A fujoshi, literally a "rotten woman," is a term for a female fan of Japanese media that features gay relationships. Initially this term was a pejorative, but has been reappropriated over time. Still, there's been a prevailing attitude that being a fujoshi is inherently problematic because the consumption of gay media in Japan is seen as fetishizing gay men and gay relationships. It's pretty clear why. The vast majority of the "boys love "manga that I came across as an otaku in the early 2000s were created by women, and intended for consumption by women. I soon realized that they contained nothing remotely representative of actual queer experiences. Instead, these stories were projections and fantasies that usually involved a lot of bad stereotypes and wildly regressive, inaccurate ideas about homosexuality. Manga created by and for gay audiences do exist, but have always been much less visible. The Japanese LGBT community has only made real legal and social gains in the last decade, and this is just starting to impact the culture.
I'm not going to get into the myriad reasons for why the fujoshi audience exists, which is its own separate post, but this is definitely not just a Japanese phenomenon. Women's preferences affect the kind of gay-themed media that gets produced just about everywhere, because they make up a big segment of its audience - especially when it comes to gay romances. When "Brokeback Mountain" was released in 2005, the audience initially skewed male the first week, but skewed female for the rest of its run. More than one publication at the time called the movie out for being a melodramatic weepie that was aimed at women. And it should be pointed out that "Brokeback Mountain" was based on a piece of fiction written by a woman, which isn't a remotely rare occurrence. "Love, Simon," "Heartstopper," and "Red, White, and Royal Blue" were all written by female or nonbinary authors. In the U.S. there's also been plenty of gay media created by gay men in the last twenty years, including "Call Me By Your Name," "Moonlight," "Glee," "Pose," and "Schitt's Creek." Queer representation has only made the progress it has in American media because of these titles and others breaking into the mainstream and setting expectations.
Still, we're in this uncomfortable reality where media about gay men often needs the straight female audience to be financially viable. The biggest problem with being a woman who enjoys gay romance really has nothing to do with liking gay romance, but rather being the current default target audience for gay romance. As a result, we get a lot more cute romances like "Heartstopper," and not so many of the more well-informed and nuanced portrayals of the gay experience like "Bros" or "Uncoupled." And over the past few years as I've happily enjoyed "Interview With the Vampire," "Dead Boy Detectives," and the new revamp of "Doctor Who," I can't shake the feeling that I'm being pandered to when I shouldn't be. As more and more media featuring gay relationships are being created, I can definitely tell the difference between the movies and shows that are trying to portray gay people respectfully, and the ones that feel like they only exist so we can watch two hot guys make out. And I admit that I do enjoy watching two hot guys make out. However, these days it's not without a growing sense of guilt and wondering if the collateral damage of the female gaze to the LGBT+ community is worth it.
I know what it's like to be fetishized, and it's not a good feeling. So, I do my best to search out the smaller, more personal stories like "God's Own Country" and "Love is Strange." I pay attention to who is working behind the camera. And I try to be mindful of boosting the gay representation that is actually good, genuine, respectful representation versus somebody's fantasy of what representation is. I don't think I technically count as a fujoshi anymore because it's been a long time since I've been around Japanese media fandom. However, I still feel like one from time to time, especially when I'm watching a show with gay characters who are following the tropes of heterosexual romance a little too closely.
---
No comments:
Post a Comment