Engagement with female-oriented male-male erotica in Mainland China and Hong Kong: Fandom intensity, social outlook, and region

Our aim is to provide robust information on the demographic in Mainland China and Hong Kong who engage with female-oriented male-male erotica (a.k.a., danmei or Boys’ Love [BL]). We ask three novel research questions: Are there differences between (a) ‘casual’ and ‘avid’ danmei fans? (b) danmei fans by social outlook in the sexual sphere (‘Traditional’, ‘Progressive’)?, and (c) danmei fans from Mainland China and from Hong Kong? Questions were selected from our 43-question online BL fandom survey in Chinese and the largest data set of its kind (N=1498). Statistical comparisons provide evidence: of consistency between self-reported fan behaviour and fandom intensity: that avid fans are more likely to report nonhegemonic sexual orientations and to be more ‘Progressive’ than casual fans; the ‘Progressive’ report greater concern with copyright and legal issues while engaging with a wider range of sexual materials than do the ‘Traditional’; and fans from Hong Kong are more likely to report nonhegemonic sexual orientations and to be ‘Progressive’ than those from Mainland China. In conclusion, although danmei materials often perpetuate a heteronormative ideology, avid fans demonstrate a relatively progressive social outlook and engagement in socially-challenging danmei-related activities and we speculate that even casual engagement with danmei may encourage young people to think critically about the complexities of human sexuality