Q: Thanks for your reply. For clarification, those surveys I mentioned (Floating Into Abyss, the Reddit survey, and the paper on the yaoi fandom by Dru Pagliasotti) covered English-speaking audiences (Pagliasotti also made an Italian survey). My personal theory is that those women and men use yaoi and yuri to explore their queer tendencies in a "heteronormative" way. Interesting fact, Verena Maser 2015 (a study on the Japanese yuri fandom), non-heterosexual women doubled the amount of het women. In the English speaking survey by FIB, 96% of women said they were not straight. In the Japanese yuri fandom survey, only 2-3% of respondents were non-straight men. In the English speaking survey, 23.38% of men said they were not straight. Interesting contrasts, aren't they?
A:
Yes it is interesting!
Plenty of bisexuals and non-straight people still only participate in straight relationships because it's acceptable to be heterosexual (behaving heteronormatively) while their attraction they exhibit through their media consumption habits.
I think the statistics are especially interesting because queer culture in Japan is so different. People in Japan still actively discriminate against gay couples, as in you can be barred from hotels or kicked out of bars.
And so many LGBT people in Japan are closeted or just not in relationships, and also well, there are other aspects of JP relationships that make these things difficult to think about. I want to say this carefully, but sex work and side relationships are very common, and while it is typically thought of as a 'guy thing,' I think statistics for women are under reported.
And in Japan, there's even less reason to come out because of the lack of legal protection and so many queer JP people operate online anonymously too. It's something I think about often despite knowing I'll never have any answers.
ANYWAY. All of that is to say I think people in Japan and across cultures express their sexuality in a variety of ways which is a big part of yuri and yaoi statistics.
Plenty of bisexuals and non-straight people still only participate in straight relationships because it's acceptable to be heterosexual (behaving heteronormatively) while their attraction they exhibit through their media consumption habits.
I think the statistics are especially interesting because queer culture in Japan is so different. People in Japan still actively discriminate against gay couples, as in you can be barred from hotels or kicked out of bars.
And so many LGBT people in Japan are closeted or just not in relationships, and also well, there are other aspects of JP relationships that make these things difficult to think about. I want to say this carefully, but sex work and side relationships are very common, and while it is typically thought of as a 'guy thing,' I think statistics for women are under reported.
And in Japan, there's even less reason to come out because of the lack of legal protection and so many queer JP people operate online anonymously too. It's something I think about often despite knowing I'll never have any answers.
ANYWAY. All of that is to say I think people in Japan and across cultures express their sexuality in a variety of ways which is a big part of yuri and yaoi statistics.
Q: The thing is that I don't really think there's much conversation about cisgender himedanshi, whether heterosexual, gay or bisexual; at least in academic circles. And the papers I could find on cisgender fujoshi, be they heterosexual, lesbian or bisexual. Which I think it's a pity, because I think it could be really interesting. In general terms, tho, bisexual women and men are more likely to be into yaoi and yuri, respectively, than the general (cishet) population, at least to a big fandom survey by Floating Into Bliss, many Reddit surveys on yuri fandoms, and that old paper on fujoshi. Do you have any theories on why this could be?
Addition: The FIB survey used "heterosexual", and "non-heterosexual"; so did some (but not all) Reddit surveys on yuri subreddits. That old paper on yaoi fandoms did use those three sexualities.
A: These conversations are likely untranslated locked away in JP university archives unfortunately. There are classes in Japan on yuri and probably yaoi too. So much of academia is locked away, and it's hard to access information for future research when that data just doesn't exist/isn't accessible. It's a shame.
But well, with the addition, I just think it makes a lot of sense for non-heterosexuals to be into yuri and yaoi even more than their Japanese counterparts. Yuri and yaoi was and is still somewhat fringe, even in mainstream otaku circles (at least in the west). And queer people to me are more likely to seek out queer content of all types.
I also think a lot of straight women read yaoi but aren't active in fujo spaces. Because it's just erotica they read privately. I know other fujoshi in real life who are too anxious to even make accounts anonymously on manga sites because they're so scared of it being traced back to them. It seems hard to gather data on, and I don't think gathering data on fandom forums is perfect. I'm specifying with fujoshi specifically since fujoshis are majority women, and it doesn't have the same distribution of readers as yuri.
My last point is that I think a lot of straight people aren't actually straight. I have a friend I know now who didn't know she was straight until after she was married, and she likes yuri. Seeing queer content causes people to actively question their sexuality, and many people lean towards bisexual. Bisexuals are the largest majority in LGBT spaces and as more people question their sexuality, many people will identify as bisexual. These asks are enriching!
But well, with the addition, I just think it makes a lot of sense for non-heterosexuals to be into yuri and yaoi even more than their Japanese counterparts. Yuri and yaoi was and is still somewhat fringe, even in mainstream otaku circles (at least in the west). And queer people to me are more likely to seek out queer content of all types.
