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. This article provides an explorative analysis and conceptualization of a recently established notion that has at least three popular labels: fictosexuality, fictoromance, and fictophilia.
All these labels point toward a strong and lasting feeling of love, infatuation, or desire for a fictional character. The study is based on a qualitative analysis of 71 related online discussions, the implications of which are ultimately discussed in wider cross-cultural contexts and Japanese media psychology in particular.
Accordingly, the goal here is to better understand what fictophilia is. Second, the present intention is not to propose fictophilia as a problem or a disorder. Our findings do not indicate a need to change the current state of affairs. Lastly, whereas the feelings that determine fictophilia may not be common in terms of prevalence, they may exaggerate what most humans experience to lesser degrees, with the caveat that future research is needed to better understand how fictophilic emotions and feelings overlap with everyday human social attachment.
