Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the way that dominant gender norms affect identify formation of female manga fans called fujoshi and their activities of reading and producing manga. The paper argues that their 'deviant' way of enjoying manga is accompanied by their conformity to 'normal' femininity.

Paper long abstract:

Since the 1970s female manga fans started producing parodies of boys' manga works in which male non-romantic, non-sexual bonds were depicted. In this parody-making they uniquely replace homosociality characterizing these bonds with homosexuality. Women who read manga this way are today called fujoshi, which literally means 'rotten girls'. They are seen as 'rotten' due to their 'deviant' way of enjoying manga: they find pleasure in homosocial male bonds, though they, as women, are supposed to be heterosexual, enjoy rather heterosexual romance and relate themselves to a female protagonist in a romantic relationship with a guy. As 'deviants' they often hide their identity and are thus invisible in mainstream media. This, however, led to the emergence of their own media and community for mutual exchange and circulation of their own works. This phenomenon of fujoshi poses some question to gender researchers. On one hand, they opened up a new horizon to manga reading by intervening heteronormativity in this type of media. On the other, it is unclear how far fujoshi themselves are free from conventional gender and sexuality norms. Hereby it is important is to explore their negotiations of hegemonic gender and sexuality norms embedded in original works and their everyday life.

This paper examines the way that dominant gender-sexuality norms affect fujoshis' identify formation as well as their activities such as reading and producing manga. Analysis of data collected through interviews with seven fujoshi women leads us to argue that fujoshi develop self-perception of being 'deviant', but they do not necessarily reject the gender norms that urge women to conduct a typical 'feminine' way of life. In short, their 'deviant' way of enjoying manga is accompanied by their conformity to 'normal' femininity.