Click for full Database of Site Resources!
*Site best viewed on Desktop
Contents
-
-
Definition of Fujoshi (腐女子)
-
Definition of Fudanshi (腐男子)
-
Definition of Fujin
-
Definition of Boys Love (ボーイズラブ)
-
Definition of Yaoi (やおい)
-
Definition of Danmei (耽美)
-
-
-
Misconception 1: "Fujoshi means rotten woman and Fudanshi is a rotten man who exploits Lesbian pairings!"
-
Misconception 2: "Cisgender Heterosexual Women Are The Only Producers and Consumers of BL"
-
Misconception 3: "All Gay Men Hate BL and Yaoi"
-
Misconception 4: "BL is Bad Representation and inherently Anti-LGBTQ+"
-
Misconception 5: "Heterosexual Women Are Fetishizing Gay Men and Harming Them In Real Life"
-
Good Introductory Resources:
-
Books
-
(2022) Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia
-
(2021) Regimes of desire: Young gay men, media, and masculinity in Tokyo.
-
(2015) Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan
-
Definition of Fujoshi (腐女子):
Excerpt: Aburime, Samantha (2024), ‘The influence of transphobia, homonationalism, and anti-Asian prejudice: Anti-BL attitudes in English-speaking fandoms’, East Asian Journal of Popular Culture, online first, https://doi.org/10.1386/eajpc. [https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/eapc_00119_1]:
"The Japanese term ‘fujoshi’ largely refers to women and girls who are considered dedicated fans of BL media (Ishida 2012: 207). In Japanese, the original meaning of the word fujoshi (婦女子) is ‘lady’, ‘respectable woman’ or ‘wife’ (Suzuki 2013). However, changing the character for ‘lady’ [fu, 婦] to the homonymous character for ‘rotten/decayed/corrupt’ (fu, 腐) creates a pun changing the initially harmless meaning of fujoshi from ‘lady’ to ‘rotten girl’ or ‘rotten young woman’ (腐女子) (Hester 2015: 169). Misogynistic Japanese men categorized female BL fans as ‘rotten’ for not having stereotypically feminine interests (Fanasca 2019: 37) and indulging in queer sexual narratives. BL narratives were considered frivolous and unproductive outside of women’s expected roles as wives and mothers (Galbraith 2011; Novitskaya 2019) and were thus deprecated. Fujoshi were framed as antisocial, 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’s2 Japanese forums (Suzuki 2013). By 2004, fujoshi were a mainstream topic in hetero sexual male-dominated discussions about female otaku in Japan (Mizoguchi 2022). Despite female scholars framing BL as a means to subvert dominant patriarchal narratives (Hemmann 2020: 121), women’s consumption of BL media was still treated as abnormal. By the late 2000s, these women eventually reclaimed fujoshi by transforming the term into a food pun with ‘rotten’ taking on the connotation of fermentation (Mizoguchi 2022). In doing so, fujoshi now positioned themselves as more sophisticated than everyday consumers of ‘raw’, original media. Fujoshi instead ‘fermented’ the original (often hetero sexual and male-centric) media by adding deeper and more complex queer ‘flavours’ 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 (2013) notes that it has also given outsiders an excuse to justify their stigmatization. Such surface-level justification can be seen in one of the most common anti-fujoshi arguments among western English speakers on social media: ‘fujoshi literally means rotten woman’ (Figure 1). In these instances, the translation of fujoshi has been stripped of its previously established linguistical history and context. Western-based English speakers take the translation of fujoshi at face value and apply their own interpretations to it. The most common of these inter pretations is the belief that fujoshi label themselves rotten because they relish queer men’s relationships as ‘sinful’, ‘taboo’ or ‘rotten’. The fact that fujoshi were labelled rotten by misogynistic men specifically because of their queer interests and sexual expression is absent. As a result, fujoshi have come to be erroneously perceived as adversaries in direct opposition of the LGBTQ+ community. This perception has further stigmatized fujoshi among western English speakers who see them as privileged heterosexual, cisgender women who exploit gay men in both fiction and real life. However, in Japan, fujoshi as a term does not specify if a female fan is heterosexual or cisgender: fujoshi was simply a disparaging term for any female fan engaging with BL in general. There is a long history of lesbian and bisexual fujoshi and for decades BL has been considered an important creative avenue for many queer women in their formative years (Welker 2006; Mizoguchi 2008). This clarification is necessary since western English-speaking anti-fujoshi frequently re-define fujoshi to explicitly refer to heterosexual women (Anti-fujoshi 2023). Some anti-fujoshi even claim that queer women are incapable of being fujoshi because they believe fujoshi means cisgender heterosexual women who ‘hate’ queer women and ‘don’t care about actual gay men’ (Anti-fujoshi 2023). Due to this insistence to exclusively link BL media to female hetero sexuality, BL began to be considered illegitimate by western English speaking LGBTQ+ fans. How fujoshi came to be so strictly associated with heterosexual women is foundational to this entire discussion. While western English-speaking anti-fujoshi embraced the misogynistic 2Chan roots of the term fujoshi, discourse emanating in gender critical online spaces reclassified fujoshi as ‘degenerate’, ‘hormonal’, mentally unstable heterosexual women."
