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Anti-fujoshi / Anti-BL / Anti-Yaoi
Information Archive

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​*This Archive was collected over 3 years and compiled to provide further context and evidence presented []

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Definition of 'Fujoshi':

  • The Japanese term ‘fujoshi’ largely refers to women and girls who are considered hardcore fans of boys love media (Ishida, Okabe 2012: 207). In Japanese the original meaning of fujoshi when written is simply ‘lady’ or ‘respectable woman’ and can also mean wife (Suzuki 2013). However, changing the fu [婦] character for ‘lady’ to the homonymous fu [腐] character for rotten/decayed/corrupt, creates a pun changing the initially harmless meaning of fujoshi from ‘lady’ to ‘rotten girl’ or ‘rotten young woman’ (Hester 2015: 169). Fujoshi are categorized as rotten for indulging in queer sexual fantasies considered unproductive outside of their expected roles as (assumed heterosexual) wives and mothers (Galbraith, 2011; Novitskaya, 2019). Femininity is subject to close scrutiny in Japan, and fujoshi lacking certain ‘aesthetic features’ and interests ‘led men to classify them in derogatory terms’ (Fanasca 2019: 37). Such men framed fujoshi as antisocial and unattractive misfits (Mizoguchi 2022), and it is suspected that the first instances of ‘fujoshi’ being used in this ‘rotten’ way were around the year 2000 on 2Chan’s Japanese forums (Suzuki, 2013). By 2004 fujoshi were a mainstream topic in heterosexual male-dominated discussions about female otaku (Mizoguchi 2022). Heterosexual male anime and manga fans viewed queer men’s relationships as rotten and disliked how women were reading such relationships into their favorite masculine anime and manga series (made by heterosexual men for heterosexual men). Despite female scholars framing BL as a means to subvert dominant patriarchal narratives by turning such narratives on their heads to create their own stories (Hemmann 2020: 121), women liking BL media was still seen as ‘abnormal’. By the late 2000s female BL fans eventually reclaimed ‘fujoshi’ by transforming it into a food pun with ‘rotten’ taking on the connotation of fermentation (Mizoguchi 2022). By doing this fujoshi now positioned themselves as more complex and sophisticated than everyday consumers of ‘raw’, original media. Fujoshi instead ‘fermented’ this media, adding deeper and more complex queer ‘flavors’ to these narratives (Mizoguchi 2022).

  • While reclaiming the label of fujoshi allowed these women to ‘craft an identity that sets them apart from others,’ Midori Suzuki notes that it has also given outsiders an excuse to justify their stigmatization (Suzuki 2013). Such surface level justification can be seen in one of the most common anti-fujoshi arguments amongst English speakers on social media: ‘fujoshi literally means rotten woman’. As this translation of fujoshi has been stripped of its linguistical history and context, English speakers apply their own interpretations to it: that fujoshi label themselves rotten because they personally view queer relationships as ‘sinful’ or taboo, not that fujoshi were labeled rotten by heterosexual men specifically because of their queer interests and sexual expression.

  • What is further lost in translation is how most BL fans and creators have been historically assumed to be cisgender heterosexual women by their outside dominant, heteronormative cultures (McLelland, Welker, 2015). This assumption has further stigmatized fujoshi amongst English speakers who see them as privileged heterosexual women who exploit gay men in both fiction and real life. Fujoshi are then framed as adversaries of the LGBTQ+ community. Despite what such English-speakers believe, fujoshi was never meant to specify if a female fan was heterosexual or cisgender. Lesbian, and bisexual fujoshi do exist (Mizoguchi 2008) and it is not uncommon for female BL readers to also consume yuri or ‘Girl Love’ (GL) narratives. However, due to these perpetuated misunderstandings, English-speaking anti-fujoshi have forced fujoshi as a term back to its misogynistic 2Chan roots by classifying fujoshi as hormonal and mentally unstable women. Given that these women were fundamentally linked to BL, boys love media was viewed as illegitimate as it came to be associated with heterosexuality and being anti-LGBTQ+.

