After more digging through various manga, blogs and the like, it seems my research is a bit tattered around the edges. <grrrrr!!>
Many of the assumptions of this blog are too simple, lacking recent historical background, original sources, and validation.
“You are too naive, Ufu fu fu …”
” Yeah, I work hard to give that impression.”
On the other hand; I have found plenty more neat stuff to add to the pile:
First, a rather good Master’s Thesis, late 2008 from Amy O’Brien, Georgia State University on american yaoi fandom: O’Brien, Amy Ann, “Boys’ Love and Female Friendships: The Subculture of Yaoi as a Social Bond between Women” (2008). Anthropology Theses. Paper 28. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/anthro_theses/28, which has some rather good explorations as to “why?”.
Query: how does this track back to Jp. fans?
Also, another fujoshi-meets-boy manga: Fujoshi Rumi (妄想少女オタク系, Mōsō Shōjo Otaku-kei?, (Geeky Girl Obsession) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujoshi_Rumi by Natsumi Konjoh (http://www.mangaupdates.com/authors.html?id=1892)
Timeline roughly coincides with Genshiken Ogiue introduction. Natsumi Konjoh, a woman mangaka who has done other stuff, mostly described as Hentai. (hmmmmm.. must research!) Nice light writeup at: http://www.punkednoodle.com/champloo/2007/10/14/09-mousou-shoujo-otaku-kei-by-natsumi-konjoh/
More background at: http://bangin.wordpress.com/ see:
http://bangin.wordpress.com/2007/07/25/the-classification-for-%e8%85%90%e5%a5%b3%e5%ad%90fujoshi/
and browse the site for his very detailed cosplay shots, which endear him to the western (does he have a Jp blog?) yaoi fans.
Light survey, not much meat:
http://kotaku.com/5534893/ten-reasons-why-teenage-girls-become-otaku
The good news is that an expanded version of the thesis (no, not academic, just for fun.. ) is developing, but needs to be solidified into a simple plain english declaration, rather than pomo/ soc/ anthro/ structuralist speak. Something like the situationalist slogan: I TAKE MY DESIRES FOR REALITY, etc…
Must remember not to do the Wizard of Oz again. The archetypes for women’s fantastic bildungsroman are a bit thin.
Could it be that discomfort with, and the rejection of societal “maturity” scripts constitutes an erotic act in itself?
HEARTS OF FURIOUS FANCIES 