Testimonials

Here are some unedited thoughts from some of our fujofriends about their treatment and experiences with fujoshi culture.

This page may go from light-hearted, to very heavy in subject matter.

If you'd like to share your experience with yaoi, please fill out this form! You can be anonymous if you wish.

I've uploaded 99% of the submissions I've gotten. I can choose not to upload submissions for whatever reason.

Da Quotes

Organized from newest to oldest.

I love dank yaoi since I was 14, have been tru the phase of "don't call me a fujo" on the end of my teens and early 20's, but have come to the roots once again when I started seeing how ppl were starting to use the stupid ant term around 2015. (i just wanna go back to where i was happy once....sharing your fave ship without being demonized and drawing whatever...), I fully embrace my fujoshi roots at the start of my 30's and can only hope I live long enough to see change from these horrid times and keep doing what i do best: drawing yaois and yuris.

feb.5.2023, groovy

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I used to make fun of yaoi and fujoshi as a teenager, because of the chan culture I grew up with online. But as I got older, it became very obvious that a lot of the fujoshi hate was simple old-fashioned woman-hating, gay bashing, and transphobia. Especially when after 10 years every fujoshi from deviantart and irl turned out to be transmasculine and/or a lesbian :p

As a young lad, I enjoyed pairings in mostly western media like cartoons, video games, and live action stuff. So it never occurred to me that the very art I enjoyed was also under the yaoi and BL umbrellas. I now proudly proclaim my love for dank yaoi because I love melodramatic, character-driven art. Someone I love is a fujoshi! And I'm the fujo protection squad!

And the word "yaoi" is such a good term to gauge if a stranger is an angry reactionary. If an English-speaker gets mad at their own misinterpretation of a Japanese term... that's on them.

feb.6.2023, SCUMSUCK

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Ever since my early days delving into yaoi and related fujo culture, I've seen so many talented creators and fans sharing their pairing-visions with the world. As someone who has always been a daydreamer and fiction-escapist at heart, it really brightens my soul to witness people showing their devotion to absolutely magnificent pairings with heartwarming and/or heartrending dynamics. It's an absolute inspiration, and I'm proud to count myself among their ranks...even if I AM a little bit more private by nature.

feb.6.2023, Ren

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I live in a country that outlaws being queer more and more with each passing year AND my parents are bigoted in every imaginable way. I used to blindly share their beliefs as a kid but as I was getting older I really got into fandom and shipping and meeting all of those new people from different backgrounds (as well as seeing their art) made me realize how nonsensical and harmful my family's bigotry is.

It also made me realize I'm neither cis nor straight :D

feb.7.2023, feltyHatter

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My website is very out of place compared to all of the other ones in this weblisting as my site is mostly about kawaii aesthetics. I wouldn't call myself a ""yaoi fan"" but more of a romance fan. I just adore love stories of all kinds! But the ""yaoi alignment"" chart on your FAQ page made me laugh so hard I had to join. ""Golden Girls is yaoi"" god you're so right. If you're reading this, watch Flip Flappers.

feb.7.2023, AllyRat

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Sometime around 2007, I complimented an artist on deviantart on their unique art style and showed interest in their characters. When we carried the conversation on in our notes, we didn't send more than 3 or 4 messages back and forth before they started ranting that bisexuality isn't real, ""girly ukes"" from yaoi manga aren't ""real men"", their wide hips are unnatural, etc.

I was young and impressionable at the time, so I found myself feeling furiously embarrassed and called out. I awkwardly agreed with them as if I'd shared the same opinion the entire time, desperately hoping to pass their coolness vibe check since they were older than me and better at drawing. I felt like they were peering into my very soul and judging every purchase I had ever made from Borders and Juné . I had probably just finished reading Okane Ga Nai LOL.

I ruminated on that conversation for years afterward, as I wrestled with not only my personal identity but others' perceptions of me. Internet culture at that time was very aggressive, and anything that wasn’t newgrounds flash art with an edgy sense of humor wasn’t respectable. The person who was chastising me drew in a western cartoony style and had gay cis male ocs. I felt like somehow they were inherently correct and I must be wrong.

