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Girls who like Boys who like Boys – Ethnography of ... - Yuuyami.com

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Yuri also has a very particular taste in fanfiction and the fandoms that<br />

she wishes to find fanfiction in. Consequently, she does not really follow other<br />

fans’ fic re<strong>com</strong>mendations, as she finds that many people will <strong>like</strong> certain fics,<br />

which she doesn’t enjoy reading.<br />

I only read PWP [plot? What plot? <strong>–</strong> sex-centered<br />

fanfiction] when I’m at my wits’ end and there’s nothing<br />

else to read. Even then I’m very, very picky. I hate fics that<br />

have sex in them, I hate fics that say “I love you” and I hate<br />

an abundance <strong>of</strong> kissing …especially in historical [settings]<br />

such as in historical anime …pre-1940s essentially. So I<br />

don’t <strong>like</strong> smut fics. I don’t really <strong>like</strong> yaoi, I <strong>like</strong> shounen<br />

ai.<br />

Yuri’s fandoms are mainly Japanese media based: when she speaks <strong>of</strong> hating<br />

“I love you” fics and “kissing” in fics she is referring to the slew <strong>of</strong> anime fics<br />

<strong>who</strong> use the Japanese phrase ai shiteru, a very emotional and deep way to say<br />

“I love you” which a Japanese person would not use in any resemblance <strong>of</strong><br />

frequency, quite contrarily to the way fanfic authors display in their fiction.<br />

Equally, before the 1940s kissing was not a <strong>com</strong>mon cultural custom in Japan,<br />

and thus in a way is <strong>of</strong>ten an anachronistic plot movement. Maybe this would<br />

be more tolerable to Yuri if her fandoms, in the sense <strong>of</strong> the source texts, were<br />

placed in the contemporary, but as it is, Saiyuki is placed in a semi-fantastical<br />

but roughly medieval Chinese setting while Rurouni Kenshin deals with the<br />

Meiji restoration.<br />

When she specifies that she doesn’t <strong>like</strong> to read yaoi, but prefers<br />

shounen ai, Yuri is reiterating once again that she does not enjoy reading sexcentered<br />

fics as much as other genres: she prefers “boys’ love” to “no peak, no<br />

98

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