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Frightening Fangirls:
On Being a Male Fushigi Yuugi Fan

Stephen Congly

An Anime Web Turnpike Site of the Week 1/24-31/00; 2/1-7/00

Introduction:

A step into the Fushigi Yuugi fan community can be like a step into a whole new world. This is even more so the case if you are male; at least I found this to be true. It is quite different from what one may be used to and this new environment can be intimidating to say the least. This paper will examine the concept of a fangirl, with particular regards to the Fushigi Yuugi community and provide a look into the experiences, specifically mine, of a male Fushigi Yuugi fan.

Before beginning any sort of meaningful examination into these issues, it is necessary to define a few terms. Firstly, the term "fan" needs to be defined. Fan could possibly refer to any one who has an interest in the series but I feel that this definition is too broad for this paper. There are many male fans according to this definition, but many are of these "technical fans" are not really involved in the community. For the sake of this paper, I would like to define fan as "an individual who greatly enjoys a series and has created derivative work based on the series (including web pages, fan-fiction, fan-art, etc.)." By doing this, a better reflection of the community may be obtained.

There is one crucial note that must be made at this point in time. All names used in this paper are fictional. Two reasons: firstly, it is so the individuals so mentioned will not have their feelings hurt. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it is to prevent myself from getting hurt from comments I may make. To further ensure protection for both parties, any possible identifying reference (especially in e-mail messages) have been deleted from the citing.

Discussion of Fangirl Definition:

In my readings and research on this topic, I found it quite unusual that there was no listed definition for fangirl. This is rather surprising considering the moderately large number of individuals who are self-declared fangirls. As a result, I enquired along some channels for possible definitions for fangirl. The one interesting definition I received, described a fangirl as:

a person who will watch a series for no reason other than the 'sexy bish,' or that will not even watch a series but claim to be a fan because the "guys are so hot." Fangirls are vicious when you disagree that their preferred male is a "hottie," but trying to engage in meaningful conversation concerning the personality and characterization of the "hottie" is useless. As soon as things go beyond "He's so sexy!" they fade out. They can often be easily revived by the mention of "yaoi," however."[1] (Taiki: "Re: 'Monopoly?!' " 10/29)

I cannot in all good conscience accept the Taiki definition as being reflective of fangirls in general. Almost all of the fangirls that I deal with are older than this and are definitely not as shallow as the Taiki definition suggests. I would like to propose the following definition,[2] which will be the one this paper uses, for a fangirl. The ideal type fangirl is a female fan (see above for fan definition) who is sexually attracted to a character (typically a male character, but not necessarily) between the ages of 15-30.[3] Admittedly, this definition is not entirely all encompassing (that is there are some individuals who 'slip through the cracks') but I believe it covers most of the cases.[4]

Commentary:

A very interesting concept to note is that the idea of being a fangirl does not have a negative connotation at all. This parallels sharply with the idea of a fanboy, which brings forth images of males with no lives, poor cleanliness and an inability to discuss a series intelligently.[5] Fanboys, even though they are thankfully a minority, do manage to bring shame upon male anime fans (in my opinion) and make us look bad. One of my personal goals is to try and bring about a better name/image for male anime fans and to try and dispel the notion held by some that violence and explosions are all that males are interested in, but that's another issue altogether.

It is difficult to explain why the term fangirl has a better connotation than that of fanboy. Females are proud to be fangirls, but males are ashamed to be considered fanboys. My best guess to explain this difference between the sexes is that the terms originated at different time periods. To the best of my knowledge, the term fanboy has been around for quite a long time and was originally used to describe male comic fans (male otaku even?) who frequently showed up to comic conventions with low standards of cleanliness. The term fangirl I believe became prevalent during the late 1990s. During this period, the idea of "girl power" was in reasonably strong force thus the idea of being a fangirl became a "banner to unite under." Another reason that I believe to be plausible is that the term fangirl originated from fangirls themselves. This would be contrary to the term fanboy which was disdainfully applied by others to the fanboys themselves. The distinction in connotation would be obvious then.

