Abstract
BL (Boys' Love) is a subgenre of Shojyo Manga (Girls' Cartoon Books) in Japan; these describe male homosexual stories and have been popular since the 1970s. Research into BL in Taiwan tends to consider reading BL as a kind of Queer reading or sexual practice because it challenges the gender structure. However, in this paper, I focus on ”fantasy,” the most important element of reading BL texts, and emphasize the dynamics of the fantasy practice of Fujoshi (girls who love BL). Through analyzing the structure of BL fantasy, I try to explain how Fujoshi practices yield specific meanings of pleasure and sexuality in the process of constructing BL fantasy: these depend on rereading male relationships into BL coupling.I did participant observation in Japanese and Taiwanese ”Butler Cafes” to observe the role playing of the butlers and waiters-these imitate the behavior in the cartoon books-and did interviews with Taiwanese Fujoshi about their experiences and fantasies as customers in ”Butler Cafes,” to reach the following conclusion. On the one hand, a Fujoshi makes distance between the object of fantasy and herself, in order to freely reread or arrange her imagination of the male relationships into BL coupling. On the other, a Fujoshi uses BL fantasy to fill up the ”distance” or discontinuity between male homoeroticism and homosociality, which otherwise might seem to be continuous. It is through BL fantasy that a Fujoshi makes herself free from the rigid one-way heterosexual mode of projection of ”female reader vs. male character,” so she can imagine her own resonance with the abstract pleasure of an ideal romantic relationship. The field study of ”Butler Cafes” emphasizes the dynamic process of fantasy practice. That is, the role playing and interaction between Fujoshi and butlers not only realize fantasy, but also make a Fujoshi adjust her position and the distance between herself and the object of fantasy under a situation where the relationship of subject and object changes frequently, with the effect of constructing pleasure through BL fantasy.
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