"Rethinking Yaoi on the Regional and Global Scale"

Excited to release my essay "Rethinking Yaoi on the Regional and Global Scale" in the journal Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific!

Also, someone on their blog graciously translated the essay into Chinese!

 

AI-generated summary:

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of yaoi (and its Sinophone equivalent, danmei), a genre of female-oriented media featuring male-male romance. Williams examines the genre not just as a form of entertainment, but as a complex cultural and economic phenomenon that operates at the intersection of feminism, queer politics, nationalism, and global capitalism in East Asia.

Key Arguments

1. Yaoi/Danmei and "Brand Homonationalism": The central argument is that yaoi/danmei is increasingly entangled with "brand nationalism" (the use of pop culture for national soft power, e.g., "Cool Japan") and a regional form of "homonationalism." While the genre offers feminist and queer critique by allowing fans to imagine alternatives to restrictive local heteropatriarchies, its flow across East Asia (from Japan and Korea to China, Taiwan, etc.) is uneven and reinforces perceptions of some nations as more "modern" or "advanced" than others. The genre's commercial success, therefore, can inadvertently prop up the very nation-states it seeks to escape.

2. Uneven Flows and Chronopolitics: The distribution of yaoi/danmei in East Asia follows an asymmetrical pattern, with Japanese and Korean products flowing into Chinese markets with little reciprocity. This creates a chronopolitics where consuming media from Japan, for example, can lead to an "imagined geography" where Japan is seen as more sexually progressive, even if its real-world gender equality and LGBTQ rights lag. This positions Japan as a model of a "modern" future that other places are trying to catch up with, or, in the case of some U.S. fans, as a "perverse" other that is not yet "there."

3. Theorizing Yaoi's Origin (Pre/Post/Modern): Williams challenges a simplistic view of yaoi's origin by placing it within a longer history of Japanese aesthetics and modernity. He links it to:

   • Tanbishugi (aestheticism): A literary movement that resisted rapid modernization.

   • "Post/Modern" Narration: Using Azuma Hiroki's and Keith Vincent's theories, he argues that yaoi operates in a "post/modern" space. It looks back to a pre-modern past (where male-male relations like nanshoku were not pathologized) while existing in a postmodern present where "grand narratives" (like compulsory heterosexuality) are seen as disappearing. The genre's common trope of "I'm not gay, I just love this man" exemplifies this tension between modern identity politics and a pre/post-modern non-identitarian desire.

4. The Question of Feminism: Williams navigates the debate on whether yaoi is truly feminist. He notes that early theories framed it as a sign of "penis envy" or a temporary phase for adolescent girls. More recent scholarship, however, sees it as a space for "projective identification" where fans overlay their desires onto male characters. While the genre provides essential local feminist work and a sanctuary for "failed" subjects (women, queers), its commercialization and export also feed into the nationalist projects it critiques. It offers a "broad social function" rather than a single, clear-cut ideological stance.

5. Yaoi's Moe (Affect) and Capitalism: The intense, euphoric feeling of attraction to characters, known as moe, is central to the genre's appeal. Williams, drawing on Walter Benjamin and Slavoj Žižek, argues that moe functions as a form of "therapy" against the alienation of modern capitalism. It provides an "animalistic" escape and a sense of the "here-and-now." However, this affect is also perfectly suited to digital and database capitalism, which thrives on the consumption of stylized character commodities. While moe can disrupt heteropatriarchy, it also "closes the circuits" of desire, potentially pacifying political subjects rather than mobilizing them.

Case Study: Formula 17 

Williams uses the 2004 Taiwanese film Formula 17 as a concrete example of his arguments. The film, a bubbly, utopian comedy set in a male homosexual Taipei, was a massive local hit but was banned in Singapore for "promoting homosexuality."

• The film's success shows how a local market (Taiwan) can use a yaoi-infused queer fantasy to distinguish itself culturally (from China) and gain "cultural capital" on the global stage.

• Its banning in Singapore, contrasted with the approval of more tragic films like Brokeback Mountain, highlights how states regulate affect. Films that allow for a comfortable distance from queer kinship are permissible, while those that present it as a normal, desirable utopia are seen as a threat.

• The film's fantasy of a fully localized, non-reproductive queer world exemplifies the "speculative queer kinship" that yaoi/danmei provides for its female audience.

Conclusion

Williams concludes that yaoi/danmei is a powerful and contradictory force. It is simultaneously a space of feminist-queer sanctuary and a commercial product that fuels "brand homonationalism." As it circulates across East Asia, it participates in a complex negotiation of regional identities, modernities, and desires, forcing scholars to look beyond simple binaries of "good" or "bad" and instead grapple with its role in the intertwined dynamics of capitalism, nationalism, and the search for personal freedom.