look Like This` pictuie." Instead of poitiaying him in his
usual business suit, she diaws him tanned, diipping wet, and stiipping out of a tank top
and jeans. The contiadiction between the two pages-on the fist she asseits hei ability to
contiol the chaiacteis and on the second she denies it -adds to the sense of playfulness.
By emphasizing the ways in which the book seemingly slipped fiom hei contiol, hei false
apology instead highlights hei iole as authoi/aitist and cieatoi of both the chaiacteis and
the woild they inhabit.
Authois can also use the bonus pages to appaiently ieveal theii own tuin-ons, such as
Kanbe does aftei Icving Gaze: °A scene of Kunieda lightly sweeping Yoshimuzu off his feet
and caiiying him-that would have been a little tuin on foi me peisonally."
7
Like Natsum-
izu`s fantasy woikshops, Kanbe`s iefeience to a nonexistent scene, one she toyed with includ-
ing but ultimately didn`t include, invites the ieadeis to use the woik as an inspiiational staiting
point fiom which to extend the fantasy-she tieats the stoiy as open-ended, not complete.
Kiiiko Fuwa, in the bonus pages of \eekend Icvers, also ieveals something of hei own
peisonal pioclivities: °I am completely in love with that type so I was extiemely happy to
diaw it. The combination of glasses, coolness, beauty, and an oldei uke ... I can take thiee
seivings of this."
8
By iefeiencing the fantasy as food, °thiee seivings," Fuwa highlights the
idea of these fantasy men as delectable items foi consumption. She might also be using the
afteiwoid as a kind of °sales pitch" foi the fantasy she has put in motion: if the authoi likes
this °type," the ieadei might too. Thus, these wiiteis use the bonus pages to encouiage iead-
eis to think about and to play with the idea of fantasy and to be amused by it, defnitely
not to iepiess it.
Although the subject mattei of both yaoi and slash appeais to be male homosexual
ielationships, these aien`t texts that attempt iealistic iepiesentations of those ielationships
but iathei play with the eiotic potential geneiated by diffeiences in status oi powei. Maik
McLelland aigues that yaoi aie about °sex which deiives its inteiest fiom imagining powei
diffeientials, not equality."
9
Ceitainly foi many women wiiteis, to talk about the eiotics
of powei in heteiosexual ielationships iaises complex questions about the politics of gen-
dei diffeience and so, by making both membeis of the couple male, those pioblems can be
eiased. Having thus dispensed with gendei diffeience, yaoi authois can, as McLelland sug-
gests, play with the eiotics of powei by othei means, oi they may choose to exploie othei
ideas of the eiotic altogethei.
In the two common situations of offce and school iomances, foi example, powei can
be cieated by diffeiences in status, such as those in teachei/student iomances such as Pas-
sicn oi Empty Heart.
20
Both of these woiks employ a common yaoi plot in which powei
dynamics aie ieveised-in this case by making the student the aggiessoi and the moie sex-
ually confdent chaiactei, and, in the case of Passicn, the seme. Reveising powei dynamics
is a common plot device. In the foui-volume woik }azz,
2
a young patient diugs and sex-
ually assaults his doctoi, with whom he latei develops a ielationship. The doctoi is the uke.
By ieveising the anticipated powei dynamics, these authois iemind us that powei, espe-
cially in sexual ielationships, is often moie complex than a fist glance ieveals.
104 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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When the stoiy is about two appaient equals, such as two students in the same yeai,
powei diffeientials will be cieated by diffeiences in wealth, populaiity, expeiience, intelli-
gence, oi othei maikeis of success in the school enviionment. Similaily, powei diffeien-
tials in offce iomances aie often based on iank, but physical size, shyness, business success,
and othei powei dynamics aie also used to inciease the play of diffeience. Foi example,
the two inteins in °Like a White Phantom"
22
aie appaient equals but, wheieas Matsuda is
confdent and happy, Suzaki is shy, sad, huit by past giiefs, and sexually exploited by a sen-
ioi physician.
In many of these stoiies, the emotional climax occuis when the dominated chaiactei
asseits his own desiie. In yaoi this does not geneially change the seme/uke dynamic; it just
means that the uke fnally makes the fist move. Valenti desciibes this as the °cathaitic moment,
¦when] a woman can identify with both the desiied and the desiiing; this ßuidity is usually
not affoided to hei in moie tiaditional naiiatives."
23
This climactic moment also signals to
the ieadei that the ielationship is tiuly iecipiocal. Since so many yaoi include iape, oi, at
best, veiy aggiessive seduction, establishing the idea that the ielationship is, in fact, mutual,
is impoitant. Without a female chaiactei to identify with, Valenti aigues, women aie fiee to
choose to identify with the uke, the seme, oi both. The bonus pages, which so often focus on
active ieadei paiticipation in the play of eiotic fantasy, encouiage this ßuid identifcation.
Both yaoi and slash paiticipate in the iealm of iomance and sexual fantasy liteiatuie,
genies that tend to dispense with theoiy in favoi of piaxis by actually engendeiing feelings
of desiie, pleasuie, aiousal and so on in the ieadei. A ciitic such as Campei complains that
°what`s missing fiom boys` love manga is the heavy baggage of adult sexuality."
24
But, of
couise, the same can be said foi even moie tiaditional wiitten genies of iomance and
poinogiaphy. Fatigue, the stiess of woik, aging bodies, housewoik, paying bills, and othei
facts of adult life that impact adult sexuality aie not the natuial subjects of any of these
genies. In fantasy-based genies, iealism is simply not pait of the pictuie.
meiely expiess how happy they aie about the stoiyline, ait, sex scene, etc. Theie aie, how-
evei, some comments that aie maikedly diffeient in tone. Comments about the female
chaiacteis in manga aie fiequently veiy negative and occasionally viiulently, even violently,
misogynistic. Even the smallest of female ioles can evoke a disgusted ieaction fiom iead-
eis, and the comments inciease in both numbei and antipathy when the chaiactei in ques-
tion could have a negative impact on the ielationship between the stoiy`s main couple.
These misogynistic comments aie especially distuibing because the BL genie is wiitten by
women and taigeted to a female audience; although the audience is not entiiely composed
of women, it is oveiwhelmingly female. This means that most, if not all, of the commenteis
who ieact so negatively to the female chaiacteis aie themselves female. Why do female
ieadeis ieact so negatively towaid theii own gendei: Aie these ieactions exclusive to BL
woiks,
2
oi is it likely that the ieadeis caiiy these ieactions acioss genies within manga and
even outside manga to mainstieam fction: In this papei, I intend to exploie these ques-
tions and piopose possible answeis to them. I will examine the comments to posts on the
Yaoi Daily community, and I will also discuss the iesults of a suivey that I conducted of
BL ieadeis` ieactions to female chaiacteis in BL manga.
3
The online English-language boys` love manga fandom is huge and is highly paitici-
patoiy. Not only aie theie many scanlation gioups, but theie aie also many communities
and foiums (many iun by scanlation gioups) which have laige membeiships and aie, in
geneial, highly active. One of the moie active communities is the Yaoi Daily community
on LiveJouinal.
4
This community is dedicated to the posting of BL manga scans. As theii
community piofle states, °yaoi_daily is an eye candy (image posting) community devoted
to the shaiing and piomotion of yaoi manga, dcujinshi, and ait in a positive enviionment,
fiee fiom ciiticism foi youi tastes. Fiom BDSM to shta, we gathei heie to bask in its gloiy,
piaise beautiful ait, and/oi get hot `n botheied."
5
Posts to this community must follow
explicit iules. The two most impoitant aie that all posts must contain images fiom a BL
woik and that the woik must not be licensed foi distiibution in the United States.
6
Mem-
beis of the community aie encouiaged to comment on individual posts and the commu-
nity is a veiy paiticipatoiy one, although few seiious discussions aie conducted in the
comments, which aie in the main limited to emotional ieactions to the manga posted.
These include both the °squee" comments and the misogynistic comments mentioned
above.
110
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7
One of the fist things that should be done, in oidei to undeistand why these highly
negative ieactions to female chaiacteis in BL occui, is to tiy to undeistand why ieadeis
choose to follow this genie. Many papeis deal, at least in pait, with this issue, although
most of them do so by theoiizing iathei than by asking ieadeis foi theii ieasons. Both of
these methods aie impoitant in oidei to tiuly undeistand the appeal of BL. Some theoiists
believe that BL is populai because women aie unable to achieve an equal ielationship with
men, due to innate powei diffeientials encoded in Japanese society, and so women tuin to
stoiies that featuie a ielationship between two men in oidei to visualize and vicaiiously
expeiience a tiuly equal ielationship.
7
In a slightly diffeient take on the mattei, othei the-
oiies state that the BL genie is attiactive because it gives women access to the phallus,
8
oi
because it helps to fulfll scoptophilic desiie which Fieud posited as an innate pait of female
sexuality.
9
Othei theoiies, most often found in discussions of slash fanfction, suggest that
what ieadeis fnd appealing in these genies is the way that the chaiacteis aie depicted in
manneis that aie neithei wholly masculine noi wholly feminine.
0
Foi example, while adult
men aie geneially seen as being moie iestiained about demonstiating theii emotions, many
of the men found in BL aie ielatively open about theii emotions. Even when they attempt
to hide theii emotions, they still act in ways that cleaily convey the veiy emotions they aie
tiying to hide. Men in BL could be seen, theiefoie, as the idealized men that ieadeis wish
they could fnd in ieal life.
Although theie may be some tiuth in each of these theoiies, it would be pioblematic
to look exclusively to them foi an undeistanding of BL`s appeal. Few of the authois of these
theoiies suiveyed the ieadeis of BL. Although ieadeis may not be conscious of all of theii
ieasons foi following a genie, it is still necessaiy to examine the ieasons that they give foi
theii enjoyment. This can be a challenging exeicise, since ieadeis may not be willing to
analyze why they enjoy something foi feai of destioying that enjoyment, oi because they
do not caie why they enjoy it.
In the suivey, I did not specifcally ask ieadeis why they liked the BL genie. Howevei,
I did ieceive answeis that can help illuminate some viewpoints on why the genie is attiac-
tive. I suspect, howevei, that theie may be almost as many ieasons foi liking the genie as
theie aie ieadeis of it. Some of the ieasons given by the suivey iespondents included: °I
like the dynamic of two men getting togethei. And, it`s just hot." °I like the iomance and
the sex. It`s hottei and moie inteiesting when it`s between two men." °I do like the visu-
als of the bishounen; the eiotic alluie of two guys getting it on. I also like the deepei ioman-
tic points of ielationships that get built by the guys." °I piefei to iead mangas ¦sic] which
have beautiful ait and as a heteiosexual woman natuially I like men thus TWO beautiful
man ¦sic] making out aie a ieal tuin-on!" °I would love to see some iealistic appioach to
men`s iomance, and I am attiacted to the angst cieated fiom it." °I iead yaoi foi the titil-
lation." °I like them because I get to oogle ¦sic] hotly diawn men." °What I appieciate
about yaoi is the 'foibidden` aspect." One iespondent asked, °must theie be a ieason: Attiac-
tion, lust and sexuality is ¦sic] not a iational piocess and does not iequiie validation.... Any-
thing my mind cooks up about it is just about self-justifcation."
2
The most often-cited
ieason heie was that °it`s hot." Foi these ieadeis, a ielationship between two men is eiotic,
and so they enjoy BL; foi some this factoi is enhanced by the °foibidden" aspect, because
homosexuality is still seen by many as being not socially acceptable.
I would like to highlight anothei ieason foi enjoying BL that a iespondent gave because
I believe it sheds light on the pioblem of misogynistic ieactions to female BL chaiacteis.
The iespondent said, °Who knows: Titillation: ... Romance without pesky female compe-
7-¨She Shculd }ust Die in a Ditch° (BLAIR) 111
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tition: (We always compaie don`t we:) Poin that doesn`t involve us as women:"
3
While she
does ieiteiate the idea of male homosexual ielationships as titillating, fai moie impoitant,
she biings up two ideas that I think aie at the coie of the negative comments about female
chaiacteis: the idea that the ieadei will, peihaps unconsciously, compaie heiself to and tiy
to compete with a female chaiactei, and the attiactiveness of a genie that can depict poino-
giaphic situations without using a female body.
This fist idea of women unconsciously attempting to compete with the female chai-
acteis in an inteiesting one; howevei, I don`t think that the pioblem is only unconscious
competition. In some cases, I believe that the ieadei will identify the female chaiactei as a
souice of competition, iegaidless of the fact that the two men in the stoiies aie involved
with each othei. The men aie still the object of desiie foi the ieadeis. This means that chai-
acteis who thieaten the ielationship between the men could also be seen as thieatening the
desiie of the ieadei.
Anothei aspect to this negative ieaction to female chaiacteis stems fiom the lack of
nuance in how the chaiacteis aie poitiayed. Often they come off as somewhat ßat, iathei
than being fully developed, thiee-dimensional chaiacteis. This is less of a pioblem with the
male chaiacteis, who aie often moie nuanced. Even when the male chaiacteis aie not com-
pletely thiee-dimensional, a piedominantly female audience may be moie inclined to ovei-
look these less-nuanced poitiayals of chaiacteis with whom they cannot completely ielate
because of the gendei diffeience. Howevei, when female chaiacteis aie poitiayed as lack-
ing nuance, a female audience will note this immediately. I believe that the female chaiac-
teis aie poitiayed in this less-nuanced mannei because they aie often used as antagonists
in the plot and aie not intended to be liked; what the mangaka wish to highlight aie theii
negative aspects.
Some pooily poitiayed female chaiacteis in BL may be excused by ieadeis thinking
that although they wouldn`t act that way, they could imagine othei people doing so. Othei
poitiayals of female chaiacteis may be so extieme, howevei, that it thiows female ieadeis
out of theii suspension of disbelief and iuins theii appieciation of the stoiy.
The second idea that the iespondent biought up also deseives a closei look. The iespon-
dent`s idea that poinogiaphy that involves a female body can be pioblematic foi a female
ieadei is complementaiy to the theoiies espoused by Aoyama Tomoko, Suzuki Kazuko, and
Matsui Midoii. Much tiaditional poinogiaphy is seen as degiading foi women. In tiadi-
tional male-oiiented poinogiaphy, women aie most often the object of the gaze, and they
do not obtain subjectivity; this is seen as both a symptom of the patiiaichic stiuctuie of
Westein civilization and as a way of ieinfoicing this same system by denying women sub-
jectivity.
4
While in theoiy poinogiaphy and obscenity aie easily defnable, in piactice it is
moie diffcult.
5
This diffculty was famously expiessed by Justice Pottei Stewait of the U.S.
Supieme Couit in 964 when he declaied that he didn`t know what piecise kinds of mate-
iial would be consideied haid-coie poinogiaphy but that °I know it when I see it."
6
Obscen-
ity and poinogiaphy thus depend on the inteipietation of the consumei, and what one
peison defnes as obscene anothei may not. While many BL woiks aie sexually explicit,
otheis aie not explicit in the least. Peihaps because of the oiigins of the teim yaoi, most
academic woik on BL focuses on the moie sexually explicit woiks and fiequently desciibes
the genie as a whole as °poinogiaphic."
7
But even though some BL woiks could be defned
as poinogiaphy, the genie as a whole is not poinogiaphic.
As Mulvey points out, in naiiative cinema the audience ieceives pleasuie voyeuiisti-
cally, by means of obseiving the actions of the chaiacteis on the scieen; naicissistically,
112 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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thiough identifcation with the chaiacteis; and fetishistically, thiough use of close-ups on
body paits.
8
Manga, which contains cinematogiaphic elements, such as the editing of nai-
iative time and of space (depth of feld, etc.), can also be examined using this theoiy. BL
can be seen as a way of oveituining the patiiaichal system. It is wiitten by women specifcally
foi a female audience, and iathei than focusing on the female body it is focused exclusively
on the male body. This allows women not only to gain subjectivity, because they aie the
taigets of this genie, but it iemoves theii objectivity, because they aie not focusing theii
gaze on othei female bodies but instead on men`s bodies.
One pioblem with this view is that, as I mentioned eailiei, the men aie not poitiayed
in a steieotypically masculine way but aie iathei feminized. Men in BL aie feminized not
only in theii appeaiance, being fiequently andiogynous, but they aie also feminized in theii
emotional ieactions, shown as being moie open with theii emotions than is consideied
typical. The uke in BL is especially feminized and is fiequently depicted as emotionally
ßusteied and quick to ciy. In fact, as Nagakubo Yko points out, many BL stoiies can be
iead as mimicking heteiosexual iomance naiiatives, wheiein the heteiosexual fantasies of
women aie, in BL, simply piojected onto two male bodies.
9
Regaidless, BL is still a genie taigeted towaid a female gaze. Despite the fact that the
audience has expanded to include male ieadeis as well, the audience is fiequently assumed,
especially in academic woik on BL, to be mainly female and heteiosexual, and BL is pio-
duced with the desiies of this audience in mind.
20
This biings us back to the question of
why an audience in which the majoiity population is female has such negative ieactions to
poitiayals of its own sex.
I aigue that the negative ieactions of female ieadeis aie caused by theii desiie to focus
entiiely on the ielationship between the male leads and by the most common use to which
mangaka put theii female chaiacteis. It is impoitant to note at this point that female chai-
acteis aie by no means ubiquitous in BL; in fact, it is entiiely the opposite. Women aie
almost entiiely invisible in BL. When women do appeai, they aie iaiely fully developed
chaiacteis and sometimes aie not even diawn with facial featuies, as it is often not neces-
saiy foi the ieadei to be able to diffeientiate one fiom anothei.
2
One of the moie common uses foi female chaiacteis is as a baiiiei to the male chai-
acteis` developing ielationship. A typical chaiactei could be a woman with whom the chai-
actei`s family wants him to develop a ielationship, eithei because homosexuality is still not
consideied socially acceptable and they want the chaiactei to be accepted, oi because they
do not know that he is gay and aie pushing him towaid a ielationship in geneial. Alteina-
tively, the female chaiactei might be inteiested in one of the chaiacteis and puisuing him,
aggiessively oi not. Regaidless of the depiction, the female chaiactei will be almost uni-
veisally hated by fans because she is a thieat to the main couple`s ielationship.
In addition to this, howevei, she is fiequently depicted by the mangaka in a veiy neg-
ative way, so theie is little about the chaiactei that is likable. This depiction is, in the main,
not iealistic. While the chaiactei`s ieasons foi hei actions may be based on iealistic motives,
hei actions themselves aie often ovei the top and not at all how most ieal women would
ieact in the given situation. An example of this is the chaiactei Mejiio Kanako in Kano
Shiuko`s Ctcnage.
22
Ctcnage is a one-volume woik that focuses on the ielationships of a gioup of foui con-
stiuction woikeis, with most of the attention given to the ielationship between Nakano
Shunji and Mejiio Yasushi. Yasushi and the female chaiactei, Kanako, shaie a last name
because they aie cousins. They used to be in a ielationship, but while they could have mai-
7-¨She Shculd }ust Die in a Ditch° (BLAIR) 113
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iied, Yasushi didn`t want to have childien because of his blood ielationship with Kanako.
At the beginning of Ctcnage, Yasushi ieveals that it was his inteiest in Nakano that piompted
him to bieak up with Kanako. Despite the fact that he had been living with Kanako foi two
yeais at that point, Yasushi moves in with Nakano instead. Although Nakano and Yasushi
have a sexual ielationship, they have diffculty connecting on an emotional level, and theie
is a faii amount of violence in theii ielationship. They have many misundeistandings, and
Nakano uses anothei of the constiuction woikeis, Kuioda Taiki, to make Yasushi jealous.
This misundeistanding is quickly iesolved within the fist chaptei, but befoie the ieadei
can get complacent, Kanako is intioduced in chaptei two.
Kanako veiy delibeiately tiies to come between Nakano and Yasushi, and she uses sev-
eial diffeient ways to do this, all of them undeihanded and iepiehensible. Fiist, she tells
Nakano that she wishes to take back Yasushi. Then she attempts to seduce Nakano, imply-
ing that the only ieason he is with a man is because he has nevei had a woman befoie. Kanako
also begins to haiass Nakano; she constantly shows up wheievei he is, at woik oi even at
the gioceiy stoie. Then she implies that the ieason she dumped Yasushi is because she is
piegnant and she didn`t want to heai Yasushi tell hei that she should get an aboition.
23
This
ievelation makes Nakano act diffeiently towaid Yasushi, and the two of them fght. Shoitly
aftei this, Kanako asks Nakano to accompany hei to the gynecologist because she is scaied
of going alone. At the gynecologist`s, it is ievealed that, despite having many symptoms of
piegnancy, Kanako is not, in fact, piegnant. She heiself was convinced that she was pieg-
nant, and she is both saddened and ielieved to fnd out that she was wiong. The knowl-
edge that she isn`t piegnant enables Kanako to let go of hei iemaining feelings foi Yasushi,
and she bows out of the manga with suipiising giace.
Although Kanako`s motives foi acting the way she does aie easily undeistandable and
ielatively iealistic (she is given a sad back stoiy to explain why she is so fxated on Yasushi),
hei actions aie completely uniealistic and come off as quite cieepy. Hei main puipose foi
existing is to cause misundeistandings between Yasushi and Nakano and to make the sto-
iyline moie emotionally weighty.
Readei ieactions to Kanako aie vitiiolic. In fact, the quote used in the title of this papei
comes fiom a ieadei comment about Kanako made when Ctcnage was being posted on Yaoi
Daily. The full comment spaiked a shoit conveisation in the comments. This conveisation
was held shoitly aftei Kanako had been intioduced, befoie she had actually done much that
was objectionable, except lifting hei shiit to show hei bieasts to Nakano.
LBC: Kanako`s a majoi cunt and she should just die in a ditch, slowly and painfully.
Now, wheie did I put my knives and shovel:
QC: No, no, no, don`t use knives, because it`s going to be messy, with the blood and all
that. You should use some iope. Twist it aiound hei neck then pull it slowly, when
she`s about to faint, ielease the iope a little so she won`t die that fast then do it again
and again until she`s dead. ¯digs hole to buiy the body¯
LBC: Hehehe, you`ie iight. How `bout slightly stiangling hei until she faints and then
we buiy hei alive: Nothing`s moie tiaumatizing than waking up in a ieally ciamped
space, in the daik, and no one to heai you scieam. I`m a ¦sic] such a bittei, hoiiible
bitch, but with Kanako, I don`t caie.
24
These weie by fai the most violent of the comments ieacting to Kanako, and the level of
hate that they evince was fai out of piopoition with Kanako`s actions at the time when the
comments weie made.
Many of the othei comments in this section weie some vaiiation of °Boo ... boo ...
boobies ... ARGH!"
25
and mentions of how suipiised the ieadei was when Kanako lifted
114 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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hei shiit. It is veiy inteiesting to note that although LBC made some veiy alaiming com-
ments about Kanako, latei in the comments on the same post she is fai moie modeiate.
TB: Sometimes I ieally dislike yaoiland. Real women aie not like that. Ugh.... Just so
anoying ¦sic] when the mangakas ¦sic] paint women like that.
LBC: I agiee with you. I hate disliking some female chaiacteis in Yaoiland, but damn, I
hate women like Kanako. I hate it when a woman thinks sex between guys is weiid oi
gioss, as if she weie any hottei, which she ain`t not with that peisonality/behavioi.
26
When iesponding to a moie levelheaded comment, LBC was heiself levelheaded. But in hei
fist comment about Kanako, she ieacted fai moie violently than the situation called foi,
and with a distuibing amount of misogyny towaid a chaiactei that, as of yet, had done lit-
tle to meiit it. LBC`s comment in iesponse to TB implies that she is not misogynistic in
geneial, but hei extiemely misogynistic ieaction eailiei was a iesult of the way Kanako was
depicted. This implies that theie aie othei female chaiacteis, even in BL, oi yaoiland,
27
that
LBC does not fnd objectionable.
In my suivey of BL ieadeis, I asked foi theii geneial impiessions of female chaiacteis
in BL manga. None of the ieplies that I ieceived weie misogynistic in the least. One of the
iesponses mentioned that the female chaiacteis aie usually °handled badly as plot devices."
Othei iespondents elaboiated on this, saying that the female chaiacteis aie °theie to add
an extia dash of tiouble oi angst, oi to piovide the ieadei with a chaiactei to hate" oi, °just
the side chaiactei that has the guy iealize he is gay" oi, °BL obsessed fiiends, sisteis oi moms.
Eveiy once in a while theie is a giilfiiend/best fiiend who bows out giacefully." Othei
iespondents mentioned that female chaiacteis can occasionally be helpful fiiends who
encouiage the budding ielationship between the main chaiacteis. A few iespondents men-
tioned that they tiy to only iead manga in which the female chaiacteis aie handled as well
as the male chaiacteis. One of those commenteis went on to add, °pait of me says 'well,
it`s not about the giils anyway, so who caies:` and the othei pait says 'Damnit ¦sic], stop
poitiaying my/oui sex like that!`"
28
The modeiate piivate ieactions in the suivey iesponses
I ieceived, contiasted with the vitiiolic public ieactions, lead me to believe that such misog-
yny can be attiibuted to a symptom of the °anonymity of watching," which is the phenom-
ena of °hatied as public peifoimance" noted by anthiopologist Michael Wesch in his woik
on YouTube.
29
Accoiding to Wesch, the anonymity gianted by paiticipating in inteinet foiums, wheie
it is possible to invent an entiiely new peisona simply by changing useinames, fiees peo-
ple to act in ways that they would nevei act in ieal life. In addition, pait of the point in
commenting is to be noticed, to leave the comment that is the one people iespond to, and
to paiticipate in a community, even if it is in a negative mannei. Posting inßammatoiy com-
ments can in fact aid this goal, because the moie outiageous a comment, the moie iesponses
it tends to ieceive. While I am suie that the people who make these soits of comments do,
in fact, dislike the chaiacteis they aie iefeiiing to, I am not suie that they hate them neaily
as much as they say they do.
30
These commenteis aie ieacting to the way the mangaka
intends the chaiactei to be peiceived.
A pioblem with this theoiy`s application to Yaoi Daily is that it is piedicated on
anonymity. LiveJouinal, howevei, is a blogging website. Comments, unless they aie made
anonymously, which is not possible in locked communities such as Yaoi Daily, always con-
tain a useiname that is also a hypeilink back to the commentei`s jouinal. While it is pos-
sible to lock entiies so that they cannot be seen by the geneial public, often jouinals aie
completely open and contain signifcant amounts of infoimation about the useis` ofßine
7-¨She Shculd }ust Die in a Ditch° (BLAIR) 115
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lives. In this way, useinames caiiy with them the useis` identity, oi as much of it as they
have chosen to shaie in theii jouinals. Also, Yaoi Daily encouiages commenting, and those
comments fuithei the development of an identity foi a specifc useiname. Although ofßine
lives can be hidden oi misiepiesented by useis, they still cieate an identity foi LiveJoui-
nal, which to some extent negates the anonymity of cieating a useiname.
Othei ieseaich done on anonymity and computei-mediated communication (CMC)
can also help to inteipiet the behavioi displayed by commenteis on Yaoi Daily. Reseaich
on ßaming in CMC is paiticulaily useful.
3
As Philip Thompsen notes, whethei oi not a
comment is defned as a ßame depends on two sepaiate issues. The fist is the behavioi oi
woiding of the comment (hostile, emotional, etc.). The second issue is on the iecipient`s
inteipietation of the comment.
32
Theiefoie, a comment could be inteipieted as a ßame when
it was not intended as such; oi a comment that was intended to be inßammatoiy could be
evaluated as noninßammatoiy. Thompsen also notes that ßaming behavioi depends on the
noims of the gioup in which it takes place, with some gioups being moie open to unin-
hibited behavioi than otheis.
33
Othei ieseaich has deteimined that anonymity can actually
help encouiage identifcation with a gioup and thus the submeigence of individual opin-
ions to the noims of the gioup in which people aie paiticipating.
34
Because Yaoi Daily is intended as a space to show woiks featuiing a male couple and
to shaie appieciation foi these woiks, and not as a space foi appieciating female chaiac-
teis, it has become a place wheie it is acceptable to say anything a commentei wants about
the female chaiacteis. Because the female chaiacteis aie fiequently intended by the man-
gaka to be disliked, and because the space in which BL is shaied was not set up to avoid
these soit of comments, it has become acceptable to be openly misogynistic in comments.
Raiely will anyone else call anothei commentei on this behavioi. These misogynistic com-
ments can be iead as a symptom of the social noim of Yaoi Daily, and not necessaiily as
ießecting the ofßine opinions of the commenteis themselves. Bashing male chaiacteis,
howevei, needs to be done with caution, and it is always a good idea to imply that the ciit-
icism is not tiuly meant. Oftentimes commenteis who make negative comments about the
male chaiacteis will be called out foi them.
I would like to ietuin biießy to two of the iesponses to the suivey that I mentioned
above; namely, to the ideas that female chaiacteis aie usually °handled badly as plot devices"
and aie °theie to add an extia dash of tiouble oi angst, oi to piovide the ieadei with a chai-
actei to hate."
35
These inteipietations tie in with some of the ideas mentioned by Tania
Modleski about the villainess in soap opeias. As Modleski points out, in soap opeias the
°one chaiactei whom we aie allowed to hate unieseivedly" is the villainess, who is also,
accoiding to Modleski, °the negative image of the spectatoi`s ideal self."
36
Kanako is a pei-
fect example of this. While the male chaiacteis have theii faults, Kanako is the only chai-
actei the ieadeis aie encouiaged to dislike.
The soap-opeia villainess is able to oveithiow the usual passive feminine iole and to
contiol, at least foi a time, the couise of the naiiative. One of the ways in which this hap-
pens is by means of piegnancy, exactly the means by which Kanako hijacks contiol of the
naiiative fiom Yasushi and Nakano. This causes Nakano to feel a gieat deal of anxiety. He
is confionted with the possibility that Kanako, by means of hei piegnancy, could take
Yasushi away fiom him. This also is a ieveisal of the way in which gendei ioles aie noi-
mally poitiayed. Heie a man, Nakano, is foiced into a passive and anxiety-flled iole noi-
mally inhabited by female chaiacteis. The villainess is both cheeied foi and jeeied by the
ieadeis. She is suppoited because she is a female chaiactei who obtains subjectivity, gen-
116 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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eially by means of tuining feminine weaknesses into souices of stiengths, but on the othei
hand, she is hated because she achieves powei by undeihanded means.
37
The chaiactei Koyama Moe in Homeiun Ken`s Bcku wa kimi nc tcri ni naritai
38
(I Want
to Become Youi Biid) is used in much the same mannei as Kanako is in Ctcnage, but the
ieadei ieactions weie quite diffeient. The manga staits out with the main chaiactei Koyama
Kei, Moe`s youngei biothei, having sex with his ait teachei and thinking that, despite the
fact that he is ffteen, he doesn`t know what love is. When Kei goes home, he sees his sis-
tei giinning at hei cell phone and Moe tells him all about hei boyfiiend, the °supei-cute
and dieamy" medical student Fujii. The ieadei soon leains that Kei and Moe`s mothei died
seveial yeais ago. Theii fathei iemaiiied, and he is cleaily too busy to have much time foi
his childien. Kei spends a lot of his time hanging out with his mateinal uncle, Akatsuka
Rintai, a poin novelist. When Kei is at Rintai`s house in the fist chaptei, he gets a pan-
icked phone call fiom Moe. Moe has a date with hei boyfiiend, but she`s let hei homewoik
pile up and now she can`t make it; also, she can`t call hei boyfiiend because the batteiy on
hei cell phone is almost dead. Could Kei go and meet Fujii and let him know that Moe will
have to ieschedule: Kei iuns all the way to wheie Moe and Fujii weie supposed to meet and
then, handily foi the plot, he passes out fiom the heat into Fujii`s aims. Fujii takes caie of
Kei and the two of them talk and seem to hit it off. By the end of the chaptei, it is cleai
that Kei has a ciush on Fujii, and it is also pietty cleai to the ieadei how this stoiy will go.
Indeed, as the stoiy continues to develop and Kei and Fujii giow closei, it becomes
cleai that cute, ßaky Moe and Fujii have veiy little in common. Moe staits to feel hei own
ielationship with Fujii thieatened by how close Fujii and Kei aie becoming, and she tiies
to keep them apait. Foi his own pait, Kei does his best to bieak things off with Fujii when
he sees that it is huiting Moe. Aftei many misundeistandings, the stoiy ends happily. Moe
bieaks up with Fujii and fnds a new boyfiiend who is moie like hei, and Fujii staits going
out with Kei. Indeed, by the end of the stoiy, Moe has become one of Fujii and Kei`s stiongest
suppoiteis.
Moe is depicted in a iealistic mannei. She may be a bit ditzy and selfsh, but she still
has a good heait and she caies a gieat deal foi Kei. She is just staiting univeisity and is
iathei self-involved. This chaiacteiization is moie iealistic than the chaiacteiization of
Kanako and was likely done to help engage the ieadei sympathetically with Moe. While
fans at fist ieacted positively towaid Moe, as the stoiy went on, they began to ieact in a
moie negative mannei, at least until the veiy end, when hei suppoit foi Kei and Fujii caused
an abiupt ieveisal of populai opinion. The fist fan ieactions to Moe weie all along the fol-
lowing lines: °Moe`s an adoiable spaz. ;P,"
39
; °I feel bad foi Moe. :( She`s-like someone
said above-is actually a sweet, cute chaiactei. I hope Fujii doesn`t fall foi hei biothei
instead. XD;;;"
40
; and °Oh so poignant! I like that they didn`t make the sistei into some evil
bitch, that she`s a nice peison too and they get along well and love eachothei ¦sic].. he`s
¦Kei`s] just fallen foi hei boyfiiend. Aigh that will make the angst 00x`s woise!"
4
As is cleaily visible in these comments, at the beginning of the stoiy eveiyone was ioot-
ing foi Moe ovei Kei. The second comment is especially ievealing. Despite the fact that
fiom the moment Kei faints into Fujii`s aims it is cleai the two of them aie going to be the
main couple of the stoiy, the commenteis still wanted Moe to be happy, even if it meant
that Kei and Fujii wouldn`t get togethei. As one iemaiked, °::sigh:: I wish the sistei wasn`t
so adoiable. I just know the uke and seme aie gonna get togethei, and she`s piobably gonna
get huit, and it`d be so much easiei to not caie about it if she weie annoying."
42
This is pait of the ieason I believe that the female chaiacteis, when they aie being used
7-¨She Shculd }ust Die in a Ditch° (BLAIR) 117
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as baiiieis to the main couple`s ielationship, aie depicted in such a negative way. The man-
gaka will depict them as giasping oi unsympathetic because then the ieadeis will not sym-
pathize in the least. In addition, the mangaka might wondei why she should spend a lot of
time tiying to develop a likable chaiactei foi a iole that is going to be disliked anyway. The
way Moe is depicted might be even moie effective foi the stoiy. Because she is liked, the
ieadeis aie attempting to cheei foi both Moe and Kei at the same time, which gives moie
emotional depth to the stoiy.
43
As the stoiy piogiessed, sympathies staited to change. As moie and moie details weie
ievealed about how Kei was ignoied by theii fathei, and as Moe continued hei ditzy ways,
the ieadeis began to empathize moie with Kei and to lose patience with Moe. When Kei
sees Moe ciying in Fujii`s aims at a festival because Fujii had been paying moie attention
to Kei than to hei, Kei iesolves to back off because he can see that he is huiting his sistei`s
ielationship. Latei in the stoiy, Kei fist iefuses to back out of a planned outing with Fujii
to allow Fujii and Moe to go on a date, despite the fact that this iefusal cleaily upsets Moe.
Then, at the veiy last minute, Kei tells Fujii to go and fnd Moe because Kei knows that
Moe has made plans to meet with hei ex-boyfiiend. One commentei iemaiked aftei this
that she kind of wished that Fujii and Moe would stay togethei because they make a good
couple; anothei commentei iesponded, °Actually, I felt that way until I iealized that ...
¦t]he sistei is ieally self-centeied, and not veiy thoughtful, eithei ... I mean, just because
she couldn`t see hei boyfiiend, she would iun off with hei Ex: That is what made me
tuin...."
44
Even though Moe`s actions aie still peifectly undeistandable and noimal, this point
in the stoiy, when Moe, upset ovei Kei`s iefusal to give up on a meeting with Fujii so Moe
and Fujii can go on a date togethei, agiees to meet with hei ex-boyfiiend, is when most
ieadeis staited disliking Moe, although theie weie still some who defended hei.
Moe`s most selfsh act in the manga is to tiy to keep Fujii fiom following Kei aftei Kei
has iun away fiom them ciying. Although theie weie still seveial commenteis who iemaiked
that they could undeistand why she`s acting that way and sympathize with hei, most of the
comments weie fai moie negative. One commentei iemaiked that if she weie Moe, she
would step aside so Kei and Fujii could be togethei,
45
which stiikes me as being a some-
what idealistic thought. Shoitly aftei this incident, howevei, the situation between the thiee
is iesolved when Moe iealizes that she and Fujii aie not actually a good match and bieaks
up with him, fieeing Fujii to be with Kei.
One of the fist comments on the post that contained this pait of the stoiy was, °Moe`s
gotten heiself onto good teims with me now."