    • Source: ( [] )

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What Are Anti-Fujoshi?:

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Anti-Fujoshi in Anglophone fandom:

  • Often express misogynist, femmephobic and racist ideologies.

  • Demonize Asian fans and culture as impure and sexually predatory (most often Japanese and Chinese BL & Danmei fans)

  • Most likely first began as an anti-trans movement in social media spaces (see screenshots and links below).

  • Generally, believe BL/yaoi media to be bad for the LGBTQ+ community and overall either "bad representation" or not queer in the "right" ways.

  • Assume Fujoshi and BL/yaoi fans are all heterosexual cisgender women.

  • Likely due to anti-trans groups spreading the term "fetishizing" in relation to yaoi and fujoshi without the anti-trans context, LGBTQ+ Anglophones adopted their views, often unintentionally upholding transphobic and homophobic ideologies in the process.

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"Are women fetishizing gay men?" is one of the most commonly debated questions in relation to BL media in Anglophone spheres, and while there has been abundant scholarly research and discussion on such controversial topics for decades in Japan, Anglo ('Western') fandom is still immersed in heated debate. So heated in fact that violent threats and claims of predation have been directed towards female and male fans of BL alike. Thus, queer Asian fans who use these native terms for their queer literature and fan culture are often treated as villainous degenerates who are purposefully harming the global queer community for using their own native language.

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Additionally, it is not uncommon for anti-fujoshi Anlgo men who enjoy BL media to express distaste, disgust, or even violence towards women who interact with BL media. Those who feel this way largely believe only queer men may enjoy such texts and any women who do are fetishists. However, this becomes extremely ironic given that the majority of BL media such men largely try to keep women out of are pieces made by women authors; they will happily consume media made by women while expressing the belief that women are ruining said media.

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  • Anti-BL Quotes in Archived Examples:

    • "I for one think that the BL genre should be burned to the ground" (214 likes)

    • "MLM ships were at one point referred to as slash and [...] is typically written or drawn to show gay relationships in a respectful way [...] Yaoi and BL [are] media that was made explicitly to fetishize gay men. It is NOT the same thing as mlm"

    • "fictional shit still harms real people. you can fetishize mlm relationshis [...] saying youre a fan of BL is even worse [...] its not a healthy way to represent mlm couples [...] yaoi isnt supporting of lgbt people, its gross and harmful [...] i don't care if you're q/eer [queer], its harmful and sabotages the lgbt community"

    • [person who was being criticized for comparing fujoshi to Japanese WW2 criminals]: "Now [i'm] xenophobic for not understanding the cultural significance of queer fetishization in a country known for committing war crimes on the rest of Asia"

    • "If you really wanna know what gay men like to see and make your bl more realistic, just look at bara art. It's made by gay men, for gay men [...] What do gay men like? [...] They like men who look like men, not men who look like women (if they did, they'd be bi, or borderline straight) [...] Most gay men like looking at manly men. But Even with twinks, it's rare you'll see one who genuinely looks like a girl"

    • "Yaoi= bad content made by cishet women that features [...] incest, pedophilia and rape / Bara= good content made by gays"

    • "I guess yaoi writers don't know how to write for LGBTQ people"

    • "...But the thing is bara is made by gay men for gay men so the problematic stuff is more align with kink. Yaoi and BL are written by women for women so it raises the notion that's how [women view our relationships]."

