Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jan 12:11:575427.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.575427. eCollection 2020.

Fictosexuality, Fictoromance, and Fictophilia: A Qualitative Study of Love and Desire for Fictional Characters

Veli-Matti Karhulahti  1   2 , Tanja Välisalo  1
Affiliations

Fictosexuality, Fictoromance, and Fictophilia: A Qualitative Study of Love and Desire for Fictional Characters

Veli-Matti Karhulahti et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Fictosexuality, fictoromance, and fictophilia are terms that have recently become popular in online environments as indicators of strong and lasting feelings of love, infatuation, or desire for one or more fictional characters. This article explores the phenomenon by qualitative thematic analysis of 71 relevant online discussions. Five central themes emerge from the data: (1) fictophilic paradox, (2) fictophilic stigma, (3) fictophilic behaviors, (4) fictophilic asexuality, and (5) fictophilic supernormal stimuli. The findings are further discussed and ultimately compared to the long-term debates on human sexuality in relation to fictional characters in Japanese media psychology. Contexts for future conversation and research are suggested.

Keywords: fictional character; fictophilia; media; parasocial relationships; sexuality.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Aarseth E. (2007). Doors and perception: fiction vs. simulation in games. Intermeìdialiteìs 9 35–44. 10.7202/1005528ar - DOI - PubMed
    1. Adam A., Sizemore B. (2013). Parasocial romance: a social exchange perspective. Interpersona 7 12–25. 10.5964/ijpr.v7i1.106 - DOI
    1. Allen L., Ingram T. (2015). “‘Bieber fever’: girls, desire and the negotiation of girlhood sexualities,” in Children, Sexuality and Sexualization, eds Ringrose J., Renold E., Egan R. D. (London: Pilgrave Macmillan; ), 141–158. 10.1057/9781137353399_9 - DOI
    1. Auter P., Palmgreen P. (2000). Development and validation of a parasocial interaction measure: the audience-persona interaction scale. Commun. Res. Rep. 17 79–89. 10.1080/08824090009388753 - DOI
    1. Azuma H. (2009). Japan’s Database Animals, trans Abel J. E., Kono S. Minneapolism, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

LinkOut - more resources