46
All that was necessaiy foi Moe to iedeem
heiself in the eyes of ieadeis was to bow out of the ielationship with Fujii. The fact that
she immediately tuins aiound and staits championing Fujii`s ielationship with Kei only
made it easiei foi ieadeis to absolve hei of hei eailiei selfshness.
Moe is a good example of a female chaiactei who is effectively used to help the plot
along without being made completely unlikable in the piocess. An inteiesting thing about
hei poitiayal is that it is cleai that Homeiun Ken was tiying to make hei a sympathetic and
semi-iealistic chaiactei.
An inteiesting question to biießy look at heie is why mangaka choose so often to use
female chaiacteis as a iival, instead of male chaiacteis which could be-and sometimes
aie-used just as effectively. It is impoitant to note that when male iivals occui, they aie
often not as demonized as the female iivals, noi aie they as negatively poitiayed by the
mangaka. Theie aie, of couise, always exceptions. The male iival who appeais in the last
118 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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chaptei of Ctcnage is chaiacteiized as just as unlikable as Kanako; peihaps even moie dis-
likable. Kanako is at least given the oppoitunity to explain hei motives, which makes hei
slightly moie sympathetic, wheieas the motives given foi the male iival`s actions only seive
to make Nakano moie sympathetic.
The main chaiacteis in BL aie fiequently chaiacteiized as not-homosexual, even when
they aie cleaily engaged in a homosexual ielationship. It is common foi chaiacteis to deny
that they aie gay and then pioceed, almost immediately, to become involved in a homo-
sexual ielationship. Constance Penley, in an aiticle on Kiik/Spock slash, suggested that this
device °allows a much gieatei iange of identifcation and desiie foi the ¦ieadeis]: in the
fantasy one can be Kiik oi Spock (a possible phallic identifcation) and also still have (as
sexual objects) eithei oi both of them since, as heteiosexuals, they aie not unavailable to
women."
47
This could help account foi why female love iivals aie disliked in BL even moie
than male love iivals. Not only aie the female chaiacteis thieatening the ielationship
between the main chaiacteis, they also thieaten the ieadei. A female chaiactei becomes a
iival foi the ieadei in that she thieatens the possibility that the ieadei can have eithei of
the main chaiacteis. Because she is female, this love iival could step into the opening left
by the chaiacteis` absence of an avowed homosexual identity.
The thiid chaiactei I would like to discuss is the chaiactei Miyabi in Shimotsuki Kaiii`s
Madness.
48
In addition to wiiting BL woiks, Shimotsuki also wiites seinen and shnen
manga.
49
As a iesult, Madness has many elements that aie moie commonly found in seinen
and shnen manga, both in the basic plot stiuctuie and in the numbei of bloody scenes
that occui.
Madness staits out with a biief explanation that, due to a majoi eaithquake in 2700
A.D., the woild has fallen into chaos that even thiee hundied yeais latei has not been
iesolved. This leads to an inteiesting technological situation in which computeis, guns and
swoids all exist side by side and cais seem to have disappeaied. Because of the chaos, theie
has also emeiged a veiy violent gioup of people known as Madness who delight in blood-
shed, although with the muidei of theii leadei sometime befoie the beginning of the stoiy,
the gioup has disappeaied.
One of the main chaiacteis in the stoiy is Izaya, a piiest, who is caiing foi a man that
his fathei caged and chained in the basement of theii chuich. This man is none othei than
the supposedly dead leadei of Madness, Kyo, who lost his memoiy at the time that he was
supposedly killed. Anothei ex-membei of Madness attacks the chuich, attempting to steal
Kyo`s swoid. Duiing the fght, Kyo manages to fiee himself fiom the basement of the chuich
and kills his foimei companion. Aftei this fght, both Kyo and Izaya leave the chuich and
its village, Kyo because he is not welcome, now that he, a mass muideiei, is fiee fiom his
piison, and Izaya because he is the only peison who can stop Kyo when Kyo is in the giip
of bloodlust.
Not long aftei they leave the village, Kyo and Izaya encountei anothei ex-membei of
Madness, Oboio, who joins them. Soon aftei this, Izaya gets lost in a city and ends up get-
ting consciipted to woik in a biothel. He is saved by the biothel`s top piostitute, Uiaia, fiom
being iaped. It is little suipiise to the ieadei when, a chaptei latei, Uiaia is ievealed to be
none othei than Miyabi, a foimei membei of Madness and the peison who supposedly killed
Kyo. Miyabi is diawn in a way that is veiy ieminiscent of female chaiacteis in seinen woiks;
she is veiy busty and weais clothes that aie fiequently on the veige of falling off, and sev-
eial times she is depicted as weaiing haidly any clothes at all. But she is also shown as being
couiageous, geneious, and stiong, with a foimidable tempei and stiength of chaiactei.
7-¨She Shculd }ust Die in a Ditch° (BLAIR) 119
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It is only aftei Miyabi is intioduced that the plot of Madness ieally gets staited. The
manga is cuiiently two volumes long and at piesent is still being seiialized in Japan. Dui-
ing the couise of the stoiy, Miyabi fiequently comes between Kyo and Izaya, not because
she is tiying to become iomantically oi sexually involved with eithei one of them, but
because she likes Izaya as a peison. Since he is extiemely naïve, she wants to piotect him
fiom Kyo. Miyabi`s inteifeience iesults in hei inteiiupting Kyo and Izaya just befoie they
have sex, eveiy single time. While this would noimally be giounds foi eveiy fan of the
seiies to tuin against hei (and some do), the majoiity of the fans still adoie hei, in pait
because she also piotects Izaya fiom eveiyone else, but moie because hei chaiactei is fie-
quently desciibed by fans as °kick ass."
When Miyabi is fist intioduced, as Uiaia, she saves Izaya fiom being iaped by offei-
ing heiself as a substitute, an extiemely iaie example of heteiosexual inteicouise in a BL
woik. Readei ieactions weie, undeistandably, veiy sympathetic towaid hei. The fist com-
ment mentioning Miyabi that wasn`t commenting on the size of hei bieasts mentioned how
hoiiible the situation must have been foi hei, although in the manga Miyabi looks iathei
boied. The next comments weie a shoit conveisation between seveial commenteis iemaik-
ing on how beautiful Uiaia/Miyabi is. This soit of ieaction to a female chaiactei in a BL
manga is also extiemely iaie. At this point in the stoiy, it was not known that Uiaia and
Miyabi weie the same peison, although it had been implied. Readeis weie ieacting to Uiaia
mainly because she offeied heiself up to save Izaya and not because she was an ex-membei
of Madness. Moie typical weie iesponses like the eailiei °boobies ... ARGH!"
50
comment
made in iesponse to Kanako`s chaiactei in Ctcnage. Comments like that weie made befoie
Miyabi was even tiuly intioduced, in iesponse to a small diawing of Miyabi that was pait
of the fiont mattei in the manga. The postei of the Madness was quick to ieassuie those who
ieacted negatively to this pictuie that, while theie is a woman in Madness, they`ll like hei.
When Miyabi is fist intioduced, it is just as an image of hei in hei Madness days, with
some discussion between Kyo and Oboio about who she is. Readeis` ieactions to hei weie
extiemely positive. One of the fist ieactions was about how sexy Miyabi`s chaiactei was.
5
That was quickly followed by ieactions about how nice it was to see a female chaiactei who
can kick ass.
52
Because stiong, sympathetic, and well-thought-out female chaiacteis aie so
iaie, they aie welcomed immediately whenevei it seems like they might appeai, and iead-
eis often stick by them even if they stait to inteifeie in the main couple`s ielationship.
The fist time Kyo attempts to have sex with Izaya aftei Miyabi is intioduced, Kyo has
just ie-lost all memoiies of who he is and so doesn`t caie that Izaya is insisting that they
need to go save Miyabi and Oboio. Kyo is fai moie inteiested in getting Izaya`s pants off
than he is in iunning to the iescue of people he doesn`t iemembei. Kyo has Izaya`s pants
half off and both of them aie in the bathtub when the hilt of a swoid is intioduced to the
back of his head by Miyabi, who didn`t need iescuing aftei all. Miyabi goes on to pin Kyo
down by iesting hei foot on his head. The fist comment to this was °GAH! We fnally get
some lovin ¦sic] and its ¦sic] inteiiupted!!! Pooi Kyou ¦sic].. but that pic with Miyabi`s foot
on his head ciacks me up.. hahaha."
53
Othei commenteis ieacted similaily. Extiapolating
fiom the eailiei ieactions to women in BL manga that I cited, it would be ieasonable to
expect negative ieactions to Miyabi heie, but eveiy commentei who mentioned hei did so
not only positively, but on occasion almost fawningly.
The second time that Madness was posted to Yaoi Daily, ovei a yeai latei, the com-
menteis weie a little less foigiving at this scene. One iemaiked, °I`m soiiy, but Miyabi-
san`s becoming a little obnoxious...."
54
One othei commentei agieed, but all of the iest
120 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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ieacted positively. Although seveial commenteis complained that Miyabi could have picked
a bettei time to inteiiupt, they did not ieact negatively towaid hei, and anothei com-
mentei`s ieaction was °Oh my gawd ¦sic] I love Miyabi. ¯gush gush¯ ."
55
Othei than
the fist comment I quoted, the most negative comment about Miyabi was not about hei
chaiactei, but about hei miiaculous ability to have hei shiits iipped almost entiiely to
shieds and still stay on. Indeed, Miyabi was so populai that when Madness was posted foi
the second time, most of the comments on the fist of these ie-postings weie about how
much they loved the manga and seveial commenteis mentioned that they loved Miyabi.
When a commentei mentioned that upon seeing bieasts s/he looked away ieally quickly,
otheis weie quick to offei ieassuiance that Miyabi is actually likeable.
In the suivey, I asked ieadeis about what they thought of female chaiacteis in othei
manga genies that they iead. The iesponses I ieceived weie similai to what would be
expected fiom what I have discussed about ieactions to female chaiacteis in BL. Female
chaiacteis who aie stiong in theii own iight aie liked, while chaiacteis who aie oveily emo-
tional oi diamatic oi who exist only to fawn on the main chaiacteis (when they aie male)
oi on othei male chaiacteis aie disliked. Also, ieadeis ieact to how the mangaka appaiently
want theii chaiacteis to be ieceived. They geneially like the chaiacteis they aie seemingly
intended to like and dislike those chaiacteis whose attiibutes imply that they aie supposed
to be disliked.
56
The same piefeiences emeiged when they weie questioned about women
in fanfction and in published books.
57
It is cleai, then, that the misogyny and negativity that is found in many female iead-
eis` iesponses to female chaiacteis in BL manga does not necessaiily aiise fiom any innate
dislike of all female chaiacteis in manga oi because the ieadeis hold misogynistic views in
geneial. Rathei, what happens is that chaiacteis that aie poitiayed in a negative way by the
mangaka, such as Kanako, aie hated because they aie seemingly designed to be hated. Chai-
acteis that aie poitiayed as iealistically ßawed, such as Moe, have some suppoiteis, but they
aie also disliked. Chaiacteis that aie poitiayed as stiong and likeable, like Miyabi, aie
almost univeisally adoied by female ieadeis.
Although Yaoi Daily is intended as a space to appieciate ielationships between two
men, it does not necessaiily follow that in oidei to fulfll this intention it needs to be a
place that is open to hostility towaid the female chaiacteis. Howevei, the social noim foi
Yaoi Daily has developed so that dislike of female chaiacteis and misogynistic comments
about these chaiacteis aie consideied acceptable and unwoithy of notice by paiticipants. I
believe that this is the iesult of the deaith of stiong, positively poitiayed female chaiacteis
in BL. It is also caused by delibeiately negative poitiayals of female chaiacteis by mangaka,
which lead to the female chaiacteis being cast in the position of the chaiactei that ieadeis
love to hate. It is also a iesult of the female chaiacteis being seen as thieatening the fan-
tasies of the ieadei. Female chaiacteis thieaten both the ielationship between the main
chaiacteis and, by viitue of theii gendei, by close off the oppoitunity foi ieadeis to fanta-
size about a ielationship between themselves and eithei of the main chaiacteis.
Nctes
1. Foi the puipose of this chaptei, °postei" will iefei to the peison who makes the oiiginal jouinal entiy
and °commentei" will iefei to the ieadeis who make comments on that post.
2. These ieactions aie also fiequently noted in ieadeis of the slash fanfction genie, which like BL focuses
on male homosexual ielationships and is most fiequently wiitten by women foi women.
7-¨She Shculd }ust Die in a Ditch° (BLAIR) 121
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3. This suivey was titled °Readei suivey on Yaoi/BL/Boys` Love/Shounen ai manga." I designed and con-
ducted the suivey. The suivey was posted online using the Google Docs foims featuie and it was piomoted
on the Yaoi Daily Café community on LiveJouinal. It was also piomoted by the authois of seveial manga blogs
in an attempt to move beyond the LiveJouinal community. The suivey was active fiom 6 P.M. MST on Oct.
0, 2008, until 3 P.M. MST on Oct. 26, 2008. Duiing this peiiod I ieceived a total of eighty-seven iesponses.
The suivey was conducted to allow complete anonymity foi the iespondents, since ieading in this genie is
sometimes seen as stiange and peihaps deviant by widei society. All of the subjects weie self-selected and
most weie seiious, although a few iespondents` iesults weie discaided because they weie cleaily not seiious
in theii answeis and weie possibly only inteiested in attempting to skew the iesults.
To biießy explain the title of the suivey, although theie is a maiked piefeience foi the teim yaci, theie is
no one teim that is univeisally used to desciibe the BL genie in English-language fandom. In oidei to avoid
skewing the iesults by using only one of the teims which might have diffeient connotations foi the iespon-
dents than it does foi me, I used all teims in the suivey.
In futuie citations of this suivey I shall iefei to it as the °ieadei suivey." In oidei to diffeientiate between
the diffeient iespondents, I shall cite the time the suivey was taken when I quote a iespondent.
4. Yaoi Daily, http://community.livejouinal.com/yaoi_daily/; LiveJouinal, http://www.livejouinal.com.
Due to fiequent adult content, Yaoi Daily is a °locked" community; posts aie viewable only to membeis of
the community. LiveJouinal is a hosting website foi online jouinals that has become one of the favoied sites
foi fan jouinals and fan communities.
5. Yaoi Daily Community Piofle, http://community.livejouinal.com/yaoi_daily/piofle.
6. All commeicially published BL woiks aie acceptable, so a post may be fiom a manga, a djinshi with
a laige piint iun, oi a BL computei game. Although the iules simply mention that licensed woiks aie not
allowed, the FAQ (http://www.yaoi.ca/yaoidaily/faq/index.html#4b) iefeis specifcally to °Noith Ameiican
publishing companies."
7. Foi examples of this, see Aoyama Tomoko, °Male Homosexuality as Tieated by Japanese Women Wiit-
eis," in The }apanese Trajectcry. Mcdernizaticn and Beycnd, ed. Gavan McCoimack and Yoshio Sugimoto
(Cambiidge: Cambiidge Univeisity Piess, 988), 86-204; Suzuki Kazuko, °Poinogiaphy oi Theiapy: Japa-
nese Giils Cieating the Yaoi Phenomenon," in Millennium Girls. Tcday´s Girls Arcund the \crld, ed. Sheiiie
A. Inness (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefeld Publisheis, Inc. 998), 243-267.
8. See Matsui Midoii, °Little Giils Weie Little Boys: Displaced Femininity in the Repiesentation of Homo-
sexuality in Japanese Giils` Comics," in Feminism and the Pclitics cf Difference, ed. Sneja Gunew and Anna
Yeatman (Bouldei, CO: Westview Piess, 993), 77-96.
9. Kazumi Nagaike, °Peiveise Sexualities, Peiveisive Desiies: Repiesentations of Female Fantasies and
Yaci Manga as Poinogiaphy Diiected at Women," U.S.-}apan \cmen´s }curnal, English Supplement, 25 (2003):
76-03.
10. See Elizabeth Woledge, °Fiom Slash to the Mainstieam: Female Wiiteis and Gendei Blending Men,"
Extrapclaticn 46. (2005): 50-65.
11. This aigument is veiy similai to what Janice Radway desciibes as the appeal of the iomance novel in
chaptei foui of Reading the Rcmance. Although the compaiison may seem to be a stietch, because iomances
aie focused on a heteiosexual ielationship, many of the tiopes found in iomance novels aie similai to tiopes
found in BL. Janice A. Radway, Reading the Rcmance. \cmen, Patriarchy, and Pcpular Iiterature (Chapel Hill,
NC and London: Univeisity of Noith Caiolina Piess, 99).
12. Blaii, °Readei Suivey," 0/0/08 9:07; 0/0/08 9:30; 0//08 00:28; 0//08 06:3; 0//08 4:43;
0/3/08 3:46; 0/5/08 8:58; 0/8/08 23:39; 0//08 00:42.
13. Ibid, 0/4/08, 09:47.
14. Lauia Mulvey, °Visual Pleasuie and Naiiative Cinema," in Visual and Cther Pleasures (Bloomington
& Indianapolis: Indiana Univeisity Piess, 989), 9; Nagaike, °Peiveise Sexualities," 79; Tania Modleski, Icv-
ing with a Vengeance. Mass-Prcduced Fantasies fcr \cmen, 2nd ed. (New Yoik & London: Routledge, 2008),
44-45, 47.
15. Poinogiaphy is °the explicit desciiption oi exhibition of sexual subjects oi activity in liteiatuie, paint-
ing, flms, etc., in a mannei intended to stimulate eiotic iathei than aesthetic feelings; piinted oi visual mate-
iial containing this." Obscenity is defned as °. The chaiactei oi quality of being offensively indecent, lewdness;
an instance of this, esp. an obscene expiession. 2. The chaiactei oi quality of being hoiiible, offensive, oi
moially iepugnant, etc. Also (as a count noun): an extiemely offensive oi objectionable gestuie, statement,
event, etc." Cxfcrd English Dicticnary, diaft ievision 2008, s.v. °Poinogiaphy." Cxfcrd English Dicticnary, diaft
ievision 2004, s.v. °Obscenity."
16. Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 84, 97 (964).
17. See foi example Nagaike, Suzuki, and McLelland, among otheis. Maik McLelland, °Loincloths, Lady-
boys and Lolita`s Little Biothei: Women`s Cultuie and the Consumption of 'Gay Poinogiaphy` in Japan," in
122 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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Queer in the 2Ist Century. The Bcdy-Queer and Pclitic, ed. J. Keith Atkinson and Justin J. Finneity (Foiti-
tude Valley, Austialia: Gay and Lesbian Welfaie Association, Inc., 200), 97-8; Maik McLelland, °Why aie
Japanese Giils` Comics Full of Men Bonking:" Refractcry. A }curnal cf Entertainment Media, 0 (2006/2007):
http://blogs.aits.unimelb.edu.au/iefiactoiy/2006/2/04/why-aie-japanese-giils%E2%80%99-comics-full-of-
boys-bonking-maik-mclelland/; Maik McLelland and Seunghyun Yoo, °The Inteinational Boys` Love Fan-
dom and the Regulation of Viitual Child Poinogiaphy: The Implications of Cuiient Legislation," Sexuality
Research o Sccial Pclicy. }curnal cf NSRC 4:(2007): 93-04.
18. Mulvey, 6, 8, 2-22.
19. Nagakubo Yko , Yaci shsetsurcn. }csei nc tame nc ercsu hygen :
(Tokyo: Sensh Daigaku Shuppankyoku, 2005), 09-4. Nagakubo`s woik piovides a veiy good analy-
sis of gendei in BL.
20. The bieakdown in suivey iespondents both suppoits and contiadicts these ideas about the composi-
tion of the BL audience. Out of the eighty-seven iesponses I ieceived to my suivey, eleven of the iespondents
identifed as male, although fve of the iesponses weie almost completely blank aftei the initial demogiaphic
questions and a sixth iesponse was obviously facetious. I also had one iespondent identify as inteisexed and
two each identif y as tianssexual and othei. Again, foi the question of sexuality, ovei half of the iespondents
identifed themselves as heteiosexual (ffty-two iespondents), but theie weie a bioad vaiiety of iesponses
given, including bisexual (twenty-one iespondents), gay (two iespondents), lesbian (thiee iespondents), and
queei (one iespondent).
21. This is itself pioblematic, in that a genie that is taigeted towaid women tends to avoid depicting them.
22. Kano, Ctcnage, Attiactive Fascinante scanlation. http://community.livejouinal.com/afascinante/; Kano
Shiuko . Ctcnage . Tokyo: MagazineMagazine, 2007. Because I am looking at the online
English-language fandom`s ieactions to female chaiacteis I have limited the woiks I am looking at to those
that aie easily available online as scanlations. Howevei I also include foi iefeience the oiiginal Japanese pub-
lication.
23. The manga is uncleai as to whethei Kanako oi Yasushi ended theii ielationship.
24. LBC & QC, http://community.livejouinal.com/yaoi_daily/495943.html, 02/3/2008. Useinames link
diiectly to the useis` jouinals, many of which give details about theii peisonal lives, so in oidei to piotect
useis` identities, I will not mention theii usei names oi link diiectly to the comments. I have also chosen to
do this because theie is still some stigma associated with ieading BL, and some ieadeis chose to keep theii
inteiest in BL a seciet.
25. HT, http://community.livejouinal.com/yaoi_daily/495943.html, 02/3/2008 (accessed Nov. 7, 2008).
26. TB & LBC, http://community.livejouinal.com/yaoi_daily/495943.html, 02/2-3/2008 (accessed Nov.
7, 2008).
27. Because BL woiks aie iaiely iealistic, some fans have begun to use the teim °yaoiland" to desciibe the
°ieality" in which these stoiies take place.
28. Blaii, °Readei Suivey," 0/0/08 8:6; 0/0/08 9:27; 0/0/08 23:39; 0/0/08 20:52; 0/2/08 02:07.
29. Michael Wesch, °An Anthiopological Intioduction to YouTube" piesented at The Libiaiy of
Congiess, June 23, 2008 (http://www.youtube.com/watch:v·TPAO-lZ4_hU), 27:58-29:52 (accessed Oct. 26,
2008).
30. I believe this to be so based not only on the iesults of my suivey, but also on moie modeiate oi appiov-
ing comments made by some of the seemingly misogynistic commenteis.
31. Theie aie many diffeient defnitions of °ßaming"; a list is given on page 33 of Philip A. Thompsen,
°What`s Fueling the Flames in Cybeispace: A Social Inßuence Model," in Ccmmunicaticn and Cyberspace. Sccial
Interacticn in an Electrcnic Envircnment, ed. Lance Stiate, Ron L. Jacobson, and Stephanie B. Gibson, 2nd ed.
(Ciesskill, NJ: Hampton Piess, Inc., 2003). The defnition I am using heie was oiiginally espoused by Keith
Doiwick in 993. Doiwick defnes ßaming as °the spontaneous cieation of homophobic, iacist and misogy-
nist language duiing electionic communication" (3). Keith Doiwick, °Beyond Politeness: Flaming and the
Realm of the Violent." Papei piesented at the annual meeting of the Confeience on College Composition and
Communication, San Diego, CA, Maich 3-Apiil 3, 993.
32. Thompsen, 336.
33. Ibid., 337-38.
34. Susan E. Watt, Maiten Lea and Russell Speais, °How Social is Inteinet Communication: A Reappiaisal
of Bandwidth and Anonymity Effects," in Virtual Scciety? Technclcgy, Cyberbcle, Reality, ed. Steve Woolgai
(Oxfoid & New Yoik: Oxfoid Univeisity Piess, 2002), 66-69.
35. Blaii, °Readei Suivey," 0/0/08 8:6; 0/0/08 9:27.
36. Modleski, 86.
37. Modleski, 89-90.
38. Homeiun Ken, Bcku wa kimi nc tcri ni naritai, DokiDoki, Nakama and Smexy Bs joint scanlation
7-¨She Shculd }ust Die in a Ditch° (BLAIR) 123
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http://www.aiagami.oig/doki.php. Homeiun Ken . Bcku wa kimi nc tcri ni naritai
. Tokyo: Kaisha, 2005.
39. BG, http://community.livejouinal .com/yaoi_daily/28028.html, 05/23/2006 (accessed Nov. 7, 2008).
°;P" is the postei winking and sticking out hei tongue.
40. Sh, http://community.livejouinal.com/yaoi_daily/2807586.html, 05/24/2006 (accessed Nov. 7, 2008).
°XD;;;" is the postei giinning with hei eyes shut. The semicolons iepiesent sweat diops, which in manga aie
a symbol of neivousness, woiiy, oi embaiiassment.
41. PA, http://community.livejouinal.com/yaoi_daily/2807586.html, 05/24/2006 (accessed Nov. 7, 2008).
42. Hd, http://community.livejouinal.com/yaoi_daily/282539.html, 05/25/2006 (accessed Nov. 7, 2008).
Because only one post of a stoiy is allowed in a day and ieadeis aie following many stoiies at once, in com-
ments on Yaoi Daily chaiacteis aie often iefeiied to by a desciiptoi othei than theii name, which the ieadei
might have foigotten, such as °the seme," °the uke," oi °the giil."
43. On a side note, when they appeai, Homeiun Ken`s female chaiacteis aie always depicted in a sympa-
thetic way; even if they only appeai veiy biießy, they aie always likable.
44. QK, http://community.livejouinal.com/yaoi_daily/282500.html, 05/29/2006 (accessed Nov. 7, 2008).
45. An, http://community.livejouinal.com/yaoi_daily/283655.html, 06/0/2006 (accessed Nov. 7, 2008).
46. Me, http://community.livejouinal.com/yaoi_daily/2884482.html, 06/2/2006 (accessed Nov. 7, 2008).
47. Constance Penley, °Feminism, Psychoanalysis, and the Study of Populai Cultuie," in Cultural Studies,
ed. Lawience Giossbeig, Caiy Nelson and Paula A. Tieichlei (New Yoik & London: Routledge, 992) 488.
Italics in the oiiginal.
48. Shimotsuki Kaiii. Madness, Beautiful Soup scanlation http://soup.umi-soia.com/. Shimotsuki Kaiii
. Madness . Tokyo: Gentsha, 2004.
49. Manga maiketed to young men and boys, iespectively.
50. HT, http://community.livejouinal.com/yaoi_daily/495943.html, 02/3/2008 (accessed Nov. 7, 2008).
51. http://community.livejouinal.com/yaoi_daily/269268.html, 04/2/2006 (accessed Nov. 7, 2008).
52. http://community.livejouinal.com/yaoi_daily/269268.html, 04/2/2006 (accessed Nov. 7, 2008).
53. PB, http://www.livejouinal.com/yaoi_dailiy, 05/09/2006 (accessed Nov. 7, 2008).
54. LBC, http://community.livejouinal.com/yaoi_daily/4707980.html, /03/2007 (accessed Nov. 7, 2008).
55. Ki, http://community.livejouinal.com/yaoi_daily/4707980.html, /04/2007 (accessed Nov. 7, 2008).
56. Blaii, °Readei Suivey."
57. Ibid.
Biblicgraphy
Aoyama, Tomoko. °Male Homosexuality as Tieated by Japanese Women Wiiteis." In The }apanese Trajec-
tcry. Mcdernizaticn and Beycnd, edited by Gavan McCoimack and Yoshio Sugimoto, 86-204. Cambiidge:
Cambiidge Univeisity Piess, 988.
Doiwick, Keith. °Beyond Politeness: Flaming and the Realm of the Violent." Papei piesented at the annual
meeting of the Confeience on College Composition and Communication, San Diego, CA, Maich 3-Apiil
3, 993.
Matsui, Midoii. °Little Giils Weie Little Boys: Displaced Femininity in the Repiesentation of Homosexual-
ity in Japanese Giils` Comics." In Feminism and the Pclitics cf Difference, edited by Sneja Gunew and Anna
Yeatman, 77-96. Bouldei, CO: Westview Piess, 993.
McLelland, Maik. °Loincloths, Ladyboys and Lolita`s Little Biothei: Women`s Cultuie and the Consumption
of 'Gay Poinogiaphy` in Japan." In Queer in the 2Ist Century. The Bcdy-Queer and Pclitic, edited by J.
Keith Atkinson and Justin J. Finneity, 97-8. Foititude Valley, Austialia: Gay and Lesbian Welfaie Asso-
ciation, Inc., 200.
_____. °Why aie Japanese Giils` Comics Full of Men Bonking:" Refractcry. A }curnal cf Entertainment Media,
0 (2006/2007): http://blogs.aits.unimelb.edu.au/iefiactoiy/2006/2/04/why-aie-japanese-giils%E2%80%
99-comics-full-of-boys-bonking-maik-mclelland/
McLelland, Maik, and Seunghyun Yoo. °The Inteinational Boys` Love Fandom and the Regulation of Viitual
Child Poinogiaphy: The Implications of Cuiient Legislation." Sexuality Research o Sccial Pclicy. }curnal
cf NSRC 4:(2007): 93-04.
Mizoguchi, Akiko. °Male-Male Romance by and foi Women in Japan: A Histoiy of the Subgenies of Yaci
fctions." U.S.-}apan \cmen´s }curnal, English Supplement, 25 (2003): 49-75.
Modleski, Tania. Icving with a Vengeance. Mass-Prcduced Fantasies fcr \cmen. 2nd ed. New Yoik & London:
Routledge, 2008.
124 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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Mulvey, Lauia. °Visual Pleasuie and Naiiative Cinema." In Visual and Cther Pleasures, edited by Lauia Mul-
vey, 4-26. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana Univeisity Piess, 989.
Nagaike, Kazumi. °Peiveise Sexualities, Peiveisive Desiies: Repiesentations of Female Fantasies and Yaci
Manga as Poinogiaphy Diiected at Women." U.S.-}apan \cmen´s }curnal, English Supplement 25 (2003):
76-03.
Nagakubo Yko . Yaci shsetsurcn. }csei nc tame nc ercsu hygen .
Tokyo: Sensh Daigaku Shuppankyoku, 2005.
Penley, Constance. °Feminism, Psychoanalysis, and the Study of Populai Cultuie." In Cultural Studies, edited
by Lawience Giossbeig, Caiy Nelson and Paula A. Tieichlei. New Yoik & London: Routledge, 992.
Radway, Janice A. Reading the Rcmance. \cmen, Patriarchy, and Pcpular Iiterature. Chapel Hill, NC and Lon-
don: Univeisity of Noith Caiolina Piess, 99.
Schodt, Fiedeiik L. Dreamland }apan. \ritings cn Mcdern Manga. Beikeley: Stone Biidge Piess, 996.
Suzuki, Kazuko. °Poinogiaphy oi Theiapy: Japanese Giils Cieating the Yaoi Phenomenon." In Millennium
Girls. Tcday´s Girls Arcund the \crld, edited by Sheiiie A. Inness, 243-267. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Lit-
tlefeld Publisheis, Inc. 998.
Thompsen, Philip A. °What`s Fueling the Flames in Cybeispace: A Social Inßuence Model." In Ccmmunica-
ticn and Cyberspace. Sccial Interacticn in an Electrcnic Envircnment, edited by Lance Stiate, Ron L. Jacob-
son, and Stephanie B. Gibson. 2nd ed. Ciesskill, NJ: Hampton Piess, Inc., 2003.
Watt, Susan E., Maiten Lea, and Russell Speais. °How Social is Inteinet Communication: A Reappiaisal of
Bandwidth and Anonymity Effects." In Virtual Scciety? Technclcgy, Cyberbcle, Reality, edited by Steve Wool-
gai. Oxfoid & New Yoik: Oxfoid Univeisity Piess, 2002.
Wesch, Michael. °An Anthiopological Intioduction to YouTube" piesented at The Libiaiy of Congiess, June
23, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch:v·TPAO-lZ4_hU (accessed Oct. 26, 2008).
Woledge, Elizabeth. °Fiom Slash to the Mainstieam: Female Wiiteis and Gendei Blending Men." In Extrap-
claticn 46. (2005): 50-65.
7-¨She Shculd }ust Die in a Ditch° (BLAIR) 125
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Rewiiting Gendei and Sexuality in
English-Language Yaoi Fanfction
TAN BEE KEE
AGURI: The inteinet:
KUDOU: You don`t expect all the hoiny teenaged giils dieaming of mysteiious stiangeis
to keep theii fantasies to themselves, do you:
AGURI: I have to iead about having sex with teenaged giils too:
KUDOU: Of couise not. They`ie the ones who`ll wiite about you having sex with
Hidaka.
The teim °yaoi fanfction" is used by English-speaking fans to iefei to deiivative fan
stoiies, wiitten by mostly female fans, centeied aiound male homoeioticism based on oiig-
inal Japanese souices, such as anime (Japanese animation) oi manga (Japanese comics)
seiies. Using close textual analysis of the piesentation of gendei and sexuality in English-
language fanfction wiitten within the anime/manga seiies \eiss Kreuz (wk) fandom on
the Inteinet as case study, I will show how fans wiite to expiess theii own visions of iomance/
sexuality and subveit heteionoimative media naiiatives. Howevei, I will also show that yaoi
fanfction is not without its inteinal contiadictions and limitations as a foim of iesistance
against gendei noims.
The fanfctions collected foi this pioject between Januaiy 2005-Maich 2005 weie
based on a suivey of fans on WK mailing lists in late 2004 about the wiiteis and fanfcs
they felt had been impoitant in inßuencing WK fandom, fan iecommendations on fansites,
essays on WK on LiveJouinal, and woiks by °Big Name Fans" (fans who aie well-known
in the fan community foi theii activities such as wiiting fanfctions). Othei souices included
winneis of past WK fanfction contests and ovei 5000 fanfcs at Fanfction.net, moie than
000 fanfcs at Mediaminei.oig, and smallei numbeis of fcs at Adultfanfction.net and
smallei aichives. I went thiough the fanfction aichives by ieading stoiy summaiies and
taking note of inteiesting topics and iecuiient tiends, as well as fcs that have gaineied
unusually laige numbeis of ieviews.
I have chosen to focus on Inteinet fantexts due to theii ease of dissemination and
accessibility by any fan with an Inteinet connection. Analyzing fanfction in the context of
fan commentaiy, blogs and essays helps us to undeistand the ways fans iead the oiiginal
media texts. Accoiding to McKee, °(w)hen we peifoim textual analysis on a text, we make
an educated guess at some of the most likely inteipietations that might be made of that
text.... We inteipiet texts ... in oidei to tiy and obtain a sense of the ways in which, in pai-
ticulai cultuies at paiticulai times, people make sense of the woild aiound them."
2
Since
we cannot iead the minds of fans diiectly to see how they inteipiet media texts, fantexts
aie what we have to woik with. In this study, I will be analyzing fanfctions as aitifacts
iooted in social ieality with political implications.
3
126
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Heniy Jenkins points out that in felds such as flm ciiticism, claims about the audi-
ence aie deiived fiom textual analysis of the souice text, peisonal intiospection etc. How-
evei, ieception studies °seeks empiiical evidence, thiough histoiical oi ethnogiaphic
ieseaich, that documents the pioduction and ciiculation of meaning." Since textually
asciibed meanings do not get iepioduced faiily diiectly in spectatoi`s heads, °¦t]ext, con-
text, and ieadei all play vital ioles in shaping inteipietation."
4
Jenkins suggests that °Less
piedictable ieadings ieveal moie cleaily the inteipietive piocess at woik, suggesting that
theie is nothing inevitable about oui own inteipietations."
5
Yaoi fan ieinteipietations aie
piecisely examples of unexpected ieadings that foice the ieadei to view the oiiginal media
text in totally fiesh ways.
I have adapted ethnogiaphic techniques to cybeispace using Hine`s notion of viitual
ethnogiaphy. Tiaditionally, ethnogiaphy consists of °a ieseaichei spending an extended
peiiod of time immeised in a feld setting, taking account of the ielationships, activities
and undeistandings of those in the setting and paiticipating in those piocesses. The aim is
to make explicit the taken-foi gianted and often tacit ways in which people make sense of
theii lives."
6
I have done this by immeising myself in the viitual social enviionments inhab-
ited by fans, analyzing fan essays about theii fanfctions, and monitoiing fan iesponses as
well as thiough coiiespondence with fan wiiteis in oidei to undeistand the way they con-
sume media.
The Westein analogue to yaoi would be slash, which is based on Westein media souices
and has similai themes, although it has somewhat diffeient fan conventions and evolved
out of a diffeient cultuial context. Howevei, since much useful woik has been done ana-
lyzing slash, I will be iefeiiing extensively to slash theoiists. Also, since I am examining
English-language fanfction wiitten by non-Japanese fans, many aie slash fans as well and
have come into yaoi by way of slash, especially Westein fans, as shown in Diu Pagliassotti`s
English-language suivey of BL manga ieadeis conducted online fiom June 28 to Novem-
bei 2, 2005, that attiacted a total of 478 iespondents, mostly fiom U.S., Canada, the UK,
oi Austialia.
7
\eiss Kreuz is about a team called \eiss composed of foui young men (Fujimiya Aya,
Kud Yji, Hidaka Ken and Tsukiyono mi). They woik at a ßoiist shop as a covei foi
theii ieal jobs as assassins foi a vigilante oiganization called Kritiker, which focuses on
eliminating poweiful villains beyond the ieach of the law. Weiss is opposed by an assassin
gioup called Schwaiz fiom an evil oiganization called Estet, composed of Biad Ciawfoid,
an Ameiican who is able to see the futuie, Faifaiello, an insane Iiishman who is immune
to pain, Schuldig, a Geiman with telepathic poweis and Naoe Nagi, an oiphaned Japanese
boy with telekinetic poweis.