From experience, it seems fair to say that most, if not all fangirls, blur the line between art and reality. However, they do take criticism on this point very strongly. An example may be seen in " 'Why must you continually remind us, when you pop your head up to do so, that these characters are fictional? Do you fear for our sanities or the greater good of society should we even consider to the contrary?' " (Congly "[FYML] Explaination")[6] This concept was probably expressed very strongly to me due to my academic background. My English teacher repeatedly instructed my class to always keep in mind the distinction between literature/art and reality when writing. I took that lesson to heart and so have a really difficult time speculating about characters (once the story ends, that's that).[7] The effects of this though still somewhat remain to be seen.

As mentioned in the Taiki definition, yaoi may play a significant role in the fandom of certain fangirls. Yaoi, as many may know, refers to work featuring male-male relationships and is a little more explicit than shonen ai (literally "boy love"). Many males might be intimidated by the prevalence of this; even after about a year and half in various communities with fangirls, I was still taken aback by "[I]...would give *alot* to see a nice, violent Saitou/Kenshin" (Ami, "[xxxxx] Doujinishi") with reference to a yaoi doujinishi (non-professional manga). I, myself, don't have any problem with yaoi or derivatives of the genre as long as it is moderately tasteful; however, I am not a fan of the genre at all.[8]

As a male fan, probably the most disturbing aspect of the anime fan community is that of bishounen torturing in derivative works. This may range in extremity from making a bishounen wear a dress to literal physical torture. I concede that for 99% of the works created, the word torture exaggerates the situation to the extreme; I don't really have too much of a problem with that (though I may feel slightly uncomfortable). This trait, I have found does not really come up in the Fushigi Yuugi community too much. However, I am told by my friend Raleena that this trend is frequently found in Gundam Wing works. One possible explanation comes from Taiki who comments "What do you think is behind all of the rape fics and angst fics out there? Fangirls like hurt bishonen that need to be cuddled so they feel better. ^^" (Taiki: "Re: 'Monopoly?!' " 10/31). From my experiences, there may be some merit in this cynical comment; "cuddling bishounen" does appear to be popular among fangirls.

After some discussion with my friend Raleena, I believe I have come up with the most frightening Fushigi Yuugi fangirl. This would be one who writes a fan-fiction that is a self-insert hentai work using mind control with multiple seishi who are actively fighting the control.[9] The work would become exponentially more disturbing with illustrations. Thankfully, I have not come across such a work yet though I have seen hentai works with females self-inserted with reluctant males. Sadly, describing this situation may in fact encourage some individuals to actually create a work like this.

One may note that I have only commented on the Fushigi Yuugi community with regards to fangirls; however, fangirls may be found in almost every community (though personally, I have not noticed many in the Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon community--no bishounen?). This is because I do not have much experience with fangirls in other communities (though I do have a little with the Rurouni Kenshin community). I have been told that the fangirls of the Gundam Wing community are quite extreme by members of that community. However, I cannot reasonably comment on this because, as stated above, I know very little about either the community or the series.

On Being a Male Fushigi Yuugi Fan:

As a male, I am definitely in the minority of Fushigi Yuugi fans; probably for every male fan, there are 100 female ones. Thus, it is no surprise that being a male member of the community is somewhat intimidating for several reasons. For one, there is less moral support; females can fall back on a relatively large base for backing while for males, this support is few and far in between (there are probably less than 5 other males that I know who are moderately active in the Fushigi Yuugi community). Secondly, being male, I get to serve as a representative of males; some people may call this role the "token male" role. Thus, there is some pressure to not besmirch the "good name" of male anime fans. Thirdly, there is the stigma behind being male. Males are "not supposed to like romance" and only go for action, mecha, etc. I am quite thankful that for the most part, I have not had to deal with this issue; most of the members of the community are quite encouraging towards me. Interestingly, from my experience, it's much easier to say that I'm a Fushigi Yuugi fan (possibly because it is slightly less well known?) rather than a Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon fan.

