| Part of a series on |
| Anime andmanga |
|---|
 |
 Anime and manga portal |
Yuri (Japanese:百合;lit. "lily"), also known by thewasei-eigo constructiongirls' love (ガールズラブ,gāruzu rabu), is a genre of Japanese media focusing onintimate relationships between female characters. Whilelesbian relationships are a commonly associated theme, the genre is also inclusive of works depicting emotional and spiritual relationships between women that are not necessarily romantic or sexual in nature.Yuri is most commonly associated withanime andmanga, though the term has also been used to describevideo games,light novels, and other forms ofliterature.
Themes associated withyuri originate from Japanese lesbian fiction of the early twentieth century, notably the writings ofNobuko Yoshiya and literature in theClass S genre. Manga depicting femalehomoeroticism began to appear in the 1970s in the works of artists associated with theYear 24 Group, notablyRyoko Yamagishi andRiyoko Ikeda. The genre gained wider popularity beginning in the 1990s. The founding ofYuri Shimai in 2003 as the firstmanga magazine devoted exclusively toyuri, followed by its successorComic Yuri Hime in 2005, led to the establishment ofyuri as a discrete publishing genre and the creation of ayurifan culture.
As a genre,yuri does not inherently target a single gender demographic, unlike its male homoerotic counterpartsboys' love (BL, marketed towards a female audience) andgay manga (marketed towards a gay male audience). Althoughyuri originated as a genre targeted towards a female audience,yuri works have been produced that target a male audience, as in manga fromComic Yuri Hime's male-targeted sister magazineComic Yuri Hime S.
.JPG)
The wordyuri (百合) translates literally to "lily", and is a relatively common Japanese feminine name.[1] White lilies have been used since theRomantic era ofJapanese literature to symbolize beauty and purity in women, and are a de facto symbol of theyuri genre.[2]
In 1976,Ito Bungaku, editor of the gay men's magazineBarazoku (薔薇族;lit. "Rose Tribe"), used the termyurizoku (百合族;lit. "lily tribe") in reference to female readers of the magazine in a column of letters titledYurizoku no Heya (百合族の部屋;lit. "Lily Tribe's Room").[3][4] While not all women whose letters appeared inYurizoku no Heya were lesbians, and it is unclear whether the column was the first instance of the termyuri in this context, an association ofyuri with lesbianism subsequently developed.[5] For example, the male–male romance magazineAllan began publishingYuri Tsūshin (百合通信, "Lily Communication") in July 1983 as apersonal ad column for "lesbiennes" to communicate.[6]
The term came to be associated with lesbian pornographic manga beginning in the 1990s, notably through the manga magazineLady's Comic Misuto (1996–1999), which heavily featured symbolic lily flowers.[6] When the termyuri began being used in the West in the 1990s, it was similarly used almost exclusively to describe pornographic manga aimed at male readers featuring lesbian couples.[4] Over time, the term drifted from this pornographic connotation to describe the portrayal of intimate love, sex, or emotional connections between women,[7] and became broadly recognized as a genre name for works depicting same-sex female intimacy in the mid-2000s following the founding of the specializedyuri manga magazinesYuri Shimai andComic Yurihime.[6] The Western use ofyuri subsequently broadened beginning in the 2000s, picking up connotations from the Japanese use.[7] American publishing companies such asALC Publishing andSeven Seas Entertainment have also adopted the Japanese usage of the term to classify theiryuri manga publications.[8][9]
In Korea and China, "lily" is used as asemantic loan from the Japanese usage to describe female–female romance media, where each use the direct translation of the term:baekhap (백합) in Korea, andbǎihé (百合) in China.[10]
Thewasei-eigo construction "girls' love" (ガールズラブ,gāruzu rabu) and its abbreviation "GL" were adopted by Japanese publishers in the 2000s, likely as an antonym of the male–male romance genreboys' love (BL).[4][11] While the term is generally considered synonymous withyuri, in rare cases it is used to denoteyuri media that is sexually explicit, following the publication of the eroticyuri manga anthologyGirls Love byIchijinsha in 2011. However, this distinction is infrequently made, andyuri and "girls' love" are almost always used interchangeably.[12]