    • "I have some yaoi manga from when I was a fujoshi that I would like to get rid of but I am not sure selling would be the best way because that would feel like enabling another person's problematic behavior and profiting from it. should I just burn it or throw it away? i'm still unlearning fujo thought patterns so whenever i think that selling wouldn't be a bad thing, I worry that im just trying to subconciously protect the trash"

    • "Heartstopper is one of the greatest shows ever made but there is a huge gulf between that and yaoi fandom"

    • "I hope everyone who calls Heartstopper a yaoi will d1e in boiling acid and get set on fire"

    • "why are people still saying that Heartstopper is a "BL" or a 'yaoi" i want to actually use violence [...] to silence these mfs"

    • "Honey no Heartstopper doesn't fall under the category of a 'BL' or a 'yaoi' it's a queer coming-of-age love story that deals with identity in relation to oneself and to others. It's a healthy depiction of queerness and queer joy. So no not a BL or yaoi"

  • Direct Quotes From Anti-Fujoshi/Anti-Fudanshi in Archived Examples:

    • "Fujoshis have ruined people's lives"

    • "Yaoi corrupts, yaoi has implications that is damaging to a psyche and hurting people. You can't say lets forget it when it can cause serious problems in society"

    • "Yaoi is made only for women by women and seeks to commodify MLM identities and love while oppressing them and denying them their rights. “Fujoshis” are not friends of queer liberation."

    • "Yaoi and Bl is pretty harmful and a dangerous thing for the lgbtq community if we allow for it to grow."

    • "Fujoshis are violent and just as bad as +erf5 when it comes to attacking queer identities."

    • "China finally did something good by oppressing pedos and fujoshis hope you die *kiss emoji*" (a response to this article)

    • "I will curb stomp every fucking fujoshi on this shitty planet and no one can stop me!"

    • "Punching fujoshis is gay culture"

    • "the idea that we should just let cishet women have a fetish for gay men at the off chance they might be gay or trans is fucking insanity"

    • A: "When will fujoshis acknowledge that their """culture""" is inherently homophobic" B: "They will never. These are the people who think with their perpetually horny teenage vagina and have no shame over consuming harmful fiction"

    • "No fujoshi is a proper LGBT advocate. They are all straight women pretending to be bi."

    • "Fujoshis just started calling themselves non binary and gay trans men and most of you just fell for it huh?

    • "All straight women who fetishize gay men are fujoshis and homophobic even if they call themselves "trans mlm""

    • ""Trans mlm" are just fujos in denial"

    • "The original meaning (of fujoshi) isn't even valid anymore cause women are now allowed to read yaoi without persecution. Calling a women a fujoshi to invalidate her sexuality is not a thing that people even do anymore."

    • "I just dont see fujoshis as trans because they fetishize gay relationships"

    • "This just reeks of a typical anime weeb that read and watched too much yaoi growing up and now wants to be a real life pretty anime gay boy [...] women like this get porn sick via gay fanfiction"

    • "being a trans man doesn't excuse you from being a fujoshi!!! [...] being a trans man doesn't exempt you from having to analyze and put a stop to your own fetishizing behavior!!"

    • "Fudanshis and fujoshis don't exist you're just fetishists"

    • "Yaoi is inherently homophobic [...] Open your fucking eyes or keep your fucking mouth shut"

    • "Being a fujoshi/fudanshi isn't a good thing [...] this is a very real issue and people need to stop dodging responsibility for being gross. I've seen "it's a japanese term so you're racist by bringing it up" as a way to dodge being held accountable for their fetishistic behavior [...] and even "i'm queer/lgbtq so i can't be fetishistic" as if their status as not cishet excuses them from bad behaviors"

    • "[fujoshis] refers to specifically cishet women who only consume and create m/m content because they view it as something sexual because it is taboo and don't care about actual gay men, along with blatantly hating gay women [...] We cannot dilute what the term fujoshi means and the severe homophobia that mindset is rooted in."

    • "A fujoshi is SPECIFICALLY a woman who projects yaoi dynamics on irl people"

    • "Literally any person that I've had the displeasure of talking to who self identifies as a fujoshi is an abuse/incest loving freak who's also probably a pedophile"

    • "If you're a "fujoshi" [...] just because you transitioned doesn't mean it's not still gross"

    • "Girls literally convincing themselves they are gay boys on the inside because they love gay fiction"

    • "I am a gay man, thats a straight woman who has a fetish for gay men, homophobe"

    • "Lots of the trans movement amongst women is the [...] desire to be a character in BL media"

    • "If you're part of the pedophilic fetish culture that the fujos partake in [...] you can go fuck yourself and have your lights knocked out with a kick in the face"

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Anti-Fujoshi in Asia:

 

  • Generally uphold traditionalist ideas of gender and sexuality.

