Japanese culture
What does Fujoshi mean?
A fan (usually a woman) of stories about romance between men: a label that began as an insult and became a tribe.
Definition
A fujoshi is the fan — usually a woman — of stories about romance between men, the yaoi and BL the group reads with pride. Around 2000, on 2ch, men used the nickname against those readers. Many people wore rotten with pride, on the path of otaku. There is a huge doujin market at Comiket. BL is a place of reading; outside the scene the insult still stings, like otaku outside the group.
Earlier labels included yaorā and yaoi shōjo. Fudanshi (腐男子) is the masculine pair; fujin (腐人) shows up sometimes.
Origin
Fujoshi is Japanese 腐女子, a pun: it swaps 婦 (lady, wife) in 婦女子 for 腐 (rotten). Fanlore and BL-fandom Wikipedia date 2ch around 2000 / the early 2000s; some cite Geocities in 1999, with no closed day. The magazine Yureka, in 2007, spread the term to a wider public.
History
From 2ch the name moved into English fandom. Patrick W. Galbraith (Signs, 2011) described the reclaimed use. Comiket held the BL doujin market. Fudanshi stayed less visible, same reading family.
How it emerged
The BL reader needed a name the group could wear. Otaku had already taught the reclaimed-insult path; 腐女子 stuck rotten onto the feminine of 婦女子 and the tribe kept the word.
Usage examples
She lists herself as fujoshi on Comiket Twitter.
Fudanshi reads the same BL with another gender on the label.
Translations
- pt fujoshi / 腐女子
- en fujoshi / rotten girl
- es fujoshi / 腐女子
Synonyms
- 腐女子
- fudanshi
- BL
- yaoi