In the 1990s, Western fans began to use the termshōjo-ai (少女愛;lit. "girl love") to describeyuri works that do not depict explicit sex. Its usage was modeled after the Western appropriation of the termshōnen-ai (少年愛;lit. "boy love") to describe BL works that do not feature sexually explicit content.[4] In Japan, the termshōjo-ai is not used with this meaning,[4] and instead denotespedophilic relationships between adult men and girls.[13][14]
Among the first Japanese authors to produce works about love between women wasNobuko Yoshiya,[15] a novelist active in theTaishō andShōwa periods.[16] Yoshiya was a pioneer in Japaneselesbian literature, including the early twentieth centuryClass S genre.[17] Her works popularized many of the ideas and tropes which drove theyuri genre for years to come.[18] Class S stories depict lesbian attachments as emotionally intense yetplatonic relationships, destined to be curtailed by graduation from school, marriage, or death.[16] The root of this genre is in part the contemporary belief that same-sex love was a transitory and normal part of female development leading intoheterosexuality and motherhood.[19] Class S developed in the 1930s through Japanese girls' magazines, but declined as a result of state censorship brought about by theSecond Sino–Japanese War in 1937.[20] Thoughhomosociality between girls would re-emerge as a common theme in post-warshōjo manga (comics for girls), Class S gradually declined in popularity in favor of works focused on male–female romances.[21]
Traditionally, Class S stories focus on strong emotional bonds between anupperclassman and an underclassman,[17] or in rare cases, between a student and her teacher.[22] Privateall-girls schools are a common setting for Class S stories, which are depicted as an idyllic homosocial world reserved for women. Works in the genre focus heavily on the beauty and innocence of their protagonists, a theme that would recur inyuri.[23] Critics have alternately considered Class S as a distinct genre fromyuri,[24] as a "proto-yuri",[25] and a component ofyuri.[24]
In 1970, manga artistMasako Yashiro published theshōjo mangaShīkuretto Rabu (シークレットラブ; "Secret Love"), which focuses on alove triangle between two girls and a boy. Noted as the first non-Class S manga to depict an intimate relationship between women,Shīkuretto Rabu is regarded by some scholars as the first work in theyuri genre.[26] As both Yashiro andShīkuretto Rabu are relatively obscure and the work focuses in part on male–female romance, most critics identifyShiroi Heya no Futari byRyōko Yamagishi, published in 1971, as the firstyuri manga.[27][28][29] The 1970s also sawshōjo manga that dealt withtransgender characters and characters who blur gender distinctions throughcross-dressing,[30] which was inspired in part by theTakarazuka Revue, an all-female theater troupe where women play male roles.[31] These traits are most prominent inRiyoko Ikeda's works,[32] includingThe Rose of Versailles (1972–1973),Dear Brother (1975), andClaudine (1978).[33] Someshōnen works of this period featured lesbian characters, though they were typically depicted asfanservice andcomic relief.[34]
Roughly a dozenyuri manga were published from the 1970s to the early 1990s, with the majority being published in the 1970s.[35] Most of these stories aretragedies, focused on doomed relationships that end in separation or death.[36] Owing to the small number of works published during this period and their generally tragic focus,Yuri Shimai has referred to the 1970s and 1980s as the "dark age" ofyuri.[37] Several theories have emerged to explain the bias towards tragic narratives present in this period. Writer and translatorFrederik L. Schodt notes that the majority ofshōjo manga published during this period were tragic, regardless of whether or not they wereyuri.[36] James Welker ofKanagawa University argues that these narratives represent a form of "lesbian panic", where the character—and by extension, the author—refuses their own lesbian feelings and desires.[36] Verena Maser suggests that the decline of Class S removed the only context in which intimate relationships between women were possible,[38] while Yukari Fujimoto suggests thatpatriarchal forces were responsible for tragic endings in these stories.[36]