I also think a lot of straight women read yaoi but aren't active in fujo spaces. Because it's just erotica they read privately. I know other fujoshi in real life who are too anxious to even make accounts anonymously on manga sites because they're so scared of it being traced back to them. It seems hard to gather data on, and I don't think gathering data on fandom forums is perfect. I'm specifying with fujoshi specifically since fujoshis are majority women, and it doesn't have the same distribution of readers as yuri.
My last point is that I think a lot of straight people aren't actually straight. I have a friend I know now who didn't know she was straight until after she was married, and she likes yuri. Seeing queer content causes people to actively question their sexuality, and many people lean towards bisexual. Bisexuals are the largest majority in LGBT spaces and as more people question their sexuality, many people will identify as bisexual. These asks are enriching!
Q: It was a very good answer. However, I didn't use cis to mean cishet, but just cis, which I feel you mixed up, judging by this quote: "I think it'd be weird for me to harshly judge het himedanshi for liking yuri when I like some cis guy mangaka/manwhaga/etc etc." Thanks again for your reply.
A: Thank you! Apologies, I cut some parts out of my answer to avoid rambling for too long, but I specified 'cishet' because to me, the relationship a gay himedanshi has with yuri is inherently different from a heterosexual, perhaps bisexuals too.
Since I have the opportunity now, I want to add that I read a lot of yaoi as a lesbian so my relationship with yaoi is different from a straight/bi fujoshi which is another reason, so I wanted to specify a bit! But I wasn't being very thorough ajaj. I talk about my yaoi reading habits with gay friends (who like it for reasons different from me) and I feel like the attraction aspect is a big part of the conversation around himedanshi in yuri circles. The vibes of a conversation I'd have with a gay himedanshi would be different from a straight himedanshi. I hope that makes sense.
I hope that makes sense. If you have anymore questions, it's fun to answer :D
Since I have the opportunity now, I want to add that I read a lot of yaoi as a lesbian so my relationship with yaoi is different from a straight/bi fujoshi which is another reason, so I wanted to specify a bit! But I wasn't being very thorough ajaj. I talk about my yaoi reading habits with gay friends (who like it for reasons different from me) and I feel like the attraction aspect is a big part of the conversation around himedanshi in yuri circles. The vibes of a conversation I'd have with a gay himedanshi would be different from a straight himedanshi. I hope that makes sense.
I hope that makes sense. If you have anymore questions, it's fun to answer :D
Q: What are your thoughts on cisgender himedanshi? Do you make distinctions between straight and non-straight himedans?
A: 
The interest in yuri being even distributed among genders is something love about the genre. I do talk poorly of male authors sometimes lol, but it's really all in good fun. Plenty of the yuri I like is by guys or by authors of mixed genders, and even women make a lot of depictions I consider shit (almost everything by Rangrari is absolute ass to me and I think she is a lesbian).
I also write a lots of demographics I'm not part of and I'm in minority spaces where I'm not part of that minority, and if they joked about my presence to me, I'd just laugh even it was a bit uncomfortable!
I realized that doesn't sound specific because this question is regarding the userbase, but it's important because I think it'd be weird for me to harshly judge het himedanshi for liking yuri when I like some cis guy mangaka/manwhaga/etc etc. And I don't care thaawg, and the more people like yuri the better! We get more anime, more merch, etc etc. And I don't think anyone regardless of gender should feel guilty for being attracted to girls and preferring the yuri genre. People should write and read whatever they want.
Also, I'll add that while I don't care what people read, it probably wouldn't be super fun for a lot of het himedanshi to talk about yuri to me because I am insane lesbian. Hope that answers your question!
The interest in yuri being even distributed among genders is something love about the genre. I do talk poorly of male authors sometimes lol, but it's really all in good fun. Plenty of the yuri I like is by guys or by authors of mixed genders, and even women make a lot of depictions I consider shit (almost everything by Rangrari is absolute ass to me and I think she is a lesbian).
I also write a lots of demographics I'm not part of and I'm in minority spaces where I'm not part of that minority, and if they joked about my presence to me, I'd just laugh even it was a bit uncomfortable!
I realized that doesn't sound specific because this question is regarding the userbase, but it's important because I think it'd be weird for me to harshly judge het himedanshi for liking yuri when I like some cis guy mangaka/manwhaga/etc etc. And I don't care thaawg, and the more people like yuri the better! We get more anime, more merch, etc etc. And I don't think anyone regardless of gender should feel guilty for being attracted to girls and preferring the yuri genre. People should write and read whatever they want.
Also, I'll add that while I don't care what people read, it probably wouldn't be super fun for a lot of het himedanshi to talk about yuri to me because I am insane lesbian. Hope that answers your question!