-
Fujoshi in Mandarin: Funü
-
Fujoshi in Korean: (pronounced) Hujoshi
-
Fujoshi in Thai: Sao-wai ("Yaoi Girls")
-
"Older fujoshi use various terms to refer to themselves, including as Kifujin (貴腐人, "noble spoiled woman"), a pun on a homophonous word meaning 'fine lady'"
-
Fujoshi and Fudanshi are also singular and plural. Using the terms 'Fujoshis' or 'Fudanshis' is grammatically incorrect.
Anglophone Misconceptions about BL
The following misconceptions are being perpetuated in Anglophone fan spaces See 'Geikomi/Bara' page for further discussion
-
Things to consider:
-
What frequently occurs when critical discussions of BL surface is making unequal comparisons to justify certain criticisms.
-
Most people who criticize BL media compare the most extreme, dark BL to the most 'wholesome' SFW Western examples. They do not compare media specifically made for teens to other teen media, or pieces meant to be biographical and realistic to other biographical pieces set in realism.
-
Example: In reverse terms, it would be like comparing Sasaki and Miyano to Hannibal, or Interview with a Vampire to argue about and disparage the morality of Queer-coded Western content
-
-
Many critics making these comparisons treat such content intended for very different age groups and audiences as if they are intending to be the same thing and thus directly comparable. For instance BL critics do not compare pornographic (18+) BL to pornographic (18+) Western media; they compare pornographic (18+) BL to non-pornographic (13+) Western depictions. Ironically such critics frequently avoid and do not engage with NSFW (18+) Western media to a significant enough degree to make any legitimate comparisons.
-
The handful of BL media that are frequently praised are all PG-13 depictions appropriate for teen audiences (GIVEN, Sasaki & Miyano, Doukyuusei, The Stranger by the Shore, etc.)
-
Source: (From Site Author)
-
-
-
Below excerpt via @asideoftrashpl1:
-
"Honestly, I'm uncomfortable when westerners try to have takes about how East Asian media "feminises gay men" because they often take western masculine ideals as the standard for what "real men" are like, which often ends up in unintended insinuations that Asian men aren't "real men". When people question "why are the men all pale and hairless and slender" it ignores the fact that men in straight Chinese shows are ALSO pale, hairless, and slender because that's what beauty standards for men are like in the country that the show was produced in. In a fandom server, I was once talking fashion headcanons with another Chinese person, and someone interjected to call us out on "feminising gay men because REAL men don't dress like THAT" — THAT meaning pastel colours and oversized sweaters. I had to inform them that men DO dress like "THAT" in East Asia. It's part of the East Asian fashion trend. Look at K-pop and C-pop idols. Look how they dress. Look at their builds, their faces, and the way they present, because they represent dominant male beauty ideals in Asia. And those beauty ideals trickle down into the way REAL men in East Asia, everyday non-celebrity men, dress and style themselves. So when westerners take these traits that are incongruent with western ideals of hypermasculinity and say "REAL men don't look like that", they end up insinuating that East Asian men aren't real men, which is all kinds of uncomfortable. Does that mean that there isn't A SINGLE PIECE OF EAST ASIAN MEDIA that presents a hyperfeminized bottom? That's definitely not the case, but my point is that westerners should exercise some caution before wading into the matter. That goes not just for insinuating that CREATORS of East Asian media are feminising gay men. It also goes for insinuating that FANDOMS surrounding East Asian media are feminizing gay men."