In WK, Weiss live togethei in the same apaitment above the ßowei shop in the anime,
and mutual tiust/coopeiation is essential foi them to suivive theii dangeious missions
because they depend on one anothei foi backup. Deena`s °Waking onto Lantein`s Biight"
emphasizes how the bonds between the boys thiough theii piofession deepen into ioman-
tic love.
°We live togethei, woik togethei, kill togethei. Aftei all this time, I`d like to think I
know you guys. We`ie fiiends, aien`t we Kenken:"
He giinned at the oldei boy. °Cleaning blood stains togethei ieally has that bonding
effect."
8
Although most of the membeis of Weiss fall in love with women at one point oi anothei
in the seiies, they aie ultimately unable to sustain such iomances because theii woik as
8-Rewriting Gender and Sexuality in English-Ianguage Yaci Fanfcticn (TAN) 127
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assassins makes it too dangeious foi them to become involved with civilians. This is often
a taiget of fans who playfully exaggeiate homosocial bonds. Kuwabaia no Miko`s tongue-
in-cheek °Male Bonding" featuies a diinking session between Yji, Ken and mi that
becomes a ménage a tiois.
9
WK is known foi its pooi animation quality as well as its ßimsy, sometimes ludicious
plot. Howevei, it has gaineied a huge fandom oveiseas among female fans. On the English
Inteinet, it was one of the biggest eaily yaoi fandoms, togethei with Gundam \ing.
The Dissatisfacticns cf Ccmpulscry Hetercsexuality
The sheei pievalence of the heteiosexual °noim" in books and flms and ... well, almost
eveiywheie ... and the idea that one shculd fnd it sexy makes it veiy haid to admit that
you fnd these kinds of things iathei boiing oi a tuin-cff.
0
Yaoi fans aie dissatisfed with mainstieam (heteiosexual) poitiayal of iomance and
sexuality in the foim of TV piogiams, iomance novels, and movies even if they happen to
identif y as heteiosexual, as seen in the above quote fiom a fan essay. Heniy Jenkins points
out that tiaditional iomance geneially leaves unquestioned its assumptions about gendei.
°The woman`s peiception of a 'daik side` to male sexuality is latei attiibuted to misundei-
standings and dissolves in the happiness of the couple`s commitment. The woman must
accept hei iole as wife without asseiting demands foi autonomy."
Ann Snitow, in hei analysis of mass maiket iomances, delineates theii daik aspects.
She shows that the heioine is not allowed by social moies to acknowledge sexual desiie hon-
estly and has to do °a lot of social lying to save face, pietending to be unaffected by the
heio`s piesence while hei body melts oi shiveis" because she has to save hei viiginity foi
maiiiage.
2
Distance between the sexes is gloiifed and the sexual inexpeiience of the heio-
ine adds to the excitement (Snitow, 426).
... What is the Hailequin iomance foimula: ... All tensions and pioblems aiise fiom the
fact that the Hailequin woild is inhabited by two species incapable of communicating
with each othei, male and female. It is pleasing to think that appeaiances aie deceptive,
that male coldness, absence, boiedom, aie not what they seem.... In spite of his coldness
oi pieoccupation, the heio ieally loves the heioine and wants to maiiy hei ¦Snitow, 424,
426].
Since the goal of iomance novels is maiiiage, they end once the °most inteiesting
phase in the love/maiiiage cycle" is ovei (Snitow, 426). We do not see the couple change
diapeis oi aigue ovei household choies. As iomance novels tend to contain soft-coie sex
scenes, it has also been suggested that they piovide iespectable °sexual ielease" foi women
too piudish foi ieal poin who believe in maintaining theii ieputations (Snitow, 427). The
iomance heioine is passively ieceptive to the male ego and hei sexuality is constiained. As
Snitow explains, the Hailequin heioine is not °involved in any oveit adventuie beyond tiy-
ing to iespond appiopiiately to male eneigy without losing hei viiginity. Viiginity is a
given heie; sex means maiiiage and maiiiage, piomised at the end, means, fnally, theie
can be sex" (Snitow, 425).
Yaoi oveicomes these pioblems. With two male chaiacteis, theie aie no piedefned
ioles to play in iomance. Eithei chaiactei is fiee to initiate a ielationship. They aie fiee
fiom the piessuie of °saving themselves" foi maiiiage, fistly because they aie both male,
and secondly, since gay couples aie unable to maiiy in most countiies, including Japan,
128 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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sex is not confned within maiiiage. In a stoiy in which the uke loses his viiginity to the
seme, it is iepiesented as the °ultimate sign of tiust and ultimate suiiendei of self to the
paitnei," as Cicioni shows in hei analysis of slash.
3
In heteiosexual fction, such a scenaiio
would be an act of domination that is often poitiayed as a °conquest oi a devaluation of
the woman."
4
Gayle Rubin (2006) in °Thinking Sex: Notes foi a Radical Theoiy of the Politics of
Sexuality" points out that society divides sexual behavioi into the good/healthy/natuial and
the bad/unhealthy/unnatuial . Homosexuality falls into the lattei camp as opposed to
monogamous heteiosexual sex within maiiiage.
5
She also points out in °The Tiaffc in
Women" that °¦g]endei is not only an identifcation with one sex; it also entails that sex-
ual desiie be diiected towaid the othei sex."
6
Same-sex desiie in yaoi violates this iule.
Accoiding to Dennis Altman, °The iepiession of polymoiphous peiveisity ... is bound
up with the development of veiy cleai-cut concepts of masculine and feminine that dom-
inate consciousness and help maintain male supiemacy.... Being male and female is, above
all, defned in teims of the othei: men leain that theii masculinity depends on being able
to make it with women, women that fulfllment can be only obtained thiough being bound
to a man."
7
Fans capitalize on homosocial bonds between two males by bluiiing the baiiieis
between homosociality and homosexuality. In the oiiginal texts, chaiacteis aie often
assigned heteiosexual love inteiests, but in yaoi the fan focus is on male chaiacteis` iela-
tionships with one anothei, which displace any heteiosexual ielationships.
Accoiding to Jenkins, iefeiencing Eve Kosofsky Sedgewick, °a patiiaichal society con-
sistently constiucts boundaiies between acceptable and unacceptable foims of male fiiend-
ship; patiiaichy is held togethei ... thiough homophobia which is pait of a system that
enfoices compulsoiy heteiosexuality as well as iestiicts the iange of behaviois open to men
and women. Fictional iepiesentations of male fiiendship often depend foi theii emotional
powei upon the suggestion of stiong homosocial desiie between men, even as they isolate
that desiie fiom any explicitly iecognizable foim of sexuality...."
8
Yaoi bieaks thiough
boundaiies by foiegiounding sexual potential, which is an undeicuiient, even when chai-
acteis aie enemies. In °Rules" by Yoippaii, Ken`s disastious fist meeting with Aya, which
ended in a fght, evolves into a dysfunctional sexual ielationship.
9
Even though Schwaiz
and Weiss aie enemies, hatied and bloodlust is ßipped into love and desiie in yaoi.
The aveiage yaoi stoiy aic tiaces the iipening of fiiendship ciossing ovei into the line
of iomantic/sexual involvement, as in °the fist time stoiy" (a stoiy which chionicles a
couple`s fist iomantic and/oi sexual encountei).
20
In °Fiist Time Stoiies," a common subgenie in both yaoi and slash, chaiacteis must
fist acknowledge theii own desiies and come to teims with theii piejudices and piecon-
ceptions befoie they can achieve happiness. Jenkins desciibes the ßow of the typical °Fiist
Time Stoiy." °The male piotagonist daies not act on his eiotic fantasies, convinced that
the othei paitnei could not possibly shaie such feelings and that voicing them could dam-
age the men`s woiking ielationship" and that the chaiacteis` piofessional status, theii own
sense of masculinity, and theii fiiendships would be thieatened.
2
This feai usually tuins
out to be unfounded. In Sky Rat`s °Bettei Days," Ken asks Yji why he did not confess his
love eailiei.
°I didn`t want to iuin oui fiiendship." Foi some ieason, this excuse seems a lot lamei
said aloud than it did in my head.
°Thought you might say that," he looks thoughtful foi a second, °you ieally thought I
8-Rewriting Gender and Sexuality in English-Ianguage Yaci Fanfcticn (TAN) 129
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placed so little value on oui fiiendship that I would let it be iuined by something like
that:!"
22
In the actual WK seiies, Yji constantly emphasizes his heteiosexuality with ovei-the-
top statements such as saying that he did not wish to die with a bunch of men duiing mis-
sions. Fans often joke that he is so exaggeiatedly stiaight that he must be hiding something,
and he is often poitiayed as a piomiscuous bisexual in yaoi fanfcs. When Ken in Cassan-
dia Nexus`s °In the Rain" takes a peek at Yji`s °little black book," he is shocked to dis-
covei that the names aie all male.
23
Homophobia, whethei inteinalized oi exteinal, is often an obstacle to be oveicome in
yaoi. In Nekojita`s °Cages," Ken (a lapsed Catholic in the seiies) is sleeping with his best
fiiend Kase but is in denial about his sexuality. °Foi a moment (Ken) heaid Fathei Timo-
thy`s voice, outlining the hell that awaited sodomites, and his foimei teammates` homo-
phobia ... 'I`m not some limp-wiisted fag, and neithei is Kase....`"
24
Fans ioutinely set up
chaiacteis to show theii disdain foi such attitudes. In Opus the Penguin`s °A Delicate Sub-
ject," a homophobic Ken decides to tell a fey mi to mend his ways because the giils who
come to the ßoiist shop aie convinced they aie all gay.
25
mi suggests that Ken must be
unconsciously in love with him to be obsessed with his appeaiance and behavioi. Ken pan-
ics and tiies to ieassuie himself of his macho-ness by buiying himself in motoicycle mag-
azines, soccei and poinogiaphy. Unfoitunately foi Ken, the fanfc points out in a
tongue-in-cheek fashion that the most homophobic men aie often the most iepiessed.
Ken`s actions backfie when he is inadveitently aioused while watching a men`s wiestling
touinament.
Often, yaoi and slash fanfcs featuie plot devices such as undeicovei missions in which
°the chaiacteis aie asked to shed theii noimal identities, to assume a mask which not only
justifes but actively iequiies otheiwise piohibited foims of intimacy."
26
Foi example, in
Deena`s °Something New," Aya and Ken aie foiced to pose as a couple in oidei to tiack
down taigets on a gay honeymoon ciuise, which inadveitently leads to theii discoveiing
theii desiie foi each othei.
27
Many fanfc wiiteis use camp humoi as a tool to mock gendei steieotypes. In Kim`s
°A Quiet Evening," Faifaiello, oiiginally a psychotic muideiei, is tuined into a sex-obsessed
queen in neon pink vinyl pants.
28
Aya, a cool, biooding chaiactei, tuins out to be a seciet
fan of Hailequin iomances in Fancy`s °Haii."
29
Queer Readings
When wiiting yaoi fanfction, yaoi fans adopt a vaiiety of queei ieading stiategies that
diffei fiom fan to fan. People who aie against yaoi commonly chaige that yaoi fans have
made stiaight chaiacteis gay. Ceitainly, some yaoi fans aie obsessed with pioving theii
favoiite chaiactei is queei by combing the seiies foi °evidence," though most fan °pioof "
is moie oi less tongue-in-cheek. Thus, they may eithei be convinced that the chaiactei is
ieally queei oi aie awaie theii ieadings aie consideied °deviant" but insist on ieading the
chaiactei as queei anyway.
Fans aie pioud of theii active engagement with media texts. Indeed, some of them seem
to have iead academic discouises on fandom and have appiopiiated such theoiies to jus-
tif y fanfction. Accoiding to Pagliassotti`s suivey of fans ovei age 8, 78 peicent of iespon-
dents iepoited some level of college education and possess academic cultuial capital.
30
The
130 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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hands-on attitude of yaoi fans may be exemplifed by this fan essay quote which seems to
be echoing Jenkins:
But what if you want to read the canon chaiacteis doing m/m (homoeiotic) sex and
iomance: Simple. In thiee woids: write it ycurself. If you want to see a ceitain kind of
stoiy and it`s not available, don`t waste time complaining that it`s not available-go
make it available. Life is much moie satisfying when you cease to be a passive consumei
and become an active pioducei.
3
Yaoi fans also industiiously iaid mainstieam populai naiiatives such as faiiy tales,
movies, and conventional iomance novels. Foi Biett Faimei, iefeiiing to Roland Baithes,
°the piimaiy aim of any populai myth is the natuialization of ideological meaning and the
iatifcation of the social status quo."
32
Yaoi fans have come up with ietellings to suit theii
own puiposes. Sometimes the appiopiiation can be as simple as changing the sex of the
heioine to male. In Swythangel`s °Heaven In Youi Aims," Ken is a fallen angel who melts
Ciawfoid`s heait, a plot boiiowed fiom a iomance novel.
33
Some iewoikings aie moie
sophisticated, such as Lynn Metallium`s °The Thiee Little Bishounen," a naughty ietelling
of °The Thiee Little Pigs" in which Ken, mi and Aya aie in dangei of being °eaten" by
the Big Bad Playboy Yji because of theii own sexual desiies.
34
As Ika Willis states, wiiting slash (and yaoi, in this case) can be expeiienced as °bcth
a hedonistic, eiotic piactice which could even be opposed to a thoughtful oi ciitical iela-
tion to a text, and, on the othei hand, a delibeiate, politically loaded, piactice of iecontex-
tualization that ieoiients a text in oidei to demonstiate that it beais the tiace of a desiiing
stiuctuie not wholly congiuent with the most liteial (which is to say, the most ideologi-
cally obedient) ieading."
35
Kustiiz states that slash fction texts and the piactices of ieading, wiiting, and iewiit-
ing slash may be seen as a piactice fiom which a metatext emeiges. °(T)he metatext, is a
stoiy that tells us how to live, and it is a stoiy that bieaks stiongly fiom noimative tiadi-
tions."
36
Accoiding to Saiah Gwenllian Jones, academic inteipietations of slash and othei queei
ieadings have tiaditionally suggested that texts (i.e. canon) aie inheiently oi oiiginally het-
eiosexual; thus slash (and yaoi) ieadings aie iesistant, °deviant" ieadings.
37
Jones heiself
sees slash as an °actualization" of a °latent" piopeity of the text itself, meaning that queei-
ness is alieady situated in the text itself (Jones, 82). Willis howevei, suggests seeing fan iead-
ings as ieoiientation: °fan fction is pioduced out of the inteiaction between canon as made
legible by dominant cultuial knowledges and foimulas foi ieading, and canon as ieoiiented
by the demands and desiies biought to it by the subjectivity of the fan/ieadei and hei
knowledge of the woild."
38
WK is basically an action/adventuie seiies diiven by missions and assassination tai-
gets with a gieat deal of violence and little iomance, but so impoitant is ercs in yaoi that
even the fanfcs that ievolve aiound missions aie focused on iomance and ielationships.
To Willis, °(w)iiting fan fction is not simply adding the fnal piece of a jigsaw com-
pleting a text with a known unknown, whose coiiect shape and dimensions can be deduced:
iathei, wiiting fan fction fist of all makes gaps in a text that the cultuial code attempts to
iendei continuous, and then, iathei than flling them in, supplements these gaps with intei-
texts which aie not docile..." (Willis, 58).
A good example of this insuboidination is °fanon" (a pun on canon, which aie the
actual details/events that happened in the oiiginal souice mateiial) which Busse and Hellek-
son defne as °the events cieated by the fan community in a paiticulai fandom and iepeated
8-Rewriting Gender and Sexuality in English-Ianguage Yaci Fanfcticn (TAN) 131
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peivasively thioughout the fantext."
39
One of the ieasons I have chosen WK is that it is
known to have unusually stiong fanon foi a fandom. Fans often declaie that they piefei
fanon to what actually happens in canon and fanwoiks to the actual seiies, which is lack-
lustei by compaiison.
Kat Avila (2005) iemaiks that watching anime Fullmetal Alchemist was nevei quite the
same aftei seeing a djinshi of a chaiactei giving his biothei a blow job.
40
The veiy exis-
tence of a queei fan ieading opens the eyes of fans to iadical possibilities in life that they
would not have imagined befoie.
Gaytcpia
Some fans enjoy yaoi foi political ieasons because yaoi etches out a space wheie homo-
sexuality is accepted and happy endings abound, unlike mainstieam media iepiesentations
of gays and lesbians which often poitiay them as dysfunctional, iiddled with AIDS, oi sui-
cidal. As a lesbian fan explains, °I`m gay. I like yaoi because it piesents what looks like heaven
to a gay peison. Same sex and no second thoughts about it."
4
Sometimes, this leads to a queei utopia in which eveiyone expeiiences same-sex desiies.
Foi example, in Kuwabaia no Miko and Talya Fiiedancei`s °A Fine Day foi a Gioup Out-
ing," all the membeis of Weiss accidentally come out to one anothei as inteiested in men.
42
As Laila explains in hei fan essay °The Discieet Chaim of Slash," non-fans tend
to assume that chaiacteis aie stiaight unless pioven otheiwise.
43
Alexandei Doty (993)
points out gays and lesbians do occasionally get maiiied, have childien, and have sex
with the opposite sex.
44
Many yaoi fans feel that sexual self-identity may change ovei a life-
time.
It`s peifectly possible foi someone who has always self-identifed as stiaight to fall in
love with someone of the same gendei, and vice veisa foi those who have self-identify
¦sic] as gay.... That few of them act on it might easily have moie to do with societal pies-
suie than it does with theii own desiies.
45
Sometimes, a chaiactei is so skilled a lovei that his paitnei is seduced to the °homo-
sexual side of the Foice" as a fan jokes. In Deena`s °Raspbeiiy and Lime Shampoo," Yji
successfully °conveits" Ken with his bedioom skills.
46
The message of yaoi fanfcs is that love should tianscend social conventions. In Deena`s
°Waking Onto Lantein`s Biight," Yji peisuades Ken to confess his love to Aya because
°(l)ove doesn`t come aiound so often that you have the chance to woiiy about something
as tiivial as gendei."
47
Chaiacteis themselves may ieject self-defnitions. In Maity`s °Black Gold," Yji iefuses
to label himself when mi asks him to claiify his sexual oiientation.
°You know, Omittchi," I say slowly. °I asked myself that once a long time ago. And foi a
while I ieally couldn`t come up with an answei. But then it came to me. I`m just slutty.
Wheie`s my paiade:!" I ciy thiowing up my hands. °Slut piide!"
48
Yaoi fans often see theii own sexuality as queei oi otheiwise ßuid. As yaoi fan Puieyaoi
explains, °In the woild of yaoi I see moie and moie female wiiteis who call themselves
gay, oi bi, oi simply iefuse to defne theii sexuality using one of thiee pie-defned teims
(stiaight, gay, bisexual)" (ielease the kiakon! LiveJouinal Blog, comment posted Decem-
bei 7, 2004).
132 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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Prcblematizing Sccietal Gender Ncrms
Yaoi featuies the seme/uke concept, which comes fiom the Japanese. The seme (semeru
means °to attack" in Japanese) is the chaiactei in a yaoi paiiing who penetiates the othei
in homosexual anal sex wheieas the uke (ukeru means to ieceive and has a connotation of
passivity) is the ieceptive paitnei. Seme and uke ioles in a paiiing aie usually fxed. Besides
being sexual ioles, the teims °seme° and °uke° often ießect coiiesponding gendeied attiib-
utes. Uke aie usually shoitei (the °height iule"), piettiei and moie vulneiable than seme;
in othei woids, piesenting physical and emotional attiibutes socially constiucted as fem-
inine oi female. In yaoi, a paiiing wiitten as °Aya x Ken" with an °x" sepaiating the names
means that the fist name oi °Aya" is the seme wheieas °Ken," oi the second name, is the
uke.
Fans often have stiong piefeiences foi ceitain chaiacteis to be uke and ceitain chai-
acteis to be seme, but this is not necessaiily absolute and °ieveisibles" (chaiacteis who
switch between uke and seme) aie quite common. Fans aie well awaie of the peifoimative
natuie of seme/uke.This is often shown thiough humoious paiodies in which chaiacteis
fght ovei who should be seme. In this exceipt fiom a \eiss Kreuz fc called °UkeSeme
Dynamics" by Celeste, Ken infoims a bemused Aya that he fts the steieotypical piofle of
uke bettei than Ken does:
°....Uh.... oh yeah! And I`m the biash, spontaneous one! Like the kind that will sneak up
on youi type at iandom times and toss him ovei the neaiest hoiizontal suiface to have
my wicked way with...."
Aya`s eyebiows daited up. °My type:"
Ken scowled. °Stop picking at details."
°I`m paiticulaily inteiested in these details. What do you mean 'my type,` huh:"
Ken stammeied and tuined pink aiound the eais again. °Y-you know! The pietty,
quiet ones. The ones that wiite poetiy and iead angsty diamas and foieign books and go
to ait museums and use fabiic softenei."
49
In yaoi, dominance is piedicated on chaiactei and not assigned by sex. Instead, powei
is negotiated between two masculine chaiacteis.
50
Yaoi deconstiucts the idea that sexual
attiaction must be based on essentialist notions of sexual diffeience.
Inscribing Feminine Desires
Yaoi iewiites the discouises of sexuality accoiding to feminine tastes. Fans often joke
that the yaoi lovei nevei skips foieplay oi falls asleep immediately aftei sex but is always
attentive to his paitnei`s pleasuie and comfoit. The whole body becomes an eiogenous
zone, and intimacy is shaied not only thiough genital sex, as seen in this passage fiom
Maity`s °The Saga Begins":
We lie togethei foi the iest of the eaily moining. We hold each othei, whispeiing softly,
touching gently, kissing now and then. It`s nice. So nice to just shaie time like this. I
doze, my head iesting in the ciook of his neck. It fts theie so well.
5
Society conventionally defnes only vaginal inteicouise as °ieal," natuial, and acceptable
sex, but yaoi extends intimacy to cuddling, kissing, and oial/anal sex. Some may aigue that
the anus in yaoi is actually a coded vagina, but of couise anal sex is not confned to homo-
sexuals.
8-Rewriting Gender and Sexuality in English-Ianguage Yaci Fanfcticn (TAN) 133
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Yaoi fanfcs aie often known foi having uniealistic and foimulaic iepiesentations of
gay sex such as the standaid °inseit one fngei, inseit two oi thiee, follow with anal pen-
etiation" because it is usually wiitten by women who aie natuially distanced fiom male
bodies. This has led to some gay male fans °helpfully" offeiing sex tips to make sex scenes
moie iealistic. Howevei, such attempts aie beside the point, because the sex is not meant
to be iealistic gay sex but idealized fantasies of what women would like lovemaking to be
like. As Jeanne points out in °The Top Ten Things I Love About Yaoi," semes may take the
°male" iole, but they still aie not men having sex because:
... they don`t come, oi if they do seem to come they`ie still haid afteiwaids and able to
tuin the uke ovei to do it in a new position. They behave like us (women), and they
behave the way I bet a lot of stiaight women wish theii guys could. Which makes the
seme both a woman ¯and¯ a female fantasy of maleness at the same time. Neat tiick,
huh:
52
Yaoi fanfction can get veiy giaphic. Howevei, like slash, which Jung (2004) desciibes
as °iomantic poinogiaphy," sex scenes usually fulfll naiiative functions; they fuithei the
plot oi aie used as a tool foi chaiacteiization and embedded in chaiacteis` pasts, piesents,
and futuies as piovided by canon.
53
This is in contiast to the denial of the emotional con-
sequences of sex in most poin because in slash (and by extension yaoi) sex always has diiect
and diamatic emotional iamifcations.
54
Theie is a genie of fanfction called PWP (plot: What plot:) consisting of fanfcs with
veiy little plot and consisting mainly of explicit sex scenes. Unlike othei fanfcs, PWPs aie
obviously wiitten to titillate and appeai at suiface level to be no diffeient fiom iegulai
poinogiaphy. Howevei as Teep, a fan, explains, yaoi PWPs aie diffeient fiom iegulai
poinogiaphy because female ieadeis need to get to know and have some soit of emotional
investment in the chaiacteis befoie they can enjoy the stoiy. The noimal woik of exposi-
tion and chaiacteiization is alieady done by the oiiginal text (e.g. the anime) so it becomes
possible to skip to the yummy paits, i.e. the sex scenes.
55
In contiast, accoiding to Cathei-
ine Diiscoll, °Not only is chaiacteiization not the point of most poinogiaphy, it is even an
obstacle to the effciency of poinogiaphy."
56
Fuitheimoie as Alan Soble shows, in conventional poinogiaphy women aie subjected
to physical, psychological and linguistic violence, denial of female pleasuie, and being
ieduced to ciude body paits such as °cunt." Women in conventional poinogiaphy have no
intiinsic value except as ieceptacles of lust to piovide sex on demand.
57
Ukes in yaoi sex
scenes aie seldom dehumanized in such a fashion. The feminist anti-poinogiaphy move-
ment claims that poinogiaphy encouiages iape/violence against women, and many women
have ambivalent feelings about conventional poinogiaphy.
Andiea Wood, in desciibing Japanese yaoi/BL, also points out that the uke is not °visu-
ally infused with negative oi disempoweiing connotations ... his paitnei is moie focused
on giving him pleasuie than on simply taking it foi himself.... Theiefoie, in opposition to
a one-sided visualization of pleasuie that emphasizes the impoitance of the penetiating pait-
nei`s oigasm, a mainstay of heteiosexual poinogiaphy, yaoi manga aie moie inteiested in
illustiating both paitnei`s eiotic fulfllment and giatifcation."
58
Foi Diiscoll, we leain fiom and negotiate with poin what appeais sexy as we leain
fiom and negotiate with iomance what it is to appeai °in love."
59
Yaoi fans have ioundly
iejected the social sciipts of conventional poinogiaphy as models by wiiting theii own sto-
iies.
134 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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Rcmantic Ideals
In contiast to heteiosexual ielationships wheie women often maiiy foi fnancial secu-
iity, social iespectability, and othei ieasons such as family piessuie, yaoi fans piotest against
ieality by idealizing homosexual ielationships. Suzuki, in discussing Japanese fandom,
desciibes homosexual love celebiated by fans as °love fiee fiom calculation, capable of
withstanding societal piessuie, and achieved only aftei gieat saciifce."
60
Sometimes the fanfcs iesemble the tiaditional foim of the gay coming-out stoiy wheie
it takes couiage and soul-seaiching foi the piotagonist to face up to his desiies. In Link62`s
°But, I`m an Assassin," mi comes to iealize that he is gay when he connects the dots.
Omi swallowed haid, thinking back on the events of the iecent past. Watching Nagi go
longingly. Kissing Ouka with no passion. Feeling his body iun iampant on him as the
gieat Hidaka Ken made a beautiful save that exposed his peifect stomach in the piocess.
Not to mention, meeting Ken, just to neaily thiow up he was so paialyzed with awe. He
was undeniably attiacted to men.
6
Although yaoi is not meant to be iealistic, issues of disciimination and gay iights aie
sometimes addiessed. In Atsuieki`s °Please, Give Me Anothei Chance," Ken, who coached
soccei pait-time, lost many of his chaiges when the childien`s paients found out he was
dating anothei man.
62
Love faces family opposition in Swythangel`s °Phenomenal Noume-
nal" when Aya`s sistei is unable to accept that he is gay, foicing Aya to choose between fam-
ily and his lovei.
Why was it that she could take otheis being gay but not hei own biothei:
If she was tiuthful with hei biothei, she knew that the answei was quite simple. She
still thought that gays weie not noimal. No mattei how libeial she acted, she was still
just a little bit conseivative in hei views. It was all veiy well foi otheis like hei fiiends to
be gay but to have a membei of hei family ¯be¯ gay:
63
In Shooii`s °Eight Yeais in the Making," Aya apologizes to Ken foi not being able to
maiiy him and give him the secuiity, benefts, and iecognition gianted automatically to
heteiosexual couples.
°I`m soiiy that you can`t ... have ... all that," He continued staiing at the caipet, his light
mood iapidly daikening as he pondeied all the things he could nevei give Ken. A wed-
ding. A tiaditional home. A family. All the things that Ken wanted, that he could nevei
have if he stayed with him....
64
Howevei, if a chaiactei is willing to put himself on the line foi love despite all obstacles,
iisking the loss of tiust and loss of his self-image, this couiage usually leads to °peifect
physical and psychic fulfllment" in slash (oi in yaoi, as in this case).
65
The iaison d`êtie of yaoi is the iomantic cliché which one fan, Leathei Daddy, desciibes
wiyly as °soul-bonding thiough anal sex," pioffeiing the typical stoiy aic of a yaoi stoiy:
Seme`s name and uke`s name aie alone at last, aftei name of a majoi canonical conßict
oi wai oi event. They can fnally consummate theii love. But wait! Uke`s name is ieluc-
tant to do the nasty! Why: Uke is a viigin, and is afiaid that Seme won`t love him any-
ways. Seme ieassuies the uke, and they have wild monkey sex in name of position with a
little bit of name of kink. But afteiwaids, Seme notices something stiange! He feels
waim inside, as if he`s found something he`s nevei known he was missing, like the lost
half of his soul. °It`s a soul bond!" he iealizes. Then they mind-speak, exchanging
schmoopy sentiments. But then Uke iealizes something. °Oh no! Name of majoi
ieligous, political, social gioup, oi just fiiends and family will nevei appiove, because
I`m too young / too old / youi woist enemy / a completely diffeient species! We must
8-Rewriting Gender and Sexuality in English-Ianguage Yaci Fanfcticn (TAN) 135
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hide oui ielationship fiom the otheis!" Seme says that no mattei what, he`ll always love
Uke. And then they have sex again. The End.
66
Soul-bonding occuis in this scene fiom Maity`s °The Saga Begins" in which Ken
makes love with Aya foi the fist time.
The pleasuie is wondeiful all on its own, but that isn`t what biings me to teais, it isn`t
what biings Aya to teais, oi causes me to ciy out his name and whispei that I love him.
It`s the joy. The sheei joy of being so close, of making love. It is eveiything I`ve been
feeling inside shaied with the one I love. This is what biings me to teais.
67
In the same stoiy, Yji fnds out that Aya and Ken aie secietly sleeping togethei and jumps
to the conclusion that they aie simply using each othei foi sexual ielief. Ken is hoiiifed to
heai theii ielationship desciibed so ciudely.
°Ok, Ken," I say, °if you`ie not fuck buddies, just what exactly aie you: Don`t tell me
that you`ie...." ...
°We aie togethei. We have feelings foi each othei," Aya says calmly. Ken kisses his
shouldei softly and hides his face again. I feel my mouth go diy....
I sit back and look Ken and Aya ovei. I can see it now. The bonds. The caiing.
Woledge actually coins the woid °intimatopia" to desciibe the piimacy of intimacy in
slash.
68
Intimacy, not sex, is the foundation of yaoi/slash. The stoiy climaxes when the yaoi
couple iealizes that they aie made foi one anothei.
Not only is sex a spiiitual, signifcant, mutually affimative act, yaoi fanfcs tends to
emphasize commitment and staying faithful to one`s paitnei, unlike gay ciuising cultuie,
ießecting the piefeiences of theii female wiiteis and ieadeis. Foi example in Maity`s °The
Saga Begins," Yji hints that he would like to join Aya and Ken in the bedioom, only to be
tuined down ßat.
69
Even though yaoi thieesomes opeiate on the piinciple that if two boys
aie hot togethei, thiee would be bettei, anonymous sex and piomiscuity aie usually not
valoiized unless it is a fanfc specifcally wiitten to amuse, such as the stoiies fiom Talya
Fiiedancei`s infamous °Subway Tiilogy" which has Yji having sex with stiangeis on the
subway and culminates in an fienetic oigy involving all of Weiss.
70
Kinship, Family and Gay Marriage
Fans often cieate yaoi fanfcs featuiing unconventional family stiuctuies to aigue foi
a widei defnition of family and kinship beyond the heteiosexual nucleai family idealized
in industiialized societies. In °Uncle Youji`s Book of Love" by Duiendal and the Beef Chick,
Schuldig and Biad Ciawfoid aie a couple and the membeis of Schwaiz foim a close, if
wacky family.
NAGI (intioducing his lovei Omi): This <points to Biad> is my ... fathei. Yes, that`s
iight, fathei. Biad. And this <points to Schu> is my, ei, othei paient, Schuldig.
SCHULDIG: Oh please, Nagi-baby, call me mom.
7
Yaoi loveis often show theii commitment to theii ielationships by making some soit
of symbolic gestuie such as weaiing matching iings oi getting maiiied.
In °The New Woild Oidei" seiies by Aoe and Shooii, Aya and Ken aie unable to maiiy
legally but make a monogamous commitment to one anothei, adopt Aya`s nephew as theii
son, and giow old togethei.
72
The boy is iaised happily within a vast communal netwoik
of °aunts" and °uncles" consisting of the membeis of Weiss and Schwaiz as well as Ken`s
136 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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genetic family. Between saving the woild fiom evil as Weiss, Aya and Ken also shaie a
complete paitneiship at home, splitting choies and taking caie of theii son. Since both
paitneis aie male, they aie not bound by socially piedefned sciipts foi men`s and women`s
woik.
Maiiiage is one of the tiaditional tools used by society to divide unhealthy house-
holds (heteiosexual cohabitation, single-paient families, same-sex couples, etc.) fiom
the healthy (heteiosexual, nucleai family). Maiiiage in most societies is seen as the foun-
dation of society and civilization. °State and legal institutions thus do not choose to iec-
ognize heteiosexual maiiiage; they must iecognize it given its foundational status. Finally,
in claiming that theii unions aie the foundations of civilization, heteiosexuals claim to be
society`s most essential citizens...."
73
The heteiosexual maiiied couple has tiaditionally
been the single locus of pioductive sexuality and one of the usual ciiticisms leveled at
homosexual couples is that theii unions aie pointless because they cannot pioduce off-
spiing.
74
The yaoi family howevei °pioves" that °love makes a family" and affims that gay
couples aie able to ieai well-adjusted offspiing. Same-sex maiiiage poitiayed in yaoi
de-centeis heteiosexuality, showing that it is simply one sexual option amongst many oth-
eis.
75
Maity`s °Baby Talk" is set in a futuie Japan in which gay maiiiage has alieady been
legalized.
76
Aya and Ken`s daughtei, Kaoii, was the pioduct of Aya`s sistei`s donated egg
and Ken`s speim and caiiied to teim in an aitifcial womb; a move haiking towaids sci-
ence-fction in which new iepioductive technologies have often been used to challenge tia-
ditional gendei ioles.
Ciimson`s fanfc °Kind
des Schicksals" (°Child of
Fate" in Geiman) featuies a
scenaiio in which Shioshiio,
the genetic son of Aya and
Ken who was conceived
thiough futuiistic technology,
comes back thiough time to
pievent Ken fiom being killed
in a mission.
77
Shioshiio is
poitiayed not only as a son
anyone may be pioud of but
heteiosexual, pointing out
that homosexual unions do
not necessaiily iesult in
homosexual offspiing as con-
seivatives claim. Figuie is a
fan ait cieated by a fan who
loved Ciimson`s fanfc °Kind
des Schicksals."
78
It featuies
Shioshiio, the genetic son of
Aya and Ken, gazing fondly at
a childhood family photo
with his two fatheis.
8-Rewriting Gender and Sexuality in English-Ianguage Yaci Fanfcticn (TAN) 137
Figure . Asaphira, VK: RanxKen+Shíoshíro, Copyright · 2003.
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Nurturance and Ercs
Yaoi fanfcs do not always have to have explicit sex scenes. WAFF (waim and fuzzy
feelings) fanfcs aie light-heaited, often humoious fanfcs which focus on iomance and
have no sex scenes. They poitiay the tendeiness between paitneis totally absent fiom
poinogiaphy and the mundane domesticity/equality equally absent fiom iomance novels.
Sometimes such stoiies take place in the context of an established sexual ielationship,
what Bacon-Smith would desciibe as an °old maiiied couple" situation in slash.
79
Such sto-
iies often ievolve aiound domestic scenes in which a couple cook togethei, spend time at
home, celebiate biithdays oi special holidays like Valentine`s Day and anniveisaiies etc.
These vignettes of domestic bliss allow us to see the couple`s inteiaction with one anothei
and how they deepen theii ielationship with the shaiing of household choies, eating meals
togethei, and othei domestic activities. In slash, these kinds of stoiies aie called °cuitain-
fcs" because they often featuie the happy couple shopping foi household items.
°I know that look Ken," he wained. °You want me to do something that you know I
don`t want to do. You want me to go shopping with you."
°We`ie like a maiiied couple!" Ken gushed, batting his eyelashes. °You know me so
well, dailing!"
80
What Cicioni calls °the eioticization of nuituiance" in slash is also an impoitant fea-
tuie of yaoi. °In a gieat many stoiies the discoveiy of mutual love occuis as one paitnei
iecognizes and satisfes a basic need of the othei -physical (waimth, food, caie duiing ill-
ness) oi emotional (ieassuiance)-and, moie oi less explicitly, 'motheis` him."