By the 1990s, tragic story formulas in manga had declined in popularity.[39] 1992 saw the release of two major works for the development ofyuri:Jukkai me no Jukkai (1992) byWakuni Akisato [ja], which began to move the genre away from tragic outcomes and stereotyped dynamics;[40] and theanime adaptation ofSailor Moon (1991–1997) byNaoko Takeuchi, the first mainstream manga and anime series to feature a "positive" portrayal of a lesbian relationship in the coupling ofSailor Uranus andSailor Neptune.[7][32] The immense popularity ofSailor Moon allowed the series to be adapted into anime, films, and to be exported internationally, significantly influencing theshōjo andyuri genres.[41] Uranus and Neptune became popular subjects ofdōjinshi (self-published manga, analogous tofan comics) and contributed to the development ofyuri dōjinshi culture.[42][43]
The success ofSailor Moon significantly influenced the development ofyuri, and by the mid-1990s, anime, and manga featuring intimate relationships between women enjoyed mainstream success and popularity.[32]Sailor Moon directorKunihiko Ikuhara went on to createRevolutionary Girl Utena (1997–1999), ashōjo anime series with female same-sex relationships as a central focus.[44] This period also saw a revival of the Class S genre through the bestsellinglight novel seriesMaria-sama ga Miteru (1998–2012) byOyuki Konno [ja],[45][46] which by 2010 had 5.4 million copies in print.[47] Another prominent author of this period isKaho Nakayama, active since the early 1990s, with works involving love stories among women.[45] The first Japanese magazines specifically targeted towards lesbians, many of which contained sections featuringyuri manga, also emerged during this period.[48] Stories in these magazines ranged from high school romance to lesbian life and love and featured varying degrees of sexual content.[48][49]
Faced with a proliferation of stories focused on homosociality, homoeroticism, and female homosexuality, some publishers sought to exploit theyuri market by creatingmanga magazines dedicated to the genre, coalescing aroundyuri as the preferred name for this genre in response to its popularity indōjinshi culture.[6] In 2003,Yuri Tengoku andYuri Shimai launched as the first manga magazines devoted exclusively toyuri.[50] This was followed by the female-orientedComic Yuri Hime in 2005 and the male-orientedComic Yuri Hime S in 2007; the two magazines merged under the titleComic Yuri Hime in 2010.[51]
Stories in these magazines dealt with a range of themes, from intense emotional connections such as those depicted inVoiceful (2004–2006), to sexually explicit schoolgirl romances like those portrayed inFirst Love Sisters (2003–2008),[52] and realistic tales about love between adult women such as those seen inThe Conditions of Paradise (2007).[53] Some of these subjects are seen in male-targeted works of this period as well,[54][55] sometimes in combination with other themes, includingmecha andscience fiction.[56][57] Examples include series such asKannazuki no Miko (2004–2005),Blue Drop (2004–2008), andKashimashi: Girl Meets Girl (2004–2007). In addition, male-targeted stories tend to make extensive use ofmoe andbishōjo characterizations.[58]
The publication ofyuri magazines had the effect of nurturing a "yuri culture" that influenced artists to create works depicting female same-sex relationships.[29] Further, articles in these magazines contributed to the history of the genre by retroactively labeling certain works asyuri, thus developing "a historical canon of theyuri genre."[59] Specifically, Verena Maser notes in her analysis of issues ofYuri Shimai,Comic Yurihime, andComic Yurihime S published from 2003 to 2012 that eight of the ten most-referenced series in the magazines predate the 2003 formalization ofyuri as a publishing genre:Apurōzu - Kassai (1981–1985),Sakura no Sono (1985–1986),Sailor Moon (1992–1996),Cardcaptor Sakura (1996–2000),Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997–1999),Maria-sama ga Miteru (1998–2012),Loveless (2002–present), andStrawberry Marshmallow (2002–present).[6]
