 | |
| Definition | Attraction to fictional characters |
|---|---|
| Classification | Sexual identity |
| Parent category | Asexuality |
| Other terms | |
| Associated terms | |
Fictosexuality andfictoromantic aresexual andromantic attraction towardsfictional characters in media, as distinct from living people inreal life.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Asexuals have used the terms assexual identity labels for those who only experience attraction to fictional characters and not to real people.[1][5][4] The Japanese termnijikon ('2D complex') describes attraction to two-dimensional characters inanime andmanga; the target of one's romantic affections is called theirwaifu orhusbando.
Fictosexuals may facediscrimination ormarginalization.[7][8] As a result, some have formedsocial movements to combat normative beliefs they callhuman-oriented sexualism andhumanogenderism. In 2019, the world's first fictosexual advocacy group was established inTaiwan.[9][8]
InChinese, the termzhǐxìngliàn (simplified Chinese:纸性恋;traditional Chinese:紙性戀;lit. 'paper sexuality') refers to sexual attraction towards two-dimensional characters only.[3]
InJapanese,nijikon is typically used to describe a sexual attraction towards two-dimensional anime, manga, and light novel characters, as opposed to attraction towards flesh-and-blood humans.[10][11] However, the termfikutosekushuaru is distinct fromnijikon and specifically pertains to a sexual identity.[1][9]
According to the "8th National Survey of Adolescent Sexual Behavior" conducted by the Japanese Association for Sex Education in 2017, the percentage of respondents who reported "having had romantic feelings for a game or anime character" was as follows: 13.1% of male junior high school students, 16.0% of female junior high school students, 13.6% of male high school students, 15.4% of female high school students, 14.4% of male university students, and 17.1% of female university students.[12]
Fictosexuality and fictoromance are occasionally regarded as a form ofparasocial relationship in media studies and game studies.[13][14] Hsi-wen Liao claims that research on parasocial relationships often centers on unidirectional attachment from the audience to the character, thereby overlooking the intricate and diverse relationships between fictosexuals or fictoromantics, and fictional characters.[3] According to a research by Yuu Matsuura, someaegosexual individuals identify as fictosexual to emphasize their preference for fictional objects of attraction.[1]
Several studies on asexuality and introductory books on sexual minorities refer to fictosexuality.[4][15][16] Elizabeth Miles and Yuu Matsuura conduct research on people who are sexually attracted only to fictional characters and argue that such sexuality, like asexuality, prompts reconsideration of dominant ideas about sexuality.[11][17]
Sociologist and queer theorist Yuu Matsuura has theorized how fictosexuals who love two-dimensional sexual creations, such as manga and anime, engage in a subversion of dominant norms in a manner distinct from Butlerianperformativity. Matsuura draws on Teri Silvio's concept of "animation,"Hiroki Azuma's interpretation ofDerrida, andKaren Barad's theory ofposthumanist performativity. This subversion is described as "transforming modes of perception and forms of desire by constructing beings of a previously nonexistent category through animation."[7] Such subversion arises from "the materialization of gender in a way that differs from the live human body."[7]
The term used to describe the marginalization of fictosexuality ishuman-oriented sexualism (ja:対人性愛中心主義 (taijin-seiai-chūshin-shugi)) andhumanogenderism.[7][8] Human-oriented sexualism is the expectation that sexual attraction towards flesh-and-blood human is"normal" sexuality.[1][2] Humanogenderism is "the idea that legitimate gender is instantiated or materialized by humans as a biological species"[7] and is "the assumption that genders instantiated by non-human beings are 'less material' or 'mere representations'."[2] While these concept is raised from fictosexuality studies in Japan, it is now being discussed in research outside of Japan[3][8] and in areas other than fictosexuality studies.[18][19][20]
Human-oriented sexuality (対人性愛 (taijin-seiai) is the term referring to thesexual majority attracted to flesh-and-blood people.[1][21] This term emerged from grassroots usage among those who prefer two-dimensional sexual creations likemanga andanime, yet lack sexual attraction to flesh-and-blood individuals.[1][2] Based on this premise, the termhuman-oriented sexualism was coined, prompting inquiries into institutions, customs, and value judgments rooted in human-oriented sexuality.