-
Examples of Anti-BL Quotes, taken from 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"
(most up-to-date list https://www.fujoshi.info/database)
BOOKS
-
Angles, Jeffrey. 2011. Writing the love of boys: origins of Bishōnen culture in modernist Japanese literature. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press.
-
Annett, Sandra (2015). Anime fan communities: transcultural flows and frictions. Palgrave Macmillan.
-
Baudinette, T. (2021). Regimes of desire: Young gay men, media, and masculinity in Tokyo.
-
Friedman, Erica, and James Welker. (2022). By your side: the first 100 years of yuri anime and manga. Journey Press.
-
Hemmann, Kathryn. (2020) Manga Cultures and the Female Gaze (East Asian Popular Culture). Springer International Publishing. Kindle Edition.
-
Ishii, Anne, Chip Kidd, and Graham Kolbeins. 2014. Massive: gay erotic manga and the men who make it.
-
Ito, Mizuko, Izumi Tsuji, and Daisuke Okabe. 2012. "Making Fujoshi Identity Visible and Invisible." Fandom unbound: Otaku culture in a connected world. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.
-
Levi, A., McHarry, M., & Pagliassotti, D. (2010). Boys' love manga: Essays on the sexual ambiguity and cross-cultural fandom of the genre. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co., Publishers.
-
Leupp, Gary P. 1995. Male colors: the construction of homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan. (1603-1868). Berkeley: University of California Press.
-
McLelland, Mark James. (2000). Male homosexuality in modern Japan : cultural myths and social realities. University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.
-
McLelland, Mark J., Katsuhiko Suganuma, and James Welker. 2007. Queer voices from Japan: first person narratives from Japan's sexual minorities. Lanham: Lexington Books.
-
McLelland, Mark, Kazumi Nagaike, Katsuhiko Suganuma, and James Welker, eds. 2015. Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
-
McLelland, Mark J. 2006. Genders, transgenders, and sexualities in Japan. London: Routledge.
-
ed. Shawna Tang, Hendri Yulius Wijaya. 2022. Queer Southeast Asia.
-
Robertson, Jennifer Ellen. 2008. Takarazuka: sexual politics and popular culture in modern Japan.
-
Stickland, Leonie Rae. 2008. Gender gymnastics: performing and consuming Japan's Takarazuka Revue.
-
Welker, James. 2022. Queer transfigurations: boys love media in Asia.Queer Transfigurations. University of Hawaii Press.
-
Zhao, Jing Jamie, Ling Yang, and Maud Lavin. 2017. Boys' love, cosplay, and androgynous idols: queer fan cultures in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Baltimore, Maryland: Project Muse. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/j.ctt1rfzz65.
-
Ziv, Amalia. 2015. Explicit Utopias: Rewriting the Sexual in Women's Pornography. State University of New York Press, Albany.
AVAILABLE ONLINE
*(Need Help Accessing Articles? Google 'Sci-Hub'!)
-
Aoki, Deb. 2015. “TCAF 2015 – Gengoroh Tagame Talks Gay Manga, “Bara,” BL and Scanlation.” Manga Comics Manga. July 22,2015.
-
Bacon-Smith, Camille. 1986. SPOCK AMONG THE WOMEN. New York Times, Nov. 16, 1986
-
Baudinette, T. "Aspirational Readings of Boys Love: BL as a “resource of hope” for temporary Chinese gay migrants in Japan."
-
Baudinette, T. 2015. "Bara Manga and Gei komi."
-
Baudinette, T. 2017. "Japanese gay men’s attitudes towards ‘gay manga’ and the problem of genre". East Asian Journal of Popular Culture. 3 (1): 59-72.
-
Baudinette, T. "Lovesick, The Series: adapting Japanese ‘Boys Love’ to Thailand and the creation of a new genre of queer media". South East Asia Research
-
(2022) ''Is this Fetishization?' With Special Guest: Dr. Thomas Baudinette' - The Yaoi Shelf Season 3, Ep.12
-
Bellamy-Walker, Tat, "Not Manly Enough: Femmephobia’s Stinging Impact on the Transmasculine Community" (2019). CUNY Academic Works.