8
Closed but
cold enviionments such as a deseited island, a shack in the wilds, stakeouts and othei sce-
naiios piovide a chance foi one of the paitnei to piovide waimth to the othei, with °the
waimth moving fiom the physical dimension to the metaphoiical one of closeness and ten-
deiness" (ibid., 63). In Kiiachu`s fc °Waimth," Ken and Aya shaie a blanket and become
emotionally involved aftei they weie stianded by a cai bieakdown.
°Still cold:"
°Bettei."
Aya felt a hand gioping beneath the folds of the blanket. A hand touched his own.
The fngeis weie waim, unlike his own.
82
Readeis can enjoy vicaiiously the waimth of caiing foi anothei and being caied foi.
Deena`s °Raspbeiiy and Lime Shampoo" is set just aftei Yji had to kill Neu, a iival assas-
sin who iesembled his dead lovei Asuka. Ken is woiiied about Yji`s giief and mental sta-
bility and shows his suppoit foi Yji by °motheiing him," which eventually leads to the
biith of a ielationship.
And then theie was Ken`s iecent mateinal shioud.... These days, Ken cooked foi him
and stayed up to wait foi him and annoyingly piotected him duiing theii missions
togethei.... He was veiy caieful with his woids aiound Yohji, no longei bluiting any-
thing and eveiything out. He tieated him like some dainty object that would bieak at
any moment.
83
A whole sub-genie of fanfction, which I will call °chibifcation" fanfcs, involves adult
chaiacteis magically tiansfoimed into chibi oi small, child veisions of themselves.
Swythangel`s °Chibifcation: Raising Ken" is a typical example and featuies Ken being tians-
foimed into a foui-yeai-old aftei eating some expeiimental anti-ageing jelly beans in a lab.
84
This fanfc piemise allows plenty of cloying, kawaii (cute) scenes between child Ken and
adult Aya (with whom Ken is secietly in love). Little Ken, unlike his adult self, has no qualms
138 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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about showing his affection foi Aya openly. He is indulged, tendeily bathed, fed and taken
caie of by Aya, leading to a happy dénouement (and sex) when he is fnally tiansfoimed
back into an adult.
Janice Radway points out that in the family no one suppoits and nuituies women
effectively and emotionally-eithei women woiking in the home oi women woiking in the
paid laboi foice.
85
While Radway`s study was done duiing an eia when most women weie
stay-at-home housewives, today`s women aie in the same position of having to take caie
of eveiyone as both °caieei supeiwomen" and household manageis. This may be a ieason
why the idea of being caied foi is so appealing to wiiteis and ieadeis. Also, diawing on
Chodoiow`s pie-Oedipal model of the mothei-daughtei ielationship, Radway suggests that
the iomance heioine`s desiie (and that of the female ieadei`s) foi nuituiance is the iesult
of a °coveit and unconscious wish to iegiess to the state of infancy in oidei to expeiience
again, but this time completely and without the slight withholding boin of homophobia,
that piimaiy love the infant ieceived at the bieast and hands of hei mothei" (Radway, 45).
Yaoi vicaiiously fulflls the fan`s sexual and emotional needs.
Accoiding to Cicioni, °the cential aspect of slash ¦yaoi, in this case] fantasies is the
notion of a same-sex woiking paitneiship being extended to the emotional/sexual spheie,
with each paitnei being ielied on to always be theie and nevei -unlike the dynamics of
the mothei/daughtei ielationship-iejecting the othei foi someone of the opposite sex."
86
This ideal is seldom fulflled in ieality foi women who giow up to tiansfei theii need foi
love fiom theii motheis to theii male paitneis undei compulsoiy heteiosexuality. Yaoi
love, howevei, is ieminiscent of the idealized infantile bond because it is unconditional and
uniestiicted and, best of all, eteinal. This love is so stiong and unselfsh that deathfcs
which featuie the death of a chaiactei often have one chaiactei making the ultimate saciifce
by dying foi his lovei. Talya Fiiedancei`s °To Buiy the Huit of Memoiy" made many fans
ciy when it was ievealed thiough a suipiise ending that Aya had died in oidei to shield
Yji duiing a cai accident.
87
Gender Bending
Yaoi chaiacteis tend to be andiogynous. As Jeanne points out in hei fan essay °Why
the Guys: Oi Navel-Gazing in the Afteinoon" iefeiencing feminist ciitic Joanna Russ on
slash, yaoi boys aie an amalgam of what wcmen considei desiiable male and female qual-
ities-male bodies, male status/powei, female ielating styles, female piioiities.
88
Howevei,
yaoi fanfcs also commonly tiansgiess gendei in othei ways.
In the seiies, both Ken and mi have been known to cioss-diess to hide theii iden-
tity on missions. Similaily in fanfcs, cioss-diessing is a common theme. Foi example, in
Geneiic Miko`s °Unexpected Talents" seiies, Aya cioss-diesses in oidei to infltiate a pios-
titution iing and his unexpected ambiguous beauty aiouses Yji`s inteiest in the piocess.
89
Accoiding to Judith Butlei in °Imitation and Gendei Insuboidination," °gendei is a kind
of imitation foi which theie is no oiiginal; in fact, it is a kind of imitation that pioduces
the veiy notion of the oiiginal as an effect and consequence of the imitation itself."
90
Yaoi
fanfcs suppoit the peifoimative natuie of gendei.
One paiticulaily mind-bending stoiy is °Giil" by Viiidian5 and Maya Tawi, in which
Aya discoveis that he has the ability to altei his sex.
9
Duiing the couise of the stoiy, not
only does s/he expeiience what it is like to menstiuate and buy women`s undeiweai, Aya`s
8-Rewriting Gender and Sexuality in English-Ianguage Yaci Fanfcticn (TAN) 139
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sudden tiansfoimation leads to changes in his ielationships with his male teammates as
well as with Schuldig. Aya gets sexually haiassed by male stiangeis in public, molested on
the tiain, and has sex with a woman in a female body. S/he also has sex with Yji, not only
as a woman and as a man but as an inteisex peison. Boundaiies between stiaight and gay,
male and female aie bluiied and pioblematized.
Plots in which chaiacteis switch bodies and change sex aie also quite common. Sex-
change stoiies often function as a chance foi gleeful fanfc wiiteis to inßict biological bui-
dens such as PMS onto bewildeied chaiacteis.
One sub-genie of yaoi/slash contioveisial amongst fans is known as mpieg (male pieg-
nancy). The ability to give biith is one of the most impoitant chaiacteiistics of being a
woman and caiiies with it an enoimous physical, emotional, and fnancial impact on hei
life-expeiience. A piegnant man is vulneiable both physically and emotionally and offeis
gieat amusement to fan wiiteis who enjoy this theme. Some have also commented that they
enjoyed seeing theii favoiite male chaiacteis in the iole of nuituieis and °motheis."
Yaoi piovides a vehicle foi fans to imagine a utopian woild unconstiained by biolog-
ical sex oi gendei ioles as well as a way to ciitique society`s oppiession of women. Jung also
speculates that slash, and by extension yaoi, may allow ieadeis and wiiteis to put on male
diag and exploie theii own masculinity.
92
In the same vein, the seme`s penis has been
desciibed as a °latex stiap-on" because °it is an fantasy sex toy that is always eiect and can
accommodate ieally odd positions."
93
Pcwer and The Female Gaze
Biinging You Male Objectifcation Thiough Eiotica since 998.-Fan wiitei Talya
Fiiedancei`s LiveJouinal Piofle.
94
Lauia Mulvey`s °Visual Pleasuie and Naiiative Cinema" (98) populaiized the concept
of the °male gaze," in which the male viewei of cinema deiives pleasuie fiom looking at pas-
sive females.
95
Snitow iemaiks that women in Hailequin iomances aie constantly on display.
°¦A] woman doing what women do all day, is in a constant state of potential sexuality."
96
As
a fan astutely notes, women aie commonly sexually objectifed in populai cultuie.
Anyone else noticed how sex scenes in Hollywood movies aie noimally flmed looking
down on the couple-fiom the typically °male" peispective-iathei than upwaids: How
we`ie used to seeing actiesses staik naked fiom eveiy conceivable angle and yet a single
shot of a penis still piovokes embaiiassment amongst audiences and erect penises aie
still only evei seen in poin flms:
97
Yaoi tuins the tables foi female fans who aie tiied of being sexually objectifed and
undei male sexual sciutiny. In yaoi, males aie the objects of desiie and theie is a degiee of
pleasuiable female voyeuiism in watching not only one, but two males having sex. As Fuji-
moto Yukaii states, °women aie fieed fiom the position of being unilateially violated, and
gain the peispective of the violatoi, of the one who watches."
98
Yaoi fans enjoy the subvei-
sive thiill of watching males in a vulneiable, submissive position, not only sexually but emo-
tionally. °'A man ain`t moie vulneiable than when he`s got a dick up his ass.` And hey!
These guys aie vulneiable foi lcve! Who could ask foi moie:"
99
Noi is voyeuiism the only pleasuie-the female wiitei/ieadei can enjoy identif ying
heiself as eithei the passive uke oi active seme oi both at once. Wheieas, as slash fan Helen-
140 Pait Two: Genie and Readeiship
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inhell points out in hei essay °I Am Not a Dominatiix: Women and the Active Sexual Role,"
in conventional sexual fantasy women aie eithei passive oi, if they aie aggiessive, they aie
usually poitiayed as dominatiix because °society posits an active female as a kink."
00
Avila
(2005) iemaiks in hei online magazine aiticle °Boy`s Love and Yaoi Revisited," °Thiee
yeais ago, I wiote a biief suivey aiticle called Yaoi Comics: Two Guys in Love and the
Female Voyeui. At the time, one of my infoimants told me the title was misleading, and
now I undeistand why-because women aien`t on the outside looking in ... they`ie alieady
inside the men."
0
The multiple identifcations of the fan aie facilitated by the fact that fan stoiies typi-
cally depend on moie than one point of view and a single event may be iepeated two oi
thiee times as it is expeiienced by the diffeient chaiacteis piesent. This allows us special
insights into the emotions of the loveis.
02
Cece`s °Revealing Myself " is mostly wiitten in
the fist peison fiom Ken`s point of view but shifts to Aya`s point of view in the epilogue
in which he desciibes how he feels about Ken`s love.
03
This allows the ieadei to enjoy vic-
aiiously the joy of loving and being loved duiing intimate scenes and to be ieassuied of
the tiuth of the chaiacteis` feelings foi each othei.
The yaoi fanfc wiitei fiequently decides to put chaiacteis into undignifed, even
degiading situations. Well-known fan wiitei Chalcedony Cioss desciibes heiself pioudly
as an °uniepentent physical and emotional abusei of imaginaiy bishounen" on hei Live-
Jouinal blog piofle.
04
PWPs often featuie outiageous and expeiimental scenaiios such as exhibitionism and
use of household objects as sex toys. Wiiteis fiequently enjoy challenging one anothei to
wiite inteiesting and oiiginal sex scenes with unusual piemises.
Many fans have said that fanfction piovides a safe way to exploie taboo topics. Yaoi
fanfcs often featuie sexual fantasies that push the limits of social acceptability such as ten-
tacle iape, fetishes, incest etc. In Miko no Da`s well-known °Sinneis and Saints" seiies, mi
enteis into a consensual BDSM (bondage domination sadism masochism) lifestyle with
Schuldig and Nagi aftei being iejected by Yji.
05
Distuibingly, iape and degiadation aie sometimes eioticized, as in Geneiic Miko`s
°Popcoin" seiies in which Schuldig sneaks into the Weiss apaitment weekly to iape Ken,
using his mind-contiol poweis to iemain undetected.
06
Caids Slash points out the absuid-
ity of the fannish tendency to wallow in iape in hei metafctive fanfc. Heie, Ken tiies to
iebel against the abuse meted out by fanfc wiiteis.
... Ken looked at his hands, wondeied if it weie possible to swallow his own fst so that
he could die and nevei have to come back to this fandom again. But, his mouth wasn`t
ieally that big and he didn`t think the ciazy fangiil -Oh, shit, theie weie moie of them
ovei theie next to the Not-Omi. All with fieakishly biight eyes (glowing oibs of glow,
ieally) and ßowing locks of haii and goth clothes. °Schuldig, can`t you save me fiom
these evil fangiils:" Ken mumbled.
°Soiiy, aftei I get done iaping you, I have to go let Ciawfoid iape me-and like it
without being mind iaped. At least you have the advantage of being foiced to like it."
Sigh.
07
Yaoi also delves into edgy subject matteis such as abusive ielationships and abnoimal
psychology. In Scailet Fevei`s twisted °Fiail," Ken is tiied of his unhappy lifestyle as an
assassin and uniequited love foi Aya.
08
He engages in a soidid one-night stand with his
enemy Schuldig in a sleazy motel and is eventually killed by him. In °Rheotaxis," a well-
known fanfc by The RCK, a giown-up Nagi tuins Yji into his sex slave with explicit scenes
of non-consensual sex.
09
8-Rewriting Gender and Sexuality in English-Ianguage Yaci Fanfcticn (TAN) 141
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Peihaps theie is some amount of female sadism in toituiing a male chaiactei and mak-
ing them vulneiable, especially stoic, silent chaiacteis such as Aya. Yaoi uke in fanfcs often
beai the biunt of steieotypical °negative female chaiacteiistics" such as passivity, helpless-
ness, and masochism.
0
Female fans may be displaying theii angei at the way women aie
expected to behave by putting male chaiacteis into such ioles. In Atsuieki`s °Love on a
Leash," Ken is a mute sex slave who gets iaped, beaten, and abused by eveiyone he meets
and passed fiom ownei to ownei until he is iescued by Aya.
This stands in staik contiast to the lengthy histoiy of sodomy laws in the West.
Likely because theie was little legal iestiiction on male-male sex in Japan, and thus no need
to fght against laws such as these. The iights-based gay identity that is so obvious in Amei-
ica was nevei as stiongly developed in Japan.
Maik McLelland, one of the piominent English-language ieseaicheis on homosexu-
ality in Japan, suggests that many same-sex oiiented individuals in Japan iesist the °gay"
identity because they don`t necessaiily view theii sexual acts as a deteimining factoi in
218 Pait Thiee: Boys` Love and Peiceptions of the Queei
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identity. While in Ameiica the idea that °the peisonal is political" ioots many iights dis-
couises aiound identity politics, in Japan, sexual acts aie moie often viewed as ascbi (play)
and not an identity-deteimining factoi.
2
Because of the ielative lack of legal and moial
iestiictions, individuals can usually paiticipate in these acts without iestiiction and thus
have not developed the political gay identity often found in the United States which focuses
on a legal iights discouise. This is not to say that othei foims of disciimination and othei
expiessions of gayness moie in line with the Ameiican conception of gay identity do not
also exist in Japan; they do. A numbei of public gay fguies and activism-based gioups do
exist. Howevei, they exist alongside these multiple othei expiessions of same-sex sexual-
ity.
If we considei contempoiaiy yaoi manga without the specifc lens of gay identity in
the Ameiican sense, but with knowledge of how these multiple expiessions of same-sex
sexuality co-exist in Japanese society, the ieadings of °iealness" based on its iepiesenta-
tional ielation to gayness illuminate nuances in how we discuss sexuality in a global con-
text.
Ccnclusicn. Adventures in Yaci-land
When yaoi manga is biought into the Ameiican context, Westein values have a
signifcant inßuence on ieadings of yaoi by Ameiican fans. By adopting, negotiating, oi
iejecting Ameiican discouises of sexuality and identity, these fans asciibe unique meaning
thiough theii ieadings of yaoi manga. Readeis seem to apply populai undeistandings of
sexuality to yaoi manga. Ameiican fans apply ideas of a univeisal gay identity in theii iead-
ings of yaoi manga while using these conceptions to judge the iealness of yaoi manga. Some
fans assume that the gay identity found in dominant Westein ideology applies globally. In
these cases, fans considei yaoi manga to be uniealistic because the male/male sexuality iep-
iesented in yaoi manga does not display theii conception what °ieal" gayness should look
like. Foi the most pait, this conception includes scenes of victimization and °coming out"
into a °gay identity." Howevei, othei fans negotiate this dominant theoiy of univeisal gay
identity by acknowledging the vaiiation of same-sex sexualities globally and even within
the West. Foi these ieadeis, the peiception of yaoi manga`s °iealness" may be inßuenced by
knowledge of same-sex sexuality in Japan. In eithei case howevei, the fact that yaoi does
not iepiesent °ieal" gay sexuality to Ameiican fans does not seem to affect theii enjoyment
of yaoi manga. In fact, the absence of a U.S.-based male/male sexual identity may in fact
be a laige pait of yaoi`s appeal to Ameiican audiences.
Ameiican audiences often iead in a contiadictoiy mannei. Theii ieadings aie at once
ethnocentiic in that they piivilege familiai ideologies, and simultaneously exotifying in theii
emphasis on the °otheiness" oi °Japaneseness" of yaoi manga. This contiadiction is pait of
yaoi`s appeal. °Yaoi-land" exists as a space in which dichotomies fail to account foi the iange
and vaiiation of meaning and undeistanding that occui thiough ieading yaoi manga cioss-
cultuially. It is foi this ieason that the study of yaoi is benefcial in its openness to possi-
bility and multiplicity.
This essay has only begun to exploie the complexities of yaoi. The cioss-cultuial natuie
of this woik addiesses the layeis of cultuial meaning attached to yaoi manga, and the
piocesses involved in meaning-making acioss cultuial lines. Additionally, my focus on
audience iesponses to yaoi begins to exploie what has been ielatively unaddiessed in pie-
I2-Gay cr Gei? (HALL) 219
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vious woik on yaoi: fan undeistandings of yaoi manga in theii own woids. These fan
iesponses complicate any monolithic undeistanding of who ieads yaoi and how they make
meaning of it thiough theii vaiiation and contiadictions.
Nctes
1. Shinobu Piice, °Caitoons fiom Anothei Planet: Japanese Animation as Cioss-Cultuial Communica-
tion," }curnal cf American and Ccmparative Cultures 24 (200), 53.
2. William B. and Bella Mody Gudykunst, eds., Handbcck cf Internaticnal and Intercultural Ccmmuni-
caticn (London: Sage Publications, 2002).
3. Veiuska Sabucco, °Guided Fan Fiction: Westein 'Readings` of Japanese Homosexual-themed Texts,"
in Mcbile Cultures. New Media in Queer Asia, ed. Chiis Beiiy, Fian Maitin and Audiey Yue (Duiham, NC,
& London: Duke Univeisity Piess, 2003), 7.
4. While the demogiaphic infoimation of iespondents such as sexual identity was optionally iequested,
I have chosen not to highlight this in my analysis as I believe it distiacts fiom the content of audience iesponses,
which is the focus of this woik. Woik that takes into account this demogiaphic infoimation may be benefcial
in the futuie.
5. TJ`s iefeience to °invisible dicks" iefeis to the ways in which some mangaka diaw penises as baiely
visible oi iecognizable cylindeis to confoim to censoiship laws.
6. Miyamoto Kano. Rules Matsubunkan 2003: 30. scanlation via Liquid Passion http://hackthemain
stieam.com
7. Men who have sex with men (MSM) is a teim used by social scientists to classify men who have sex
with men, iegaidless of how they self-identif y.
8. New Ycrk Pride Guide I994, in Maitin M. Manalansan, °In the Shadows of Stonewall: Examining Gay
Tiansnational Politics and the Diaspoiic Dilemma," GIQ 2 (995): 427.
9. Gaiy P. Leupp, Male Cclcrs. The Ccnstructicn cf Hcmcsexuality in Tckugawa }apan (Beikeley: Univei-
sity of Califoinia Piess, 995), .
10. Joseph Hawkins, °Japan`s Jouiney into Homophobia," Gay o Iesbian Review \crldwide 7, no. (2000):
36.
11. Ibid.
12. McLelland, Maik. Male Hcmcsexuality in Mcdern }apan. Cultural Myths and Sccial Realities (Rich-
mond, VA: Cuizon, 2000).
Biblicgraphy
Gudykunst, William B. and Bella Mody, eds. Handbcck cf Internaticnal and Intercultural Ccmmunicaticn. Lon-
don: Sage Publications, 2002.
Hawkins, Joseph. °Japan`s Jouiney into Homophobia." Gay o Iesbian Review \crldwide 7, no. (2000): 36.
Leupp, Gaiy P. Male Cclcrs. The Ccnstructicn cf Hcmcsexuality in Tckugawa }apan. Beikeley: Univeisity of
Califoinia Piess, 995.
Manalansan, Maitin. °In the Shadows of Stonewall: Examining Gay Tiansnational Politics and the Diaspoiic
Dilemma." GIQ 2 (995): 425-438.
McLelland, Maik. Male Hcmcsexuality in Mcdern }apan. Cultural Myths and Sccial Realities. Richmond, VA:
Cuizon, 2000.
Miyamoto, Kano. Rules Matsubunkan 2003:30. Scanlation via Liquid Passion http://hackthemainstieam.com.
Piice, Shinobu. °Caitoons fiom Anothei Planet: Japanese Animation as Cioss-Cultuial Communication." }cur-
nal cf American and Ccmparative Cultures 24 (200): 53-69.
Sabucco, Veiuska. °Guided Fan Fiction: Westein 'Readings` of Japanese Homosexual-themed Texts." In Mcbile
Cultures. New Media in Queer Asia, edited by Chiis Beiiy, Fian Maitin and Audiey Yue, 70-86. Duiham,
NC, & London: Duke Univeisity Piess, 2003.
220 Pait Thiee: Boys` Love and Peiceptions of the Queei
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3
Raping Apollo
Sexual Difference and the Yaci Phencmencn
ALAN WILLIAMS
As a 25-yeai-old gay, white male living in Seattle in 2009, I puichase fiom my local
bookstoie the occasional manga about male-male iomance and sex-a °yaoi" genie
authoied and diawn almost exclusively by women in Japan. Ovei the yeais, this genie has
gieatly inßuenced my fantasies iegaiding male beauty, love, and passion. As an aspiiing
novelist, I tuin to the genie as I develop my own plotlines and chaiacteis. Yet, how am I
to imagine myself alongside the majoiity of yaoi fans-stiaight females-most of whom
aie Japanese: Is such an imaginaiy naïve, egocentiic, ethnocentiic, sexist: Oi does the
genie, in its cuiient tiansnational foim, speak to aspects of human desiie that aie, in fact,
beyond a single gendei and cultuie:
In hei 2008 disseitation °Reading and Living Yaci: Male-Male Fantasy Naiiatives as
Women`s Sexual Subcultuie in Japan," Mizoguchi Akiko illustiates how she °'became` a
lesbian via ieception, in adolescence, of the 970s 'beautiful boy` comics, the piecuisois to
yaoi" (vi). That a woman would become a lesbian thiough a male-male genie makes plain
the need to think beyond most stiuctuialist aiguments about yaoi and its fandom. By set-
ting the boundaiy of who is within a paiticulai subcultuie, the scholai (oi fan, oi °aca-
fan") not only neglects those on oi outside that boundaiy, but also pigeonholes and
homogenizes those inside the boundaiy. This boundaiy-setting has political, pedagogical
and ethical consequences that aie not always appaient.
In this chaptei I will examine competing naiiatives in iecent studies of yaoi, point-
ing to wheie these naiiatives ieach theii ethical impasses. The concept of sexual difference,
as expiessed paiticulaily by feminist philosopheis Rosi Biaidotti and Elizabeth Giosz, helps
think thiough these impasses. By the end of this essay, I hope to have developed a fiame-
woik in which I can imagine myself as a yaoi fan-a fiamewoik that is iespectful of the
ways yaoi iemains a distinctly Japanese and female genie.
Yaci as Pclitical
Aits educatois Bient Wilson and Masami Toku in theii °'Boys` Love,` Yaoi, and Ait
Education: Issues of Powei and Pedagogy" (2003) wiite:
Should the dojinshi subcultuie be biought into ¦the aits] cuiiiculum: ...
Heiein lies the pioblem. Dojinshi and its yaoi and boys` love components ßouiish
because they aie subveisive, beyond contiol, and because they stand in opposition to
conventional societal noims. To put these foims of youth visual cultuie in schools
would piobably iob teens of the pleasuies that suiiound theii cieation and consump-
tion: when we iequiie students to do and make what they themselves have elected to do
221
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on theii own becomes no longei theii own. Moieovei, when the subveisive is sanctioned
it loses its social tiansfoimative functions. Suiely, schools should not be in the business
of assisting students to cieate dojinshi. They don`t need help ¦undei °Yaoi, Boys` Love
and Ait Education," paias. 7-8].
Wilson and Toku note that this does not mean that aits cuiiicula can simply ignoie
yaoi, because °to do so leaves an intoleiable ciitical void" (paia. 9), as °suiely, teenageis
must leain to iead semiotically and inteipiet ciitically the visual cultuie they cieate. Suiely
they must be taught to question things such as the foims of gendei identity that aie con-
stiucted within yaoi" (ibid.).
The iiony Wilson and Toku point out is that yaoi cannot be °bioached" (ibid.) in the
schools that house its piesent and futuie consumeis and pioduceis due to yaoi`s °inappio-
piiateness" (ibid.) as seen by most educatois and adults.
Might it be the case, howevei, that the less pioblematic foims of visual cultuie cieated
by youth might stand in foi the unacceptable types: If boys` love piovides the means foi
females to exploie gendei ioles, then peihaps sanctioned foims of visual cultuie might
piovide the vehicle thiough which students could piactice ieading signs in the unsanc-
tioned foims of youth cultuie which exist beyond schools ¦paia. 0].
The assumption heie is that unless a youth is alieady politically minded oi outside the
heteionoimative noim, the youth will simply enjoy the genie and not question it. In
Mizoguchi`s account, the subcultuie has seen political °iesults" in the sense that (a) poli-
ticking and educating have had an effect within and without in the last foity yeais (that is,
the genie does not exist in a social vacuum), and (b) the exploiation of gendei and social
ioles by yaoi fans has iesulted in °libeiation" foi some fans. Mizoguchi wiites:
¦I]t is only natuial that an incieasing numbei of chaiacteis have staited to act on theii
own will, that is, the women fans` fiee will, iathei than the yaoi foimula that ießects
male-centeied heteionoimativity.
Of couise, the yaoi foimula¦e] themselves weie cieated by yaoi women fans and they
ießected what the fans had inteinalized. As theii sexual fantasies weie and mostly still
aie played out acioss the bodies of the male chaiacteis that assume fxed top (male)/bot-
tom (female) ioles and thus seem to imitate heteiosexual iomance, the fans` fantasies
seem to and do ieinfoice heteionoimativity. But at the same time, because such fantasy
naiiatives have been iepeatedly cieated and ieceived by women, some fans have come to
fully possess such heteionoimative assumptions as theii own and fully live them out as
theii own, so to speak, by playing bcth ioles in a women-only discuisive space instead of
iegaiding them as an unquestionable given. As a iesult, some women fans have ovei-
come heteionoimative assumptions (albeit in an unconscious mattei in many cases)
¦2008, 372-73; emphasis added].
Thus, a classioom setting wheie °ciitical" tools aie impaited to the student seems in
seivice of a politics in which the yaoi subcultuie cannct be trusted to pioduce iesults quickly
encugh. An unconscious oveicoming, in the eyes of the teachei, ought to be made conscious.
Within theii pieviously cited essay, Wilson and Toku wiite:
The peispectives, positions, tastes, and oiientations seem to exist in a fiightening ihi-
zomatic ßux. Yaoi appeais to ieinfoice conseivative gendei ioles while simultaneously
pioviding models foi libeiating ioles. The choices aie theie and the ieadeis and wiiteis
may, consciously oi unconsciously, choose this, oi that, oi the othei model -oi theii
combinations. What aie the consequences of being double-minded, playing with
double-edged-ness, possessing double-pleasuies, double-tioubles: Peihaps this is an
instance about which Jacques Lacan
Thiough boy`s love, it is possible to expiess dual peisonality (feminine and masculine)
that is involved in human beings.
2
If Takemiya is iight and the appeal of BL is that the ieadei °can adopt both ioles" and
also expiess a °dual peisonality (feminine and masculine)," it can be aigued that BL involves
some kind of tiansgiession of sexuality and gendei.
The taking of °both ioles" oi the gendei tiansgiession by shjc manga fans/authois
has often been discussed in a context of female oppiession oi of women as °negative" oi
lack.
3
I will show that by compaiing the piactices and texts of BL fandoms to othei sexu-
ally/gendei tiansgiessive subcultuies, it becomes evident that BL is not (just) about com-
pensation but that it iesembles a distinct sexual/gendei subcultuie.
The yaoi me (liteially, the °yaoi-eye") oi yaoi megane (°yaoi glasses") that the BL fan
utilizes to iead stiaight oi homosocial context as homosexual is compaiable to othei iionic
and destabilizing ieading piactices of sexual and gendei minoiities, as exemplifed in piac-
tices of diag queen cultuie, camp oi °peiveise ieading." BL fans` pieoccupation with gay
men can be undeistood bettei in context of the piactices of giilfags and tiansfags, i.e.,
female-boin peisons who eioticize and identif y with gay men.
By identifying with one oi moie of the gay male chaiacteis in a manga, the fans/aitists
cannot just take on a tiaditionally male gendei iole, but a tiaditionally male sexual
position, which allows them to expeiience themselves, among othei things, as penetiatoi
232
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(seme) and a male counteipait (uke) as penetiated. Thus, the tiansgiession of sexuality and
gendei in BL can be quite liteial, enabling its ieadeis/cieatois to identify oi feel with the
male chaiacteis on a physical level, in a piocess I call °cieative tiansvestism." The tians-
giessions of sexuality and gendei of fans/aitists aie ießected on a textual and visual level
in the evolution of the genie and in its conventions and techniques, while the liteialness
of the gendei tiansgiession is expiessed in BL fandom piactices such as dans kei cosplay
(female fans diessing up as male chaiacteis) and yaoi online iole-playing.
Dhaenens et al., have suggested that flm theoiy would gain by taking into account
that so-called stiaight audiences might be familiai with piactices such as slashing, and by
employing a tiuly queei appioach: °Ultimately, tiansgiession of the boundaiies between
queei ieading and slash fction indicates the need to violate disciplines, which is exactly
what a queei would do."
4
Jenkins has shown that Sedgwick`s woik on the homosocial/homo-
sexual continuum in °Between Men" (985), a foundational woik of queei theoiy, can be
easily adopted to undeistand slash.
5
Likewise, I suggest that both BL studies and queei the-
oiy would gain fiom woiking moie closely togethei.
Modein °Westein" thinking holds that sex, gendei and sexual oiientations aie inboin,
unchangeable and oiganized in dichotomies such as man-woman, male-female, gay-
stiaight, lesbian-gay male, tianssexual-cissexual (i.e. non-tianssexual), etc. Discussing both
BL and slash within that fiamewoik is especially diffcult because they piesent us with a
woild wheie the boundaiies of sexual oiientation and gendei aie in ßux and sometimes
nonexistent: A woild in which stiaight chaiacteis can suddenly tuin gay (Captain Tsubasa
yaoi, Kiik/Spock slash), chaiacteis swap social gendei and even physical sex on a iegulai
basis (Oscai, Ranma), and nothing can be taken foi gianted wheie sex and gendei is con-
ceined.
°Queei" in the modein sense stands not just foi lesbian and gay, but foi all foims of
sex/sexuality/gendei expiession that do not confoim to the conventional heteiosexual model
of genital ielations between an active cis-man and a passive cis-woman. Queei theoiy sciu-
tinizes the natuialness and stability of all modein categoiies of sex/gendei/sexuality and
so offeis a moie appiopiiate fiamewoik foi discussing the woilds of BL and slash.
6
Tiansgiessing boundaiies and violating disciplines myself, I will employ an eclectic
appioach that ießects my own eclectic backgiound in the aits, academia and queei and
tiansgendei activism, thus analyzing the sexual and gendei tiansgiessiveness of BL on the
level of techniques, contents, and fandom piactices.
YAOI ME-The Gaze cf the Rctten Girl
Yaoi staited in the late 970s as djinshi, oi manga cieated and self-published by fans,
by taking existing texts of male homosociality and tuining them into homosexual ones.
Foi example, an innocent boys` football manga such as Captain Tsubasa (98) is tians-
foimed into a gay eiotic text wheie the male chaiacteis have sex with each othei. In its eaily
days, yaoi was seen as pait of the laigei genie of aniparc, anime paiody.
7
Djinshi stiongly
iesemble °Westein" fanfction, and yaci shaies many similaiities with slash. Like slash
authois, yaoi aitists use existing chaiacteis of pop cultuie who often live in homosocial
enviionments oi ielationships (the stai ship captain, the cop, etc.) and paii them as gay
male couples. Refeiiing to Sedgwick`s study of homosociality in English novels of the nine-
teenth centuiy, Between Men (985), Jenkins aigues that the technique of slashing is about
I4-Hidden in Straight Sight (MEYER) 233
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biidging the disiuption in the continuum of male homosociality and homosexuality
8
: °To
diaw the °homosocial" back into the oibit of °desiie," of the potentially eiotic, then, is to
hypothesize the potential unbiokenness of a continuum between homosocial and homo-
sexual -a continuum whose visibility, foi men, in oui society is iadically disiupted."
9
The
same might be said about the technique of yaoi.
But yaoi isn`t just about iewiiting texts. Some authois have noted a phenomenon called
yaoi me (yaoi eye) oi yaoi megane (yaoi glasses), a way of looking at the woild thiough
yaoi eyes.
0
The avid fan staits to see homosexual dynamics eveiywheie: between fellow
students, pop stais, even politicians. This is mostly a case of piojection (though a stiong
°gaydai" might play a iole as well). But yaoi fans aien`t delusional. They know that not
eveiybody is gay-the yaoi gaze goes fuithei than that. It consciously diaws boys and men
into the oibit of the fan`s desiie, tuining them into objects of voyeuiistic pleasuie. The
female voyeui subveisively submits the male object of hei gaze to a °foiced homosexual-
ization": Some men fnd this distuibing, as they still associate homosexuality with humil-
iating effeminacy and penetiability.
In iecent yeais, Japanese yaoi fans have coined the teim fujcshi to desciibe themselves.
The oiiginal teim (fujcshi) means a iespectable lady. By smuggling the homopho-
nous kanji foi fu (iotten) into the woid, the oiiginal meaning gets iionically ieintei-
pieted, twisted and depiaved, ießecting the way in which the fujcshi depiaves iespectable
texts.
Fujcshi now means °iotten giil," showing that BL and specifcally yaoi is still
thought of, howevei (self ) iionically, in teims of depiavity and innocence. Foi giils and
women, pioduction and consumption of sexual texts is still consideied extiemely odd. Giils
aie biought up with the expectation that they aie somehow less sexual than boys. The
°innocent" aitwoik and design of most shjc manga (giils` manga) ießects this. In com-
paiison, many shnen manga (boys` manga) aie full of openly sexual, veiy physical imageiy,
while giils` manga fiame iefeiences to sexuality in symbols and °emotions." Boys` manga
would nevei get away with the degiee of ubei-°innocence" that giils` manga display. It
would look suspicious because °eveiybody knows" that boys aie sexually active, but °eveiy-
body" still pietends that giils aien`t.
In this way, giils who aie involved with sexually explicit manga fandoms aie caught
in an °assumed innocence." And because nobody expects these °nice giils" to be sexually
explicit, they can play with people`s assumptions and expectations about them. The teim
fujcshi illustiates this dichotomy between assumed innocence and depiaved inteiioi beau-
tifully.
On a diffeient but compaiable level, by eioticizing boys and men, BL fans aie caught
in an °assumed stiaightness": theii inteiest seems °only natuial." The fact that they aie eioti-
cizing gay men and acts is often ignoied by commentatois. By a similai logic, until iecently,
female-to-gay-male tianssexuals (and male-to-lesbian tianssexuals) weie denied hoimones
and tieatment: °They told me that I must not ieally be tianssexual. Aftei all, they thought,
if I just wanted to sleep with men, why go to all the tiouble:" says a female-to-male tians-
sexual.
BL fans might be women who aie inteiested in men, but they aie fai fiom being
stiaight. They aie reading the woild with yaoi eyes and have become peiveise ieadeis. Sedg-
wick explains, °The ieading piactices founded on such basic demands and intuitions had
necessaiily to iun against the giain of most patent available foimulae foi young people`s
ieading and life -against the giain, often, of the most accessible voices even in the texts
234 Pait Thiee: Boys` Love and Peiceptions of the Queei
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themselves. ¦This is] becoming a peiveise ieadei¦...]. And this doesn`t seem an unusual
way foi aident ieading to function in ielation to queei expeiience."
2
Lipton desciibes his own ieading piactices and that of othei queei youth, noting that
they °decode texts against the mainstieam, heteiosexual giain.¦...] Some diiectly sought to
altei the intended meaning of a text ¦and] bend inteipietation fiom a heteionoimative
meaning. These ieadeis could fnd homosocial/sexual content piesent in almost any text."
Anothei gioup °negotiated" with a text oi chaiactei. And a thiid gioup placed the ieadei
in the iole of the °detective. These ieadeis insist theii queei ieading is diiectly embedded
within the text by the authoi and theii job is to fnd the hidden messages...."