According to Yuu Matsuura, human-oriented sexualism and humanogenderism are linked toheteronormativity andcisgenderism.[7] In terms of queer theory, they are components that constitute whatJudith Butler calls "literalizing fantasy" and are an example of whatKaren Barad terms "representationalism."[7] Human-oriented sexualism forecloses the possibility of articulating sexuality in ways other than the heterosexual/homosexual distinction, and in that sense, it is a precondition for the exclusion of homosexuality.[7][10] Furthermore, humanogenderism is a kind ofbiological essentialism that seeks to ground gender in the "anatomical" body and is connected to ideologies that excludetransgender people.[7]
Kazuki Fujitaka, associate professor of feminist/queer studies atKyoto Sangyo University, highly appreciated Matsuura's theory about critique against human-oriented sexualism and described the theory as "a practice of healing those who get hurt by a normative society and of defamiliarizing the world," akin to whatbell hooks calls "theory as liberatory practice."[22]
Fictosexuals have been marginalized or concealed in societies that adhere to the norm of sexual attraction to human beings. They are occasionally stigmatized or pathologized.[1][8] Through interviews with fictosexual individuals, Matsuura discovered that they face similar forms of oppression due to compulsory sexuality as asexual individuals.[11] Furthermore, it was observed that sexual desire does not always entail a desire for sexual intercourse.[11] Just as not all allosexuals desire sexual contact, some fictosexual individuals do not desire interactive relationships with fictional characters.[1][11] Matsuura's research indicates that these individuals are rendered invisible underamatonormativity.[11] Interview surveys suggest that the practices of fictosexual individuals offer possibilities to challenge compulsory sexuality and human-oriented sexualism.[3][11]
According to Elizabeth Miles, some activists have labeled the sexuality only attracted to manga/anime fictional characters as a "third sexual orientation," and she argues that "it is the criticism of non-real-world sex, sex outside a flesh-and-blood relationship, which drives much contemporary anti-pornography criticism and activism".[17] Matsuura criticizes accusations that ACG pornography sexualizes women and children, arguing that these claims presuppose human-oriented sexualism and humanogenderism.[7][10] According to Matsuura, these human-oriented sexualism and humanogenderism are structural problems that enable the sexualization of women and children by ACG pornography while simultaneously erasing the existence of fictosexuaity.[7] Therefore, Matsuura suggests that fictosexuals and feminists should unite in solidarity to criticize human-oriented sexualism and humanogenderism.[7]
Online communities and forums about fictosexuality exist.[1][3] In Taiwan, Hsi-wen Liao has foundedTaiwan Entrepot of Fictosexuality, a fictosexual activist organization in solidarity with feminist bookstores andLGBTQ activists.[23][3][9]
In June 2023, Japanese school administratorAkihiko Kondo, who identifies as a fictosexual,[24][25] founded the General Incorporated Association of Fictosexuality[26][27] to provide comfort to fictosexuals, hold meetings with people that have similar views, and improve the understanding of the subject.[28] Izumi Tsuji, secretary of the Japan Youth Study Group atChuo University, where he is a sociology of culture professor, described Kondo as "a pioneer for the fictosexual movement".[29]
In 2024, Yuu Matsuura founded the awareness organizationFictosexual Perspective in Japan to archive experiences and thoughts of fictosexual individuals.[8][30]
The symbolic marriage ofAkihiko Kondo toHatsune Miku in 2018 was widely covered by various media outlets worldwide.[24][31]
In 2025, Japanese novelistSayaka Murata publicly stated, "fictosexuality is very strong in me."[32] In her novelVanishing World, she depicted "a world in which aspects ofpolyamory,asexuality,aromanticism, and fictosexuality (and it is aspects of, not a one-to-one correspondence with those orientations as they exist in our world) become the shaping tendencies in a new structuring of human relationships."[33]