-
Benecchi, E. & Wang, E. (2021). "Fandom: Historicized Fandom and the Conversation between East and West Perspectives." 10.1515/9783110740202-016.
-
Sections: 'Fandom From a Chinese Perspective: From Fans to Fensi and Beyond,' 'Debunking the Novelty of Digital Fan Productivity West to East'
-
-
"BL Fan Project". https://blfanproject.com/.
-
Box, Bobby. 2021. "Why Straight Women Watch Gay Porn." InsideHook, April 13, 2021.
-
"Boys' Love: The History and Transformation of BL in Asia" 2022. The Japan Foundation.
-
Cathy Yue Wang. 2020. "Officially Sanctioned Adaptation and Affective Fan Resistance: The Transmedia Convergence of the Online Drama Guardian in China". Series. International Journal of Tv Serial Narratives. 2: 45-58.
-
Chaoyang Trap (2022) "Pornography in China: desiring the potato queens + erotic-cultural imperialism + porn stars as teachers + smut hooliganism" Chaoyang Trap.
-
https://chaoyang.substack.com/p/porn-in-the-prc?s=r
-
"In this episode, we’re talking about pornography and desire in China. We discuss why porn matters, how sexualities are constructed, and where these conversations unfold."
-
-
-
Chaoyang Trap (2022) "Slash fiction in China post AO3" Chaoyang Trap.
-
https://chaoyang.substack.com/p/jokerfied-fandom?s=r
-
"Slash, fan-fic, ships and danmei erotica aren’t marginal phenomena on the Chinese web. They’re the frontlines of how we live with algorithmic censors, bend platforms to our will, and build worlds within worlds online:"
-
-
-
Chang, Jiang, and Hao Tian. 2021. "Girl power in boy love: Yaoi, online female counterculture, and digital feminism in China". Feminist Media Studies. 21 (4): 604-620.
-
Chou, Dienfang. (2010). "Exploring the meaning of Yaoi in Taiwan for female readers: From the perspective of gender." Intercultural Communication Studies, 19, 78-90.
-
Howard Chiang, et al. (eds.). (2019) Global Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (GLBTQ) History. New York: Gale
-
Welker, James. Boys Love (Yaoi) manga (pp. 262-267)
-
Novitskaya, Alexandra. Otaku sexualities in Japan (pp. 1177-1180)
-
-
Chil Chil. 2020. “Survey of Yuri-loving BL fans [Chiru Chiru Reporter's summer independent research Vol.2] / 近くて遠い沼"百合"について聞いてみた!!百合好きBLファンの実態調査【ちるちる記者夏の自由研究Vol.2】.” Chil Chil BL News. August 8, 2020.
-
"CONFUCIAN VIEWS AND TRADITIONS REGARDING WOMEN." (2019) Facts and Details.
-
https://factsanddetails.com/china/cat3/sub9/entry-5562.html
-
(this is one site, be sure to branch out and examine other educationally published sources
-
-
-
Dentsu. 2021. “Dentsu Conducts “LGBTQ+ Survey 2020 / 電通、「LGBTQ+調査2020」を実施”. Dentsu, April 8, 2021.
-
Fanasca, Marta. 2019. “Crossdressing Dansō: Negotiating between Stereotypical Femininity and Self-expression in Patriarchal Japan.” Girlhood Studies. 2019 ; Vol. 12, No. 1. pp. 33-48. https://doi.org/10.3167/ghs.2019.120105.
-
Fermin, Tricia Abigail Santos. (2013). "Appropriating Yaoi and Boys Love in the Philippines." electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies (2013).
-
Freibert, Finley. 2020. "Embedded Niche Overlap: A Media Industry History of Yaoi Anime’s American Distribution from 1996 to 2009." Journal of Anime and Manga Studies.Vol. 1, pp. 76-112.
-
"Funü" ((pinyin: fǔnǚ, simplified Chinese: 腐女)). (2022). Fanlore.
-
"Fujoshi" ('腐女子'). (2022). Wikipedia (Japan).
-
"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.)
-
Galbraith, Patrick W. (2019) "Seeking an Alternative: “Male” Shōjo Fans since the 1970s". Otaku and the Struggle for Imagination in Japan, New York, USA: Duke University Press, 2019, pp. 20-48. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478007012-003
-
Ganguly, Sudarshana (2021). "The Trivialisation Of Female Fans: Addressing Gender Stereotypes Around Fandoms." Feminism in India.
