The History Of Fujoshi, Male Shippers, And How Its Changed (2024)

It goes without saying I’m speaking for Fujoshi and girls into this stuff.

The History Of Fujoshi, Male Shippers, And How Its Changed (1)

So what’s themeaningof Fujoshi?

Fujoshi is a Japanese term for a female fan who likes boy on boy anime or manga. Which is why Yaoi is a popular genre for female fans and Otaku in particular.

The level of romance, nudity, or otherwise is irrelevant since Fujoshi are into all of it, and some are into one aspect more than the other.

That’s to be expected. Personal tastes and all.

Let’s get into the history of how it started and evolved overtime.

The history of Fujoshi

The History Of Fujoshi, Male Shippers, And How Its Changed (2)

Fujoshiis a term that was made back in the 1990’s. To be more specific, 1999 is the year the term was first discovered online.

The blog isn’t around anymore, but the blog it was referenced on was Rakushocho.

1999 is the definite origin of this word, and it doesn’t date back further than that.

From negative to positive

The History Of Fujoshi, Male Shippers, And How Its Changed (3)

The term “Fujoshi” does have some negative history attached to it, similar to how the term “weeaboo” and “weeb” were also negative.

Here’s one example:

“Fujoshi referred to women who read romantic subtexts between men in works where male/male romantic relationships where is not originally intended. (In popular fandom words of today, they would be called male/male shippers). Because these women “shipped” characters in non-BL works, these women were deemed unsuitable for marriage.”

Wikipedia puts it this way:

“In Japan, female fans are called fujoshi (腐女子, lit. “rotten girl”), denoting how a woman who enjoys fictional gay content is “rotten”, too ruined to be married.”

In the end, the term started out as a derogatory word meant to demean, demonize, shame, and insult female Otaku’s who were into gay romance anime or manga.

But similar to the WEEABOO and weeb terms, female fans adopted and changed the term to mean something more positive and endearing..

That’s why nowa’days most people don’t look at it this way, or refer to it this way. But it still of course still hassomenegativity attached to it. Even if to a degree.

There is an important point to mention:

“As fujoshi is the best-known term, It is often used by the Japanese media and by people outside of the otaku subculture to refer to female otaku as a group, regardless of whether they are fans of BL. This usage may be considered offensive by female otaku who are not fans of BL.”

How Fujoshi has grown overtime, according to statistics

The History Of Fujoshi, Male Shippers, And How Its Changed (4)

As you can see from this Google Trends graph from 2004 to today,Fujoshihas grown year after year. With the 2010’s being the major point of growth for the term.

That speaks to the amount of female anime fans who are into Yaoi in particular, and the conversations being had about Fujoshi related topics (manga).

The pandemic shot those numbers up even more as you can see from the end of the graph.

And as this map illustrates, Fujoshi is most popular in these 5 countries:

  1. Myanmar (Burma).
  2. Paraguay.
  3. Philippines.
  4. Peru.
  5. Bolivia.

Which is followed by Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chile, and Indonesia.

It’s clear that most Fujoshi in the world, especially online, come from Asian countries and countries unrelated to North America.

That’s not to say it’s not popular in the USA because it absolutely is.

Criticisms of Fujoshi

The History Of Fujoshi, Male Shippers, And How Its Changed (5)

Not just in this video, but as the Fujoshi community has grown and of course, theYaoicommunity, the topic of fetishization comes up a lot.

It’s a common criticism brought up over and over again, and it’s not as if the criticism doesn’t hold any weight.

It does.

Fanlore.org points this out in a nutshell:

“A portion of fans view fujoshi as an inherently hom*ophobic subculture that is guilty of fetishizing male-male relationships, and cite the “rotten” etymology of the word as support for their opinion. Other fans rebut this point by saying that fujoshi is just any female slash fan, and does not inherently mean they are hom*ophobic, and that “getting off on fictional gay sexual relationships is not fetishization”.

Regardless of your views on the Yaoi fandom (which has its issues), or Fujoshi in general, it’s a controversial conversation that’s still ongoing.

There’s tons of videos that highlight this in various ways, and break down certain elements of Fujoshi when talking aboutfetishizationin particular.

Fujoshi facts

When talking about Fujoshi and its history, the term “rotten” often comes up and is a negative term associated with Fujoshi.

It turns out that “Rotten”, mainly translated to English, is not the same when you focus on the Kanji “Fu” which doesn’t share the same meaning.

As explained by one fan:

“Fujoshi only means “rotten girl” if you google-translate it. In other words, I consider it somewhat of a mistranslation as the’fu’ character doesn’t actually carry connotations of bad behavior like the word “rotten” does in English. The fu character is also used in tofu –directly translated it means “fermented bean”. So I think fujoshi is probably better translated as “fermentation girl” and the reason it was termed as such has more to do with the fact that (when it) was originally used to refer to slash fangirls) these women would “ferment” / change the “product to be consumed” (anime series), so that it would be unpalatable for the cishet male viewer, by making two or more male characters in love with one another. In other words, it’s a food pun.”

Types of Fujoshi (video)

The History Of Fujoshi, Male Shippers, And How Its Changed (6)

Fujoshi and male shippers in the modern day

The History Of Fujoshi, Male Shippers, And How Its Changed (7)

I don’t have to point out how MANY of the modern male shipping in the anime community has become toxic. Many know this already.

This is true for shipping overall.

It’s gotten so bad that anime likeanime.

