Paper short abstract:

The paper will discuss female fan culture surrounding male porn actors in female-friendly pornography, and face-to-face interaction that they have with them. In order to shed light on how addiction to simulated intimacy affects female fans' gendered understanding of love, intimacy, and marriage

Paper long abstract:

The paper will discuss female fan culture surrounding male porn actors in female-friendly pornography, Jōsei-muke (literally means "for women" in Japanese) adult videos. Since the decline of Adult Video industry, due to free online streaming sites, one of the biggest AV companies in Japan, Soft on Demand (SOD), decided to launch a new production line for female consumers in 2009, called SILK LABO. The crucial innovation of SILK LABO is the cult-like fandom that has evolved around its male actors, Eromen, which is a combination of erotic and men. Their main job is to act in SILK LABO's films and to interact with fans at fan events. Sometimes fans that belong to official fan clubs set up by SILK LABO can apply for dates with Eromen, so that they can enjoy a pseudo-relationship. Alexandra Hambleton (2016) has argued that the discourse which SILK LABO produces was submissive because it was 'reinforcing ideas of normative female desires and sexual behavior' (2016, p439) in Japanese society. However, the underlying problem is not just gender clichés, but also fans' understanding of love, intimacy, and marriage due to their ability to buy intimacy from Eromen.

Female fans, seeking to express their hidden sexual desire, enter the fandom, which is a liminal space where they can have pseudo-intimacy without any risk of rejection. According to Victor Turner's theory of ritual (1969), after a certain problem is to be resolved in a liminal space people go back to reality with mental or physical development so that they can have a better way of living. However, in this specific situation of the fandom, female fans are temporarily trapped in this pseudo-intimacy with an exchange of money. The fandom set by SOD itself provides a sex-positive space as a mode of production for women to enjoy their sexuality. Paradoxically, it also provides potentials of addiction for simulated or commodified intimacy. The paper will discuss the cognitive problems of those female fans who are addicted to such consumption of intimacy based on fieldwork which has been conducted from September 2018 to August 2019.