-
Grady, Constance. (2016). "Why we're terrified of fanfiction." Vox.
-
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.
-
Harada, Akemi. 2016. “Do Japanese Gay Men Read Boy’s Love Comics, Dislike ‘Fujyoshi’?” Nijiiro News, May 3, 2016.
-
Harada, Akemi. 2016. “Evolved Boy’s Love: How Fujyoshi Could Eliminate Prejudice” Nijiiro News, May 4, 2016.
-
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.
-
https://web.archive.org/web/20150406014130/hompig.hatenablog.com/entry/2015/04/06/100835. (ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY BETSY LINEHAN-SKILLINGS: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dm96UUPy4W44u3wo8B_WF7w5Ix0pStdN5W7h4pWUrVk/edit?usp=sharing)
-
-
Honto. 2021. “We asked 1,800 BL readers! Awareness Survey on “BL (Boys Love)” / BL読者1,800名に聞いた!“BL(ボーイズ・ラブ)”に関する意識調査." Honto. March, 2021.
-
Hori, Akiko. 2013. "On the Response (Or Lack Thereof) of Japanese Fans to Criticism that Yaoi Is Antigay Discrimination." In "Transnational Boys' Love Fan Studies," edited by Kazumi Nagaike and Katsuhiko Suganuma, special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 12. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2013.0463.
-
Ishida, Hitoshi. 2022. "Survey report for BL readers / Non-readers" (BL読者/非読者に対する調査 報告書)
-
Japanese Slang Review (Includes Thai BL vocab). Scripting Japan.
-
Joyce, Caitlin, (2020) "American Identities and the Consumption of Japanese Homoerotica." Capstone Showcase. 2.
-
Kamm, Björn-Ole. 2013. "Rotten Use Patterns: What Entertainment Theories Can Do for the Study of Boys' Love." In "Transnational Boys' Love Fan Studies," edited by Kazumi Nagaike and Katsuhiko Suganuma, special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 12. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2013.0427.
-
King, Emerald, (2013) "Girls Who are Boys Who like Girls to be Boys: BL and the Australian Cosplay Community" Intersections 32.
-
Kristine Michelle L. Santos & Thomas Baudinette (03 May 2024): Exploring debates over “boys love” media in the Philippines: from misogynistic backlash to queer emancipation, Feminist Media Studies, DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2024.2345198 [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14680777.2024.2345198]
-
Kornfield S. 2011. "Cross-cultural cross-dressing: Japanese graphic novels perform gender in U.S". Critical Studies in Media Communication. 28 (3): 213-229.
-
Lilja, M., & Wasshede, C. (2017). "The Performative Force of Cultural Products: Subject Positions and Desires Emerging From Engagement with the Manga Boys’ Love and Yaoi." Culture unbound: Journal of current cultural research, 8(3), 284-305.
-
Lin, Ting. 2021. "Nisu, or I Want My Male Idol to Be My Female Lover." Chaoyang Trap.
-
Liu, Congyao, and Peer H. Moore-Jansen. 2017. "Beyond the text: a study of online communication within slash community in China."
-
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 Asian Context. Issue 12 January 2006.
-
Madill, A., Zhao, Y. Female-Oriented Male-Male Erotica: Comparison of the Engaged Anglophone Demographic and That of the Greater China Area. Sexuality & Culture 25, 562–583 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-020-09783-9
-
Madill, A. (2018). "Rotten girl on rotten girl: Boys' Love 'research'" (pp. 263-278). In C. Morris et al. (Eds.), Researching Sex and Sexualities: Methodological Reflections. London: Routledge.
-
Martin, Fran. 2012. "Girls who love boys' love: Japanese homoerotic manga as trans-national Taiwan culture". Inter-Asia Cultural Studies. 13 (3): 365-383.
-
Matsumoto, Masaki C. 2018. “A gay man's opinion about yaoi/BL,” YouTube video. 37:53. February 18, 2018.
-
Matsumoto, Masaki C. 2021. "LGBTQ+ Representation in Japanese Media (Q&A)"
-
McIsaac, Lee. ""Righteous Fraternities" and Honorable Men: Sworn Brotherhoods in Wartime Chongqing." The American Historical Review 105, no. 5 (2000): 1641-655. doi:10.2307/2652035.