  • Often anti-trans, misogynist and femmephobic at it's root (See Translated 'Hompig' 2015 (original Japanese page))

  • Fear that BL confuses women about proper gender roles and causes them to reject heterosexual ideology and develop "disorders" such as "female to male transsexualism." (further reading in: 2015- Boys Love Manga & Beyond - McLelland Chapter, & (2012) Nagaike (BL Resources page)

  • Gay men in Japan who value "hard" masculinity and dislike BL largely do so because it is media associated with women and effeminate men. They blame women's interests for supposedly softening masculinity in Japan with bishounen culture in the 90s and 2000s. They may also show open distaste for effeminate, androgynous, and "cute" idol men whom they believe are emasculated and act like women. (via 'Regimes of Desire'- Baudinette)

  • Read more here about gay Asian men's attitudes of BL and Geikomi

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​Further Reading on Fujoshi:

  • (2023) "30 articles & books that offer a wealth of insight and spark discussions & new ways of thinking about queer women, mlm content, and misogyny": https://twitter.com/SamAburime/status/1622628540616171520

  • Annett, Sandra (2014), Anime fan communities: transcultural flows and frictions, New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 180.

  • "Fujoshi Questionaire" (2021, May 27) PR Times. https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000015.000042456.html

    • "From Wednesday, May 19th to Tuesday, May 25th, 2021, 500 men and women from teens to 50s nationwide who answered "I am a fujoshi / fudanshi" (valid responses: 500)": PDF Download (English)

  • Galbraith, Patrick (2011), "Fujoshi: Fantasy Play and Transgressive Intimacy among “Rotten Girls” in Contemporary Japan." Signs. 37. 211-232. 10.1086/660182.)

  • Graffeo, Clarissa (2014), The great mirror of fandom: reflections of (and on) otaku and fujoshi in anime and manga. Orlando, Fla: University of Central Florida.

  • Hemmann, Kathryn (2020), ‘Queering the Media Mix: The Female Gaze in Japanese Fancomics’ In Kuwahara, Yasue, and Lent, John A., eds 2020, Manga Cultures and the Female Gaze; 77-101; Cham: Springer International Publishing: pp. 77-101.

  • Hester, Jeffry T. (2015), ‘Fujoshi Emergent: Shifting Popular Representations of Yaoi/BL Fandom in Japan,’ In McLelland, Mark, Nagaike, Kazumi, Suganuma, Katsuhiko, and Welker, James, eds. 2015, Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan, Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

  • Hompig. 2015. “The Origin of the “Gays Are Anti-BL” Movement: 2Chan’s “Women-Bashing” on the Online Discussion Board Douseiai Salon.” Hatena Blog. April 4, 2015.

  • Ishida, Kimi, Okabe, Daisuke (2012), ‘Making Fujoshi Identity Invisible,’ In Mizuko Ito, Daisuke Okabe, & Izumi Tsuji, Fandom Unbound: Otaku culture in a connected world (pp. 207-224), New Haven: Yale University Press. 

  • Lunsing, Wim (2006), ‘Yaoi Ronsō: Discussing Depictions of Male Homosexuality in Japanese Girls' Comics, Gay Comics and Gay Pornography’, Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Japanese Context, Issue 12 January 2006, http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue12/lunsing.html. Accessed 28 December 2022.