Eventually, I unlearned my embarrassment and found a lot of that rhetoric was rooted in anti-asian racism, misogyny, and transphobia. It saddens me to see it popping up again, especially among young queers. I hope they will be able to let go of shame as well and accept the fujoshi/fudanshi/fujin within.

feb.10.2023, deflectric

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I don't identify with the fujoshi label myself, but I am a queer artist situated in shipping culture who is supportive of everyone making art that expresses yourselves and your desires in ways that feel good for you.

I used to be super gatekeeping and dismissive of shipping where I thought the fandom mischaracterised the characters, and I had a very specific preconception that ""yaoi tropes"" were to blame (at the time I had not actually read any yaoi to find out for myself - it was purely based on memes and discourse posts.) My judgment was almost purely based in my own shame and resentment of not getting to have enough fun with my very canon compliant works (except people were fucking slightly more than in canon). No longer! Shipping culture is liberating for so many people for lots of nuanced reasons and the joy deserves to be spread around.

Talking to people who identified as fujoshi and realising we have common ground and aren't enemies, and also getting over my own sexual shame and repression, was a huge step in becoming more open-minded and accepting. I would recommend that to anyone in the position I was in 7 years ago lol.

feb.10.2023, serpentine malign

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When I was a little boy in Jesus School, I didn't know what a homosexual was until a friend of mine, who was a fujoshi, showed me a yaoi anime.

When the Puritan authorities in my life started to tell me that certain feelings of mine were wrong, I remembered the simple happiness I felt watching anime men kissing, and I realized that life existed outside of the path that had been laid out for me by the people who wanted to control me.

A fujoshi saved my life and I love yaoi. feb.15.2023, EreriFan915

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It feels like I've been consuming content made for and by fujoshis since I first stepped foot on the internet all those (17!!!) years ago. As I've gotten older and seen online groups fall out with the fujoshi community...genus...species...it's pained me!

As I grow older and people treat them with such vitriol, it makes me really ponder on my place as an Internet Artist. Without the fujoshi community at large, I probably wouldn't even be creating or posting online at all. I'm proud of fujos, and proud to have been wrapped up in it all for so long.

feb.22.2023, Cyrano

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I had first gotten into yaoi and shipping when I was 12 years old and I had moved to a new place. It was during this time I got into manga and lurked around fandom forums as a form of escapism from homesickness. After stumbling upon yaoi art, I was extremely compelled by how relationship dynamics worked when you put two dudes together The possibilities were endless! As a teen I kept it a constant secret because I wasn't about to be called "cringe" or "weird," so all I really did was observe and lurk and kept it all to myself. Shipping culture at the time was pretty chill, and people were free to fangirl and squee about their favorite gay boys and post art/fic no matter what skill level. We knew we were just a bunch of excited randos on the Internet having a fun time, and I think that sense of freedom in fiction allowed people to be themselves and let their thoughts flow unhindered.

I think I got extremely lucky to have dodged the negativity around yaoi fangirls during this time (the 2000s and early 2010s), but to be fair I never paid attention to anyone wasting their time being haters on the Internet. To me, fujoshi represent a freedom to be yourself and not feel ashamed about harmless interests even if yaoi looks cringe to outsiders, which was something I did not allow myself irl at the time. Seeing them being so happy and carefree made me want to have fun creating things too, so after much drawing practice I started to post my art online when I was 18.

