Decision-making dynamics of straight fujoshi in enjoying Boys Love (BL) content - research article

Aug 28, 2026

Decision-making is treated as the selection of one behavior over alternatives, often formed deliberately to solve problems. This study examines how straight women who identify as fujoshi make decisions to enjoy Boys Love content, using a qualitative phenomenological approach. Five women aged 20–22 participate through snowball sampling and semi-structured interviews, analyzed with Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Findings indicate decisions rely on subjective intuition and emerge after internal conflict is resolved, with both positive and negative impacts influencing judgment.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Japanese popular culture and Boys Love background

Fujoshi/fudanshi and motivations

Method

Participants and sampling

Data collection and analysis

Results

Intuition and internal conflict resolution

Impacts and self-judgment

| | Psychology Research on Education and
Social Sciences, 6( 1), 1-20, March 2025
e-ISSN: 2717-7602
[dergipark.org.tr/press](dergipark.org.tr/press) | | Genc Bilge Publishing Ltd.(Young Wise) © 2025
[gencbilgeyayincilik.com](gencbilgeyayincilik.com) | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Research Article | | | | | | Decision-making dynamics of straight fujoshi in enjoying Boys Love (BL) content
Sabrina Jilan Tsabitah1 and Dewi Fatmasari Edy2* Department of Psychology, State University of Malang, Malang, Indonesia | | | | | | Article Info | Abstract | | | | | Received: 24 August 2024
Accepted: 1 December 2024
Online: 30 March 2025
Keywords:
Decision making Straight fujoshi Boys Love
2717-7602/ © 2025 by PRESS. Published by Genc Bilge (Young Wise) Pub. Ltd. This is an open access article under CC BY-NC-ND license
| | Decision making is the choice of an alternative behavior of two or more. Decisions are usually made consciously to solve a problem. Fujoshi is a Japanese term for straight/heterosexual women who choose to enjoy homosexual content like boys love. The aim of this study is to explore the dynamics offujoshi's straight decision making in enjoying boys love content. The method used in this research is a qualitative method with a phenomenological approach. Participants in this study were five adult women aged 20- 22 who were a straight fujoshi. Sampling was done using snowball sampling. Data collection was done using semi-structured interview techniques. The data analysis technique used is the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) technique. The results show that participant decision-making is based on intuition that is subjective. The decision to enjoy boys love content was made after the participants managed to overcome internal conflict and put their liking to Boys Love content at the forefront. The decision to enjoy boys love content also produces positive, negative impacts as well as making straight fujoshi judge the decisions they make. | | | | To cite this article
Tsabitah, S.T., and Edy, D.F. (2024). Decision-making dynamics of straight fujoshi in enjoying Boys Love (BL) content. Psychology Research on Education and Social Sciences, 6( 1), 1-20. DOI: [https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15147748](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15147748) | | | | | | Introduction
With the development of technology, Indonesians can more easily access various information both through mass media and social media. Japanese culture such as anime, manga, games, music, movies, and cosplay is one of the popular cultures that has been internalized and entered Indonesia in recent years (Ayudyasari, 2016). Popular culture is a culture that has many enthusiasts and is able to cross the traditional culture that exists within a society (Setiadi, 2015; Ayudyasari, 2016). One of the Japanese popular cultures enjoyed by Indonesians is manga. Manga is a Japanese term that refers to works in the form of comics (Gusri et al., 2020) . Usually manga is printed in black and white, and published in popular magazines serially (Gravett 2004; Gusri et al., 2021) .
Like comics in general, manga also has a variety of genres that can be enjoyed by various groups (Gusri et al., 2020) . The genres presented in manga are usually romance, slice of life, action, fantasy, adventure, and others. One of the genres also provided in manga is a genre that focuses on same-sex romance such as boys love (Ayudyasari, 2016). There are two different types of boys love manga: yaoi, which features romance between men with explicit sexual scenes, and shonen-ai, which is a genre that features romance between men but with implicitly depicted sexual scenes (Ayudyasari, 2016) .
The boys love genre began to develop in the form of doujinshi (manga created by fans of certain anime/manga) in | | | | | 1 Department of Psychology, State University of Malang, Malang, Indonesia. E-mail: [sabrinajt3010@gmail.com](sabrinajt30

FAQs

What is the purpose of the study on straight fujoshi and Boys Love content?

The study explores the dynamics of how straight fujoshi make decisions to enjoy Boys Love content.

How were participants selected and how was data collected?

Five adult women aged 20–22 were recruited using snowball sampling, and data were gathered through semi-structured interviews.

What approach was used for data analysis, and what did the results show?

Data were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results indicate decisions are grounded in subjective intuition and formed after participants overcome internal conflict, producing both positive and negative impacts.

Aug 28, 2026

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