While schoolgirl romances remained popular into the 2010s and 2020s, notablyKase-san (2010–2017),Citrus (2012–2018),Bloom Into You (2015–2019),Whisper Me a Love Song (2019–present), andThere's No Freaking Way I'll be Your Lover! Unless... (2020–present),yuri works during this period began to incorporate new genres, themes, and subject material.[60][61][62] The mid-2010s sawyuri works expand to genres such as science fiction andisekai, as well as the formalization ofshakaijin yuri (社会人百合;lit. "member of societyyuri") as a subgenre focused on stories involving adult women.[60]
The growth of digital platforms likePixiv,Twitter, andShōsetsuka ni Narō allowed for the creation and widespread distribution ofyuri works outside of traditional manga magazine anddōjinshi publishing:My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness (2016) was originally published as aweb comic, while theyuri fantasy worksSexiled (2018–2019),Roll Over and Die (2018–present), andI'm in Love with the Villainess (2018–present) began asweb novels on Shōsetsuka ni Narō before being adapted into other mediums.[60]Yuri stories by openly lesbian creators also became more prominent, such asMy Lesbian Experience With Loneliness.[63] The genre of comic essays—stories that focus on the author's life experiences—have also become popular, including the aforementionedMy Lesbian Experience with Loneliness and Hiranishi Mieri'sThe Moment I Realized I Wasn't Straight.[64]
.jpg)
Yuri as a genre depicts intimate relationships between women, a scope that is broadly defined to include romantic love, intense friendships, spiritual love, and rivalry.[65] While lesbianism is a theme commonly associated withyuri, not all characters inyuri media are necessarily non-heterosexual; Welker states that the question whetheryuri characters are lesbians is a "very complicated issue."[66] Characters inyuri works frequently do not define their sexual orientation in explicit terms, and the matter is instead left to reader interpretation.[67]
Rica Takashima notes Western and Japanese fans often have differing expectations for the level of intimacy depicted inyuri, which she ascribes to cultural differences between the groups.[68] She notes thatyuri works that enjoy international popularity tend to be explicit and focused on "cute girls making out with each other," while Japanese fans "have a propensity for reading between the lines, picking up on subtle cues, and using their own imaginations to weave rich tapestries of meaning from small threads."[68]
Thoughyuri has been historically and thematically linked toshōjo manga since its emergence in the 1970s,yuri works have been published in all demographic groups for manga, not onlyshōjo (girls), but alsojosei (adult women),shōnen (boys) andseinen (adult men).Shōjoyuri works tend to focus on fanciful andfairy tale-inspired narratives that idolize Takarazuka Revue-inspired "girl prince" characters, whileyuri works in thejosei demographic tend to depict same-sex female couples with a greater degree of realism. Conversely,shōnen andseinen manga tend to useyuri to depict relationships between "innocent schoolgirls" and "predatory lesbians". Manga magazines dedicated exclusively toyuri tend not to conform to any one specific demographic, and are thus inclusive of content ranging from schoolgirl romances to sexually explicit content.[69]
Often, works that are perceived and categorized asyuri in Japan are not regarded as such by international audiences. For example, while in the WestSailor Moon is regarded as amagical girl series with someyuri elements, in Japan the series is regarded byyuri magazines as a "monumental work" of the genre.[70] TheSailor Moon example further illustrates how fans, rather than publishers or creators, often determine whether a work isyuri;Sailor Moon was not conceived as ayuri manga or anime, but "became ayuri text"[71] based on how the work was interpreted and consumed byyuri fans.[65][69]