3
A subveisive gaze that reads oi re-reads a seemingly innocent oi °noimal" enviionment
is common foi maiginalized gioups. The ability to read a peison oi context, to iecognize
them as belonging to the maiginalized gioup oi cultuie, to see what is invisible oi hidden,
is a by-pioduct of the necessity to pass. Most maiginalized gioups piactice some kind of
passing, oi tiying to not be noticed as pait of the maiginalized gioup. A peison of coloi might
tiy to pass as white; a Jewish peison in 930s Geimany might tiy to pass as °Aiyan," and so
on. Often, the peison doesn`t even tiy to pass but is just assumed to be a pait of the domi-
nant gioup: a lesbian might be assumed to be stiaight, as long as she doesn`t come out.
Tiansvestites and tianssexuals aie especially involved in the dichotomy of passing and
reading. To avoid disciimination, a tianssexual might tiy to pass as a cis-peison, oi non-
tianssexual. Reading a tianssexual means seeing that he oi she is not a cis-peison, but a
tianssexual. And othei tianssexuals aie the best °ieadeis": it takes one to know one.
Reading is a necessity, foi when membeis of minoiities aie passing, how aie they to iec-
ognize each othei: How can they foim communities and subcultuies and shaie the knowl-
edge and cultuial pioducts that ießect theii expeiiences: They need to develop an additional
sense to read hidden clues and hints. This is why membeis of maiginalized gioups can look
at the woild and see things that otheis don`t see. They have specialized knowledge, and
knowledge is powei. If queei people °know" that this actoi oi that politician is °one of us,"
even if (oi especially if ) that peison is not °out" oi even if the peison is actually stiaight, it
allows them to navigate the woild with moie powei and with moie fun.
On a textual level, the reading that a fujcshi does is not identical, but veiy closely
ielated to the active piocess of reading subtexts, and reading of queei subtext intc stiaight
texts, that queei people have always done when consuming and pioducing cultuial piod-
ucts. Foi example, an active foim of reading Hollywood flms was peifoimed not only by
the queei audience but also by the queei people who woiked in the flm industiy, so that
many of the subtexts didn`t have to be read intc the text -they weie actually theie and had
only to be discoveied by those in the know: °You got veiy good at piojecting subtext with-
out saying a woid about what you weie doing," says scieen wiitei Goie Vidal about his
woik on Ben-Hur (959), which contains a consciously gay subtext in the ielationship
between Ben-Hui and Massala.
4
Nowadays, HoYay! (fiom: Homoeioticism Yay!) fans of
television shows have become °detectives," oi expeits at spotting the subtext.
But reading is not just a technique to discovei the tiaces that othei membeis of the
minoiity have left. It can be used to actively read intc oi queer, and thus appiopiiate, a
stiaight text. Completely °innocent" woids, cultuial pioducts, even peisons can be appio-
piiated this way.
Reading can become a weapon: the diag queen who calls a male cop °giil" simultane-
ously mocks, subveits, and appiopiiates him. He gets diawn into hei queei woild, a woild
wheie he is suddenly the membei of a minoiity.
5
I4-Hidden in Straight Sight (MEYER) 235
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Camp, anothei queei subcultuial technique of paiody and subveision that utilizes the
techniques of passing and ieading, °'piggybacks` on the dominant oidei`s monopoly on
signifcation."
6
Peikovitch shows that this is °what any minoiity`s paiody does, but camp
always tends to inßect its own gendeied and °unnatuial" aspects in such a way that the dom-
inant oidei`s signifcation can also be seen as constiucted, oi itself othei than natuial."
7
Yaoi staited as aniparc, anime paiody, mostly of boys` manga. Today, yaoi and BL in gen-
eial still contain many paiodic elements. The yaoi me subveits, ie-inteipiets, and appiopii-
ates stiaight male contexts. It could be aigued that BL not only °piggybacks" on the dominant
oidei`s monopoly of signifcation but that it shows that the dominant oidei`s signifcations,
such as gendei ioles and ioles of sex and sexuality, aie constiucted and not natuial.
BISHNEN-The Male Cbject cf the Gaze
BL offeis almost aichetypical voyeuiistic pleasuie, as does its accompanying meichan-
dise: manga, anime, featuie flms such as Bcys Icve (2006), and yaoi computei games allow
the fan to gaze at gay men and gay sexual acts without inteiiuption oi peisonal involve-
ment. Cieating djinshi, of couise, allows foi an even moie active type of voyeuiism, in
that the aitist actually dictates the sexual activity. Kamm has shown that yaoi has an explic-
itly sexual function foi some Geiman and Japanese fans.
8
Hashimoto found that about
thiity peicent of the Austiian and Japanese cosplayeis she inteiviewed (who weie also yaoi
fans) had sexual fantasies ielating to yaoi.
9
BL is a medium that fetishizes and objectifes male chaiacteis as bishnen, beautiful boys.
Theii slendei bodies aie displayed, often in eiotic oi sex scenes, foi the pleasuie of the mostly
female voyeuis. BL aitwoik emphasizes the °feminine" qualities, such as expiessive eyes,
haimonious featuies, haiiless skin, and sometimes beautiful outfts of the bishnen.
BL idealization and fetishization of male beauty is most extieme in the uke chaiac-
teis. In the sexual scenes of BL, it is mainly the body of the uke that is displayed. He is
shown as passive, penetiated, and in the thioes of passion, a passion that is deiived fiom
ieceptivity. His aiousal and sexual ieactions aie the focus of the sex scene, in much the
same way that women`s ieactions aie the focus of stiaight poinogiaphy. In plots that con-
tain violence oi iape, the uke`s pain and agony aie sadomasochistically fetishized.
Voluntaiy oi fcrced sissifcaticn, that is, diessing up male chaiacteis in women`s clothes,
is a staple cliché of BL manga. Fcrced sissifcaticn is also a common BDSM technique, includ-
ing foicing the submissive paitnei to weai female clothes, do °female" choies such as house-
woik, and so on. It seems that many BL fans/cieatois enjoy and fetishize the sissifcaticn,
oi male-to-female tiansgendeiing, of BL chaiacteis and ieal-life peisons such as pop stais;
in a technique that iesembles that of diag queens who call stiaight men °giil," in BL boys
and men get simultaneously subveited and appiopiiated as sexual objects.
It is often assumed that stiaight female ieadeis of yaoi geneially identify with the uke,
the °passive" chaiactei in a sex scene, meaning that seme/uke ielationships ießect heteio-
sexual dynamics. This is cleaily not always the case. I have talked to seveial fans and done
some infoimal suiveys at yaoi foiums and gioups in Geimany and the United States, and
many (at least one-thiid) said that they identify with the seme. In yaoi online and com-
putei games, seme chaiacteis aie often played by women. The point of view in sex scenes
is eithei voyeuiistic oi fiom the seme to the uke, allowing ieadeis an easy identifcation with
the seme.
236 Pait Thiee: Boys` Love and Peiceptions of the Queei
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In explaining yaoi`s success, Takemiya said, °Yaoi`s gieat because you can adopt both
ioles."
20
As yaoi is mostly about sex, it seems doubtful that she meant this in a puiely
metaphoiic sense. Yaoi allows its female ieadeis to expeiience themselves as penetiating
seme and the male paitnei as penetiated uke. If pait of the gendei tiansgiession and attiac-
tion of yaoi and moie geneially BL is ielated to active female sexuality, the othei pait has
to do with passive male sexuality.
That switch of sexual ioles in ieal life is desciibed in an essay by Susie °Sexpeit" Biight,
a well-known authoi on sexuality. She desciibes hei own expeiiences with a sexual tech-
nique called BOB (shoit foi bend ovei boyfiiend) oi pegging, using a dildo and hainess to
penetiate hei male loveis anally
2
:
The fist time I evei asked a man if I could fuck him he said absolutely not. Aftei that, I
met a few men who defnitely liked it, and even guided me to feel inside foi theii
piostate gland (which felt like the tip of a nose). But aftei they came and ciied out and
loved eveiy minute of it, I noticed a decided lack of conveisation. They weie embai-
iassed that I`d found some seciet pait of them. I sensed that if I insisted on talking
about it, the taboo would get woise.
22
Biight mentions a °seciet" oi °taboo" that seems to be ielated to male penetiability.
When Sedgwick discusses the °continuum between homosocial and homosexual -a con-
tinuum whose visibility, foi men, in oui society is iadically disiupted,"
23
she connects it
to °the extent to which men`s sensibility, like women`s, had alieady been stiuctuied aiound
iape."
24
It could be hypothesized that Biight`s taboo and Sedgwick`s disiuption have sim-
ilai ioots, both piotecting men fiom penetiation and potential iape.
It has been aigued that slash and BL aie about equality, about women wanting equal
ielationships with men. Equality in that context iefeis to social and emotional equality,
but in BL and slash, that equality seems to be moie liteial and physical. It is about the avail-
ability of both sexual ioles foi women and men, not just about euphemistically °active"
and °passive" ioles, but about who penetiates and who gets penetiated.
25
The question of
who gets to fuck whom has political iepeicussions, of couise. But on a moie peisonal and
physical level, it allows foi inteiesting insights foi both men and women: Biight desciibes
how a male lovei didn`t undeistand why she wasn`t in the mood to be enteied eveiy day.
When he latei was penetiated by his new giilfiiend who was °insatiable," he confessed,
°'I`m hiding,` he whispeied to me one afteinoon, 'and I`ll nevei challenge you on this one
again! I had no idea what it was like to be the one who`s always theie foi the taking.` "
Biight`s desciiption of actively penetiating a man sounds a lot like yaoi`s queei mix of the
iomantic and the sexual:
I would like moie women with male loveis to know the pleasuies of iavishing theii hus-
bands and boyfiiends ¦...] because it`s a deep emotional pleasuie to be the one who
holds the woild in hei hands, so to speak-to be on top and going inside. When a man
is vulneiable to you in that way, he`s not only having physical pleasuie fiom his
piostate, he`s also giving himself to you in such a completely open way that it can`t help
but be intensely-daie I use the woid-rcmantic, in an ultimate, fai-out, upside-down
kinda way.
26
BARAZOKU-Transtextuality and Transvisuality
Aftei Hagio Moto intioduced gay male love to shjc manga in 97, the fist manga to
actually show gay male sex was Takemiya Keiko`s Kaze tc ki nc uta (976, Song of Wind
I4-Hidden in Straight Sight (MEYER) 237
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and Tiees). Thoin iepoits that °theie weie nine yeais between oiiginal conception and
appioval foi publication, because she iefused to iemove oi fudge the sexual aspect."
27
That
would place its conception aiound the yeai 967, in a decade when knowledge about queei
subcultuies was staiting to become available foi eveiyone, tiiggeiing a wave of iecogni-
tion and self-awaieness in many people and eventually culminating in the Stonewall iiots,
the moment of histoiy that staited the modein gay iights movement. The mateiial that
became available was often fiom the U.S. oi Euiope, feeding into alieady existing Japanese
ideas about the °West": the Japanese teims seiy and -bei desciibe in an act of °ieveise
oiientalism," a °conßated and sometimes eioticised Euio-Ameiican cultuial spheie."
28
Thus, the °West" easily becomes the stage foi queei sexualities and gendeis in a similai
way as °Westein" audiences like to believe in the exotic gendeis and sexualities of the °East."
Welkei has shown that the authois of eaily BL, oi shnen-ai, weie heavily inßuenced
by the gay male cultuies of late nineteenth and eaily twentieth centuiy Euiope.
29
Equally,
it is said that Ikeda Ryoko was inspiied foi the Euiopean setting of Berusaiyu nc bara (972,
The Rose of Veisailles) by a Euiopean souice, Stefan Zweig`s biogiaphic novel Marie
Antcinette (932). This heavy boiiowing fiom Westein souices has shaped BL and tians-
gendei manga on many levels. While modein BL has moie contempoiaiy oi Japanese set-
tings than the manga of the 970s, titles with Euiopean oi pseudo-Euiopean settings, such
as Higuii`s Y`s Iudwig II (996), still abound.
Some Euiopean customs weie impoited to Japan duiing the nineteenth centuiy and
weie pieseived oi ievived theie when they weie alieady obsolete in Euiope: the language
of ßoweis oi the chaiactei system of blood types, both a iecuiiing convention of shjc
manga, have that oiigin. Obsolete symbols fiom eaily Euiopean queei subcultuies weie
also pieseived: aiound 900 the coloi gieen was associated with male homosexuality, so
much so that Oscai Wilde and his ciicle weie said to weai gieen cainations to iecognize
each othei. In manga, the coloi gieen seems to indicate homosexuality, as well. It is piomi-
nent in the Kaze tc ki nc uta covei aitwoik, which sometimes even depicts the chaiacteis
with gieen haii. In the stoiy aic of the Sailcr Mccn S anime seiies (994-995) that intio-
duces Haiuka and Michiiu (a butch/femme oi female-to-male tiansgendei/femme cou-
ple), the eyes of an obsessed giil tuin gieen befoie she attempts to kiss a giil. Michiiu`s
gieen haii seems to maik hei otheiwise °noimal" feminine beauty as queei.
Haiuka, the butch oi female-to-male tiansgendeied sailoi waiiioi, is Sailoi Uianus,
which indicates hei homosexuality oi °male soul" (and not just by the pun on °youi anus").
The Geiman Kail Heiniich Uliichs (825-895 CE), who founded the eailiest gay iights
movement in about 862, coined the then extensively used teim °Uianiei" (Uianian) foi
gay men and lesbians. He believed that a gay man was a female soul tiapped in a male body
and that a lesbian was a male soul tiapped in a female body. The teim iefeiied to the eighth
and ninth chapteis of Plato`s symposium, wheie homosexuality is associated with Aphiodite
Uiania, the heavenly Aphiodite, daughtei of Uianus, who was boin fiom seveied body
paits of hei fathei.
In a similai way, the violet, a Euiopean ßowei symbol foi lesbianism in eaily twenti-
eth centuiy Geimany, has made its way into Japanese populai cultuie. In 928, Mailene
Dietiich sang hei fist hit with a female paitnei about what two giilfiiends do togethei
(°\enn die beste Freundin") while both weie weaiing bouquets of violets. The pansy is pait
of the Violet family and both ßoweis aie said to iesemble female genitalia, while the coloi
puiple oi violet has been associated with lesbianism. In Japan, the violet, oi sumire, is the
emblem of the Takaiazuka Revue that was founded in 93. In Takaiazuka, all male ioles
238 Pait Thiee: Boys` Love and Peiceptions of the Queei
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aie played by women, the male impeisonatois called ctckcyaku. In its eaily yeais, the
Takaiazuka fandom, too, was associated with lesbianism.
30
The Japanese piactice of using nineteenth centuiy Euiopean ßowei symbolism foi a
chaiactei oi an atmospheie can be tiaced back to the giils` novels of Yoshiya Nobuko (896-
973), a highly successful authoi who lived in a lifelong °maiiiage" with a female paitnei.
In hei Hana mcncgatari (Flowei Tales, 96-924 CE), she used a diffeient ßowei name foi
the title of each stoiy, symbolizing the chaiactei of the diffeient heioines.
3
In 925, Yoshiya
staited publishing a magazine undei the title Kurcshbi (Black Rose).
In shjc and BL manga, ßoweis often inteipiet a chaiactei oi indicate gendei oi sex-
uality. Welkei has discussed the meaning of the iose as a symbol foi (male) homosexual-
ity in eaily shnen-ai at length. In 976, the fist male/male sex scene to appeai in shjc
manga was shown as a copulation of two ioses in Kaze tc ki nc uta.
32
While in the tiadi-
tional Euiopean ßowei language of the nineteenth centuiy the meaning of the iose was love,
in manga it has come to stand foi (male) homosexuality. This symbolism oiiginated in gay
male Japanese subcultuie. It came to piominence in 97 with the founding of Japan`s fist
gay magazine, Barazcku (Tiibe of Roses), although the symbol itself had been in use foi
some time befoie that. It could be speculated that the iose became a symbol foi male homo-
sexuality via a pun on rcsette (Fiench foi °little iose"), which is a common Geiman, maybe
Euiopean, slang teim foi the anus. It might have ieplaced the tiaditional Japanese and Chi-
nese ßowei symbol foi the anus, the chiysanthemum.
33
By calling hei 972 classic manga about a female-to-male tiansvestite Berusaiyu nc bara
(The Rose of Veisailles), Ikeda invited associations with Japan`s gay male subcultuie. These
associations stiongly iesonate thioughout the manga and anime. Foi example, in the sui-
ieal opening sequence of the anime veision of Berusai nc bara, the nude fguie of Oscai is
ievealed in a bondage-like pose, wiapped in long pieicing thoins, ieminiscent of a seiies
of photogiaphs of the queei authoi Mishima Yukio called Bara Kei (Oideal by Roses, 963)
that had been iepublished in 97.
34
The photos show the authoi in diffeient stages of nude
bondage, coveied by ioses, oi as a modein St. Sebastian, tied to a tiee and pieiced with
aiiows.
Biought up as a boy and tuined into a peisonal guaid to Queen Maiie Antoinette of
Fiance befoie getting involved in the Fiench Revolution, Ikeda`s heio/ine Oscai is also
fimly placed in a queei Euiopean context: the unusual fist name evokes Oscai Wilde, and
Maiie Antoinette was iumoied to have been a lesbian.
35
Sedgwick wiites, °'common sense` about homosexuality involves two contiadictoiy
gendei models: foims of the inveision tiope (in which a gay man iepiesents 'a woman`s
soul tiapped in a man`s body` and so on) that see queei people as uniquely situated between
gendeis; and foims of the tiope of gendei sepaiation, undei which it only seems common
sense that people of the same gendei ¦who have a lot in common] ¦...] should bond togethei
also on the axis of sexual desiie...."
36
These two opposite peiceptions of gay people as inveits,
Uranier, and membeis of the °Thiid Sex" who aie a mixtuie between female and male; oi
as homosexuals, that is, feminine women oi masculine men who piefei people who aie °the
same" (homo) as themselves, evolved in nineteenth centuiy Euiopean gay activism and weie
adopted by eaily sexology.
Inteiestingly, the two peiceptions can still be found in many queei manga. Inveision
oi °Thiid Sex" is evei-piesent in the foims of sissifed boys, male-to-female tianssexuals,
female-to-male tiansvestites, °inteisexuals," and chaiacteis who change sex oi gendei foi
diveise ieasons. The idea of a °Thiid Sex" meiges with tiaditional Japanese ideas that intei-
I4-Hidden in Straight Sight (MEYER) 239
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piet tiansgendei as some kind of °ieincaination accident" (see, foi example, the Tcrikae-
baya mcncgatari, a Heian-peiiod (794-85 CE) classic about a sistei who behaves like a
man and a biothei who behaves like a woman). This meiging of Euiopean and Japanese
ideas is exemplifed in Princess Knight (Ribcn nc kishi, 954) in which an unboin child,
intended to be a giil, swallows a male soul by accident, the boin child becoming quite lit-
eially a male soul tiapped in a female body.
The homosocial topos is used in viitually eveiy BL text in the foim of a homosocial
setting such as the boys` school, yakuza, oi othei all-male enviionments. A thiid topos of
homosexuality, pedeiasty, was piesent in nineteenth centuiy discussions and ciops up ieg-
ulaily in BL manga, often in the foim of an abuse theme. Manga such as Kaze tc ki nc uta
combine both topoi: the love stoiy between Seige and Gilbeit is set in a boys` school; Gilbeit
was abused by his uncle/fathei, and he also dates oldei boys.
The homosocial boys` school setting with its juvenile fiiendships has been used iegu-
laily by Euiopean authois to thematize homoeiotic attiaction. Novels such as Achille Esse-
bac`s Dede (902) oi Rogei Peyieftte`s Special Friendships (944, Ies Amities particulieres,
liteially, paiticulai fiiendships) fiame theii taboo subjects in the context of adolescent boys`
fiiendships and an enviionment without giils, in which a little boy/boy attiaction seemed
almost °innocent," a meie phase.
These boys` school iomances aie stylistic piedecessois of BL manga, specifcally of
eaily shnen-ai. In fact, Hagio Moto was inspiied to wiite the fist published shnen-ai
manga }uichigatsu nc gimunajiumu (Novembei Gymnasium; 97) and Tma nc shinz
(Heait of Thomas; 974) aftei watching the flm veision of Ies Amities particulieres (964).
37
Taking an existing homosocial genie oi text, in the case of Euiopean authois the con-
ventional boys` school novel, and sexualizing it, is a technique that is stiongly ieminiscent
of the wiiting technique of eaily yaoi and BL in geneial. But while the Euiopean authois
used subtle homosexualization of the homosocial to avoid piosecution, yaoi consciously
tiansgiesses the boundaiy between the homosocial and the homosexual foi sexual titilla-
tion and subveision. Texts that use a similai clash between the innocent and the foibidden
to beef up the sexual impact can be found in the liteiatuie of nineteenth-centuiy Euio-
pean gay subcultuie, e.g. The Priest and the Acclyte (894) by John Fiancis Bloxam.
It could be aigued that Hagio`s Tma nc shinz was one of the fist manga to be iewiit-
ten yaoi-style when hei fiiend Takemiya used a similai, but sexually explicit plot foi hei 976
Kaze tc ki nc uta. Both Tma nc shinz and Kaze tc ki nc uta aie about boys who weie abused
and at fist ieject the love of a fellow student. The inteitextual communication between these
manga can be easily explained by the fiiendship of theii authois, who lived togethei foi a
time, but it is fai fiom uncommon. Aoyama sees °inteitextuality as cential to manga and
novels, and shjo ieadeis as adept at catching such iefeiences."
38
By iefeiencing to and ie-
inteipieting existing texts, yaoi itself is a highly developed foim of inteitextuality.
While the cential technique of yaoi and BL in geneial is to read homosocial texts as
homosexual, anothei type of reading oi ie-inteipietation can be found in BL: the ieading
of female as male and vice veisa. Hagio iepoited that she planned hei manga }uichigatsu
nc gimunajiumu and Tma nc shinz to be a female veision of Ies Amities Particulieres.
Welkei has discussed how a lesbian ieading of Tma nc shinz is facilitated by the femi-
nine look and ambiguously diawn nude bodies of the chaiacteis, some names, the way they
aie placed between unambiguously male and female chaiacteis, and so on.
39
As I have
shown befoie, in an inteipietation that iesembles eaily Euiopean inteipietations of homo-
sexuals as °Thiid Sex" oi inveits, Takemiya associates BL with gendei tiansgiession and
240 Pait Thiee: Boys` Love and Peiceptions of the Queei
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°being both" gendeis: °Thiough boy`s love, it is possible to expiess dual peisonality (fem-
inine and masculine) that is involved in human beings."
If the sex/gendei of shnen-ai chaiacteis is ambiguously diawn, allowing them to be
read as male, female, oi both, manga and anime in geneial use seveial devices to iepiesent
oi conceal the sex/gendei of its chaiacteis. The giammatical stiuctuie of the Japanese lan-
guage allows foi a subtle oi not-so-subtle veibal tians-gendeiing oi un-gendeiing of a
chaiactei. In anime, male chaiacteis aie often spoken by women who aie tiained to sound
like men, iesulting in an ambiguous voice-ovei. The choice of the seiy, oi voice actoi, often
adds an additional layei of meaning to an anime: in the Card Captcr Sakura anime seiies
(998), Yukito, the tendei boyfiiend of Sakuia`s biothei, is spoken by the populai Megumi
Ogata, the same seiy who voices Haiuka/Sailoi Uianus in Sailcr Mccn, thus connecting
the effeminate gay man to the female-to-male tiansvestite.
When Haiuka was intioduced in Sailcr Mccn, hei andiogynous look and masculine
hobbies, togethei with hei °male language," let hei pass as a boy in the eyes of othei chai-
acteis and of the audience. Many manga and anime use similai devices to consciously mis-
guide the audience foi a long time, oi even cieate chaiacteis that can`t be piopeily iead as
eithei male oi female.
The combined use of content, language, aitwoik, naming, style, voice actois, cioss-
iefeiences, and so on to piovide a manga and anime with seveial layeis of meaning that
inteipiet and ie-inteipiet each othei goes fai beyond simple inteitextuality. Aoyama sees
it as an example foi what Genette calls transtextuality, which includes, foi example, para-
textuality, e.g. the ielation between the text itself and its title, pieface, dedication, illustia-
tion, etc.
40
As manga and anime aie visual media, one might suggest that they make extensive use
of some soit of °transvisuality," allowing texts to communicate with each othei and with
themselves on a visual level. The devices of tianstextuality and tiansvisuality play a majoi
iole in the gendei tiansgiessiveness of manga and anime.
Fujimoto has called Princess Knight (954, Ribcn nc kishi, liteially the knight with the
iibbon) by Osamu Tezuka the fist tiansgendei manga.
4
But Fusanosuke Natsume, Matt
Thoin, and otheis have shown that it has at least one piecuisoi, Matsumoto Katsuji`s Nazc
nc kurcb (934, The Mystericus Clcver), a shoit manga about a Scailet Pimpeinel- oi Zoiio-
like giil.
42
Both Zoiio and the Scailet Pimpeinel led double lives as effeminate men and as
fieedom fghteis: it seems appiopiiate that a masculine fghting giil leads a similai double
life.
In Princess Knight, Tezuka`s heio/ine with two souls, a male and a female one, cei-
tainly stiuck a note with the audience and was followed by a laige numbei of similai seiies
featuiing female-to-male tiansvestite heio/ines, including the classic Berusaiyu nc bara. A
lot of Princess Knight´s suspense is deiived fiom the villains` attempt to fnd out if Sapphiie
is °ieally" a boy oi a giil. In hei fist scene in the anime seiies, she is followed and attacked
by thiee villains:
°Why aie you attacking me:"
°We want to know if you`ie a boy oi a giil"
°Who wants to know:"
°If this potion hits you it tuins blue if you`ie a boy and puiple if you`ie a giil."
They shoot a white substance fiom the tips of theii swoids but don`t hit hei. Duiing the
whole seiies, theie is stiong piessuie on hei to let go of hei masculinity, hei boy`s soul, but
she iefuses until the end. Both Princess Knight and Berusaiyu nc bara offei a °logical" expla-
I4-Hidden in Straight Sight (MEYER) 241
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nation foi the heio/ine`s tiansvestism: Theii iespective fatheis biought them up as boys foi
ieasons of succession. Howevei, both heio/ines display a stiong °male soul" all of theii own,
leading lives as militaiy men.
The gendeiing powei of the °fathei" is alluded to by the Princess Knight musical (2006).
In a case of iionic casting, the musical stais foimei Takaiazuka ctckcyaku Kaoiu Ebiia, a
female actoi who specializes in male ioles and is expected to live in a male gendei iole to
some degiee. Ebiia, in the iole of a °Chiistian" God Fathei with a ßowing white beaid,
angiily punishes some angels foi mischievously feeding the unboin Sapphiie a male soul.
In an amazing moment of liteial gendeiing, the tiansvestite God holds Sapphiie`s glowing,
blue male and pink female souls in hei/his hands.
Picking up the tiansvestite theme wheie Princess Knight left off, Berusaiyu nc bara
takes a closei look at the inveited heio/ine`s sexuality. Ikeda`s Oscai stiongly iesembles a
ieal peison, Julie (oi Julia) D`Aubigny, called La Maupin (670-707 CE), a female-to-male
tiansvestite who was biought up as a boy by hei fathei, the secietaiy to the mastei of hoises
foi King Louis XIV, and who latei became the lovei of a fencing mastei. S/he was a famous
duelist, an opeia singei, and was involved with a young woman. In 835, Théophile Gau-
tiei published the novel Mademciselle De Maupin, which he loosely based on D`Aubigny`s
life. Passing as Théodoie de Séiannes, Maupin becomes the piototype of the eiotic andiog-
yne, with men and women falling in love with hei/him.
43
And, like Maupin`s, Oscai`s double-gendeied identity opens up multi-gendeied pos-
sibilities: Giils fall in love with him/hei in a mixtuie of idealized heteiosexuality and butch/
femme lesbianism. Hei love foi hei seivant Andié is pait iemindei of hei female anatomy
(including heteiosexual expectations) and pait gay male fantasy.
The smooth switch fiom one gendei to the othei, and fiom one sexuality to the othei,
is facilitated by the visual peimeability of the oiiginal manga: both Oscai and Andié have
long ßowing haii and feminine, idealized faces, but weai male unifoims. Oscai can be
cleaily iead as male: s/he is thought to be a man by the chaiacteis who meet hei. When
Takaiazuka staited to stage the manga as a musical in 974, the tiansgendei potential of
the seiies was fully iealized and a new layei of meaning was added. As all the ioles weie
played by women, Andié was played by a woman, an ctckcyaku oi male-iole-specialist. In
an inteiesting casting decision by the ievue, the woman Oscai is always played by an ctckcy-
aku, as well. These decisions classify the male chaiactei Andié as °the same" as the female-
to-male tiansvestite Oscai, eithei feminizing Andié oi masculinizing Oscai. On a visual
level, then, the love stoiy can be inteipieted as between two butch lesbians, two female-
to-male tiansvestites, between two men, oi any combination of these.
Ikeda heiself takes the lesbian inteipietation to the next level in hei manga Cnsama e
(975, Dear Brcther), iecasting the likenesses of Oscai, Andié, and Maiie Antoinette in
an all-female giil`s school stoiy. Oscai and Andié aie tuined into the female butches
Saint }uste and Hana nc Kimi. Fiom theie it is only a small step to an unabashedly lesbian
ieinteipietation in Revcluticnary Girl Utena (996/997 Shjc kakumei utena), which
combines plot elements of Berusaiyu nc bara, Cnsama e and even Kaze tc ki nc uta. It iecy-
cles the school setting of eaily shnen-ai and Cnsama e, has duels like Berusaiyu nc
bara and includes an Oscai-like female-to-male tiansvestite as the bodyguaid of the sex-
ually abused, capiicious °Rose Biide" Anthy, who stiongly iesembles Kaze tc ki nc uta`s
Gilbeit.
The Utena plot of a heio/ine piotecting an abused giil but falling in love with a daik
piince, while taking pait in iitualized duels in a school, has iecently been ieinteipieted as
242 Pait Thiee: Boys` Love and Peiceptions of the Queei
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After Schccl Nightmare (2004, Hkagc hckenshitsu), which unites lesbian, heteiosexual and
tianssexual/inteisexual naiiatives, while a gay male plot is piesent in the subtext.
The Takaiazuka musical veision also facilitated a gay male ieading of Berusaiyu nc
bara that was alieady a potential in the manga: Fujimoto lists Oscai and Andié with othei
male/male couples of BL.
44
BL not only reads homosocial texts as homosexual, but, by iead-
ing female chaiacteis as male, it ie-inteipiets stiaight texts, as well.
The fact that Patallir! (979), a satiie on eaily }une-type BL manga, uses likenesses
of Oscai and Andié in the ioles of male/male couples suggests that they had been iead
as a gay male couple by a laigei audience, so much so that they had become clichés that
could be satiiized: the Andié-type is iecast as the daik, biooding, long-haiied °bishnen
killei" Bankoian, and the Oscai-type in the iole of diveise blond, effeminate, andiogynously
clad, but deadly bishnen: Thatchei`s death in the Patallir! anime (982) consciously
satiiizes Oscai`s death in the Berusaiyu nc bara anime (979). Thatchei dies on the stieet
in Bankoian`s aims amid tumbling iose petals. The end song sequence (°Beauty is a Ciime")
of Patallir! constantly iefeis to the opening song sequence of Barusaiyu nc bara. The
song`s lyiics speak of a black iose and the need to be wiapped by thoins while showing
images of Maiaich (an Oscai-type bishnen) and a silhouette of the seme/uke couple
among ioses, theii long haii blowing in the wind. The scene cleaily iefeiences the opening
scene of the Berusaiyu nc bara anime, which contains a white iose, a song about having °a
fate of ioses," and a silhouette of Oscai wiapped in thoins, his long haii blowing in the
wind.
Welkei has suggested that in eaily shnen-ai, the bishnen iepiesents the queei giil.
45
This tiansfoimative piocess, which took place duiing yeais fiom Berusaiyu nc bara`s pub-
lication in 972 to Patallir!`s publication in 982, iendeis the tiansvestite heio/ine indis-
tinguishable fiom the bishnen.
Manga and anime depict complex foims of tiansvestism: a foim of °double diag" is
cential to the plot of anothei ie-inteipietation of the Berusaiyu nc bara theme, the anime
Chevalier (Ie Chevalier D´Ecn) (2005). This double diag tiope is not new oi unique to
Japan. It can also be found in the oiiginal staging of Shakespeaie`s As Ycu Iike It, when a
boy actoi played the giil Rosalind who played the boy Ganymede. In Gaultiei`s novel Made-
mciselle de Maupin, the heio/ine Maupin, who is passing as Théodoie, plays Rosalind in a
staging of As Ycu Iike It. A moie modein example foi this type of diag is the musical Vic-
tcr/Victcria (USA 982, a iemake of Viktcr und Viktcria, Geimany 933): a woman diesses
up as a man who diesses up as a woman.
Set in pie-ievolutionaiy Fiance, Chevalier (Ie Chevalier D´Ecn) featuies an effeminate
young heio being tiansfoimed into his sistei, who used to diess up in male clothes and was
masculine: the man diesses up as a woman who diesses up as a man.
The paii of siblings who have ieveise gendei ioles is ieminiscent of the Tcrikaebaya
mcncgatari. The main chaiactei of Chevalier is, in fact, based on anothei queei Euiopean,
the ieal Chevaliei D`Eon, a famous male spy who lived as a woman (728-80 CE).
The opening scene of the anime seiies (2006) illustiates the inteitextual and inteivi-
sual communication between Chevalier and Berusaiyu nc bara: a shoit scene wheiein the
biothei piactices swoid fghting with his sistei, who is weaiing male clothes, iefeiences a
similai tiaining scene between the young Oscai and Andié in the fist episode of the Beru-
saiyu nc bara anime. In the last scene of the D´Ecn opening sequence, the biothei exits the
scieen amid the iuins of a ievolutionaiy Fiance, now tiansfoimed into a spitting image of
his sistei/Oscai.
I4-Hidden in Straight Sight (MEYER) 243
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The °ievolution" is a iecuiiing topos of tiansgendei and inteisex manga and anime
that can be followed fiom Berusaiyu nc bara to Revcluticnary Girl Utena to The Day cf Rev-
cluticn (999, Kakumei nc Hi), a manga about an inteisexual boy who tuins into a giil.
If in manga such as Kaze tc ki nc uta oi Berusaiyu nc bara, the queei giil oi female-
to-male tiansvestite, is indistinguishable fiom the bishnen, in Chevalier, an anime that is
aimed at a male oi mixed audience, the queei boy is indistinguishable fiom the masculine
woman and the female-to-male tiansvestite.
JUNE-Girlfags, Transfags, BI Fans
Thoin notes, °In hei book Yaci genrcn (998), Sakakibaia Shihomi, heiself a populai
yaci-style novelist, desciibes heiself as a gay man in a woman`s body (a 'female-to-male
gay` tianssexual). S/he suggests that this condition may be quite common among fans of
this genie and may in fact be the ieason foi its existence."
46
Sakakibaia`s contention is
stiengthened by the fact that BL fans used eaily BL magazines such as }une oi Allan to
expiess theii gay male identifcation. Welkei shows that mostly °female" ieadeis sent in
letteis, peisonal ads, and photos in which they staged themselves as beautiful boys. They
desciibed male-male desiie, °sometimes tinged with fantasy, sometimes with sadness and
accompanied by an appeal foi undeistanding oi solidaiity." In the peisonal ads, these types
of ieadeis weie looking foi othei beautiful boys, be they male- oi female-bodied.
47
BL is a medium with many giatifcations that can be inteiesting foi diffeient people,
even foi stiaight men.
48
It ceitainly can piovide voyeuiistic pleasuie foi stiaight female
identifed ieadeis. The BL fandom is too laige and too diveise to seive only one puipose.
But Thoin notes,
Nonetheless, we must acknowledge that even in Japan the majoiity of women do not
fnd yaoi oi boys` love paiticulaily appealing.¦...] She ¦an editoi of yaoi] feels stiongly
that an attiaction to both slash and yaoi is °haidwiied"; if you`ve got it, you can`t avoid
it, and if you don`t, it`s meaningless to you. This is essentially what Sakakibaia (998)
aigues, though in diffeient teims, when she claims that yaoi fans aie °gay men boin in
women`s bodies.
49
In Japan, women with an intense inteiest in gay male sexuality and cultuie seem to
have existed befoie the invention of BL: two of the foundeis of the BL genie, Hagio Moto
and Takemiya Keiko, got °hooked" on °that stuff " by a mutual female fiiend who was °an
expeit" on gay male texts and eiotica, such as Heimann Hesse`s Demian (99) and the flm
veision of Ies Amities particulieres.
50
But this is not a puiely Japanese phenomenon. As eaily as 920, Magnus Hiischfeld
(868-935 CE), the foiemost Geiman sexologist, documented: °bisexual ¦bisexual in the
sense of °double-gendeied"] women, who love feminine men and masculine women, who
have ¦...] quasi homosexual ielationships with the men" and: °A female student of that cat-
egoiy, who had many male chaiacteiistics in hei appeaiance and chaiactei, but was com-
pletely °noimal in the sexual sense," because she had eiotic feelings only foi men, who once
told me, and quite accuiately, she °felt like a homosexual man" ¦my tianslation].
5
The teims °giilfag" and °tiansfag" weie coined duiing the late 990s in the U.S. to
desciibe peisons who weie female-assigned at biith and who feel an intense fascination foi
and identifcation with gay men.
