UK Fujoshi / China Yaoi

Understanding Japanese “Boys’ Love” manga from a UK perspective – British Academy (2011-2013) / Understanding Yaoi/Boys’ Love Chinese Fandom – Yao Zhao PhD (2020)

Purpose

Yaoi, Boys’ Love (BL), slash and danmei are all popular culture designations (Japanese, Anglophone, and Chinese) for male-male romance and erotica largely by-and-for women. The material spans both original and derivative work, typical forms including sequential art (manga/comics), videogames, anime, fan fiction, and fan art. This project seeks to understand the global BL audience and related issues.

Process

We use interview and survey methods. Our surveys are open and can be found here: Anglophone and Chinese. The abstracts of our articles and conference papers can be found in Outcomes below in English and and in Chinese translation.