-
McLelland, Mark. 2004. “From the stage to the clinic: changing transgender identities in post-war Japan.” Japan Forum; Vol. 16, no. 1, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/0955580032000189302.
-
McLelland, Mark. 2005. "The World of Yaoi: The Internet, Censorship and the Global ‘Boys‘ Love’ Fandom". Australian Feminist Law Journal. 23 (1): 61-77.
-
Michelle H. S. Ho (2020). Queer and normal: dansō (female-to-male crossdressing) lives and politics in contemporary Tokyo. Asian Anthropology, 19:2, 102-118, DOI: 10.1080/1683478X.2020.1756075
-
Miller, KK. 2015. Fantastic fujoshi just wanna have fun, Japanese netizens say, “No!” SoraNews24 February 25, 2015.
-
Mizoguchi, Akiko. 2008. Reading and living Yaoi: male-male fantasy narratives as women's sexual subculture in Japan.
-
Muhammad, Halimun. (2016). "Women and Yaoi in Japanese Dōjinshi Culture." Kaori Nusantara: The Indonesian Anime Times.
-
Nagaike, Kazumi. (2009) "Elegant Caucasians, Amorous Arabs, and Invisible Others: Signs and Images of Foreigners in Japanese BL Manga." Intersections 20.
-
Nagaike, Kazumi. 2012. “Fantasies of Cross-dressing: Japanese Women Write Male-Male Erotica.” Brill's Japanese Studies Library, 2012.
-
Nagaike K. (2019) "Fudanshi (“Rotten Boys”) in Asia: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Male Readings of BL and Concepts of Masculinity." In: Ogi F., Suter R., Nagaike K., Lent J. (eds) Women’s Manga in Asia and Beyond. Palgrave Studies in Comics and Graphic Novels. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97229-9_5
-
Neville, Lucy (2015) "Male gays in the female gaze: women who watch m/m pornography." Porn Studies, 2 (2-3) . pp. 192-207. ISSN 2326-8743 [Article] (doi:10.1080/23268743.2015.1052937)
-
Noh, Sueen. (1998) "Reading yaoi comics: An analysis of Korean girls’ fandom." Korean Society for Journalism and Communication Studies Annual Meeting, Fall. Vol. 27. 1998.
-
"Nonke" "What is Nonke?" https://web.archive.org/web/20230315231542/https://futekiya.com/what-is-nonke/.
-
Ōgi, Fusami, Rebecca Suter, Kazumi Nagaike, and John A. Lent. 2019. "Women's manga in Asia and beyond: uniting different cultures and identities."
-
Pagliassotti, Dru. "GloBLisation and hybridisation: Publishers' strategies for bringing boys' love to the United States." Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific. 2009; 20.
-
Pagliassotti, Dru. "Reading Boys’ Love in the West", Participations, Volume 5:2, November 2008.
-
Pang, Yudan. 2021. "Censorship and Chinese Slash Fans." Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 36. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2021.1977.
-
Power, Shannon. 2018. “LGBTI comics intercepted at post office in Indonesia will be destroyed.” Gay Star News. April 27, 2018.
-
Prough, Jennnifer S. 2011. "Straight from the Heart: Gender, Intimacy, and the Cultural Production of Shojo Manga". Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
-
"Rotten Boys Club". https://rottenboysclub.dreamwidth.org/.
-
Santos, Kristine Michelle L. (2022) "Global Fandom: Kristine Michelle L. Santos (The Philippines)"
-
Santos, Kristine Michelle L. (2020) "The bitches of Boys Love comics: the pornographic response of Japan’s rotten women", Porn Studies, 7:3, 279-290, DOI: 10.1080/23268743.2020.1726204
-
"Shojo Manga: The Power and Influence of Girls' Comics." (2021).
-
Supawantanakul, N. (2023). Wide Y World: Understanding Cultures and Perspectives of Young Thai Boys’ Love Fans in the Glocalized Context. Thammasat Review, 26(2), 245–272. Retrieved from https://sc01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/tureview/article/view/240604
-
Suzuki, Midori. 2013. "The Possibilities of Research on Fujoshi in Japan." Transnational Boys' Love Fan Studies. Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 12. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2013.0462.