  • @Orangiah: "had a conversation with a Japanese friend re: the recent fujoshi stuff, so I thought I'd translate for anyone who's interested!" Translated Discussion: https://fusetter.com/tw/d2FBTsGo Twitter Link: https://twitter.com/orangiah_/status/1622307394012209152

  • McLelland, Mark, Nagaike, Kazumi, Suganuma, Katsuhiko, and Welker, James, eds. 2015, Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan, Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

  • Miller, KK. 2015. Fantastic fujoshi just wanna have fun, Japanese netizens say, “No!” SoraNews24 February 25, 2015. https://soranews24.com/2015/02/25/fantastic-fujoshi-just-wanna-have-fun-japanese-netizens-say-no/.

  • Mizoguchi, Akiko (2022, May 12), ‘The Japan Foundation: “[EP14] Boys' Love: The History and Transformation of BL in Asia”’, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFPIMjr-w8g. Accessed 30 July 2022.

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General Archive
(WARNING: triggering topics and language below)
 

This image gallery is to provide examples and context for the topics discussed in [ ]. The following are a collection of the most common examples of anti-Fujoshi/Anti-BL behavior which include:

death threats, threats of physical harm, stalking, suicide baiting, racism, xenophobia, misogyny, spreading disinformation, and engaging in harmful practices of obsessing over media they dislike as well as purposefully engaging with people they personally deem dangerous.

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​NOTE:

  • All conversations below are in reference to content in fictional art, literature or media.

  • Some Images are large, please give them a moment to load; Zoom-in is also Available.

  • Images with '*Archived by host' means the Image was directly archived by myself (the author). '*Seen live by host' indicates I was present when the posts were live and saw the debate in real time, but the provided Image was not directly archived by myself (often due to these posts being at some point either locked, deleted, or difficult to relocate).

  • any visible usernames are from accounts that are now inactive​


Anti-trans posts about BL, Yaoi, & Fiction vs. Reality
Archive of screenshots on IMGUR

"How Gender Critical and Anti-Trans Ideology Contributed to Anti-BL & Anti-fujoshi Hostility":

  • Understanding how fujoshi as a term in English fandom came to be both conflated with trans identity and anti-LBGTQ+ ideology is a key point of understanding this entire anti-BL phenomenon. Much of this demonization was deliberate, and some of the earliest known posts applying anti-trans ideology to the topic of BL appeared on Tumblr around 2015. As one of these (now deactivated) anti-fujoshi blogs Purge-Anti-Antis admitted: 

 

When anti fujoshis were just a handful of Tumblr folk […] We knew how many LGBT fags read yaoi. I hate fujoshi but we’re even more astounded how [social justice warriors] [took] our statements as some pro LGBT agenda […] [and] swallowed our thinly veiled gender critical statements […] We’re ‘transphobic’ (Anti-Fujoshi 2022).

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  • So, what are ‘gender critical’ statements? Overall, gender criticals believe there are only two genders: male and female, and a person’s gender solely aligns with their assigned sex at birth and cannot be changed (Ovarit 2022). Anything that does not adhere to this binary absolute, such as transgender identity specifically, is considered a paraphilia and mental defect (Blanchard, 1991). As for how large these social groups can become online, the subreddit ‘GenderCritical’ founded in 2013 housed approximately 64,800 members with a reported 27,333 daily active users (Reddit Statistic, 2020) before being shut down in 2020 for promoting hate speech. Other Subreddits affiliated with GenderCritical included: ‘Anti-Kink,’ ‘Anti-Pornography,’ and ‘Radical Feminists’ (GenderCritical 2020). As is evident with the listed affiliates, gender critical groups often center around being critical of gender identity, sexual expression, and pornography; things which they feel are intrinsically linked to the development of transgender identity. Gender criticals believe that pornography not only damages people’s minds but also encourages sexual abuse in the real-world (Ziv 2015). They often refer to trans people as ‘porn sick’ (NewMa 2021) which is a term they use to categorize someone as being so obsessed with pornography that they supposedly have a distorted view of reality (Porn Sick 2018) (i.e., trans people want to make their bodies into the image of their pornographic sexual fantasy).