52
In 2000, the GiilFags gioup on Yahoo! was founded,
which today has about 3,000 membeis. The gioup`s intio ieads:
244 Pait Thiee: Boys` Love and Peiceptions of the Queei
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Giilfags aie women who aie veiy attiacted to gay/bi men; females who identify with gay
male cultuie.... Famous ¦self-identifed] giilfags include Caiol Queen, Jill Nagle and
Ann Rice. ¦sic] Do you fantasize about watching oi playing with multiple gay/bi men...:
Would you smile to see (watch) youi boyfiiend kiss anothei man (oi much moie), fos-
teiing youi own lust...: ... Some giilfags feel like a gay oi bi man in a woman`s body....
53
In 997, Bagemihl compaied slash fans to fag hags and female-to-gay-male tianssex-
uals: °Theie is nothing new about women identifying as gay men oi eioticising and ideal-
izing sexual ielationships between men. In fact, stiiking paiallels to the sentiments expiessed
by many female-to-gay male tianssexuals can be found in two unlikely aieas: 'fag-hagging`
and K/S ¦Kiik/Spock] 'slash` fanzines."
54
Bagemihl uses the oldei teim °fag hag" in a sim-
ilai sense as giilfag. He quotes a fag hag: °A stiaight man can look good to me but ... when
I know a man is gay, when he`s picked up some of the gay male cultuial tiicks and man-
neiisms, I don`t know, it just tuins me on.... Since I was 9 oi so I`ve fantasized about being
a beautiful boy in a loving ielationship with a man."
55
Compaiing this statement to a quote by a female-to-gay-male tianssexual, Bagemihl
shows how closely they iesemble each othei: °My fist sexual fantasies weie of a man hug-
ging and caiessing a boy and of men kissing each othei.... What made gay men moie sex-
ually attiactive than stiaight men: Simply the fact that they weie aioused by othei men."
56
The diffeience between giilfag and tiansfag seems to be one of degiee iathei than qual-
ity. A peison might stiongly identify with and even as a gay man, while still maintaining
a female identity. Sedgwick wiote about heiself, °In among the many ways I do identify as
a woman, the identifcation as a gay peison is a fimly male one, identifcation 'as` a gay
man."
57
And seveial yeais latei, °Piobably my own most foimative inßuence fiom quite
an eaily age has been a visceially intense, highly speculative (not to say inventive) cioss-
identifcation with gay men and gay male cultuies as I infeiied, imagined, and latei came
to know them."
58
Lou Sullivan (95-99), the foundei of FTM Inteinational, an oiganization foi
female-to-male tianssexuals, initially identifed as a °heteiosexual female tiansvestite who
was sexually attiacted to gay men."
59
He latei tiansitioned fiom female to male. When still
living as a woman in a ielationship with a feminine bisexual man, Sullivan wiote in his
diaiy:
But the iole ¦Mick] Jaggei played ¦in a flm] tuined me on so-I could identify with a
bisexual male, that`s how fucked I am that I had possibly the most satisfying sex contact
with Jim that nite ¦sic] I`ve evei had. Theie`s so much wiitten about all kinds of sexually
weiid people but a female who imagines heiself as a bisexual male is way beyond any-
thing I`ve evei iead. And so how do I cope with myself :
60
Membeis of sexual oi gendei minoiities such as giilfags oi tiansfags aie often isolated
and, like Sullivan, feai that they aie °the only one" who have such feelings. The lettei columns
of eaily BL magazines such as }une seived similai puiposes as latei Inteinet venues such as
the GiilFags gioup on Yahoo!, in that they helped like-minded souls to connect. It could be
aigued that these BL magazines weie hosting a subcultuie in the making. Like the fans of
}une who consumed gay male manga, Sullivan voyeuiistically consumed a pioduct of pop-
ulai cultuie, in this case a flm featuiing gay oi bisexual men. And like the }une fans who
wiote about theii gay male desiies, Sullivan identifed with a man who is attiacted to men.
Both took measuies to change theii exteiioi to ft theii inteiioi identifcation: the }une fans
diessed up as bishnen and Sullivan began to weai male clothes, thus beginning a piocess
that would eventually iesult in the decision to change his body fiom female to male.
I4-Hidden in Straight Sight (MEYER) 245
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When attempting to put theii sexual fantasies into piactice, both giilfags and tiansfags
who have not physically tiansitioned to male aie confionted with the same pioblem: gay
men aie geneially not inteiested in them. The GiilFag gioup intio says, °We`ll face the
diffculties of having an oiientation that seems designed to engendei fiustiation." And:
°We`ll talk about what it means to be a giilfag, tiy to fguie out how giilfags can meet the
boyfag (oi giilfag) of theii dieams."
6
In peisonal ads, the }une fans who felt they weie gay bishnen sometimes weie look-
ing foi othei female-bodied bishnen. While Welkei inteipiets theii desiies in the context
of lesbianism,
62
I believe that ieading them in a context of giilfag oi tiansfag desiie is moie
piecise: giilfags and tiansfags aie both attiacted to gay men, but giilfags can be attiacted
to othei giilfags. In the same way, tiansfags often date othei tiansfags. This piactice ovei-
laps with, but is not exactly the same as, butches dating butches (oi tachi dating tachi, in
the Japanese context). The expiession of a tempoiaiy oi constant male identifcation is of
cential impoitance in such ielationships, which can be a way to oveicome the pioblem that
°gay men don`t date giils." The ielationship is not just a vehicle oi covei foi a lesbian iela-
tionship, noi is it only a queei space foi expeiimenting with nontiaditional sexuality. It is,
fist of all, a safe and undeistanding enviionment in which the paiticipants can actually be
seen as male, acting out theii masculine gendei and often theii peiception of theii own
physical body as male on the level of sex and sexuality.
But even if giilfags/tiansfags date bisexual men oi fnd a gay man who is inteiested,
the pioblem is not fully solved. By having sex with him, they °tuin him stiaight" and he
might lose a gieat deal of his attiaction foi them. If they aie male-identifed, they might
feel like Sakakibaia: °She is theiefoie nevei happy, even if a man whom she loves, would
love hei. She wants to be loved as a boy."
63
If the giilfag/tiansfag diesses in male clothes and manages to pass as a man, the moment
when °hei" °tiue" sex is discoveied tiiggeis what I would call the °gay tiansvestite`s
dilemma": while a ielationship with a women would confim the masculinity of the tians-
vestite, a ielationship with a man seems to °piove" his/hei femininity. Princess Knight and
Berusaiyu nc bara, both texts with female-to-male tiansvestite piotagonists in love with
men, aie obsessively tiying to solve this dilemma: How can the tiansvestite have a sexual
ielationship with a man without losing hei/his own masculinity:
As mentioned above, the fist episode of the Princess Knight anime shows male villains
who squiit a white liquid fiom the tips of theii swoids. When the liquid touches the tians-
vestite heio/ine, it will ieveal hei/his °tiue," that is, genital, sex. Likewise, Oscai is femi-
nized by hei/his making love with Andié. S/he constantly oscillates between masculine and
feminine, painfully tiying to integiate both. A similai stoiy is told by After Schccl Night-
mare: the °inteisexual" oi female-to-male tianssexual main chaiactei is toin between
his/hei male identity and his/hei love foi a man.
DANS KEI-Frcm Thecry tc Practice
To solve these pioblems, Sakakibaia uses hei ait as a way to live hei sexual and gen-
dei identity: °Hei cieative woik is the only possibility to fulfl hei libido...."
64
She is not
the only piofessional authoi who is using a mechanism I call °cieative tiansvestism."
The gay-male-identifed Sedgwick wiote, °Foi veiy simply a sudden uigency to wiite nai-
246 Pait Thiee: Boys` Love and Peiceptions of the Queei
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iative poetiy, aftei my twelfth biithday, was coextensive with, was the same as, one oi
anothei plot of male homosexual ievelation. Lawience of Aiabia, David and Jonathan, The
Man frcm U.N.C.I.E., Rogei Casement, the Round Table, an avant-Giiaidian ieading of
Jules and Jim...."
65
Poppy Z. Biite (b. 967), anothei gay-male-identifed authoi who mostly
wiites about gay men, desciibes an even moie tiaumatic expeiience of the same soit :
The uige to be placed in context neaily killed me. ... ¦it] caused me to expose and
embaiiass myself in hopes of fnding a peei gioup that didn`t exist.... What`s embaiiass-
ing is the naivete ¦sic] with which I believed ieadeis would take my explanations at face
value. °Oh, she`s ieally a gay man! That explains eveiything!" ... I was completely
unpiepaied foi the people who thought my sexuality was some kind of piomotional
gimmick.... I thought I was ieady to be called a °fag hag" with °penis envy," but I
wasn`t.... All I`d ieally wanted was foi my ieadeis, paiticulaily my gay ieadeis, to have a
bettei shot at undeistanding why I wiote the things I did. With a few exceptions,
though, the gay piess ignoied me.
66
Wiiting about the autobiogiaphies of female-to-male tianssexuals, Jay Piossei explains
that the subject`s autobiogiaphy can sometimes °ie-piesent" the body as a fantasized self,
the self that they wished they could be thiough the tiansfoimation of clothes, appeaiance,
and speech.
67
Baibaia Guest offeis a similai view of lesbian authoi Biyhei: she °acted out
hei desiie to be a boy in the histoiical fction foi which she is best known...."
68
Tayloi con-
cludes: °The desiie to be a boy is collapsed into the wish to wiite, and liteiatuie becomes
an eiotic stimulus."
69
The gay-male-identifed paintei Caiiington (893-932 CE) diew heiself/himself as a
boy, tiansfoiming the body at least on papei.
70
Cieative tiansvestism thiough visual aits
can be a potent tool of identifcation: BL as a visual medium allows foi a smooth
identifcation of aitist and fan with the male chaiacteis by pioviding an °involved" point
of view and chaiacteis that look not so much like cis-men but like boys oi female-to-male
tiansgendeied people in the eaily stages of tiansition. Inteiestingly, in inteinational queei
communities, it is common to iefei to female-to-male tiansgendeied people (ftm) as bcyz,
and many ftm say that they don`t identify so much as men but as boys. As duiing the eaily
yeais of taking testosteione, the ftm goes thiough a second pubeity and looks (and sounds)
like an adolescent boy, this seems only appiopiiate.
In °viitual ieality," a piocess similai to cieative tiansvestism can be obseived in the
foim of people cruising the Inteinet oi engaging in online iole-playing games with a gen-
dei identity that diffeis fiom theii eveiyday gendei. Anothei example would be female-
assigned peisons who wiite gay male poinogiaphy undei a male pseudonym foi a gay male
audience. This faiily common piactice has been desciibed by Patiick Califa who has wiit-
ten gay male eiotica undei a male pseudonym befoie tiansitioning fiom female to male.
7
I know of two female-to-gay-male identifed Geiman authois who live as women but aie
thought to be gay cis-men by theii mostly gay male ieadeis.
72
Like putting on diag, cieative tiansvestism is a technique that is not just available foi
tianssexuals, but foi eveiyone. The tians-gendeied identifcation of manga fans and authois
might last foi the shoit moment of the iomantic oi sex scene, oi foi a lifetime.
Mulvey has aigued foi flm theoiy that female spectatoiship necessaiily involves
female-to-male °tiansvestism," as the female spectatoi needs to take the male point of view
to be able to enjoy the male-centeied naiiative.
73
But she analyzed mostly male-pioduced
mainstieam cinema. BL diffeis fiom moie conventional texts in seveial points: it is female-
authoied and consciously addiessed to a mostly female audience. Moieovei, while com-
meicial BL is piinted by male-dominated publishing houses, audience paiticipation in the
I4-Hidden in Straight Sight (MEYER) 247
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foim of suiveys and polls is invited and inßuences the content. And BL still has stiong ioots
in and connections to amateui manga (djinshi) that is pioduced without any inteifeience
of °patiiaichal" publisheis. Theie is no stiuctuial need foi female fans of yaci to take a male
point of view dictated by male aitists.
Still, the teim °tiansvestism" seems appiopiiate foi BL wiiting and ieading techniques.
It was fist coined by Magnus Hiischfeld in 90, desciibing the act of cioss-diessing and/oi
a pait-time oi full-time identifcation with the opposite sex. Hiischfeld`s tiansvestites could
be male oi female, lesbian, gay, stiaight, bisexual, oi asexual. They could be sexually aioused
by tiansvestism oi not. They could wish a physical change oi not. A °tiansvestite," then,
is a peison involved in any of the above expeiiences.
74
The Geiman teim Transvestismus
(tiansvestism) seems to have been in use in pie-wai Japan as tcransuvechichisumusu.
75
Hiischfeld`s °Tiansvestismus" is pietty close to today`s umbiella teim °tiansgendei," but
as opposed to °tiansgendei," it emphasizes the °act" of changing gendei, not the inteinal
°identity," making the change available foi eveiyone.
While cieative tiansvestism allows foi male identifcation on a viitual level, cosplay
takes the next step, in that it actually involves the body of the fan/aitist. The ieadeis of
}une, by sending in photos in which they staged themselves as beautiful boys, and desciib-
ing theii gay male desiies, ciossed the line between the liteiaiy and the liteial. Theii piac-
tices aie indistinguishable fiom those of male-to-female tiansvestites who send photos of
themselves in female attiie to tiaditional tiansvestite magazines, desciibing theii gendei
and sexual identifcations, which aie often lesbian.
Thoin notes that female-to-male cioss-diessing yaoi fans have many similaiities with
male-to-female ciossdiessing fans of °Beautiful Giil" manga with mostly lesbian content:
Nothing illustiates this ßuidity of identifcation moie vividly than the image of a man
cioss-diessed as a favoiite heioine standing in line to buy a poinogiaphic amateui
manga featuiing that same heioine. If, as Sakakibaia aigues, yaoi fans aie gay men in
women`s bodies, then it might be faii to suggest that many fans of amateui °Beautiful
¦lesbian] Giils" manga aie, as it weie, lesbians in men`s bodies, and not simply iun-of-
the-mill misogynists.... To accept, unciitically, ¦yaoi fans] as good, and ieject, unciiti-
cally, ¦Beautiful Giil fans] as bad, would be a mistake. In a sense, the two genies miiioi
each othei, and speak to the desiies of those who, by choice oi ciicumstance, do not ft
neatly into society`s piesciibed noims of gendei and sexuality.
76
The °Beautiful Giil" cosplayeis that Thoin desciibes stiongly iesemble the male equiv-
alent of giilfags and tiansfags: guydykes and tiansdykes, i.e., male-assigned peisons who
eioticize and identify with lesbians and sometimes tiansition fiom male to lesbian.
77
Like
the male-to-female tiansvestites who identify as lesbians, the °Beautiful Giils" cosplayeis
and guydykes/tiansdykes aie often seen as °peiveits," even by BL fans. The willingness to
inteipiet the °male" behavioi as a sexual peiveision, while BL fandom oi giilfags/tiansfags
often go unnoticed, ießects the degiee to which male sexuality is taken seiiously and female
sexuality is not.
78
Ceitain cosplay fandoms, like the visual kei fandom, aie stiongly associated with female-
to-male tiansvestism, oi dans kei (male diess style). Visual kei is a highly successful visual
style of Japanese pop music that has ioots in the style of andiogynous and tiansvestite musi-
cians like David Bowie. Visual kei bands usually consist of boys weaiing make-up oi female
attiie who aie consideied to be sex symbols. Visual kei fandom is closely connected to yaci
fandoms, with fans diawing djinshi imagining gay sexual ielations between theii favoiite
stais. The bands aie fully conscious of that fandom and catei to it. At cosplay events, visual
kei cosplayeis who diess up as theii pop idols mix with manga cosplayeis.
248 Pait Thiee: Boys` Love and Peiceptions of the Queei
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But can dans kei cosplaying be inteipieted in a context of gendei tiansgiession and
sexuality: Hashimoto answeis the question with a paitial yes, that cosplaying is a fetishis-
tic activity.
79
In hei study of female Austiian and Japanese visual kei fans who aie also yaci
fans, Hashimoto made an inteiesting obseivation: While a ceitain peicentage of the Japa-
nese fans said that diessing up as anothei gendei was pait of the appeal of cosplaying, none
of the Austiian fans said so. That is in itself is iemaikable foi a fandom that consists almost
solely in female-to-male cosplay. While it could be aigued that the visual kei stais them-
selves aie weaiing paitial female diag, and thus the female fans aie weaiing female oi fem-
inine attiie, too, the Japanese fans seemed to be awaie that they weie diessing up as men.
The Austiian fans equally iefeiied to the stais as sexy men, not as women oi gendeiless
beings. Then, how can this cuiious diveigence be explained:
Japan has a stiong, living tiadition of public tiansvestism that is only paitially associ-
ated with the poinogiaphic oi pathological. Japanese giow up with knowledge of male-to-
female ciossdiesseis in classical theatie and in the media (Band Tamasabui, Petei, Akihiio
Miwa, and seveial contempoiaiy tiansgendeied pop stais). Equally, they know about the
Takaiazuka ctckcyaku and peihaps female-to-male cioss diessing in classical theatie and
dance, not to mention gendei-bending in manga and anime.
By contiast, tiansvestism and ciossdiessing in Geiman-speaking countiies is almost
completely associated with the pathological, the iidiculous, oi the sexual. Tiansvestite aitis-
tic tiaditions that weie alive until the Weimai Republic (98-933), ießected in featuie
flms such as Ich mcchte kein Mann sein (Geimany 99, °I Don`t Want to be a Man") oi
Viktcr und Viktcria (Geimany 933), weie extinguished by the Nazi iegime. Aftei that,
until veiy iecently, male-to-female tiansvestites weie seen only in the context of medical
pathology, piostitution, oi (veiy) lowbiow enteitainment.
And most impoitantly, female-to-male tiansvestites weie viitually invisible. Apait
fiom a ceitain tiadition in classical opeia that is only known to opeia goeis, female-to-
male tiansvestism was just not done. The veiy existence of female-to-male tianssexuals
was denied by many scientists, so much so that until about fve oi six yeais ago, the gen-
eial public didn`t know of its existence. Female-to-male tiansgendeied individuals iepoit
again and again that even people who had heaid of the existence of male-to-female tians-
sexuals didn`t know that the °othei diiection" was possible.
80
This is slowly changing, as
duiing the last fve yeais oi so thiee celebiities have publicly tiansitioned fiom female to
male, and infoimation is available fiom the Inteinet. But it is still a veiy exotic topic. In
this context of nonexistence, it makes sense that the Austiian fans don`t ießect on the impli-
cations of theii cioss-diessing.
Anothei fandom with a lot of female-to-male cioss-diessing is the Haiiy Pottei djin-
shi fandom. The Haiiy Pottei boom was as stiong in Japan as it was in Euiope and the U.S.
The Haiiy Pottei books seem to lend themselves to easy slashing, as theie is a whole gen-
eiation of inteinational Haiiy Pottei fans involved in online slashing. In Japan, the slash-
ing natuially happens in the foim of djinshi. With its boaiding school setting, school
unifoims, and boys` doimitoiies, the Haiiy Pottei books iesemble eaily shnen-ai. The
atmospheie of juvenile °innocence" and homosociality inspiies authois to a diveise and
often °polymoiphously peiveise" iange of couplings, including students, teacheis, iela-
tives, and magical cieatuies. The fandom is stiongest with male/male slash but has popu-
lai stiaight and lesbian couplings, too. At cosplay events in Geimany and Japan, gioups of
giils in school boy unifoims, weaiing the colois of the diffeient Hogwaits houses, aie a
common sight.
I4-Hidden in Straight Sight (MEYER) 249
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Diessing up as a bishnen foi a day isn`t enough foi many fans, who aie involved in
online iole playing games wheie they take on the ioles of seme oi uke chaiacteis ovei long
peiiods of time. Some even impeisonate these chaiacteis when they meet in ieal life, mix-
ing the viitual with the ieal to a degiee that they become indistinguishable. The mostly
female teenage BL fans of a Geiman manga gioup I used to attend iegulaily played yaci
iole playing games. Aftei play sessions, I witnessed iecuiiing dialogues such as: °HA! Ich
hab dich gestern abend ge-iaped!" °HA! I have raped ¦English in Geiman oiiginal] you last
night! ¦in the context of the iole playing game]." The dialogues weie followed by scenes of
bonding, cuddling, holding hands, and so on.
By coining and iepeatedly using the °English" teim rape, the Geiman yaci gameis
show the impoitance they place on appiopiiating the iole of penetiatoi and peipetiatoi,
while at the same time iemoving it fiom ieal-life iape, which would be associated imme-
diately if they used the Geiman woid. By saying °I" instead of °my chaiactei," they show
that theii chaiacteis aie not just a gaming device foi them, but a point of identifcation.
Aie these giils who impeisonate boys who have sex with boys and cuddle with each
othei lesbians oi gay female-to-male tianssexuals: Aie they stiaight because they aie giils
who like boys: Aie they stiaight female-to-male tianssexuals because they take a male iole
and inteiact with a giil: Thoin has desciibed the multiple sexual possibilities of the ccsplay
ielated ciossdiessing he witnessed in Japan, echoing the multiple sexual possibilities of the
tiansvestite heio/ine of manga and anime:
One occasionally witnesses eioticized teasing, paiticulaily on the pait of cioss-diessed
cos-playeis, who will make suggestive comments to oi fondle fellow paiticipants of
eithei sex, who aie usually happy to play along. When cioss-diessing is involved, theie
aie always multi-layeied heteiosexual and homosexual tensions. When a woman diessed
as a man makes a pass at anothei woman, she is °playing at" heteiosexuality, but the fact
that she is biologically a woman cieates an obvious homosexual element. If the othei
woman is heiself diessed as a man, then the two aie °playing at" male homosexuality,
yet theie is also a suggestion of female homosexuality, since both aie biologically
women, and, because each woman is ostensibly ieacting to the peifoimed °masculinity"
of the othei, theie is a heteiosexual nuance, as well. Similaily, when a woman diessed as
a man is ßiiting with a man diessed as a woman, theie is a double-ieveise heteiosexual
element, yet, again, since each is ieacting to the peifoimed gendei of the othei, theie is
also a suggestion of homosexuality.
8
What is tiue foi female-to-male ciossdiesseis is similaily tiue foi male-to-female
ciossdiesseis. In Geimany, boys in female cosplay attiie aie a iegulai if iaie sight. While
in Japan some male-to-female cosplayeis weie suipiisingly old and stiongly iesembled sexy
diag queens with °hypei" female attiibutes, in Geimany, only adolescent boys can get away
with seiious female diag. Oldei cosplayeis always fiame it in a humoiistic context. I have
seen boys in fetishizing make-up and half nudity, often in chains, at the Leipzig annual
cosplay convention. Tamei veisions of the °boy-in-chains" can be seen at the monthly cos-
play meeting in my aiea. The thiiteen-to-sixteen-yeai-old Noithein Geiman female fans
I have desciibed enjoy going shopping while walking a male oi female fan who is impei-
sonating an uke on a leash, even when they aie not weaiing costumes.
In Japan, this bluiiing between the viitual and the ieal is taken fuithei by so-called
cosplay cafés. The customeis aie seived by waitiesses and waiteis who aie diessed up as
manga chaiacteis, and often the inteiioi design of the café iecieates the settings of manga.
Cosplay cafés that catei to yaoi fans and to fans who aie inteiested in female-to-male tians-
vestite cosplay aie pait of a laigei Japanese tiadition of host bais, dans kei bais, and cnabe
bais in the enteitainment industiy. The heteiosexual host bai piovides female customeis
250 Pait Thiee: Boys` Love and Peiceptions of the Queei
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with beautiful male company foi the evening. Similaily, cosplay butlei cafés employ beau-
tiful young men who spoil theii female customeis. Butlei cafés such as Café Edelstein
actively tiy to iecieate the atmospheie of a BL manga, in that it pietends to be a boys`
school and its unifoimed hosts play the ioles of school boys: °'I`m in the ßowei aiiange-
ment club,` whispeis one giilish, long-haiied waitei at the cafe, looking up fiom the book
of Geiman poetiy he is ieading."
82
Places as Café Edelstein allow the customeis to physi-
cally intiude into the all-male fantasy woild of BL and inteiact with it.
Dans kei bais, oi bais foi female-to-male tiansvestites who aie sometimes lesbian-
identifed and sometimes male-identifed, oiiginated in the 960s. Foi the time aiound
967, at least thiiteen dans kei bais foi lesbians weie documented in Japan. The bais seem
to have been associated with the ctckcyaku of Takaiazuka and the Shochiku ievue, e.g.,
one bai`s name was Zuka.
83
As theie seems to be a laige clientele of °stiaight" women who
aie inteiested in dating ctckcyaku-like tiansvestites, since 973 theie have been seveial so-
called cnabe bais that satisfy that need. The hosts aie cnabe (butches oi female-to-male
tianssexuals).
84
In the moie iecent ctcme oi dans kei cosplay cafés, the hosts aie female-to-male tians-
vestite bishnen who can be iented foi the evening. By pioviding a semi-ieal enviionment
in which the tiansvestite hosts can inteiact with theii customeis as bishnen, the cafés allow
the hosts to live almost full-time as male without tiansitioning physically. If the customeis
weai male costumes themselves, they can engage with the hosts in a male/male constella-
tion, biinging BL to life.
Ccnclusicn
Women and othei female-assigned people who eioticize and identify with gay men
seem to exist inteinationally, but the commeicialization of these desiies and identifcations
is a uniquely Japanese phenomenon so fai. A featuie flm such as Tcnari nc 80I (yaci) chan
(My Neighbcr Yaci-chan; Japan 2006), which humoiously diamatizes the ielationship
between a boy and a yaci fangiil, is as yet unimaginable foi Euiope oi the U.S.
85
Theie aie
a few °female" authois such as Poppy Z. Biite oi Maiy Renault who have made a caieei
fiom wiiting gay male novels foi a mainstieam maiket, but it is impossible to know how
many such books might have met the fate of the Geiman novel Die Kunst der Bestimmung
(The Art cf Defniticn, 2003) by Chiistine Wunnicke, a highly piaised histoiical novel with
a gay male theme. Although distiibuted by a majoi publishei, it couldn`t be maiketed piop-
eily because book agents felt uncomfoitable iecommending it.
86
Things aie impioving, howevei. Recently, Flooitje Zwigtman, a Dutch female authoi
of juvenile books, ieceived a fai moie positive iesponse to hei tiilogy Een grcene blcem (A
Green Flcwer), about a boy piostitute of the Oscai Wilde ciicle, containing explicit sex
scenes. Its fist pait, Schijnbewegingen (2005, planned English title: Tricks cf the Trade), was
called °Best Book foi Young Adults 2005" in the Netheilands and ieceived impoitant awaids
foi juvenile books all ovei Euiope.
87
And in 2006, I talked to a Geiman publishei of manga
who, at the time, was still unbelieving that the Japanese success of BL could be iepeated in
Geimany. Since then, howevei, BL titles have become some of the highest-selling manga
in the Geiman maiket.
While BL has been a factoi in the cieation of East Asian populai cultuie foi some
yeais, slash is only now beginning to inßuence Westein commeicial pop cultuie: Tcrch-
I4-Hidden in Straight Sight (MEYER) 251
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wccd (2006), a spin-off of the Biitish TV seiies Dr. \hc, with its bisexual, immoital heio
Captain Jack Haikness, has been cieated by an out bisexual television pioducei and sciipt
wiitei, Russell T. Davies. Davies was also iesponsible foi the Biitish oiiginal of Queer as
Fclk (999). To ieach a laigei audience than gay men, Tcrchwccd is aimed at women, who
piesumably have foimed a laige pait of the Queer as Fclk fan base as well. The Tcrchwccd
episode ¨Captain Jack Haikness" (2007), wiitten by Catheiine Tiegenna, has a distinctly
°slashy" feel. Since the success of the flm veision of Brckeback Mcuntain (997/2005),
anothei female-wiitten, gay male text that was highly successful with women, pioduceis
might begin to be moie open to gay male-themed piojects.
While lesbian themes aie alieady acceptable within conventional plots aimed at a majoi
audience (e.g., Buffy oi Xena) gay male plots aie still consideied pioblematic. Lesbians aie
sexy foi many men who might be iepulsed by gay men, due to the taboo on male penetia-
bility. As the media aie still male-dominated, majoi gay male chaiacteis and plots aie
scaice. By contiast, in East Asia, the commeicial success of BL seems to have caused an
inciease in gay male- oi tiansfag-themed featuie flms and television seiies aimed at a
mostly female oi mainstieam audience, including He´s the \cman, She´s the Man, and the
sequel \hc´s the \cman, \hc´s the Man? (both Hong Kong 996), Bishnen (Hong Kong
998), Bcys Icve (Japan 2006), Icve cf Siam (Thailand 2007), Bangkck Icve Stcry (Thai-
land 2007), The First Shcp cf Ccffee Prince (Ccffee Prince) (television seiies, Koiea 2007) ,
and Hua Yang Shac Nian Shac Nu / Hanazakari nc Kimitachi e (both television seiies based
on the manga Hana nc Kimi, Taiwan 2006 and Japan 2007). These flms and television
seiies make use of well known BL plots and devices.
Even though theie seems to be a coie gioup of gay-male-identifed BL fans/cieatois,
BL fandom cannot wholly be contained within tianssexuality oi the giilfag/tiansfag phe-
nomenon. Instead, it ieveals the peiveise oi queei sexuality of its °stiaight" fans/cieatois.
Thoin says that Alexandei Doty, in Making Things Perfectly Queer (993), uses the teim
queei °to question the cultuial demaications between the queei and the stiaight ... by point-
ing out the queeiness of and in stiaights and stiaight cultuies."
88
BL not only points out the queei sexuality but also the queei gendei of its so-called
stiaight female fans/cieatois. Like the gieen yaoi-monstei in the flm Tcnari nc 80I (yaci)
chan that pops out of the zippei in the fujcshi`s back whenevei she thinks about yaoi, and
leaves only a female shell behind, the queeiness of BL fans pops out of what is only a shell
of conventional stiaight femaleness.
Nctes
1. Deb Aoki, °Inteiview Keiko Takemiya," http://manga.about.com/od/mangaaitistswiiteis/a/Keiko
Takemiya_2.htm (accessed August 2, 2009).
2. Masami Toku, °Inteiview with Keiko Takemiya, Januaiy 22, 2003," http://www.csuchico.edu/~mto
ku/vc/inteiviews_full/Inteiview%20w_Takemiya.html) (accessed August 5, 2009).
3. Bjöin-Ole Kamm, Fujshi -Nutzen und Gratifkaticn bei Bcy´s Icve Manga in }apan und Deutschland
(foithcoming mastei`s thesis, Univeisity of Leipzig, Geimany, 2008), 3. See also Bjöin-Ole Kamm, Intioduc-
tion to: Fujshi -Nutzen und Gratifkaticn bei Bcy´s Icve Manga in }apan und Deutschland, http://www.b-ok.
de/download/fujshi_kamm_v_.pdf (accessed Apiil 23, 2009).
4. Fiedeiik Dhaenens, et al., °Tiansgiessing the Boundaiies of Scieen Studies, Repiesentations, and Slash-
ing the Fiction of Queei Theoiy: Slash Fiction, Queei Reading, and Audiences," }curnal cf Ccmmunicaticn
Inquiry, Volume 32 Numbei 4, Octobei 2008, 335-347, http://jci.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstiact/32/4/335
(accessed May 0, 2009), 346.
252 Pait Thiee: Boys` Love and Peiceptions of the Queei
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5. Heniy Jenkins, Textual Pcachers (New Yoik: Routledge, 992), 202.
6. Dhaenens et al., °Tiansgiessing the Boundaiies."
7. Kamm, Fujcshi, 29.
8. Jenkins, Textual Pcachers, 202.
9. Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Between Men (New Yoik: Columbia Univeisity Piess, 985), 2.
10. Kamm, Fujcshi, 33ff.
11. Sullivan, quoted in Biuce Bagemihl, °Suiiogate Phonology and Tianssexual Faggotiy: A Linguistic
Analogy foi Uncoupling Sexual Oiientation fiom Gendei Identity," in Queerly Phrased, Ianguage, Gender,
and Sexuality, ed. Anna Livia and Kiia Hall (Oxfoid: Oxfoid Univeisity Piess, 997), 385.
12. Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Tendencies (Duiham: Duke Univeisity Piess, 993), 4.
13. Maik Lipton, °Queei Readings of Populai Cultuie," in Queer Ycuth Cultures, ed. Susan Diivei (Albany:
State Univeisity of New Yoik Piess, 2008), 68.
14. The Cellulcid Clcset, dii. Rob Epstein, Jeffiey Fiiedman (995), DVD (Pio-Fun Media, 2004).
15. Paul Bakei, Fantabulcsa. A Dicticnary cf Pclari and Gay Slang (London, New Yoik: Continnum, 2002).
16. Moe Meyei, quoted in Mike Peikovich, Nature Bcys. Camp Disccurse in American Iiterature frcm \hit-
man tc \hartcn (New Yoik: Petei Lang Publishing, 2003), 7.
17. Peikovitch, Nature Bcys, 7.
18. Kamm, Fujcshi, 280.
19. Miyuki Hashimoto, °Visual Kei Otaku Identity -An Inteicultuial Analysis," Intercultural Ccmmuni-
caticn Studies XVI: 2007 (Univeisity of Vienna, Austiia), 95, http://www.uii.edu/iaics/content/2007v6n/0
%20Miyuki%20Hashimoto.pdf (accessed July 0, 2009).
20. Aoki, °Inteiview Keiko Takemiya."
21. A sexual piactice with a long histoiy, if one is to believe the Roman poet Maitial (40-04 CE). In
his poem Tc Philaenis, he satiiized a woman: °Abhoiient to all natuial joys/ Philaenis sodomizes boys."
Anon. tianslation in Stephen Coote, The Penguin Bcck cf Hcmcsexual Verse (London: Penguin Books,
986).
22. Susie Biight, °Move ovei, Ken, it`s °Bend Ovei Boyfiiend," Salon.com, http://dii.salon.com/stoiy/
health/sex/col/biig/998/05/22/nc_22biig/ (accessed August 0. 2009).
23. Sedgwick, Between Men, 2.
24. Ibid., 93.
25. See also Jenkins, Textual Pcachers, 98, about multiple identifcations.
26. Biight, °Move ovei, Ken."
27. Matthew Thoin, °Giils And Women Getting Out Of Hand: The Pleasuie And Politics Of Japan`s Ama-
teui Comics Community" (2004), 85 F 4, http://matt-thoin.com/shoujo_manga/outof hand/index.php#back8
(accessed August 0, 2009).
28. James Welkei, °Beautiful, Boiiowed, and Bent: 'Boys` Love` as Giil`s Love in Shcjc Manga," Signs. }cur-
nal cf \cmen in Culture and Scciety 3:3 (Spiing 2006): 84-70, 846.
29. Ibid., 863ff.
30. Foi a discussion of the histoiic lesbian context of the Takaiazuka fandom, see Jennifei Robeitson,
Takarazuka (Beikeley: Univeisity of Califoinia Piess, 998).
3. Tomoko Aoyama, °Tiansgendeiing shjc shcsetsu° in Genders, Transgenders and Sexualities in }apan,
ed. Maik McLelland, Romit Dasgupta (London and New Yoik: Routledge, 2005), 55.
32. Welkei, Beautiful, Bcrrcwed and Bent, 859ff.
33. Giegoiy M. Pßugfeldei, Cartcgraphies cf Desire. Male-Male Sexuality in }apanese Disccurse, Iõ00-I950
(Beikeley: Univeisity of Califoinia Piess, 2000) 64 and 85N64.
34. Fiist edition 963 undei the title Death by Rcses, iepublished in inteinational edition as Crdeal by Rcses
in 97.
35. See Teiiy Castle, The Appariticnal Iesbian (New Yoik: Columbia Univeisity Piess, 993).
36. Sedgwick, Tendencies, XIII.
37. See Matthew Thoin, °The Moto Hagio Inteiview (2005)," http://www.matt-thoin.com/shoujo_manga/
hagio_inteiview.php (accessed August 0, 2009). See also Nancy, °Poe no ichizoku," °Hagio`s Inteiview °Hat-
achi -20 Yeais Old" (tianslation) http://ponoichizoku.blogspot.com/2007/04/hagios-inteiview-hatachi-20-
yeais-old.html (accessed August 20, 2009).
38. Aoyama, quoted in Welkei, Beautiful, Bcrrcwed and Bent, 864.
39. Welkei, Beautiful, Bcrrcwed, and Bent, 846ff.
40. Aoyama, °Tiansgendeiing shjc shcsetsu,° 56.
4. Quoted in Kamm, Fujcshi, 25.
42. Matthew Thoin, °The Multi-Faceted Univeise of Shjo Manga" (2008), http://www.matt-thoin.com/
shoujo_manga/colloque/index.php (accessed May 5, 2009).
I4-Hidden in Straight Sight (MEYER) 253
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43. Jim Buiiows, °The Adventuies of La Maupin" (995-2008), http://www.eldacui.com/~bions/Maupin/
MaupinIndex.html (accessed July 4, 2009).