Yuri works generally do not depict graphic sex scenes. Unlikeboys' love andyaoi, where explicit depictions of sexual acts are commonplace and stories typically climax with the central couple engaging inanal intercourse, sexual acts inyuri are rarely more explicit than kissing and the caressing of breasts.[29] Kazumi Nagaike ofOita University argues that this general avoidance of sex "does not mean that female sexual desire is effaced" inyuri, but rather that the absence of sex "clearly derives from the importance which is placed on the spiritual female–female bond."[29]
The majority ofyuri stories published in the 1970s and 1980s weretragedies, focused on doomed relationships that end in separation or death (seeHistory above).[36]Yukari Fujimoto, a manga scholar atMeiji University, notes that the tragic plot ofShiroi Heya no Futari became a commonyuri story archetype that she dubs "Crimson Rose and Candy Girl". These stories depict "Candy", a physically smaller character with lighter hair and a naive personality, who admires "Rose", a generally taller character with long dark hair and a serious demeanor.[36] The characters bond over a common unhappiness, usually originating from their respective home lives.[72] The attachment between Candy and Rose becomes the subject of rumors or evenblackmail while Candy and Rose grow to acknowledge that their relationship has become romantic. The story concludes with Rose dying in order to protect Candy from scandal.[36] While tragic story formulas inyuri declined in popularity by the 1990s,[39] the Rose and Candy archetypes continue to influence contemporaryyuri stories, particularly those that depictsenpai andkōhai relationships such asBloom Into You.[72]
InJapanese lesbian culture, the participants in a lesbian relationship are occasionally referred to astachi (タチ;lit. "top", as derived fromtachiyaku, the male role inkabuki), which designates theactive participant, andneko (ネコ;lit. "cat"), which designates thesubmissive participant.[73] This distinction is comparable to that of theseme anduke distinction in BL, or to thebutch and femme distinction in general lesbian culture.[74] Characters in contemporaryyuri rarely conform to these dichotomies,[29] though the dynamic of an active partner and a passive partner that thetachi andneko distinction represents does recur in the genre.[74]
In the mid-1990s and early 2000s, some Japanese lesbian lifestyle magazines contained manga sections, including the now-defunct magazinesAnise (1996–1997, 2001–2003) andPhryné (1995).[48]Carmilla, an erotic lesbian publication,[48] released an anthology of lesbian manga calledGirl's Only.[75] Additionally,Mist (1996–1999), aladies' comic manga magazine, contained sexually explicit lesbian-themed manga as part of a section dedicated to lesbian-interest topics.[48]
The first publication marketed exclusively asyuri was Sun Magazine's mangaanthology magazineYuri Shimai, which was released between June 2003 and November 2004 in quarterly installments, ending with only five issues.[76] After the magazine's discontinuation,Comic Yuri Hime was launched byIchijinsha in July 2005 as a revival of the magazine,[77] containing manga by many of the authors who had had work serialized inYuri Shimai.[78] Like its predecessor,Comic Yuri Hime was also published quarterly but went on to release bi-monthly on odd months from January 2011 to December 2016, after which it became monthly.[78][79][80] A sister magazine toComic Yuri Hime, namedComic Yuri Hime S, was launched as a quarterly publication by Ichijinsha in June 2007.[81] Unlike eitherYuri Shimai orComic Yuri Hime,Comic Yuri Hime S was targeted towards a male audience.[58] However, in 2010 it was merged withComic Yuri Hime.[82] Ichijinsha publishedlight novel adaptations fromComic Yuri Hime works and originalyuri novels under theirshōjo light novel lineIchijinsha Bunko Iris starting in July 2008.[83]
OnceComic Yuri Hime helped establish the market, several otheryuri anthologies were released, such asYuri Koi Girls Love Story [ja],Mebae,[84]Yuri Drill,[85]Yuri + Kanojo,[86] andEclair.[87]Houbunsha andShinshokan also published their ownyuri magazines,Tsubomi andHirari respectively, withTsubomi running from February 2009 to December 2012 for a total of 21 issues,[88][89] andHirari running from April 2010 to July 2014 for a total of 14 issues.[90][91] After a successful crowdfunding campaign, the creator-ownedyuri anthology magazineGalette was launched in 2017.[92][93]