  • While gender criticals attempt to present their beliefs legitimately, many of their arguments fall apart in the face of broader scientific research. The UK based, ‘Gender Critical Academics’ (GCA) is affiliated with at least 2,836 individuals from academic institutions. Their site houses a resource page designed for those ‘interested in gender critical or radical feminist perspectives’ (GC Academia 2022). Many of the provided resources, however, promote anti-LGBTQ+ conversion therapy while housing broad statements about transgender identity that lack comprehensive scientific support.

  • One resource, ‘Transgender Trend’ (2022) claims there are no comprehensive studies on the suicide rate of trans youth, and that trans identity is a ‘very new phenomenon […] based on no credible scientific research.’ They go on to propose that trans identity is an attention seeking mechanism children employ to afford them ‘great rewards […] in terms of becoming the center of attention and achieving special status among parents, teachers and peers.’ Contrarily, official research has shown trans youth to be among the highest demographics at risk for suicide due to factors such as family neglect and internalized self-stigma (Austin, 2022).

  • Given the lack of scientific support, many for gender criticals have resorted to covert methods to be heard. This often involves diluting and misrepresenting their messages to appear more acceptable to outsiders. The group Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans (PITT) wrote a 2022 article detailing how avoiding terms like ‘deluded’ and ‘mentally ill’ when discussing trans people allowed them ‘unbarred’ access to grow their platform.

  • Another term for this method of self-censoring is ‘Crypto Terfing’ (MissMenses 2022) with TERF being a contentious acronym for ‘Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist’. As explained by self-proclaimed ‘cryptoterfs’, ‘crypto’ stands for hidden and means someone who is secretly gender critical or a radical feminist (MissMenses 2022). One ex-cryptoterf, Ky Schevers (2021) described how such individuals ‘intentionally moderate’ their views to appear less threatening and reach the largest possible audience. They worked to ‘spread the idea that trans identity […] could be motivated by trauma and internalized misogyny’ which included infiltrating pro-trans groups. Cryptoterfs amongst Schevers would joke about ‘running psy-ops’ in these groups ‘to change what ideas were acceptable to talk about in those spaces.’ For instance, on gender critical hub Ovarit, women in one such message board shared their methods of dissemination. Those with trans friends or family described how they worked to instill doubts in their minds. Others detailed how they would casually bring up conspiracy theories as factual evidence to pique listeners’ curiosity (MissMenses 2022). Reviewing these posts revealed a widespread culture of deceit and manipulation where the act of disseminating propaganda took upon a game-like quality to members.

  • In terms of fandom, in one specific instance a Tumblr artist boasted that people ‘have no idea how many [cryptoterfs]’ are amongst them.’ She networked with numerous trans activists in ‘2-3 popular fandoms’ and described how she would parrot their beliefs to blend in. She emphasized how these unsuspecting people would buy her art and give her donations, and that she did not plan to ‘stop playing pretend any time soon’ (blossomoranges 2019). Following this pattern, there were numerous posts on Ovarit, Tumblr, and Twitter relating to fandom, fanfiction and anime. Gender criticals would frequently frame Japan as a pedophilic den of iniquity, naming anime, manga and BL specifically as ‘gateway(s)’ to pornography that ‘(cause) mental illness’ (Anti-fujoshi 2023). Discussions surrounding BL media consistently argued that young women who ‘read too much yaoi’ transition to become ‘gay anime boys’ (Anti-fujoshi 2023).

  • Because gender criticals view any gender identity outside of one’s assigned biological sex as illegitimate, trans male BL fans were categorized as heterosexual women. This in turn led anti-trans people to categorize them as fujoshi. Thus, in anti-trans spaces fujoshi became synonymous with trans men. As fujoshi had historically been presented as heterosexual women to begin with, this made the anti-BL propaganda these groups spread even more palatable to outside audiences.