Ever since I decided to put myself out there, I've made so many friends with other yaoi enthusiasts of all sorts, and life continues to be beautiful to this day! Things aren't looking so hopeful right now, with the way how the word "fujoshi" is being falsely associated with horrible things and leading to harassment and repression, but I hope someday we can all feel safe enough to be as cringe and free as we were back then. Bonding over yaoi has brought me years of joy and good memories and still continues to do so.

feb.22.2023, Shushmoom

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THank you for creating this site! I love seeing more resources for BL/fujoshi communities on the internet! You rock and keep up the amazing work.

mar.15.2023, Aidia

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Thanks fujos for learning me how to draw nsfw, thanks for making me unhinged, cringe, happy and free!

mar.15.2023, Jake Chirak

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yaoi is feminist praxis

mar.15.2023, nephos/SOULBYTE

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OK for testimonial: old man yaoi is the only way to get into heaven #feminism

mar.29.2023, nenrikido

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It's kind if hard to remember, but ever since I had access to a computer shipping and fandom culture has been my life. I remrmber spending summer break in elementary school going outside with friends while also getting up every morning to hop onto my teeny tiny little laptop to just watch sonadow AMVs all day while surfing Deviantart. I remember watching A LOT of AMVs of both Mario and Sonic ships. I didnt even know what shipping was. Shipping has always been my thing and has been the first things ive drawn as a kind, including yume stuff! As i got older i just consumed more of thus work in many different fandoms, found out what "yaoi" and "yuri" meant and used it to mean "gay relationships" until i got into social media in 2014 where all of that changed.

Lameos telling me what is or isnt okay, even if it wasnt direct. I knew what fujo is but didnt rly care or identify with it until those lameos got louder on how it and yaoi was """"bad"""". Safe to say ive gone through the classic "Little Kid Anti" whatever the hell and was like that for a few years. Lame lol

Now im older, more happy with shipping and fandom with the spaces im in. I discovered what yume is and ran with it because i prefer that more over ""selfshipping"" (the term feels gross to me personally as a fictosexual for many reasons). It spoke to me and felt correct. Fandom and Shipping made me today and also helped me become introduced to queerness and now its no different than any other relationship. It helped me discover friends, interests that will stick w me for years, and that i am queer too!! ^w^

apr.09.2023, Muffin

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Thank you so much for making this webring! It fills me with joy for the present, nostalgia for the past, and hope for the future of fandom-related creativity. <3

apr.11.2023, funwplushtrap

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If I think about it, I have yaoi and yaoi-adjacent stuff to thank for... a lot: for my first real introduction to the internet, for my introduction to fandom, for putting me on the path of realizing I was queer... It sucks that "fujoshi" is being bandied about as a dirty word nowadays because it was the first crack in the conservative bubble I had grew up in. I'm glad to see that the fujo community is still alive and well!

jun.20th.2023, ORION ☆ OVERDRIVE

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One man's trash is another man's treasure. What is oppressive to you, may be empowering for another. Representation is not one-size-fits-all, and sometimes I also just wanna eat a big chonky dead dove solely 'cuz I think the maggots add extra umami... Slimy, yet satisfying!!

jul.2nd.2023, Yapi

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Queerness is beautiful in all its forms and I appreciate all the people of the world that express queer joy through art, I learned a lot about myself by sharing art and feelings with others

aug.12.2023, Hedgie

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yaoi is cool, we should all have more yaoi, as treat

aug.12.2023, squid

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"Looking at Yaoi anime and BL manga were possibly some of my earliest instances of being exposured to queer people. I was around 8 - 10 years old at the time and was enamoured by this strange new fact that some people could be gay!

This eventually led to me learning more about the LGBTQ+ community on Tumblr and Pinterest during my teens. If it weren't for Yaoi, I don't think I would be nearly as informed about queer struggles, nor would I feel so comfortable with experimenting with my identity.

Some of my fondest memories growing up as a teen were huddling around my fellow queer fujoshi artist friends at secondary school to talk about Yaoi, Yuri, our art and ships. These interactions with eachother as fujoshi friends were so fun and carefree, so seeing so many people (especially young queer people around my age) shun fujoshis out of the fear of being ""problematic"" is honestly sad.

Friendships between Yaoi and Yuri enjoyers are so enriching and fun, so I really hope that people can grow about of that toxic ""anti-fujo"" mindset and be more care-free and happy. "

dec.22.2023, Ultra Tetra

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