The idea of feeling intimidated is not helped at all by some of the content posted by fangirls. For example, take "...Goddess of...Hentai-ness.../PROUD Member of the Bishounen Fan-fiction Torture Union" (Usagi "[xxxxx] *waves* Newbie! ^o^"). Entering onto a mailing list, or more specifically entering into a fan community and reading a signature like that would definitely frighten most males (and probably would have disturbed me in the past). Examples of this type of content abound especially in some of the Fushigi Yuugi fan-fiction.

The phenomenon of fangirls taking the titles of various miko and seishi is very prevalent in the Fushigi Yuugi fan community. In fact, I would estimate about 1/3 of the fans have one or more titles of the sort. The concept of titles does somewhat serve to isolate males from many others in the community (at least I feel that it does). The reason behind this is because by definition, miko are female. Since a Y chromosome does not a female make, even if I wanted to, I could not take a miko title. Instead, I get the opportunity to watch from the sidelines (which admittedly has its advantages).

Conclusion:

After reading this paper, some individuals might like to think that I believe myself to be the "perfect" fan well aloof from the "lesser fangirls." I assure everyone that this is not true; some of my traits I've probably picked up from fangirl friends. For instance, take one of my signature quotes: (that some fangirls delight in using to tease me) "Bishoujo are a trap, a pretty trap and one I fall for;" this I'm sure parallels the attitude of some fangirls.

Fangirls do frighten me/disturb me at times but that is not to say that I dislike them at all. On the contrary; fangirls, at least the ones I know, are able to amuse me greatly. They do manage to teach me a lot both in regards to anime and various related topics as well as life lessons. I am grateful to have such good friends in the community who have been quite supportive of me, a male Fushigi Yuugi (and shoujo) fan. In conclusion, I'd like to specifically acknowledge the "Bird Admirers" and the members of "Le groupe de la maison pâlee"[10] for everything they have done for me and especially what they have taught me. Thank you.

Endnotes

1This may be referenced in future works as the "Taiki" fangirl definition.
2This may be referenced as the "Congly" fangirl definition. As far as I know, the Taiki and Congly definitions are the only definitions of fangirls in existence.
3Ideal type does not imply any judgement; it just refers to a representative case.
4Fangirl will now be used interchangeably to refer to a female fan.
5An example may be seen in the AYANAMI Rei (from Neon Genesis Evangelion) body hair discussion; fanboys actually did discuss the colour of her body hair.
6Yes, I am still rather annoyed at this. One would think that individuals would have read the subject of the original post "[FYML] Speculating on the future--why it shouldn't be done [from a literary perspective ^_-]" (emphasis added) and replied appropriately.
7This distinction is why characters and events in books, etc. should be referred to in present tense; after you finish a book, the event/character still exists for another reader. The non-speculation on the future is because the characters do not exist past the end of a work.
8For cynics out there, I am also not a fan of hentai or yuri (female/female) works though I don't see anything wrong with them with a few minor exceptions.
9Most of this situation is admittedly mine; Raleena contributed the fighting the mind control.
10These names are fictional as well.

Works Cited

Ami. "[xxxxx] Doujinishi." E-mail to xxxxx. 14 November 1999.

Congly, Stephen. "[FYML] Explaination and apologies". E-mail to FYML. 28 March 1999.

Taiki. "Re: 'Monopoly?!'." E-mail to Stephen Congly. 29 August 1999.

Taiki. "Re: 'Monopoly?!'." E-mail to Stephen Congly. 31 August 1999.

Usagi. "[xxxxx] *waves* Newbie! ^o^." E-mail to xxxxx. 11 December 1999.

Comments on this paper are solicited. They may be sent by e-mailing the comments to scongly@softhome.net