  • As these trans men deemed fujoshi were repeatedly framed as corrupt heterosexual women, LGBTQ+ people lost the original anti-trans context of these gender critical statements. Thus, fujoshi came to be synonymous with being anti-LGBTQ+. While there was minor pushback against such early anti-fujoshi rhetoric, it only visibly began around 2018. There were only a handful of English-speaking individuals who were familiar enough with Japanese queer culture and language to call out this disinformation, but their small-scale pushback was not enough to combat the rapid onset of falsehoods that easily spread soon after.

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"How Language and Anti-trans Narratives are Weaponized to Control the Perception of BL and Fujoshi":

  • The topic of fetishism is key to this discussion as it is intrinsically linked to anti-trans ideology, and a common term cited in fandom discourses surrounding BL. Janice Raymond’s 1979 novel The Transsexual Empire targets transgender women by specifically arguing that trans identity ‘was created by fetishistic males who [seek] to escape into a faux stereotypical femininity’. She argued that just the act of transgender women existing ‘rape[d] women’s bodies by reducing the […] female form to an artifact’ (Raymond 2004). Thus, under these beliefs trans men (fujoshi) become ‘fetishistic’ females who exploit or ‘rape’ the (gay) male form through BL. Additionally, when anti-trans groups mention homophobia in relation to fujoshi, the discussion comes from the belief that gay trans men are heterosexual women. Therefore, gay trans men are framed as ‘homophobic’ straight women who force their way into gay male spaces to demand gay men have sex with them (Anti-fujoshi 2023).

  • Due to English-speaking fandom having a general lack of information surrounding the etymology and cultural context of fujoshi and BL, these terms became easy for anti-trans groups to manipulate and control. This method is known as ‘evaluative conditioning’ (Jones, 2010) and has been commonly used to demonize LGBTQ+ people. Letting go of prejudice is much harder when there is a negative emotional component attached to it (Aronson et al. 2018), and propagandists use this to their benefit. Anti-gay activists in 1950s conservative America were conditioning the public to associate homosexuality with child predation and pedophilia (Mogul, 2011, p. 33). Lesbian separatists in the 1970s accused transgender women of being ‘opportunists,’ ‘infiltrators,’ and ‘rapists’ (Stryker, 2008, p. 131). Such decades old conditioning directed towards these groups persist to this day as conservative politicians in the United States center the modern day ‘groomer’ panic and push anti-LGBTQ+ legislation under the guise of protecting children (Chaves, 2023).

  • This very same conditioning is applied to fujoshi and often done so under the guise of protecting the gay community. The following excerpt from a 2015 gender critical Tumblr blog displays all the previously covered conditioning methods:

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The vast majority of ‘trans women’ who previously lived lives as straight men are actually heterosexual males who fetishize women and lesbians, and like to fancy themselves ‘real women’ in order to aid in their sexual fantasies […] However, there is a growing minority of ‘trans men’ who assimilate into trans status out of fetishizing gay men and homosexuality as straight/bi women […] Many of these young women get their intro into modern trans identities […] from anime and manga communities […] Yaoi manga communities […] a female produced gay porn/romance erotica […] that objectifies gay males from a very stereotypically feminine perspective and typically involves themes of statutory rape, and male-on-male pedophilia […] These yaoi-bois ‘gay trans men’ […] want the long eyelashes, long hair and slim build of a teen boy that looks like and behaves like a stereotypical girl […] The typical yaoi-crazed [female-to-male] wants […] gay men with similar effeminate qualities to see them as male. She wants for gay men to date her because she wants to recreate this yaoi fantasy. (Tumblr blog Scarlet-void, 2015)