44. Welkei, Beautiful, Bcrrcwed and Bent, 852ff.
45. Ibid.
46. Thoin, °Giils And Women Getting Out Of Hand."
47. Welkei, Beautiful, Bcrrcwed and Bent, 856, 857.
48. See Kamm, Fujcshi, 2008.
49. Thoin, °Giils And Women Getting Out Of Hand."
50. See Thoin, °The Moto Hagio Inteiview" and Nancy, °Hagio`s Inteiview."
5. Magnus Hiischfeld, Die Hcmcsexualitüt des Mannes und des \eibes (Beilin: Louis Maicus Veilagsbuch-
handlung, 920), 206.
52. See Caiol Queen, Lauience Schimel, ed., PcMcsexuals (San Fiancisco: Cleis Piess, 997).
53. GiilFags Yahoo! Gioup, °Intioduction," http://gioups.yahoo.com/gioup/GiilFags/ (accessed Apiil 4, 2009).
54. Bagemihl, °Suiiogate Phonology," 386.
55. Quoted in Bagemihl, °Suiiogate Phonology," 387.
56. Ibid.
57. Sedgwick, Tendencies, 209.
58. Ibid., 4
59. Quoted in Leslie Feinbeig, Transgender \arricrs (Boston, Mass.: Beacon Piess, 997), 44.
60. Diaiy of Lou Sullivan (Januaiy 3, 97), quoted in Coiinna Genschel Eistiittene Subjektivität: Diskuise
dei Tianssexualität, Das Argument 243 43/6, 200: 82ff, http://www.linksnet.de/aitikel.php:id·553 (accessed
August 0, 2009).
61. GiilFag Yahoo Gioup, °Intioduction."
62. See Welkei, Beautiful, Bcrrcwed and Bent. See also James Welkei, °Lilies of the Maigin: Beautiful Boys
and Queei Female Identities in Japan" in AsiaPacifQueer, ed. Fian Maitin, Petei A. Jackson, et al. (Uibana
and Chicago: Univeisity of Illinois Piess, 2008).
63. Hashimoto, °Visual Kei Otaku Identity," 92.
64. Ibid.
65. Sedgwick, Tendencies, 208.
66. Poppy Z. Biite, °Enough Rope," http://www.poppyzbiite.com/iope.html (accessed August 2009), fist
published in: Crcssing the Bcrder. Tales cf Erctic Ambiguity, ed. Lisa Tuttle (London: Indigo Books, 998).
67. In Claie L. Tayloi, \cmen, \riting, and Fetishism I890-I950 (Oxfoid: Claiendon Piess, 2003), 5.
68. Ibid., 62n.7.
69. Ibid., 63.
70. Jane Hill, Dcra Carringtcn (Munchen: Knesebeck, 995), 3.
71. Pat Califa, °Identity Sedition and Poinogiaphy" in PcMcsexuals ed. Caiol Queen, Lauience Schimel
(San Fiancisco: Cleis Piess, 997).
72. Peisonal conveisation with publishei, 2008.
73. Foi a discussion of flm theoiy and manga, see Welkei, Beautiful, Bcrrcwed and Bent, 844.
74. See Magnus Hiischfeld, Die Transvestiten (Beilin: Veilag Pulveimachei, 90).
75. Beveiley Cuiian and James Welkei, °Fiom the Well of Loneliness to the akaiui iezubian: Westein
Tianslations and Japanese Lesbian Identities," in Genders, Transgenders and Sexualities in }apan, eds. Maik
McLelland and Romit Dasgupta (London: Routledge, 2005), 65-80.
76. Thoin, °Giils and Women Getting Out of Hand."
77. Foi moie infoimation about guydykes and tiansdykes, see Queen, Schimel, PcMcsexuals; Maikisha Gie-
aney, °A Pioposal foi Doing Tiansgendei Theoiy in the Academy," in Reclaiming Genders. Transsexual Gram-
mars at the Fin de Siecle, ed. Kate Moie, Stephen Whittle (London: Cassell, 999); Uli Meyei, Almost
Homosexual -Schwule Fiauen, Schwule Tians¯Gendei (GiilFags/Tians¯Fags), in Iiminalis , 2007 http://
www.liminalis.de/aitikel/Liminalis2007_meyei.pdf (accessed August 5, 2009).
78. Meyei, °Almost Homosexual."
79. Hashimoto, °Visual Kei Otaku Identity."
80. My obseivation in Geiman-speaking queei and tiansgendei communities since 988.
81. Thoin, °Giils and Women Getting Out Of Hand."
82. Sophie Haidach, °Sexy Comics Feed Japan`s Role Play Boom," Internaticnal Business Times (Maich 4,
2008), http://www.ibtimes.co.in/aiticles/20080304/comics-japan-iole-play-boom.htm (accessed August 0,
2009).
83. Foi a shoit histoiy of cnabe and dans kei bais, see James Welkei, °Telling Hei Stoiy: The Japanese
Lesbian Community 97-200: Selections Fiom 'Kcmyuniti Nc Rekishi` 97-200: Nenpy Tc Intaby De
Furikaeru." (mastei`s thesis / annotated tianslation, Univeisity of Sheffeld, UK, 2002).
254 Pait Thiee: Boys` Love and Peiceptions of the Queei
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84. A documentaiy about cnabe bais: Shinjuku Bcys, dii. Kim Longinotto, Jano Williams (995), DVD
(20th Centuiy Vixen).
85. The title is an allusion to My Neighbcr Tctcrc, the well-known anime about a fiiendly monstei.
86. Peisonal communication with a publishei, 2008.
87. Flooitje Zwigtman, Ich, Adrian Mayfeld (Hildesheim: Geistenbeig Veilag, 2008). The Foundation foi
the Pioduction and Tianslation of Dutch Liteiatuie, °Flooitje Zwigtman-Tiicks of the Tiade" http://www.
nlpvf.nl/docs/Zwigtman_Schijnbewegingen_sci.pdf (accessed August, 0, 2009).
88. Quoted in Thoin, °Giils And Women Getting Out Of Hand."
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Glossaiy
These woids aie specifc to the Japanese-deiived context of boys` love and yaoi in the
West; some of them have application to slash, fan fction, and Inteinet teiminology in gen-
eial. Populai boys` love and yaoi fandoms have teiminology not included heie. Alteinate
usage is in paientheses following the main entiy.
aca-fan. °Academic" - °fan," a teim to desciibe a fan who may have a scholaily inteiest in a
fandom, oi a scholai who may be a fan. The woid was coined by Heniy Jenkins, who was
modeiatoi of the ACAFEN-L academic mailing list in the mid-990s, and has been since
populaiized by him as the title of his blog, °Confessions of an Aca-Fan," which he staited
in June 2006. See fan.
aIternate universe (AU). Fan woik whose chaiactei(s) aie depicted in settings othei than
occuiied in canon. See OOC.
anime-Japanese-oiigin animation; the teim became widespiead in the U.S. in the late 980s
and eaily 990s.
aníparo-°Anime paiody," in which anime chaiacteis aie used in humoious situations.
archive. Geneially, a collection of fan stoiies and/oi aitwoik and scanlated woiks made avail-
able on the Web. See archontic and scanIation.
archontic. The inteitextual ielationships at the coie of liteiatuie. Expanding on Jacques Dei-
iida`s °aichontic piinciple" as the °inteinal diive of an aichive to continually expand,"
Abigail Deiecho pioposes °aichontic liteiatuie" as a desciiption foi fan fction to allow it
to be conceived as an ethical pioject that opposes notions of hieiaichy and piopeity, and
in lieu of woids such as °appiopiiative," foi its connotation of taking oi theft, and °deiiv-
ative," foi its connotation as being lessei than the piimaiy text.
beta. To iead and comment on, oi pioofiead, fan fction befoie the fan publishes it.
bíseínen-Beautiful young man oi young men.
bíshnen-Beautiful boy(s). The topos of the beautiful boy as a sexual object foi men in
Japanese discouise dates fiom at least the Heike mcncgatari (Tale of the Heike; ca. thii-
teenth centuiy CE). It is seen in populai fction in the twentieth centuiy, deployed to seive
against °civilizing" Westein discouises. An example is the widely iead stoiy Shizu nc
cdamaki (The Spool of Hemp), fist published by high school and univeisity students, then
commeicially up to about 96. See nanshoku.
BNF. °Big Name Fan," a fan who is known by othei fans in hei/his fandom(s).
boys' Iove (BL)-Fan and commeicial woiks depicting pie-adolescent, adolescent and/oi
young adult males in homoeiotic ielationships, tiansgiessive of Westein and Japanese
notions of masculinity, heteionoimativity and homonoimativity. In Japan, the ioman chai-
acteis BL aie used moie often than the loan woids °boys` love" (and the Japanese equiva-
lent theieof, °bizu rabu") as a iubiic foi the categoiy in, e.g., bookstoies and on television.
Heivé Biient wiites that °BL" appeaied in Japan in the middle of the 990s, iapidly ieplac-
257
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ing °june," °shnen-ai" (in pait foi its connotation of pedophilia) and °yaoi" (which had
become linked to the activities of the djinshika).
2
In English, °yaoi" is a moie populai teim
than °boys` love." See june, shnen-aí and yaoi.
butIer cafe. Cafés in Japan wheie the waiteis diess as Euiopean butleis to seive tea and pas-
tiies to a mostly female clientele. Theie is also a café in Tokyo, the Café Edelstein, wheie
Japanese male waiteis diess as Euiopean piep school bishnen, and at Yaoi-Con, the Café
Veifuhien, wheie Westein female waiteis diess as bishnen.
canon. Facts known in fandom established by an oiiginal manga, anime, movie, book, oi tele-
vision show oi seiies. See fanon.
Comic Market (Comike, Comiket)-A fan-cieated and -iun maiket foi the sale of djinshi
and othei pioducts centeied aiound manga, anime, video games and othei media. Comic
Maiket is held twice a yeai in Tokyo. Fiom ioughly 700 attendees at the fist event in 975,
Comic Maiket giew iapidly. Since 2007 it has attiacted moie than 500,000 people ovei
thiee days. Boys` love djinshi is exhibited in halls totaling 6,940m
2
. Ovei the past thiity
yeais, appioximately seventy-one peicent of ciicle paiticipants (djinshi aitists) and ffty-
seven peicent of attendees weie women.
3
con. () Fan gatheiing foi meeting each othei as well as people who pioduce commeicial
pioducts bought by fans, exchanging ideas in fandoms, displaying and/oi selling fan cie-
ated woiks, cosplay, etc. Boys` love-ielated cons in the United States include Bishie Con,
Yaoi-Con, and Yaoi Noith (held at Anime Noith). See Yaoi-Con, Yuricon. (2) In Japan,
as a suffx: complex, indicating an obsession.
cospIay-A poitmanteau of °costume" and °play" to desciibe activities associated with diess-
ing and acting like a chaiactei in anime, manga, oi videogames, often at cons.
4
crossover. Fan woik(s) with chaiacteis fiom moie than one fandom. See fan.
discIaimer. A statement usually at the top of a fc oi on the index page foi a fc seiies oi
in an aichive that disclaims owneiship of the chaiacteis. It may also wain of things
some ieadeis may considei contioveisial (e.g., foi boys` love oi slash: non-con, AU, a
chaiactei death, oi a veiy young oi old chaiactei). Sometimes disclaimeis will include a
plot summaiy, a dedication, acknowledgments of beta ieadeis and othei content. See para-
text.
djínshí (dj)-Fan-cieated liteiatuie, most often manga, encompassing magazines, books
and othei media. BL djinshi aie sold at the Comic Maiket and at smallei comic maikets
in othei cities in Japan as well in stoies such as those in Tokyo`s Otome Road. Theii dis-
tiibution in the U.S. has been limited to a few cons and mail oidei.
djínshíka (djinka, djka)-Fans who cieate djinshi.
drabbIe. Fiction of 00 woids.
fan (fanboi, fanboy, fangiil)-In boys` love, an afcionado of Japanese deiived cultuial piod-
ucts depicting adolescent young males in homoeiotic ielationships. See boys' Iove.
fandom. Fans and theii activities, often specifc to a canonical woik oi seiies, e.g., the fan-
doms aiound Fullmetal Alchemist, Harry Pctter, and \eiß Kreuz.
fan nction (fan fc, fc)-Fan-wiitten fction that uses chaiacteis, piemises, oi othei mateiial
diawn fiom othei, usually canonical, fctional woiks such as manga, anime, television shows,
books, movies, etc., oi fiom iepoits about ieal people. See reaI-person sIash.
258 Glossaiy
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fanon. Fan-cieated elements of plot, chaiactei details, etc. that have become widely accepted
by othei fans. See canon.
fan service-Aitwoik oi scenes inseited in a canonical manga, anime, oi in othei pioducts,
that in boys` love depict canonical chaiacteis in a homosocial / homoeiotic context.
fansub. Anime that has been tianslated and subtitled by fans, geneially without peimission
by the copyiight holdeis.
fanzine (zine)-A fan-cieated magazine, geneially a small-sized collection of fan fction, ait,
aiticles, ieadei comments, etc. Distiibuted via postal mail and at fan conventions.
femsIash (femmeslash). Fan woiks depicting homoeiotic ielationships between oi among
female chaiacteis.
fujoshí-Lit., °iotten woman." Female fan(s) of boys` love manga, anime and/oi video games;
a pejoiative teim that has been taken as positive by some fans. See otaku.
GIoBI. A teim coined by mangaka Tina Andeison that combines °global" and °BL" to indi-
cate the spiead of BL, both in tianslated and oiiginal foims, acioss the woild.
gosurorí-Gothic Lolita fashion. See IoIita fashion.
graphic noveI. A collection of manga stoiies, often by one authoi, tianslated and piinted as
a papeiback book maiketed in Westein iegions.
hentaí-Peiveit; abnoimal sexuality; sexual peiveision. Used by Westein manga/anime fans
to desciibe sexually giaphic content.
hurt/comfort (h/c). A topos in fan and othei fction in many cultuies wheiein one chaiac-
tei caies foi anothei in pain oi distiess. It is often used as a way to biing them closei, lit-
eially and fguiatively. In boys` love and slash, h/c is also a way to add a homoeiotic
dimension to an otheiwise ostensibly homosocial ielationship.
J-pop. A genie of Japanese music, some of whose band membeis piesent an andiogynous
appeaiance and who may be consideied slashable, eithei as RPS oi fctional chaiacteis. See
reaI-person sIash.
june. A populai desciiptive woid foi the fist commeicial magazines tieating male-male
homoeiotic themes and maiketed to women. °}une" became eponymous with what would
become boys` love manga. Ccmic }un, founded in 978, published eight issues. In Januaiy
979 it was ienamed }une, at that time becoming dedicated exclusively to stoiies about male
homosexuality. It was published monthly until Apiil 987. }une DX, a ielated magazine,
was published bimonthly between 984 and 2004. It was ieplaced by Ccmic }une, which is
still published.
5
Today in Japan and the West °june" iefeis to an eaily type of boys` love
manga.
6
See boys' Iove.
Iemon, Iime. Scenes in fan fction desciibing sexual acts between oi among chaiacteis.
°Lemon" implies an explicit desciiption of an oveitly sexual act such as inteicouise oi mas-
tuibation; °lime" a less explicit desciiption.
lolícon (lclikcn, rcrikcn)-Lolita complex, obsession with young adolescent giils in manga,
anime and ielated pioducts, aftei Vladimii Nabokov`s novel Iclita. See IoIita fashion.
IoIita fashion (Icli)-In Japan, usually young women (not giils) and some young men who
diess in cute, childlike and modest fashions. The Lolita aesthetic of hypeifeminine and
hypeicute chaiacteiistics, wiites Theiesa Winge, cieates a visual foim of iesistance against
the dominant cultuie, pioviding the subcultuie and its membeis with agency and identity
and allowing Iclis to extend themselves into spaces and ways otheiwise unavailable to
Glcssary 259
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them. One of the most populai Lolita genies is Gothic, which combines Goth, kawaii (cute),
and Victoiian diess.
7
See gosurorí, lolícon.
manga-Comics, geneially published as magazine(s) with a collection of stoiy chapteis fiom
diffeient seiies within a bioad genie such as boys` love. Manga aie peivasive in Japan. Vaii-
ant names in othei languages include manhua (Chinese) and manhwa (Koiean).
mangaka-Manga aitist, caitoonist.
Mary Sue (Maity Stu). An idealized fan-fction chaiactei modeled aftei the authoi. Often dis-
paiaged by othei fans.
M/M. Male/male; see also sIash.
mpreg. Fanfction oi aitwoik in which one oi moie male chaiacteis becomes piegnant.
nanshoku-Male-male love, implying an age-disciepant ielationship, most often between an
adolescent and a young adult oi adult. °\akashud" (wakashu ¦youth] - d ¦way]), foi the
°way of loving youths," may have been moie commonly used duiing the Edo peiiod
(603-858 CE). Nanshcku was a sexual option available to most men and was widely piac-
ticed in most iegions in Japan foi moie than a millennium. It left one of the laigest iepos-
itoiies woildwide of mateiial on male-male sexuality befoie the twentieth centuiy, such as
fction and nonfction books, kabuki oi bunraku diama, and aitwoik such as piints, paint-
ings, and folding scieens. See bíshnen.
non-con (n/c). Fan ait oi fction depicting non-consensual sex act(s), wheie one oi moie
chaiacteis has sex with othei chaiactei(s), despite the lattei`s inability oi iefusal to con-
sent.
one-shot. A woik of fction that stands alone; one that is not intended to be pait of a seiies.
OOC. °Out of chaiactei," in which a fan`s iepiesentation of a canonical chaiactei has him oi
hei acting in ways othei than geneially accepted poitiayals in canon oi fanon. See aIter-
nate universe.
originaI character. A chaiactei cieated by a fan foi his/hei fc oi aitwoik. Oiiginal chaiac-
teis may be pait of an otheiwise canonical fan woik. See Mary Sue.
otaku-Fan(s) of manga, anime and/oi video games; a pejoiative teim that has been taken
as positive by many fans. Azuka Hiiomi gives °ctaku" in a Japanese context as males gen-
eially between the ages of eighteen and foity, whose cultuie became a mass social phenom-
enon in 995-96 with the boom of inteiest in the anime seiies Shin seiki evangelicn (Necn
Genesis Evangelicn).
8
In a 989 moial panic °ctaku" was extended to all amateui manga
aitists and fans iiiespective of sex.
9
In a U.S. context, ctaku may be female oi male, and
ctaku status can be seen as °cool" among fans even as it has negative connotations among
some.
0
The U.S. anime/manga and Asian populai cultuie convention Otakon calls itself
°the convention of the otaku geneiation."
See fujoshí.
Otome Road. Ctcme (°maiden"), a nickname foi the Higashi Ikebukuio distiict of Tokyo in
which theie aie bookstoies selling BL djinshi, manga, video games, CDs, DVDs,
posteis, caids, calendais, and othei items, as well as the Swallowtail butlei café. Billboaids
on buildings and sign-boaids on the stieet adveitise the stoies` BL pioducts with illustia-
tions of bishnen in homoeiotic contexts.
OTP. °One tiue paiiing," a fan`s ideal paii of chaiacteis within a canonical woik to be slashed.
OVA-Oiiginal Video Animation, a diiect-to-video anime. The teim came into existence with
the ielease of Dallas (983). Sometimes iefeiied to as OAV (Oiiginal Animation Video).
2
260 Glossaiy
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paratext. Elements aiound a text, such a stoiy`s length, its headeis, and comments about it.
Kiistina Busse wiites that °fannish ieading piactices ... cieate a paiatextual appaiatus of
its own," and this °shapes how people engage with the ¦canonical woik] they`ie invested
in."
3
Géiaid Genette, et al., chaiacteiize paiatexts as an °'undefned zone` between the ...
inwaid side (tuined towaid the text) oi the outside (tuined towaid the woild`s discouise
about the text)," and, quoting, Philippe Lejune, °'a fiinge of the piinted text which in ieal-
ity contiols one`s whole ieading of the text.`"
4
pIot bunny. An idea foi a stoiy, aitwoik (oi element theiein) to which the wiitei oi aitist
feels impelled to give expiession.
PWP. °Plot, what plot:" Fanfction, usually stoiies, with a piominent emphasis on sexual
activity, often in a humoious context, usually to the exclusion of additional plot. Some-
times given as °poin without plot."
reaI-person sIash (RPS). Homoeiotic fanfction in which one oi moie chaiacteis aie a ieal-
life actoi, celebiity, musician, politician, oi othei piominent peison. See sIash.
scanIation. The combination of °scan" and °tianslation" to indicate manga scanned fiom a
piinted copy and tianslated into a Westein language, the tianslated text digitally inseited
in place of the Japanese chaiacteis. Usually iefeis to woik caiiied out by fans without the
peimission of the publishei.
seme-A male chaiactei in boys` love who is oldei, tallei and moie expeiienced than the uke.
Fiom °semeru," a veib meaning °attack, assault."
shjo-Giil(s).
shnen-Boy(s).
shnen-aí-Boy(s) love. Although no longei used by fans in Japan, fans in the West may use
the teim to desciibe °light" boys` love stoiies that emphasize iomance and contain little if
any explicit sex. See boys' Iove.
shota-Geneially used in the West to desciibe boys` love pioducts featuiing piepubescent
(not yet adolescent) male(s).
shotacon-In Japan, °Shtai complex," an obsession with piepubescent male(s) in manga,
anime and ielated pioducts.
sIash, sIash nction. Homoeiotic stoiies, poetiy, aitwoik, and video about male chaiacteis
fiom television piogiams, movies, and books as well as about ieal people. Slash is distinct
fiom boys` love, although fans may engage with both genies. Slash has ßouiished as an
amateui ait foim in the UK, the U.S., and othei Westein iegions since the late 960s oi
eaily 970s, ioughly contempoianeous with Japanese boys` love and piedating BL`s adop-
tion in the West. No eaily connection has been shown between slash and BL, but the oii-
gins of both may have been inßuenced, wiites Matthew Thoin, °by a global questioning
of gendei and sexuality."
5
One of the key diffeiences between the two genies may be the
age of the media chaiacteis and of the fans cieating eiotic woiks about them. °Slash" is
used as a veib by boys` love as well as by slash fans to desciibe cieating a homoeiotic sit-
uation foi chaiacteis. See reaI-person sIash, sIashabIe.
sIashabIe, sIashy. A chaiactei oi situation that may lend itself to being depicted as homo-
eiotic.
squick. Content of a boys` love, slash, oi othei woik that discomfts the ieadei oi viewei to
some degiee. Also used as a veib, as in °Soiiy, I didn`t mean to squick you."
Glcssary 261
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tankbon-Lit., °special book; sepaiate volume." Used to desciibe a collection of chapteis
in a single seiies aftei having been published in manga.
TPTB. °The Poweis That Be," the intellectual piopeity ownei(s) of the chaiacteis being
slashed, often coipoiations oi othei pioft-making entities.
uke-A male chaiactei in boys` love who is smallei, shoitei and less expeiienced than the
seme. A °pushy uke" is an uke who acts aggiessively towaids the seme.
WAFF (ßuff ). Waim and fuzzy feeling(s). Fan fction focusing on iomance.
WIP. Woik-in-piogiess: a stoiy, seiies oi a visual woik not completed.
yaoi-Acionym of °Yamanashi, Cchinashi, Iminashi," oi °no climax, no point, no meaning."
A spoof is °Yamete, Cshiri ga Itai," oi °Stop, my ass huits." °Yaoi" was coined by a gioup
of amateuis who titled theii 979 djinshi Rappcri yaci tckush gcu (Rappcri: Special Yaoi
Issue). They cieated the acionym because theii woik was a collection of scenes and episodes
with no oveiaiching stiuctuie. The stoiy featuies two youths in a suggestive but not explic-
itly sexual ielationship. See boys' Iove.
Yaoi-Con. A convention of yaoi and boys` love fans held yeaily in and aiound San Fiancisco,
Califoinia since 200.
yuri-Anime, manga, fanfc and fan ait featuiing same-sex female ielationships. Unlike boys`
love, which is piimaiily by and foi giils and women, yuii appeais as a majoi theme in
manga and anime foi male and female ieadeis; the appioach and tone, howevei, aie notice-
ably diffeient depending on intended audience. The deiivation of the woid is not cleai.
One explanation, unpioven, is that °yuii" deiives fiom many chaiacteis depicted the genie
being named Yuiiko.
Yuricon. A convention of yuii fans held in the United States eveiy othei yeai since 2003. Its
location vaiies.
Nctes
1. Abigail Deiecho, °Aichontic Liteiatuie: A Defnition, a Histoiy, and Seveial Theoiies of Fan Fiction,"
in Fan Ficticn and Fan Ccmmunities in the Age cf the Internet. New Essays, ed. Kaien Hellekson and Kiistina
Busse (Jeffeison, NC: McFailand, 2006), 6-78.
2. Heivé Biient, °Une petite histoiie du yaoi," in Manga 0,000 images. Hcmcsexualite et manga. le yaci
(Veisailles, Fiance: Editions H., 2008), 0.
3. Comic Maiket Piepaiations Committee, °What is the Comic Maiket:" (Tokyo, Febiuaiy 2008), http://
www.comiket.co.jp/info-a/WhatIsEng080528.pdf (accessed August 3, 2009), 2.
4. Theiesa Winge, °Costuming the Imagination: Oiigins of Anime and Manga Cosplay," in Mechademia
vol. , Emerging \crlds cf Anime and Manga, ed. Fienchy Lunning (Minneapolis, MN: Univeisity of Min-
nesota Piess, 2006), 65.
5. Biient, °Une petite histoiie," 8-9.
6. Fiedeiik Schodt, Dreamland }apan. \ritings cn Mcdern Manga (Beikeley, CA: Stone Biidge Piess),
996.
7. Theiesa Winge, °Undiessing and Diessing Loli: A Seaich foi the Identity of the Japanese Lolita," in
Mechademia vol. 3, Iimits cf the Human, ed. Fienchy Lunning (Minneapolis, MN: Univeisity of Minnesota
Piess, 2008), 47-48, 50, 57, 62.
8. Azuka Hiiomi, Ctaku. }apan´s Database Animals, tians. Jonathan E. Abel and Shion Kono (Minneapo-
lis, MN: Univeisity of Minnesota Piess, 2009), xv, 7N.
9. Shaion Kinsella, Adult Manga. Culture and Pcwer in Ccntempcrary }apanese Scciety (Honolulu: Uni-
veisity of Hawai`i Piess, 2000), 28-9.
10. Susan Napiei, Frcm Impressicnism tc Anime. }apan as Fantasy and Fan Cult in the Mind cf the \est
(New Yoik: Palgiave Macmillan, 2007), 3.
262 Glossaiy
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11. Otakon, °About Otakon," http://www.otakon.com (accessed August 4, 2009).
12. Gilles Poitias, °Contempoiaiy Anime in Japanese Pop Cultuie," in }apanese Visual Culture. Explc-
raticns in the \crld cf Manga and Anime, ed. Maik W. Macwilliams (Aimonk, NY: M.E. Shaipe, 2008), 54.
13. Kiistina Busse, °Paiatextual Commentaiy as Wiitei Response Theoiy" (papei piesented at the Soci-
ety foi Cinema & Media Studies, Philadelphia, PA, Maich 7, 2008). http://www.kiistinabusse.com/
cv/ieseaich/scms08.html (accessed August 4, 2009).
14. Ibid.
15. Matthew Thoin (peisonal communication with Maik McHaiiy).
Glcssary 263
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About the Contiibutois
YamiIa Abrahamfounded the publishing company Yaoi Piess in 2004. Ovei the last fve yeais she`s ovei-
seen the publication of foity-fve boys` love titles including giaphic novels, comic books, and ait books.
Abiaham has successfully licensed Yaoi Piess titles into seven foieign languages. She has been a speakei
oi guest of honoi at moie than 50 anime fan conventions. Abiaham is a piolifc wiitei with ovei a
dozen giaphic novel woiks in piint with foui diffeient publisheis. Hei most populai seiies to date aie
\inter Demcn and Dark Prince.
NeaI K. Akatsuka is an undeigiaduate at the Univeisity of Hawai`i at Manoa and expects to eain his
B.A. in anthiopology in 200. He is cuiiently woiking on an honois thesis in Tokyo on the Japanese
public ieception of genetically modifed food, with a focus the constiuction of consumei epistemolo-
gies at this paiticulai inteisection of food, science, and cultuie in late capitalism. His ieseaich intei-
ests also include gendei and sexuality in populai cultuie.
M. M. BIair is cuiiently in the doctoial piogiam at the Univeisity of Biitish Columbia. She ieceived
hei M.A. in Japanese liteiatuie fiom the Univeisity of Coloiado at Bouldei in 2009. Hei thesis is °Love,
Hate and Tianslation: Boys` Love Manga in Japan and Ameiica." Hei undeigiaduate education was at
the Univeisity of Washington, wheie she ieceived degiees in Japanese liteiatuie and in diama in 2007.
Hope Donovan had only one logical caieei path, given a double majoi in English and diawing: comics.
Having attained this goal thiough legitimate employment editing Japanese and Koiean manga as well
as developing oiiginal seiies foi TOKYOPOP, Hope fulflled hei dieams by editing one hentai, one yuii,
and one yaoi seiies simultaneously. She has contiibuted shoit manga to Happy Yaci Yum Yum (Yaoi
Piess) and Yuri Mcncgatari (ALC). Hope cuiiently is a fieelance manga editoi, English adaptoi, layout
aitist, and cieatoi.
AIexis HaII giaduated fiom Hampshiie College in 2007 with a bacheloi`s degiee. She subsequently spent
two yeais in Fukuoka, Japan, teaching English to junioi high school and elementaiy students. Alexis
hopes to puisue fuithei study in the Japanese language and fan cultuies in the futuie.
Mark John IsoIa, who eained his Ph.D. in liteiatuie fiom Tufts Univeisity, is an assistant piofessoi at
the Wentwoith Institute of Technology in Boston. His inteiests include Ameiican liteiatuie, ciitical
theoiy, new media studies, yaoi, GLBT studies, and AIDS liteiatuie. He has published jouinal aiticles
in the Ncrdic }curnal cf English Studies, Bad Subjects, and eSharp, and has also contiibuted to multi-
volume collections on GLBTQ liteiaiy cultuie. He has been selected to chaii panels and piesent papeis
at national-level confeiences of the Modein Language Association, the Ameiican Liteiatuie Associa-
tion, and the Populai Cultuie Association/Ameiican Cultuie Association.
Antonia Ievi is a piofessoi of Japanese histoiy with an inteiest in the globalization of Japanese popu-
lai cultuie. She is the authoi of Samurai frcm Cuter Space. Understanding }apanese Animaticn and
numeious aiticles on Japanese animation (anime) and giaphic novels (manga). Hei Ph.D. is fiom Stan-
foid Univeisity, and she has taught at Amheist College, Loyola-Maiymount Univeisity, Whitman Col-
lege, and Poitland State Univeisity. She is now ietiied and wiiting a muidei mysteiy about anime and
manga fans.
PauI M. MaIone is an associate piofessoi of Geiman in the Depaitment of Geimanic and Slavic Stud-
ies at the Univeisity of Wateiloo. He is the authoi of Franz Kafka´s The Tiial. Fcur Stage Adaptaticns
(Petei Lang, 2003), and has also published on peifoimance theoiy and Geiman diama and flm. Othei
published inteiests include populai cultuie themes such as iock musicals deiived fiom Goethe`s classic
Faust, Geiman inßuences on Japanese anime, and flm adaptations of the woiks of contempoiaiy Gei-
man queei comic book aitist Ralf König.
Mark McHarry is an independent scholai. In addition to contempoiaiy and Edo-peiiod Japanese cul-
tuie, his inteiests include the woiks of Feinando Vallejo and modein Latin Ameiican liteiatuie. He has
265
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contiibuted to IGBT Identity and Cnline New Media (Routledge), Mechademia, Queer Pcpular Culture.
Iiterature, Media, Film, and Televisicn (Palgiave Macmillan), the Encyclcpedia cf Erctic Iiterature (Rout-
ledge), Dicticnary cf Iiterary Bicgraphy Online (Thomson Gale), }curnal cf Hcmcsexuality, Z Magazine,
Alternative Press Review, and Gay Ccmmunity News. He is cuiiently ieseaiching the life of authoi-
inventoi Hiiaga Gennai and his place in the ukiyc (ßoating woild).
UIi Meyer is a fieelance authoi and aitist fiom Geimany. Aftei studying painting, Japanese, and anthio-
pology, s/he has published extensively on gendei in populai cultuie. S/he lectuies about queei and tians-
gendei chaiacteis in manga and anime at flm festivals and univeisities. As a paintei, s/he is inteiested
in the depiction of the objectifed male. Contact: picosciiptCyahoo.de.
Dru PagIiassotti is a piofessoi in the communication depaitment of Califoinia Lutheian Univeisity.
She has published ieseaich on the Westein ieception of boys` love manga in Participaticns. }curnal cf
Audience o Recepticn Studies and Intersecticns. Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacifc and main-
tains YaoiReseaichWiki.Com foi scholais with similai inteiests. Pagliassotti is also a fantasy and hoi-
ioi novelist and blogs at DiuPagliassotti.Com.
Kim Senior is a senioi lectuiei at RMIT Univeisity, Melbouine. She publishes in pedagogy, feminist
ieseaich methodologies, and aits-based educational ieseaich. She teaches in teachei education, lectui-
ing in educational philosophy, and populai cultuie in education. In the neai futuie she hopes to ieal-
ize a desiie to not only wiite about manga, but authoi one.
Marni StanIey teaches English and women`s studies at Vancouvei Island Univeisity in Nanaimo, Biitish
Columbia. Hei academic ieseaich and publication aieas include nineteenth centuiy women tiaveleis,
television, cinema, and giaphic naiiative.
Tan Bee Kee giaduated fiom the National Univeisity of Singapoie with an honois degiee in English lit-
eiatuie. Cuiiently, she is an M.A. ieseaich candidate in the Depaitment of Japanese Studies, National
Univeisity of Singapoie. Hei thesis, fiom which this aiticle was adapted, is °Unauthoiized Romances:
Female Fans and \eiss Kreuz Inteinet Yaci Fanfction." She is a long-time obseivei of Japanese popu-
lai cultuie/youth subcultuies. A foimei student of Edwin Thumboo and Kiipal Singh, Tan has pub-
lished poems in Nc Cther City. The Ethcs Anthclcgy cf Urban Pcetry, the jouinal Singa 30, SilverKris
magazine (Sept 2000), cnewinged. a selecticn cf wcrks by ycung writers in Singapcre as well as Icve Gath-
ers All. The Philippines-Singapcre Anthclcgy cf Icve Pcetry.
Mark Vicars is a senioi lectuiei in liteiacy at Victoiia Univeisity, Melbouine. His ieseaich is located
within the New Liteiacy Studies ießecting on liteiacy, language, and identity piactices. An oveiaiching
concein, in his woik, is to undeistand ways in which individuals use language and liteiacy. He is pai-
ticulaily inteiested in inteicultuial liteiacy and infoimal liteiacy piactices as a means of piacticing iden-
tity and of making sense of the woild.
AIan WiIIiams is a mastei`s degiee candidate in cultuial studies at the Univeisity of Washington-Both-
ell. His inteiests include wiiting, game design, ieligion studies, feminist theoiy, maitial aits, and yaoi.
He`s the authoi of Cckham´s Razcr, a novel.
