Yaoi Lesbians: Media, Identity, and Desire

Media consumption reflects aspects of identity while also assisting in identity formation (Koller, 2008; Zemmels, 2012; Wu, 2006). This thesis examines the phenomenon of lesbians who engage with men-loving-men (MLM) media. The practice seems odd due to the contrast of lesbians desiring women for their social, platonic, romantic, and sexual relationships, but this thesis finds that repeated consumption of media that display men and their desires can index lesbianism. This practice helps lesbians construct their identities through three processes of indexicality: indexical disjuncture, indexical bleaching, and indexical denial (Barrett & Hall, 2024). Through a discourse analysis of five semi-constructed interviews with lesbians, I argue that MLM media engagement indexes a lesbian identity, and lesbians use the media as a safe space to explore identity and desire.