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  • The excerpt uses charged terms such as ‘fetishize,’ ‘assimilate’, ‘rape,’ ‘pedophilia,’ ‘crazed,’ and ‘fantasy.’ Trans male BL fans are maligned with sexual predation and delusion while at the same time referred to as ‘boys’ to delegitimize and infantilize their identity as childishly misguided and attention-seeking. Homonationalism then comes to the forefront as queer Asian BL media is maligned with anti-gay objectification, rape, and pedophilia. These kinds of statements are not just coming from random users with minute followings either, established organizations are taking notice. In 2022, An advisor to the international gender critical organization ‘Genspect’ ridiculed and belittled trans men who liked BL as ‘DELUSIONAL’ in a public tweet; the advisor had 51,300 Twitter followers. Another Genspec author with 20,300 Twitter followers wrote an article saying, ‘Let’s talk about “gay trans guys”—formerly known as heterosexual females’ citing ‘early exposure to hardcore pornography’ and BL consumption as like likely cause for trans men transitioning (Mondegreen, 2023). Gay trans men in fandom are frequently bludgeoned with hate speech and accusations of being ‘fujoshi fetishists’ and pedophiles.

  • As these groups conditioned others to associate fujoshi and BL with negative, emotionally charged concepts many people in English-speaking fandom developed visceral aversions to these topics. With these negative associations, ‘normative conformity’, (i.e., following group behaviors (Aronson et al. 2018)) becomes necessary as those who are not vocally against fujoshi are also at risk of being maligned. By gender critical anti-fujoshi maligning fujoshi and BL with homophobia, fetishism, pedophilia, hyper-sexualization and heterosexual privilege, they were able to rapidly push these terms into having anti-LGBTQ+ notoriety. In English-speaking fandom, fujoshi were now privileged, selfish, heterosexual female invaders incapable of telling proper LGBTQ+ stories, and BL was an insult to gay men that was infecting the world. This aggressive erasure of fujoshi and BL from their original Japanese contexts then further facilitated an environment in which violent behavior towards BL fans became acceptable and even encouraged by pro-LGBTQ+ English-speaking fans.

ANTI-TRANS PAGES THAT DISCUSS FUJOSHI, BL, AND YAOI:

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Methods CryptoTERFs use to disseminate propaganda:

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Common Topics Anti-trans groups may Discuss or frame in a certain way without being obvious:

  • LGBTQ+ people are referred to as predatory, especially with the term 'grooming' or 'groomer'

  • Often referring to women as 'females' in regular conversation. 'Adult Human Female' is an anti-trans dogwhistle.

  • Fears of (trans) children mutilating their bodies 

  • LGBTQ+ mentors are framed as brainwashers and 'groomers' of children

  • An overall anti-sex view that frames fictional media as a bad influence & criminal; Express ideas that LGBTQ+ media will somehow turn children gay, etc.

  • Any mention of 'Fetish': Anti-trans groups believe Trans identity to be a mental illness and fetish. Their "official" terms are 'autogynephilia' (AGP) and 'autoandrophilia' (AAP). They will claim trans people 'fetishize' the bodies of women and men.

  • No Kink at Pride: This is once again a talking point used by trying to make gay men appear to be child groomers. Fear of children being exposed to sexuality is the center point, despite PRIDE riots being pioneered by sexual minorities (and workers) since stonewall.

  • Homophobic Straight Women: A term used by cisgender gay men who are against trans-men. They see trans men as infiltrators of their spaces who are trying to "trick" gay men into being in relationships with them.

  • TRA (Trans Rights Activists): Negative connotation and not a term used by actual trans activists

 

  • Their term for trans men: TiF (Trans Identified Female)

  • Their term for trans women: TiM (Trans Identified Male)

  • LGB (Drop the T): An alliance of Largely Gay men and Lesbian women who reject and exclude identities outside of Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual (although bisexuals are not largely supported by them either)

  • Clocking: The idea of being able to tell who is trans and who is not by physical appearance and behavior.

  • Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD): not an accepted clinical term "coined in 2016 to describe an alleged epidemic of youth coming out as trans 'out of the blue' due to social contagion and mental illness."

 

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​Relevant Articles & Books Discussing Trans History and Anti-Trans Bigotry:

(These sources are provided for readers to have History and Context on what this section is discussing)