Making "Fujoshi" identity visible/invisible

Abstract

This study seeks to demystify one of a niche subculture of extreme female fans and mavens known as "Fujoshi" who get really into animation, comic, novel and so on. They call themselves self-mocking term "Fujoshi" and are willing to draw/read fanzines that are an underground hobby focused on romantic or homosexual relationships between male characters from various media texts. In this paper, I describe how they construct their identities and social relations through narrative and practice. First I frame this work as an effort to think the differentiation between "self and "identity". Then I show the core characteristic of "Fujoshi" groups is the issue of hiding identity. The assumption has been in subcultural studies that the embodied external identity display in the face of mainstream culture is foundational. But "Fujoshi" culture does it differently. Although they make their identities invisible in everyday lives, that hiding practice paradoxically makes their identities visible in "Fujoshi" community. The other area that I found interesting was their ironical communication. Because they believe that "Fujoshi" activities are considered to be inferior to the "normal" females, they express their identities self-deprecatingly. I think this practice is a defensive communication against prejudice and is also a strategy to present their identities paradoxically. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)