The first company to release lesbian-themed manga in North America wasYuricon's publishing arm ALC Publishing.[94] Their works includeRica Takashima'sRica 'tte Kanji!? (1995–1996) and their annualyuri manga anthologyYuri Monogatari, both of which were published in 2003.[94] The latter collects stories by American, European, and Japanese creators, including Akiko Morishima, Althea Keaton, Kristina Kolhi, Tomomi Nakasora, and Eriko Tadeno.[95][96] These works range from fantasy stories to more realistic tales dealing with themes such ascoming out andsexual orientation.[96]
Besides ALC Publishing, the Los Angeles-basedSeven Seas Entertainment has also incurred in the genre, with the English version of well-known titles such asKashimashi: Girl Meets Girl (2004–2007) andStrawberry Panic! (2003–2007).[9] On October 24, 2006, Seven Seas announced the launch of their specializedyuri manga line, which includes titles such asStrawberry Panic!,The Last Uniform (2004–2006),[9] andComic Yuri Hime's compilations such asVoiceful (2004–2006) andFirst Love Sisters (2003–2008).[52] Between 2011 and 2013, the now-defunctJManga released severalyuri titles to its digital subscription platform, before terminating service on March 13, 2013.[97] As of 2017,Viz Media andYen Press began publishingyuri manga,[98][99] withTokyopop following in 2018.[100]Kodansha Comics announced its debut into publishing bothyuri and BL manga in 2019, as well asDigital Manga launching a new imprint specializing inyuridōjin manga.[101][102]
Asyuri gained further recognition outside Japan, some artists began creatingoriginal English-language manga that were labeled asyuri or havingyuri elements and subplots. Early examples of original English-languageyuri comics includeSteady Beat (2003) by Rivkah LaFille and12 Days (2006) by June Kim, which were published between 2005 and 2006. Additionally, more English-developed visual novels and indie games have marketed themselves asyuri games.[103] Some of these games includeHighway Blossoms (2016) andHeart of the Woods (2019), both developed byStudio Élan.[104] This has been aided by theYuri Game Jam, agame jam established in 2015 that takes place annually.[105]
By the mid-2010s,yuri video games also began to be officially translated into English. In 2015,MangaGamer announced they would be releasingA Kiss for the Petals, the first license of ayuri game to have an English translation. MangaGamer went on to publishKindred Spirits on the Roof in 2016, which was one of the first adult visual novels to be released uncensored on theSteam store.[106]
Whileyuri originated in female-targeted (shōjo,josei) works, the genre has evolved over time to also target a male audience. Various studies have been undertaken to examine the demography ofyuri fandom.[107]
The first magazine to study the demographics of its readers wasYuri Shimai (2003–2004), who estimated the proportion of women at almost 70%, and that the majority of them were either teenagers or women in their thirties who were already interested inshōjo and BL manga.[108] In 2008,Ichijinsha made a demographic study for its two magazinesComic Yuri Hime andComic Yuri Hime S, the first being targeted to women, the second to men. The study revealed that women accounted for 73% ofComic Yuri Hime readership, while inComic Yuri Hime S, men accounted for 62%. The publisher noted, however, that readers of the latter magazine also tended to read the first, which led to their merger in 2010.[82] Regarding the age of women forComic Yuri Hime, 27% were under 20 years old, 27% were 20–24 years old, 23% were 25–29 years old, and 23% over 30 years old.[108] As of 2017, the ratio of men to women is said to have shifted to about 6:4, thanks in part to theComic Yuri Hime S merge and the mostly male readershipYuruYuri brought with it.[109]
