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Contents

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*This Archive was collected over 4 years and compiled to provide further context and evidence presented in East Asian Journal of Popular Culture's 2023 article ‘The influence of transphobia, homonationalism, and anti-Asian prejudice: Anti-BL attitudes in English-speaking fandoms’,  https://doi.org/10.1386/ eapc_00119_1 
(*Google Drive Archive: Contains all anti-fujoshi posts including anti-trans posts)

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Contents:

  1. Anti-Fujoshi:

    • Definition of Anti-Fujoshi

    • Direct Quotes from Anti-Fujoshi

    • How Anti-fujoshi Connect to Anti-trans Narratives

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

  2. Anti-Trans Groups & Their Methods:

    • Dogwhistles & Common Language

    • How Groups Disseminate Propaganda

  3. Receipts

    • Anti-trans pages that discuss fujoshi, yaoi, BL, anime and Japan

    • Examples (Image Archive)

  4. Sources & Further Study

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Definition of Anti-Fujoshi:

 

People who are actively against fujoshi (women who like BL media)

"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 and terms.

 

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.
 

  • Anti-Fujoshi in Anglophone fandom:

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

    • Often express misogynist, femmephobic and racist ideologies.

    • Demonize Asian BL fans and culture as morally impure and sexually predatory

    • 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.

  • Anti-Fujoshi in Japan:

    • 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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Common Dogwhistles & Arguments TERFs & Gender Criticals use:

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

  • The Human Brain Doesn't Mature Until Age 25: An argument to deny specific adults autonomy and healthcare (generally trans and autistic adults)

  • Usage of 'Groomer': Framing people who help trans & queer youth as child predators

  • Negative view 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."
     

  • Gender Essentialism: Claims men are biologically predisposed to be predators:

    • Claims anyone who identifies with maleness or masculinity (or looks the part) (including queer men, nonbinary or ‘masc’ people!) are inherently predatory, abusive oppressors
       

    • Claims that gay men are perverse, impure or gross compared to women (because they see ALL men as sex-driven and ‘porn-brained’)
       

    • The belief that women are incapable of being sexually abusive; Believe no male person (of any age!) can be sexually abused by a woman; which also leads to not taking women sexually abused by other women seriously (“That’s something men do”).
       

  • Anti-Intersectionality: With Gender Essentialism naturally comes racism:

    • Suddenly, BIPOC men & boys are incapable of being victims which allows White women in these spaces to deny their racial privilege and the institutional racism they historically participated in and still today benefit from.
       

  • Banning Media over Prioritizing Education & Awareness:

    • Ultimately believe banning fiction will prevent abuse; fail to address the fact that abuse was and still is happening in places where certain “problematic” media is inaccessible, and before mass media (film/television/comics/adverts/etc) became the standard less than 100 years ago.
       

    • Instead of prioritizing resources educating teen girls & women on consent and healthy real-life relationships, censoring fiction is seen as the solution.
       

    • Instead of prioritizing teaching young boys and men how to be good partners, understand consent, and have healthy real-life relationships, censoring fiction is seen as the solution.
       

    • Leads to Infantilizing & demonizing women: Women are framed as too foolish and stupid to know reality from fantasy and thus have to be protected from themselves “The novels are poisoning their fragile woman minds!”
       

    • Leads to Victim blaming: People doing this insist women who write ‘bodice rippers’ or erotica are contributing to their own and other women’s abuse. “What was she wearing?” Becomes “What was she writing?”
       

    • Leads to Giving Predators an Easy out: “Well she writes non-con fanfiction or erotica, I thought that meant she was into being sexually abused” “The porn made me hurt them, I didn’t make conscious and deliberate efforts to be abusive. In a way, I too am a victim of degeneracy.” (This is like saying music or a horror villain made someone kill people)
       

    • Leads to literally re-inventing the 1930s Hay’s Code made by religious, racist White men
       

    • Mentions of Porn Addiction or being Porn Brained: Often used to shut down constructive dialogue. Instead of discussing sexual topics with nuance they’ll just call people porn addicts to belittle them as simple ‘perverts’.
       

  • Fascist Buzzwords:

    • Unabashed use of ‘Degenerate’ or ‘Degeneracy’: Literally Nazi concepts. For example, doing a search for these terms on Twitter, dozens of first results were from White Nationalist, Anti-LGBTQ+, Conservative and Nazi accounts. Unsurprisingly, these terms are also often found being used among racists & on anti-porn accounts.
       

  • Being Anti-Porn & Moving Goal Posts:   

    • (See entire above section)
       

    • The Anti-Porn stance is inherently connected to conservative & religious groups that also prioritize banning media instead of educating. “Porn” as an idea is vague and can be considered anything (i.e., gay characters existing is ‘porn’, discussions of uncomfortable racial topics is ‘porn’).
       

    • ‘Porn’ as a concept in TERF spaces becomes synonymous with always taking place in real life, being inherently abusive and inherently heterosexual; Something only used by men to subjugate women. While there is definitely a constructive dialogue to be had here in terms of historical commodification of women’s bodies, misogyny, hyper sexualization in media and advertising etc. The arguments in these spaces are shallow & flawed as they aim to suppress iterations of what could be considered erotic or pornographic wholly ignoring the fact that queer pornography and porn women make for themselves are already systematically censored & suppressed. These groups are not protected but instead vilified.
       

    • Sex Negative: This largely leads to ultimately controlling how women express themselves sexually and horseshoes back to conservatism. Women who like porn/erotica or defend its existence are considered less intelligent. ‘Porn’ is a frightening and evil presence with a mind of its own that people must be protected from (Again removing agency; “I know what’s best for you”).
       

  • Communities built around trauma bonding:

    • In these spaces use discretion. While violence & abuse against women are extremely important to acknowledge and completely valid to be angry about, many TERFs focus on trauma bonding; Instead of focusing on uplifting other women they focus on feeding anger and building resentment.
       

    • While by no means is every instance of this bad or ulterior, TERFs weaponize women’s anger and trauma to get them on board with more extreme points of view. Keep an eye out for the other points mentioned in this Red Flag list in these spaces. Without fail, every time I would come across posts like those on Twitter, digging into the account owner and who they were following; there were always TERFs sprinkled in.
       

  • Demands for women to "De-center Men" / ​Complaints of women 'Centering Men':

    • The application of this idea of de-centering men in real life can be genuinely beneficial as it is meant to encourage women to be self-reliant, and prioritize their own lives and happiness; not sacrificing their autonomy, dreams and goals for the men in their lives (e.g., A girl who drops her life (school/job/family/friends/etc.) to move far away with her boyfriend for his new job. Or women who frequently give up their own dreams to be housewives).
       

    • However, many times these groups misuse the concept, instead wielding it as a bludgeon against other women, demanding women give up men completely. This even includes in fiction: Women shouldn't write fiction about men, Women shouldn't draw men, Women's favorite characters or celebrities shouldn't be men, etc. It does not even matter if a woman is married to another woman. Objectifying fictional male characters to empower herself is still viewed as bad because just the concept of a man (even if she has humiliates him or shapes him to be her ultimate fantasy) is bad because she is giving any concept of male-ness attention.
       

    • Additionally this demand may also be used against bisexual women by Lesbian Separatists who feel bisexual women to be traitors for dating men.

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Examples of previously discussed topics below:

 

Evidence for Anti-trans pages that discuss fujoshi, yaoi, BL, anime and Japan:

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Anti-Trans/Anti-fujoshi Examples Image Archive