266 About the Contiibutois
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Aaiinfantasy 6, 7, 20
abject 7, 77-78, 83
abuse, child sexual 79, 8, 83-
84
Adetyai 44
Adultfanfction.net 26
After Schccl Nightmare (Hckag hc-
kenshitsu) 243, 246
Ahmad, Hafz 45
Ai nc kusabi (The Space Between)
67
AIDS 32, 24
Ajimine, Sakufu 03-04
Akihiio Miwa 249
Akiko, Yanagita 89
Akira 4, 23, 37
Akiia Toiiyama 23
Allan 244
Altman, Dennis 90-9, 95, 29
Alyjude 06
Amagi Reno 64
Amai hari 95
Amatcria 95
Ameiican Psychiatiic Association
87n25
Ies Amities Particulieres (Special
Friendships) 77, 79, 8, 84n,
240, 244
Ammon, Richaid 50
Andeison, Tina 89
andiogyny , 4, 72, 39
Ang, Ien 3
Angelides, Steven 79, 227
Anime Cential 5
Anime Expo , 8
Anime Netwoik 2
Anime News Netwoik , 20
Anime Noith 5
animePRO 29
Animexx: oiganization 3-34, 36;
website 6, 29, 32-36
Animonstei Sound 5-52
anipaio 233, 236
anti-poinogiaphy legislation 39n69,
44, 49; see alsc poinogiaphy
Aoe 36
Aoyama Tomoko 2, 24
Apalanzani, Alvanov 45
Apollonian and Dionysian 98,
223-224, 227
Appaduiai, Aijun 9
Aiistide 06-07
Aiiztical 3
As Ycu Iike It 243
Asaphiia 37
Ashcrcft v. the Free Speech Ccaliticn
86n23
ascbi 84n8
Astrc Bcy 2, 85, 84n
Atsuieki 35, 42-43
Austen, Jane 200, 203
Avila, Kat 32, 4
Axis Enteitainment 20
°Baby Talk" 37
Bacon-Smith, Camille 2, 7-8,
35, 38, 4
Bagemihl, Biuce 245
Bandai , 20
bande dessinee 23
Band Tamasabui 249
Bangkck Icve Stcry 252
bara 74
Bara Kei (Oideal by Roses) 239
Barazcku, Bara Zcku 95, 237, 239
Barefcct Gen 23, 37
Baithes, Roland 86, 3, 9
Battaile, Geoiges 95
Battle Angel Alita 4
Be Beautiful 30, 67
The Beanc 9, 99
Beaidswoith, Saia 83
Beautiful Girl 248
Ben-Hur 235
Beisani, Leo 86n22
Berusaiyu nc bara (The Rose of Vei-
sailles) 238, 239, 24-244, 246
Best Buy 8
°Bettei Days" 29
Between Men 233
BeXBcy, BeXBcy Gcld 2, 3
Binnie, Jon 90
bishnen 2, 3, 5, 25, 27, 4, 78,
236-237, 243-244, 246, 250-25
Bishnen (movie) 252
°Black Gold" 32
Black Knight (Kurc nc kishi) 62
Black Sun (Black sun. Dcrei cu) 62
Blccdy Circus 24
Bloxam, John Fiancis 240
BLU , 4
Bcku wa kimi nc tcri ni naritai (I
Want to Become Youi Biid) 7-
8
Bolton, Chiistophei 87n27
Bone 06
Boideis 8
Bouidieu, Pieiie 38
Bowie, David 248
Boyaiin, Jonathan 82
The Bcys in the Band 35
Bcys Icve 236, 252
Bcys Next Dccr 67
Biadley, Maiion Zimmei 78
Biaidotti, Rosi 22, 223-225, 227,
230
BRAVC 6, 23, 26-29, 32-37, 39, 40
°Bieathing" 06
Biight, Susie 237
Biite, Poppy Z. 247, 25
Bioccoli Books
Brckeback Mcuntain 252
Brcther 03
Biyhei 247
Buckley, Sandia 90
Buffy the Vampire Slayer 252
Bullough, Vein L. 86n8
Buschova, Lenka 30
Busse, Kiistina 3-32
Buster 99
°But, I`m an Assassin" 35
Butchei, Chiistophei 228
Butlei, Judith 3, 39, 67, 77, 97-
98
butlei café 25
Buttei & Cieam 35
Café Edelstein 25
°Cages" 30
Califa, Patiick 247
Calvin and Hcbbes 35
camp 30, 232, 236
Campei, Cathy 0, 05-06
canon 3-32
°Captain Jack Haikness" 252
Captain Tsubasa 2, 233
Caibado, Devon 97
Card Captcr Sakura 24
Caids Slash 4, 43
Caiey, Gabiiel 200, 204
Cailsen Veilag 23-24, 29-3, 33,
36, 40
Carnets d´Egypte (Egyptian Ncte-
bccks) 85n6
Caiiington 247
Caitoon/Fantasy Oiganization 2-
3, 8
Caitoon Netwoik 3, 2, 4
Cassandia Nexus 30
The Catch Trap 7, 78
Cawelti, John 60, 64-66, 79n5
Cece 4
Celeste 33
censoiship 5, 48; see alsc child
poinogiaphy; obscenity; poinog-
iaphy
Cential Paik Manga 30
cerita bergambar 45
Chalcedony Cioss 4
Chasei, Good 53
Chauncey, Geoige 95
Chevalier (Ie Chevalier D´Ecn) 243
chibi 38
°Chibifcation: Raising Ken" 38
Index
Numbeis in bold ítalícs indicate pages with illustiations.
267
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Chicago 5
Chieko Iiie Mulhein 68, 69, 79n8
chigc
child poinogiaphy 33, 35, 79,
83-84, 85n2, 85n3, 226-
227; see alsc censoiship; obscen-
ity; poinogiaphy
Chizuka, Oe 89
Chizuko, Ueno 89-90
Chodoiow, Nancy 39
Chcisir 86, 94
Chcuchin 3
Cicioni, Miina 29, 38-39
Cixous, Hélène 99, 03
CLAMP 47, 204
Claik, Danae 72
Cocteau, Jean 84n, 85n4
Comic-Con Inteinational 4
Ccmic }un 2
Comic Maiket (Comiket, Komiket)
3, 4
coming out 35, 94-95, 22-23,
25, 29
commeicial sex woik 43-44
competitive exchange 7-9
Connei, Jeff 20
Coniad, Joseph 200
Constantine, Stoim 78
Convention on the Elimination of
All Foims of Disciimination
Against Women 49
coopeiative exchange 5-6
Ccrydcn 79
cosplay 5, 248-249, 250
cieative tiansvestism 233, 247-248
Crewman 3 24
Ciimson 37
Ciisp, Quentin 94
cioss-diessing 5, 39, 248-250; see
alsc diag; tiansvestism
Crushing Icve 0, 02
cultuial capital 27-8, 30, 32-36, 38
dans kei 233, 246, 248-49, 250-
25; see alsc visual kei
Daik Hoise 4
Dark Prince 79n7
D`Aubigny, Julie oi Julia 242-243
Davies, Russell T. 252
The Day cf Revcluticn (Kakumei nc
Hi) 244
DC Comics 4, 24
Death Ncte 47, 5
deathfc 39
de Beauvoii, Simone 200
de Ceiteau, Michel 47
decoding 20-202
Dede 240
Deena 27, 30, 32, 38
°A Delicate Subject" 30
Demian 244
Dennis the Menace 9
Deiiida, Jacques 93
Desperate Dan 9
Deux 4
deviantART 7, 5, 32
de Villèle, Alain-Philippe Malagnac
d`Aigens 79
Diamond Distiibutois 4
Dieidie 06
Dietiich, Mailene 238
differance 93, 207
diffeience 93, 96
Digital Manga, Inc. (DMP) 4, 02,
o4-o5, 70, 80
°The Discieet Chaim of Slash" 32
Disney 24, 79n27
Dr. Slump 20
Dcctcr \hc 200, 252
djinshi -4, 4, 6, 25, 32-34, 44,
50, 52-53, 6, 70, 75, 78n3, 0,
8, 32, 204, 207, 22, 224, 233,
236, 248, 249
Dcraemcn 20
dseiai 78
Doty, Alexandei 32, 63, 225, 252
diag 40, 243; diag queen 232,
235-236; see alsc ciossdiessing;
tiansvestism
Dragic Master 24
Dragcn Ball 23, 203
Dragcn Ball Z 4, 203
Diama Queen , 4
Diazen, Patiick 90
Diiscoll, Catheiine 34
Duiendal and the Beef Chick 36
Eaith Defense Command 2
Edelman, Lee 82-83
Edc nanshcku saiken (Edc Nan-
shcku Up Clcse) 85n9
Edo peiiod , 7, 78, 8
Een grcene blcem (A Green Flcwer)
25
Eerie Queerie (Gsutc!) 4, 63, 66,
7; see alsc Ghcst
Egmont Ehapa Veilag 24, 29-3, 33
°Eight Yeais in the Making" 35
Elex Media Komputindo 45, 47
e-makimcnc
E-Mcticnal 36
Empty Heart 04
Eiastes 78
erc manga 69, 7
eiotic woiks 52
Essebac, Achille 240
ethical noim 48
ethnocentiism 2, 29
FAKE 4, 3, 62, 59
fan maiket 52
Fancy 30
fanfction 25, 32, , 2
Fanfction.net 7, 26, 42
fanon 3-32, 43
fans: Ameiican 2-5, 7-9, 2-
22, 29; Geiman 22-23, 25-28;
Indonesian 44-45, 47-48, 50-5
fansubs , 5, 9-20
Faimei, Biett 3
feminism 34, 39, 45-47
Finding Neverland 35
°A Fine Day foi a Gioup Outing"
32
Fiieangels Veilag 34, 36
The First Shcp cf Ccffee Prince 252
fist-time stoiy 29
Fish, Stanley 85
Fiske, John 27-8, 3-32, 38
°Five Ways Ken Hidaka Was Nevei
Raped" 43
Flewelling, Lynn 78
ßowei symbolism 238-239
Fostei, Johanna 230n2
Foucault, Michel 37, 8, 86n8,
97
°Fiail" 4
Fiancesca 07
Fiankfuit Book Faii 33
Freaky Angel 30
Freefall Rcmance (Rakka sckudc)
67
Fiench, Maiilyn 200
Fieud, Sigmund 78
Frcnt Pembela Islam (Fiont Defense
Islam, FPI) 48
Fujimoto, Yukaii 40
Fujiyama Hyouta 62
fujcshi 3, 8, 234-35, 250, 252
Fullmetal Alchemist 32
FUNimation , 20
Fusanosuke Natsume 24
Fushigi Yuugi 7
Futaba Aoi 6
Fuwa, Kiiiko 04
Gakuen Heaven (Academy Heaven)
82
Gaultiei, Théophile 242-243
gaytopia 32; see alsc utopian vi-
sions
Gekka kajin (Iumen Iumae) 29
Gelling, Petei 49
gemblak 50
gendei tiansgiession 232
Geneiic Miko 39, 4
Genet, Jean 85n4, 94
Gerard o }acques (Gerard nc
jacques) 62
Ghcst 47; see also Eerie Queerie
Giddens, Anthony 93
Gide, Andié 79, 85nn4-7
Gide, Catheiine 86n7
gift-giving 5-9
°Giil" 39
giilfag 232, 244-45, 248, 252
Giioux, Heniy 205
Glasgow, M. Fae 05
Godeliei, Mauiice 5-6
Gothic iomance 6-62
Gravitaticn 204
Gieenblatt, Stephen 94
Gieei, Geimaine 200, 203
Giegson, Kimbeily S. 26-8, 3, 38
Giosz, Elizabeth 78, 82-83, 22,
223, 226
Guest, Baibaia 247
Gundam \ing 2-3, 4, 28
guydyke 248
Hagio Moto 2, 4, 25, 6, 67, 77,
8, 84n, 237, 240, 244
°Haii" 30
Hale, Ginn 78
Hana mcncgatari (Flowei Tales)
239
Hana nc Kimi 242, 252
268 Index
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Hanabalite 50
Hanafte 50
Hanazakari nc Kimitachi e 252
Handley, Chiistophei 85n2
happii-endc 66
Haiaway, Donna 96
Hailequin 4, 60, 68, 28, 40
Haiootunian, Haiiy 86n20
Haiiis, Maivin 6, 9
Haiiy Pottei 4, 26, 29, 47, 249
Hashimoto, Miyuki 236, 249
Hawkins, Joseph 28
He-Man 9
Heait of Thomas see Tma nc shinz
°Heaven in Youi Aims" 3
Heian peiiod 4, 85n9, 20, 240
Heleninhell 40-4
Hellekson, Kaien 3-32
Hemlock 23-24
Hennessy, Rosemaiy 72
hentai, ecchi 27, 33, 35, 67, 74, 45
Heiimann, Maieike 26, 28-29
He´s the \cman, She´s the Man 252
Hesse, Heimann 244
heteionoimativity 27, 65, 7-72,
9-94, 28-29, 37, 39, 40,
44-46, 6-63, 66-67, 90,
94, 207-208, 222, 224-225
heteiosexuality , 3, 9-20,
22n, 23n20; compulsoiy het-
eiosexuality 28, 39, 45
Hi izuru tckcrc nc tenshi (Heaven`s
Son of the Land of the Rising
Son) 2
Hideki, Sunagawa 92, 95
Higuii Y, Higuii You 62, 82, 238
Hill, Bianca 204, 20o
Hine, Chiistine 27
Hiiaga Gennai 79, 85n9
hiren 66
Hiischfeld, Magnus 85n5, 244,
248
Hisako, Takamatsu 88, 89
Hollmann, Anna 3, 33-34, 36, 40
Holznei, Biigitte M. 48
Homeiun Ken 7-8, 24n
homophobia , 30, 46, 228-229
Hcmcsexualitüt 86n8
homosociality 28-29, 98, 232-
234, 240
Hcshi nc yakata 95
Hcwl´s Mcving Castle 85
Hua Yang Shac Nian Shac Nu 252
Hulu 20
Hungry Hearts 34
huit/comfoit 68-69, 43
Hyde, Lewis 6-7
hybanki
°I Am Not a Dominatiix: Women
and the Active Sexual Role" 4
Ich mcchte kein Mann sein (I Don`t
Want to be a Man) 249
Idcl Pleasures (Hazamaniaru sc-
rane) 62
Ihaia Saikaku 79, 85n9
Ikeda Ryoko 25, 238
iminashi 9
In the End 30, 39-40
°In the Rain" 30
Indonesia 6, 44-54
Indonesian Yaoi Fiont 5
Initial D 9
inteisexuality 39
intimatopia 36; see alsc utopian
visions
Inuyasha 20
inveision 239; see alsc Thiid Sex;
Uianian
Iiis Piint
irckc 85n9
iseai 78
Ishinomoii Shtaio 23, 37
Ishizuka Hkaishi 85n9
iTunes 20
Iwabuchi, Koichi 60
Jacque Koh 42
Jakaita 45
}apan, Inc. 23, 37
Java (island) 45, 47, 5
}azz 04
Jeanne 34, 39
Jenkins, Heniy 20, 27-3, 233
Jones, Saiah Gwenllian 3
jcshcku 78
jcuissance 78, 83, 84n7, 85n22
}uichigatsu nc gimunajiumu (Nc-
vember Gymnasium) 84n, 240
}une 67, 243-245, 248
Jung, Susanne 0, 34, 40
Juigeit, Maitin 25
°Just Anothei Satuiday" 06
Kabuki , 2, 95, 28
Kada no Azumamaio 86n20
K-A-E 29th Secret 34
kami 8, 85nn9-20
kami kaze 85nn9-20
Kamm, Bjöin-Ole 236
Kanbe, Akiia 03-04
Kannagi Satoiu 6, 79n9
Kano Shuiko 3
kappa 85n9
Kaps, Joachim 33
Kathy Iette 200, 204
Katsuz, Noguchi 92, 95
Kaze tc ki nc uta (Song of Wind
and Tiees) 7, 6, 67, 88, 77-78,
8-83, 84n5, 86n2, 232,
237-240, 242, 244
kemcncmimi 64, 79n27
Kennedy, Hubeit 86n8
Kein, Adam
Keitbeny, Kail Maiia 86n8
kibyshi
Kim 30
°Kind des Schicksals" 37
Kinsale, Lauia 70
Kinsella, Shaion 70, 74, 00
Kiiachu 38
Kiiishima Tamaki 64
Kiik/Spock 3, 25, 9, 233, 245; see
also Star Trek
Kiisch, Alexis 20
Kizuna (Bcnds) 3-4, 59
Kodaka Kazumi 62, 67
Komiket see Comic Maiket
Kcntrüre Sexualemfndung 86n8
kshcku 78, 79, 84n8
Kshcku gcnin cnna (Five \cmen
\hc Icved Icve) 85n9
Kshcku ichidai cnna (Iife cf an
Amcrcus \cman) 85n9
Kshcku ichidai ctckc (Five Men
\hc Icved Icve) 85n9
Kotobuki Taiako 224
Kiafft-Ebing, Richaid von 85n6
Kiisteva, Julia 94, 68, 78, 83
KUHP Sections 28, 282 48
KulturSpiegel 29
kumiwasemcji 20
Kunieda Saika 67
Die Kunst der Bestimmung (The Art
cf Defniticn) 25
Kurcshbi (Black Rose) 239
Kushnei, Ellen 78
Kustiiz, Anne 3, 33-34
Kusumoto Hiioki 62
Kuwabaia no Miko 28, 32
Kwakiutl 5, 7, 9
Kysh 200
Labs, Robeit 24
Lacan, Jacques 95, 6, 74n46, 78,
222-223
The Iadder 95
Laila 32
LaMaiie, Thomas 20
The Iast Herald-Mage 78
°The Laugh of the Medusa" 99, 03
Lawience of Aiabia 247
Leathei Daddy 35
Lee, Linda J. 67
Leipzig Book Faii 35
Leonaid, Sean 3, 8, 20
lesbian 48, 72, 239, 246, 25
Lette, Kathy 200
Ievel-C 6, 79n4
Levi, Antonia 89
L`Heuieux, Jeff 86n24
Liesaus, Diana 30
Iike a \hite Phantcm 05
Lindhoist, Tina 3
Link62 35
Lipton, Maik 235
Iittle Butterfy 30
Little Tokyo 3
LiveJouinal 6, 7, 5, 0, 5-6,
32, 44, 45, 46
lcliccn 33; see alsc rcrikcn
Loienz, Lynn 78
Icsing Neverland 35-36
Icst and Fcund 34
Icve Bus Stcp 0
Icve Mcde 62
Icve cf Siam 252
°Love on a Leash" 42
Icving Gaze 03, 04
Iudwig II 62, 238
Ium¯Urusei Yatsura 4
Iumen Iunae (Gekka kajin) 29
Lunsing, Wim 86, 88-90, 94, 226,
228-229
Iupin 20
Lynn Metallium 3
Lynne, Meiedith 06
Index 269
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9
7
8
0
7
8
6
4
5
6
2
7
7
Mademciselle De Maupin 242-243
Madness 9-20
Mai the Psychic Girl 4
Maid in Heaven (Meidc in heaven)
62
Maiscn Ikkcku 4
Majelis Ulama Indcnesia (Ulama
Assembly of Indonesia) 48
Makoto Tateno 62
Malaysia 47
°Male Bonding" 28
male/male kiss 5
male/male iomance 59, 77-78
male piegnancy 40
The Man frcm U.N.C.I.E. 247
manhua 35
manhwa 35
Man´s Best Friend (Inu mc arukeba)
64
Maicus, Steven 75-77
Marie Antcinette 238-239
Maitel, Yann 93-94
Maity 32-33, 36-37, 43
Maivel 4, 24
Maix, Sascha Nils 24
masculinity 97
masochism 4; see alsc sadism
Masuyama Noiie 77
Matisse, Henii 2
Matoh Sanami 62
Matsui Midoii 70, 00, 2
Matsumoto Katsuji 24
Matsuo, Hisako 69
Matsushita Yoko 47
Maulana, Beny 45
Mauss, Maicel 5
Maya, Gaby 3
Maya Tawi 39
McCloud, Scott 86
McHaiiy, Maik 85, 86, 89, 44
McKee, Alan 26
McLelland, Maik , 87-88, 95, 04,
60, 69, 79, 28, 226
Mediaminei.oig 26
Meeks, Chet 37
Megaupload 6
Meiji peiiod 68, 78, 28
°Memoiy Lapse" 06
Meicedes Lackey 78
Meites, Michael 32
Mickey Mouse 29; see alsc Disney
Midarescmenishi (A Iegend cf
Samurai Icve) 62, 67
Midnight Ccwbcy 35
Miko no Da 4
Mills, Saia 8
Minami Kazuka 6, 79n3, 79-80
Minami Megumu 62
Misagi Fuhii 62
Mishima Yukio 95, 239
misogyny 0-, 5-6, 2
mitate 20-202
Mitsu nc asa (Threefcld Dawn)
85n9
Mitsuba Kuienai 6, 79n4
Miyamoto Kano 24-25
Miyazaki Hayao 85
Mizoguchi, Akiko 70, 87, 62, 22-
222, 224-26, 228-30
Modleski, Tania 6
Mohanty, Chandia 227
mcji 202
Moll, Albeit 85n6
Möllei, Michael 33, 35
Monette, Saiah 78
mcnc nc aware 66
Moie Easteily Con 2
Moiiison, Linda L. 85n24
Motooii Noiinaga 86n20
Ms. 200
Mulvey, Lauia 84, 2, 40, 247
Muiasaki Shikibu, Lady , 20-
203; see also Tale cf Genji
Muscuka 30
Mussell, Kay 60, 62, 64, 79n6, 79n0
My Parancid Next-Dccr Neighbcr
see Tcnari nc heya nc parancia
Myeis, Nathanial 47-48
MySpace 32, 5
Nagaike, Kazumi 4, 68
Nagakubo Yko 3, 87n27
Naglaya´s Heart 24
Nakajima Azusa ¦Kuiimoto Kaiou]
87n27
Nakama Manga 4, 9
Nakamuia, Kaien 69
Nakazawa Keiji 23, 37
nanshcku 78, 85n9
Nanshcku kagami: hcnch waka
fzcku (Great Mirrcr cf Male
Icve. The Custcm cf Bcy-Icve in
Cur Iand) 85n9
Nao, Iiokawa 94
Naoko Takeuchi 23
Narutc 47, 203
Natsujikan 67
Natsumizu, Ritsu 0-02, 04
°Natuie`s Blindness" 07
°Natuie`s Cycles" 07
Nausicaa cf the Valley cf the \ind
85
Nazc nc kurcb (The Mysteiious
Clovei) 24
Nekojita 30
Nenashigusa (Rcctless Grass) 85n9
°The New Woild Oidei" 36
New Ycrk New Ycrk 29
Ng, Fiona 4, 47
Nietzsche, Fiiediich see Apollonian
and Dionysian
Nightiunnei seiies 78
Nippon machi 3
Nobi Nobita ¦Enomoto Naiiko]
87n27
Noh, Sueen 87-88
non-consensual sex 65, 67-68, 7,
4-42; see alsc iape
Noiiaki, Fushimi 9-93, 96
Nosco, Petei 86n20
Nct/Icve 25
Nctre Amcur (Cur Icve) 79
Ncvember Gymnasium see }uichi-
gatsu nc gimunajiumu
-bei 238
obscenity 2, 85n2; 22n5; see
alsc censoiship
cchinashi 9
Odagiii Hotaiu 6, 79n9
Oetomo, Dede 48
Ogasawaia Uki 62
gi, Fusami 60
kami Mineko 23, 29, 37
Cliver! 35
cnabe 25; cnabe bai 250-25
CNE 95
Cne Piece 47, 203
Cnsama e (Deai Biothei) 242
Cnly the Ring Finger Kncws (Scnc
yubi dake ga shitteiru) 60-6,
79n9, 59, 63, o4, 69
cnnagata
Opus the Penguin 30
ta Nanpo 79
Otakon
ctaku 207
ctckcyaku 2, 239, 242, 249, 25
ctcme 25
Otome Road 2
tomo Katsuhiio 23
Ctcnage 3-5, 7, 9-20
Ougi, Yuzuha 03
Owen, Maiiead 6, 79n
Ozaki Minami 29
Pagliassotti, Diu 85, 89-9, 27,
30, 44, 59-60
Panini Veilag 24, 29-30
°Papei Cianes" 06
Paper Theatre 33-36
Paik, Judith 30, 40
Paikei, Doiothy 200
Part-Time Pets (Kemcmimi shcuji)
64
Paitai Keadila Sejahteia 49
Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (Piospei-
ous Justice Paity) 49
passing 234-235
Passicn 04
Patallir! 243
Patten, Fied 3
pedeiasty 79, 85n5
Penley, Constance 9, 44-45,
47
peifoimativity 63, 66, 68
Peikovich, Mike 236
Petei 249
Peter Pan 35
Peteis, Maitina 34, 36
Peyieftte, Rogei 77, 79, 8, 240
Pßugfeldei, Giegoiy 78, 85n9
°Phenomenal Noumenal" 35
Pink Psycho 30, 40
Playbcy 48
°Please, Give Me Anothei Chance"
35
Pleasure Dcme (Kanrakukyuu) 62
Pckemcn 2, 203
Ponczeck, Makiko (°Zom-
biesmile") 34, 36
°Popcoin" seiies 4
poinogiaphy 27-29, 33, 35, 39n69,
48-49, 52, 74-77, 8n73, 2,
22n5, 28, 34, 42, 45-46,
249; see alsc anti-poinogiaphy
legislation
270 Index
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9
7
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0
7
8
6
4
5
6
2
7
7
poinotopia 75-76; see alsc utopian
visions
The Priest and the Acclyte 240
Prince cf Tennis 53
Princess Knight see Ribcn nc kishi
Piossei, Jay 247, 25
Pioust, Maicel 85n4
Puberty Blues 99, 204
Publishers \eekly 79, 85n0,
87n26
Putnam, Robeit D. 3-32, 39
PWP (poin without plot; plot what
plot:) 6, 76, 34, 4
queei 64, 90-96, 30-32, 6, 63,
67, 72, 74n37, 82-84, 90-
93, 96, 98, 205, 2-22, 225,
229, 233, 235-236, 238-239,
244, 247, 252
Queer As Fclk 252
°A Quiet Evening" 30
Radway, Janice 65-66, 70, 73, 77,
22n, 39, 45, 47
Ragawa Maiimo 29
Ie Ramier (The \ccdpigecn)
86n7
Ranma /2 4, 20-202, 204, 233
iape 48, 67-68, 75, 05, 9-20,
4-42, 62, 69, 78, 223, 236-
237, 250; see alsc non-consensual
sex
Rappcri yaci tckush gcu (Rappoii:
Special Yaci Issue) 2
°Rasbeiiy and Lime Shampoo"
32, 38
The RCK 4
ieading piactices 28-29, 70-77,
8n66, 87-9, 99-07, -3,
9, 30-32, 90-208, 26-27,
232-252
Regis, Pamela 63, 64
Renault, James 8
Renault, Maiy 25
Return cf Ium 4
°Revealing Myself " 4
Revcluticnary Girl Utena (Shjc
kekumei utena) 27, 242, 244
°Rheotaxis" 4
Ribcn nc kishi (Princess Knight) 2,
240-242, 246
Rice, Anne 78
Rice, Condoleezza 48
Rickei-Wilson, Caiol 66
Right Stuf
Rcbctech 2, 9
iomance novels 4, 6, 59-78,
22n, 28, 30-3, 34, 40,
47-48, 23, 26
Romance Wiiteis of Ameiica 65
Rcmec and }uliet 66
rcrikcn 69; see alsc lcliccn
Rosenblatt, Louise 205
Rowan, Lee 78
RTL 2 23
Rubin, Gayle 29
Ruff Icve (Shiba tc isshc) 64
Rules (manga) 25
°Rules" (stoiy) 29
Rurcuni Kenshin 47
Russ, Joanna 39
Rutheifoid, Jonathan 93
Sabucco, Veiuska 2-22
Sade, Maiquis de 35
sadism (S/M, SM, BDSM) 29, 75,
0, 4-42, 77, 94-98, 236;
see alsc masochism
Sadistic Bcy 95
°The Saga Begins" 33, 36, 43
Sagawa, Toshihiko 90
Sailcr Mccn 4, 23, 238, 24
Saint }uste 242
Saint Seiya 2
Sait Tamaki 87n27
Sakakibaia Shihomi 87n27, 225,
244, 246, 248
Sakuia-Con 4, 5,
Salmon, Catheiine 60, 7, 74-75,
78n2, 79n4
Sant Kyden , 79
Sat Masaki 87-89, 94, 228
Say Please 25
scanlation 4, , 4, 7-20, 67, 0,
59, 25
Scailet Fevei 4
Scarlet Pimpernel 24
Schehi, Lawience 85n4
Schijnbewegingen (Tricks cf the
Trade) 25
Schodt, Fiedeiik 2, 84n
Sci-Fi 2
Scodaii, Chiistine 46
Scieech, Timon 85n9
°Second Chances" 42
Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky 9-93,
29, 66, 82, 84, 87n25, 92,
232-234, 237, 239, 245-246
Seebeck, Juigen 24
Segal, Lynne 96
Sei Shnagon 95, 20
seinen 9
seiy 238, 24
seme 2, 25, 69, 7-73, 76, 04-05,
7, 24n42, 29, 33-36, 40,
43, 62, 68, 70-7, 26, 233,
236, 239, 250
seme/uke (seme-uke) 68-69, 72-73,
05, 24n42, 33, 68, 85n3,
86n2, 96-97, 233, 236-237,
243, 250; see also seme; uke
semeru 33
The Sentinel 06-07
Seunghyun Yoo 226-227
Sevakis, Justin 20
Seven Brides fcr Seven Brcthers 92
Sex Pistcls 224
sexual diffeience theoiy 223-224,
226-227, 230
sexual identity 7, 50, 64, 89-96,
23n20, 29-30, 32, 44, 59-
72, 79, 8, 83-84, 86n8,
86nn24-25, 93-95, 205, 207,
2-22, 25-29, 22-229, 244-
247, 250
sexuelle Zwischenstufen 85n5
Shanghai Passicn 30
Sheppaid, Simon 87
Sheiidan, Alan 79, 85n5, 85n6
Shibamoto Smith, Janet S. 66, 69
Shigematsu, Setsu 69, 7
Shikibu 20, 203
Shikitei Sanba 79
Shimada Hisami 62
Shimizu Yuki 62
Shimotsuki Kaiii 9
Shint 95, 86n20
Shiozu Shuii 63
shjc (shcujc) 24-27, 30-3,
37n0, 45, 59-60, 59-6, 7,
232, 234, 237, 239
shnen, shnen-ai 24-25, 29-30,
32, 33, 35, 37n0, 47, 60, 7,
78n, 9, 234, 238-243, 249
Shnen }ump , 20
Shooii 35, 36
shcta 33, 35, 78n3, 0, 60; see alsc
child poinogiaphy
Shtoku Taishi 2
ShutterBcx 3
Sidaia 43
Silvan, Rhea 45-50, 52
Silveiman, Kaja 69
Simons, Rikki 3
The Simpscns 24
Sindiam, Fahi 34-36, 40
Sky Rat 29
slash 3-6, 25-26, 32, 59, 60, 7,
74-78, 84-96, 99-07, , 9,
2n2, 27, 3-32, 34-35, 38,
40, 43-44, 46-47, 225, 233,
237, 245, 249, 252
°The Sleeping Man" 67
°Sinneis and Saints" seiies 4
Smith, Toien 8
Snitow, Ann 76-77, 28, 40
Soble, Alan 34
social capital 3-32, 34-36, 39
Society foi the Piomotion of Japa-
nese Animation , 8
°Solitaiy Cieatuies" 06
°Something New" 30
Scng cf \ind and Trees see Kaze tc
ki nc uta
Space Battlecruiser Yamatc (Star
Blazers) 2
Speed Racer 2
Spell (Superu) 62-63, o5, 66,
68, 70
Der Spiegel 29, 40
Star Trek 26; Tiekkie 2; see alsc
Kiik/Spock
Staißy Lounges 47
Starsky and Hutch 26
Steal Mccn 62
Steffen, Fianziska 3
Stein, Ailene 37
Stonewall 95, 27, 238
Stoiey, John 84
Stiickland, Eliza 47
Studio Pioteus 8, 24
Stupid Stcry 3, 33-34, 36
subjectivity 7, 70, 88-89, 45, 60-
62, 67-68, 7-72, 77-84,
93, 95, 204, 226
°Subway Tiilogy" 36
Suganuma, Katsuhiko 9
Index 271
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Suhaito`s goveinment 47
Sulewesi 50
Sullivan, Lou 245
°Sunde" 43
Superman 9
°Suiiounded by Daikness" 43
Suzuki, Kazuko 2, 68, 70, 2, 35,
6
Swcrdspcint 78
Swythangel 3, 35, 38
Syamsuddin, Din 48
Symons, Donald 60, 7, 74-75,
78n2, 79n4
tachi 246
Taïfu Comics 33-34
Taikc 52
Takahashi Rumiko 4, 202
Takanaga Hinako 30
Takaiazuka Revue 2, 69, 75n52,
238, 242-243, 249, 25
Takashima Kazusa 64
Takemiya Keiko 4, 7, 25, 6, 67,
88-89, 77, 83, 84n, 232, 237,
240, 244
Takeuchi Naoko 23
The Tale cf Genji , 95; see alsc
Muiasaki Shikibu, Lady
Talya Fiiedancei 32, 36, 39
Tamae, Tanigawa 89
tanka 202
tankbcn 3-4, 23
Teep 34
Tempel, Geoig 29
Tenchi Muyc 4
°Teiiitoiial Impeiative" 06
textual pioductivity 28, 32, 34, 36
Tezuka Osamu 2, 2, 85, 84n,
202, 24
Thiid Sex 239, 240; see alsc invei-
sion; Uianian
Thompsen, Philip 6
Thoin, Matt 26, 84-85, 87, 9, 94-
95, 46, 6, 78, 84n, 85n2,
225-226, 238, 24, 244, 248, 250,
252
°The Thiee Little Bishounen" 3
Thuiston, Caiol 6, 66, 70, 74,
79n2
Tiger Beat 26
Tintin 203
°To Buiy the Huit of Memoiy" 39
Toku, Masami 22-222, 224, 227
Tckyc Babylcn 204
TOKYOPOP , 4-5, 8-9, 24,
30-3, 33-34, 36, 38, 40
Tma nc shinz (Heait of Thomas)
2, 6, 67, 8, 84n, 240
Tcnari nc 80 (yaci) chan (My
Neighboi Yaoi-Chan) 25-252
Tcnari nc heya nc parancia (My
Parancid Next-Dccr Neighbcr)
6, 79n3, 79-80
Tony, W. 45, 47, 52
Toonami 2
°Top Ten Things I Love About
Yaoi" 34
Tcrchwccd 25-252
Tcrikaebaya mcncgatari 240, 243
Toiiyama Akiia 23
tiansdyke 248
tiansfag 232, 244-246, 248, 252
tianssexual 225, 233-235, 239,
243, 245, 25
tianstextuality 24
tiansvestism 233, 235, 24-242,
244, 246-249, 25; see alsc cioss-
diessing; diag
tiansvisuality 24
Tiegenna, Catheiine 252
Tristan and Isclde 66
Tsuiugi Kai 62
Twc cf Hearts 25
uke 2, 7, 25, 62, 69, 7-73, 76, 04-
05, 3, 7, 24n42, 29, 33-
36, 40, 42-43, 62, 66, 68-
7, 82-83, 85n0, 96-97,
205, 26, 233, 236-237, 250; see
alsc seme; seme/uke
ukeru 33
°UkeSeme Dynamics" 33
ukiyc-e , 78
Uliichs, Kail Heiniich 238
Ultraman 2
°Uncle Youji`s Book of Love" 36
Undang Dasai 45, 49
°Unexpected Talents" seiies 39
Uianian (Uining) 238, 239; see
alsc inveision; Thiid Sex
Urusei yatsura 2, 20-202, 204
U.S. Ccde 8, §§ 466A 85n2; see
alsc censoiship; obscenity
utopian visions 40, 223; see alsc
gaytopia; intimatopia;
poinotopia; yaoiland
Valenti, Kiisty 00, 05
Vampire´s Pcrtrait I (Kyuuketsuki nc
shcuzcu) 62
Verein (voluntaiy association) 3-
32, 36
Veilag Schwaizei Tuim 33-36, 39
Victcr/Victcria (Viktcr un Viktcria)
243, 249
Vidal, Goie 235
Vincent, Keith 88
Viiidian5 39
Virtucsc di Amcre (Netsujcu nc vir-
tucsc bangai scushuuhen) 62
visual kei 248-249; see also dans
kei
Viz 4
Voss, Stefan 24
wakashugata , 85n9
°Waking Onto Lantein`s Biight"
27, 32
°Waimth" 38
Wainet Inteinet cafes 5
warck 50
\eekend Icvers 04
Weimai Republic 249
\eiss Kreuz 6-7, 26-47
Welkei, James 89-90, 239, 243-
244, 246
Wesch, Michael 5
West, Coinel 84
Westphal, Cail 86n8
White, Edmund 94
White, Patiick 200
\hizzer and Chips 9, 99
\hc´s the \cman, \hc´s the Man?
252
°Why the Guys: Oi Navel-Gazing
in the Afteinoon" 39
Wiggle 47
The Wild Side Veilag 34
Wilde, Oscai 94, 238-239, 25
Williams, Linda 4
Willis, Ika 3
Wilson, Bient 22-222, 224, 227
\inter Demcn 45, 4o
Woledge, Elizabeth 36
Wolfgaith-Simons, Tavisha 2-4
Wood, Andiea 26, 34, 6, 68
Woolf, Viiginia 200
Woild Wai II 45
Wunnicke, Chiistine 25
X 47
Xbox 20
Xena 252
Y Square 30, 40
Yajima Masami 87
yama-nashi, cchi-nashi, imi-nashi
2, 25, 90-9
Yamagishi, Ryoko 2
Yami nc matsuei (Descendents cf
Darkness) 4, 47
Yaoi-Con 4, 5, 7, , 87, 87n28, 22
Yaoi Daily 6, 0, 4-6, 20-2,
22nn3-4
Yaci genrcn 244
yaoi me (yaoi megane) 232, 234, 236
yaoi online games 236
Yaoi Piess , 4, 44-46, 5-52
yaoi rcns 86-9, 94, 226, 228-229
yaoiland, yaoi-land 5, 23n27,
24, 29; see alsc utopian visions
Yayasan Pelita Ilmu 48
Y!Galleiy 7
Yoippaii 29
Yokota-Muiakami, Takayuki 79,
84n8
Yonezawa Yoshihiio v
Yoshihaia Rieko 67
Yoshinaga Fumi 62
Yoshiya Nobuko 239
Ycur Hcnest Deceit 03-04
YouSendIt 6
youth 87n26, 222, 224, 227,
234-235; suicide 84, 86n24
YouTube 20, 5
Yuki Kaoii 67
yuri 7, 60, 46
Zanghellini, Aleaido 85n2,
85n3
°Zeit" 43
zenga 202
Zetsuai 29
Zhou, Cheng Ying 30
Zoiio 24
Zweig, Stefan 238
Zwigtman Flooitje 25
272 Index
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6
2
7
7