Verena Maser conducted a study of Japaneseyuri fandom demographics between September and October 2011. This study, mainly oriented towards theYuri Komyu! community and the social networkMixi, received a total of 1,352 valid responses. The study found that 52.4% of respondents were women, 46.1% were men and 1.6% did not identify with either gender.[110] The sexuality of the participants was also requested, separated into two categories: "heterosexual" and "non-heterosexual". The results were as follows: 39.5% were heterosexual men, 30% were non-heterosexual women, 15.2% were heterosexual women, 4.7% were non-heterosexual men, and 1.2% identified as "other".[110] Regarding age, 69% of respondents were 16–25 years old. Maser's study reinforced the notion of theyuri fandom being split somewhat equally between men and women, as well as highlighting the differing sexualities within it.[111]
The relationship betweenyuri and lesbianism is tenuous in Japan. Whileyuri was strongly associated with lesbianism in Japan in the 1970s and 1980s, the correlation between the terms has weakened over time.[112] Though Japanese fans, journalists, and publishers recognize thatyuri and lesbianism share common characteristics, they can specifically segregate the terms as concepts, withComic Yurihime editor Seitarō Nakamura stating that "in general, [yuri is] not [about] lesbians [rezubian] with a carnal relationship."[112] Japanese lesbian andqueer magazines in the 1990s often opposed the conflation ofyuri with lesbianism, likely due to its prior connotation with male-oriented pornography.[112]
Erin Subramian ofYuricon explains that most Japanese people see the term "lesbian" as describing either "abnormal people in pornography or strange people in other countries."[113] Maser concurs thatyuri is a genre primarily focused on ideals of beauty, purity, innocence, and spirituality before sexual identity; focus is placed on "connection between hearts" rather than "connection between bodies."[114] Nagaike notes in her analysis of letters published inComic Yuri Hime that many female readers of the magazine identify as heterosexual; she thus arguesyuri is more closely aligned withhomosociality than it is with homosexuality, even if the two concepts are not mutually exclusive.[29] Maser analyzes contradictory sources and concludes that the "line betweenyuri and 'lesbian'/'homosexuality' is…blurry". She notes that in her sources, "the termrezubian [lesbian] is used in many instances, but that it is almost never made clear what exactly it is referring to".[115]
Nagaike argues thatyuri is a byproduct of theshōjo kyōdōtai (少女 共同体;lit. "community of girls"), which formed in pre-war all-girls schools in Japan. Isolated from the influence ofpatriarchy, adolescent girls created a "shōjo culture" that used Class S literature to disseminate and share homosocial cultural codes. Though this culture was significant in informing girls' attitudes about femininity and independence, it was ultimately ephemeral; upon leaving the single-sex school environment, girls became subject to patriarchal expectations of marriage and family.[29]
Asmixed-sex education became more common in the post-war era and Class S literature declined as a means to disseminate homosocial bonds, cross-dressing and BL emerged as the primary modes in literature for women to criticize and resist patriarchy.[113][114] The emergence ofyuri allowed for a return to Class S-style homosociality, of which homosexuality is a component.[29] Thus, Nagaike asserts thatyuri does not conform to the political vision of lesbianism espoused by philosophers likeMonique Wittig that sees lesbianism as overthrowing "the political and sociological interpretation of women's identity"; rather,yuri is closer toAdrienne Rich's vision of a "lesbian continuum" that seeks to overthrowcompulsory heterosexuality.[29]
In reality, yuri has no homologous audience, and is not made primarily by or for men, women, straight people, queer people, or any other demographic. Throughout its 100-year history, the genre has uniquely evolved in and moved about multiple markets, often existing in many simultaneously. It is by and for a variety of people: men, women, heterosexuals, queer people, everyone!
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Main article:Sexual minorities in Japan | |||||||||||||
| Law | |||||||||||||
| History |
| ||||||||||||
| Culture |
| ||||||||||||
| Related | |||||||||||||
| Industry associations | |
|---|---|
| Awards | |
| Types | |
| Genres | |
| Anime programming blocks | |
| Related topics | |
