Compare and contrast.

[randomness]

Thought for the late night, partly inspired by a face-to-face comment by rmd about gay regency romances mostly being written by and read by women, and partly from a post by digitalemur called Fun with YAOI, or things I come across at work:

Is there any similarity in this kind of man-to-man fiction mostly created and read by women to the girl-on-girl photosets mostly being photographed by and viewed by men?

Note: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaoi has a useful overview of the yaoi phenomenon.

Comments

[shiruru.livejournal.com]

At the risk of sounding silly, I put in my two cents.

I always thought it was because women are so strongly critical of other women. They may not speak those thoughts out loud under normal circumstances, but it comes out loud and clear over works of fiction. Take for instance, Fushigi Yuugi. Female fans loved the male characters and hated the female protagonists so vehemently because they argued that they, under the same cirumstances, would have acted totally differently or done things better than the female leads, that they themselves would have made a way better partner for the character they liked than the canon female did.

I think in many series like that you observe the females who desire the males in the series, hating the women who get said males. During the time of Rurouni Kenshin I remember a lot of jealousy-fueled criticism or every little thing Kaoru did or said. You can easily see this in Inuyasha fandom, too (which is why I steer clear of it). There are a lot of people who just rant about how much they hate Kagome or Kikyou, because they themselves want the male charas. With Naruto, it is Sakura.

I think these females imagine themselves to have less faults in a certain place than the canon female who gets the guy's attention, and imagine that they would love whoever it is so much better, and so they hate that female lead. They usually tend to go root for some unknown underdog character whom they imagine has the same aptitude as them in some place, a character who is not developed at all so that it is easy for them to graft their own personality onto that person.

I always figured that yaoi helps females to step around that vicious self-criticism. If looking at another woman there is competition, and the female's tendency (I think) is to be harshly critical of that competition (in order to eliminate it or feel superior). If looking at two guys, then that problem can be completely avoided. Note that in yaoi somehow even the crappiest or sappiest of things to do or say evoke comments of "Aw how cute Iruka blushed at Kakashi! OMG111!" whereas if it was a female in the same role there would be harsh criticism of the female's actions. Yaoi helps heterosexual women (especially some who tend to be of a type who are very insecure and thus very judgemental of their peers) step around their competitive urges against other women and get right to enjoying guys, and two guys is 200% of the enjoyment.

I also think that maybe yaoi could be just a symptom of women's longing for guys who are more like them. Note that in yaoi guys almost never act like they do in real life. I have yet to see in yaoi Chara A sit on the couch and scratch and drink beer and watch football like my brothers, or Chara B think about absolutely nothing (which my husband, though I adore him, seriously does do!) or Chara C work on his car and tinker in the garage for a whole day.

Yaoi men seem to have a heavy probability of being the following: poetic, sensual, interesting, very interested in sex but almost always starting with words to begin the foreplay, an androgynous or pretty sort of appearance (boyish hips, slim body). Most of all, thoughtful, even neurotic, very aware of their appearance and body and grooming and dress, overly observant of their environment and the closeness of bodies, gestures, expressions and What It All Means!-- which is how I think women tend to be, and are frustrated or disappointed when they find their male partners are not.

Or at least that's what I think from observation. Correct me if I'm totally off.

[apintrix.livejournal.com]

I cannot resist pointing out that the female characters you list are arguably *actually* annoying, and the reaction against them may not be female criticalness of other females, but annoyance at yet another pathetic anime girl. The way Kaoru's abilities and strength are underused by Watsuki is a betrayal of her early established character, and you must expect a negative reaction on that front. Miaka is pretty dull. I tend to think most of the characters in Fushigi Yuugi are pretty dull too... but she's one of the worst offenders.

A couple counterexamples: look at, say, Ouran High School Host Club-- hardly cut and dry on gender, but a great female protagonist. This is a fandom rife with slash (and het)-- of course, again, hardly cut and dry as it invites it. You list Naruto's Sakura, I assume as versus the tendency to slash Naruto/Sasuke; what about another big Shonen Jump series, One Piece? There's a lot of slash in that fandom too, but women also tend to like like the women crewmembers, particularly Robin.