A lot of fetishization and “underage” fan art has spawned from it, and this is the same group who has the audacity to complain about female fan service.

Now of course I’m sure its not all negative, I’m not part of it. But….

Compared to what it used to be on the surface, the fandom has changed drastically and things have gotten out of hand. To the point of making the average shipper look bad for what the problematic Fujoshi are doing.

But that’s pretty much it for the history and where its ended up!

Let’s end this post with some extra videos that take it further:

The History Of Fujoshi, Male Shippers, And How Its Changed (8)

The History Of Fujoshi, Male Shippers, And How Its Changed (9)

Recommended Next:

The History Of Hentai, And How It All Came About In Japan

The History of Anime in India, And How Its Changed Overtime

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The History Of Fujoshi, Male Shippers, And How Its Changed (2024)

FAQs

What is the history of fujoshi? ›

The name was coined by 2channel in the early 2000s as a derogatory insult, but was later reclaimed as a self-descriptive term. "Fujoshi" carried a connotation of being a "fallen woman". An issue of Yureka which examined fujoshi in detail in 2007 contributed to the spread of the term.

What is the male version of fujoshi? ›

The male equivalent to fujoshi is fudanshi (腐男子, "spoiled boy") and, far less commonly, f*ckei (腐兄, "spoiled older brother"), both of which are puns of similar construction to fujoshi.

Can a man be a fujoshi? ›

In Japan, female fans are called fujoshi (腐女子, lit. "rotten girl"), denoting how a woman who enjoys fictional gay content is "rotten", too ruined to be married. A male fan of yaoi is called a fudanshi (腐男子, "rotten boy"). The words' origin can be found in the online text board 2channel.

What is the literal translation of fujoshi? ›

腐女子 Fujoshi is a slang word to refers a woman loved to read Yaoi theme manga or light novel. It's kanji meaning literally “rotten girl”. 腐男子 Fudanshi is Fujoshi counter part. 腐女子 Fujoshi is a slang word to refers a woman loved to read Yaoi theme manga or light novel.

Can a fudanshi be straight? ›

Both surveys clearly show that a certain proportion of heterosexual men identify themselves as fudanshi.

Does fujoshi mean rotten girl? ›

Fujoshi literally translates to "rotten girl" and you shouldn't be proud to call yourself that – @mythicalheartbeat on Tumblr.

Is fujoshi a bad word? ›

“Fujoshi” carries a connotation of being a “fallen woman”. An issue of Eureka which examined fujoshi in detail in 2007 contributed to the spread of the term. “ The rotten part is insulting people for liking gay fiction, not for behaving in a hom*ophobic manner, as you claim you use the word to mean.

Is there a female version of BL? ›

The wasei-eigo construction "girls' love" (ガールズラブ, gāruzu rabu) and its abbreviation "GL" were adopted by Japanese publishers in the 2000s, likely as an antonym of the male-male romance genre boys' love (BL).

What is uke in BL? ›

Uke:The term "uke" refers to the submissive or "bottom" character in a romantic or sexual relationship. This character is often portrayed as more vulnerable, sensitive, or passive. The uke typically takes on a more receptive role in the relationship, both emotionally and physically.

What do you call a guy who likes BL? ›

Female fans of BL are often referred to as fujoshi (腐女子, lit. "rotten girl"), a derogatory insult that was later reappropriated as a self-descriptive term. The male equivalent is fudanshi (腐男子, lit. "rotten boy") or f*ckei (腐兄, "rotten older brother"), both of which are puns of similar construction to fujoshi.

What is it called when a boy likes a boy? ›

Heterosexual—attracted only or almost only to the other binary (male/female) gender. "Binary" is the idea that there are only two genders, male and female. Gay—attracted only or almost only to those of the same gender. Bisexual—attracted both to people of their own binary gender and to those of the other binary gender.

What is a fudanshi boy? ›

Fudanshi is a slang term meaning “Rotten Boy”, and is used in a derogatory manner.This is an example of what a Fudanshi is (Sauce: The High School Life of a Fudanshi) A Fudanshi is a dude who likes yaoi or BL (boys love). It's like a Fujoshi but a male version basically.

What is moe in BL? ›

A term literally meaning “to bud,” moe refers to the erotically charged interest that manga and animation fans feel for fictional characters.

What is the Chinese equivalent of fujoshi? ›

Female fans of danmei often refer to themselves as fǔ nǚ (腐女; lit. 'rotten woman') which is borrowed from the Japanese term fujoshi.

Is there a yuri equivalent of fujoshi? ›

Himedanshi (姫男子, "princess boy") is a Japanese slang term for male fans of yuri media. The term is a mirror to "fujoshi" (female fans of yaoi). It is said to be derived from the yuri anthology Yuri Hime.

What is the origin of BL genre? ›

Boys Love (or simply BL) has emerged as a mainstream genre in manga, anime, and games for girls and young women. This genre was first developed in Japan in the early 1970s by a group of female artists.

Who created the first BL manhwa? ›

One of the most prominent writers of the era was the now legendary Takemiya Keiko, who challenged both gender norms and sexual boundaries in her works. Notably, her 17-volume series Kaze to ki no uta is considered to be the first BL manga.

What is the difference between Yume and fujoshi? ›

Fujoshi (腐女子 lit. rotten girls) are female fans of boy's love or male hom*osexual romances. As yumejoshi like to see themselves or someone they designed with CharA, fujoshi are fans of seeing CharA get together his best friend/enemy Mr. CharB for example.

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