-
"Takarazuka: The Interplay between All-female Musicals and Girls' Culture in Japan" (2022).
-
Tatang, Agatha. 2021. "The Unexpected World of Boys Love: Challenging the Nuclear Family, Defying Labels, and Finding Happiness." Department of East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Virginia.
-
Thorn, Rachel. (2003). "Girls and Women Getting Out of Hand: The Pleasure and Politics of Japan's Amateur Comics Community"
-
Toku, Masami, (2003), “Interview with Keiko Takemiya,” California State University, Chico, http://www.csuchico.edu/~mtoku/vc/interviews_full/Interview%20w_Takemiya.html. (broken link)
-
Turner, Simon David (2018) "Interdisciplinary approaches to yaoi manga: a review," Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 9:5, 458-472, DOI: 10.1080/21504857.2018.1494020.
-
Ureta, Rhys. 2020. "Exploring the Sociocultural Impact of Boys’ Love in Asia with James Welker". Futekiya January 21, 2020.
-
Vincent, Keith. 2007. "A Japanese Electra and Her Queer Progeny". Mechademia. 2 (1): 64-79.
-
Wang, Erika Ningxin & Ge, Liang (2022) Fan Conflicts and State Power in China: Internalised Heteronormativity, Censorship Sensibilities, and Fandom Police, Asian Studies Review, DOI: 10.1080/10357823.2022.2112655
-
Welker, James. 2006. "Beautiful, Borrowed, and Bent: “Boys’ Love” as Girls’ Love in Shôjo Manga." Signs 31, no. 3: 841-70. doi:10.1086/498987.
-
Welker, James. 2008. “LILIES OF THE MARGIN: Beautiful Boys and Queer Female Identities in Japan.” AsiaPacifiQueer: Rethinking Genders and Sexualities. University of Illinois Press.
-
Wison, B. and Toku, M. (2004). “Boy’s Love,” Yaoi, and Art Education: Issues of Power and Pedagogy." In Smith-Shank, D. (Ed.). Semiotics and Visual Culture: Sights, Signs, and Significance. (pp.94 - 103).Reston, VA: the National Art Education Association.
-
Yang, Ling, and Yanrui Xu. 2016. “Danmei, Xianqing, and the Making of a Queer Online Public Sphere in China.” Communication and the Public 1, no. 2, June, 2016: 251–56. https://doi.org/10.1177/2057047316648661.
-
Yang, Sungeun. 2018. "A Feminist Psychological Analysis on the Playful Embracement of Boys' Love Manga / 여성심리학 관점에서 분석한 남성동성애만화(Boys' Love manga)의 유희적 수용" The Journal of the Korea Contents Association.
-
Yanrui Xu & Ling Yang (2013) "Forbidden love: incest, generational conflict, and the erotics of power in Chinese BL fiction." Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 4:1, 30-43, DOI: 10.1080/21504857.2013.771378
-
Yukari, Fujimoto. "The Evolution of “Boys’ Love” Culture: Can BL Spark Social Change?" Nippon.com. September 24, 2020.
-
Yulia, Magera. “Origins of the Shōnen-Ai and Yaoi Manga Genres.” Russian Japanology Review 2, no. 2 (2019): 103–27. doi:10.24411/2658-6789-2019-10012.
-
Zanghellini, Aleardo. 2012. "Gay Intimacy, Yaoi and the Ethics of Care". Queer and Subjugated Knowledge. Pp. 192-221 (30). DOI: 10.2174/978160805339111204010192.
-
Zhang, Albee. (2018) "Writer of Erotic Novels in China Is Jailed for Producing Gay Pornography"
-
Zhao, Jamie J. (2022) "Queer Chinese Media and Pop Culture." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. Oxford University Press.
-
Zhao, Jin.(2022). "Danmei, a genre of Chinese erotic fiction, goes global" SupChina.
-
Zhang, Chunyu. (2016). "Loving boys twice as much: Chinese women’s paradoxical fandom of “Boys’ Love” fiction." Women's Studies in Communication 39.3 (2016): 249-267.
-
Zsila Á, Pagliassotti D, Urbán R, Orosz G, Király O, et al. 2018. Loving the love of boys: Motives for consuming yaoi media. PLOS ONE 13(6): e0198895. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0198895.