: Re: How can I indicate that a particular relationship between two male characters is purely brotherly (Philia) rather than romantic (Eros)? One of the four forms of love Greek philosophy recognised,

@Kevin153

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The problem is, you CAN'T prevent people from making slashfics about your characters. Supernatural is the greatest proof of this you could ever have.
Sam and Dean Winchester are brothers. Not even half, step-, or adopted brothers. They are 100% blood brothers, and the show makes sure to remind us of this constantly. Still, Win-cest fics are some of the most popular slashfics for Supernatural fans, alongside Destiel fics. You can't avoid it.
There's a term in Japanese for these types: 腐女子 (pronounced: fujoshi). It refers to girls who avidly read yaoi or "boys love" stories. In the most extreme cases, the ones that made the term a "necessity" of sorts, fujoshis take even the most mundane, ordinary interactions between two males and fantasize about as many possible sexual undertones their words and actions could possibly have, no matter how deluded the fantasy may be. Of course, these types know that with real people (unless the objects of the fantasy are celebrities), they're just fantasizing, but once they start reading or watching fiction, they'll make every justification for why they're right, why they should be right, or why it's just right for their fantasies to be reality. (This actually got to such a point, an anime called "Kiss Him, Not Me" starring a fujoshi main character was released making fun of the personality type, while also humanizing it.) This term also can work to describe western slashfic writers too. (The term "fudanshi" is the male equivalent of this word. For simplicity, I'll generally only use "fujoshi" in this, but "fudanshi" are included in my intent/meaning.)
This isn't to say a little healthy imagination can't be a good thing, but with the (hopefully) fringe members of this already extreme group, so much as walking past each other and not saying a word is confirmation in the fujoshi's mind. I repeat, this is for the extreme and only in regards to fiction (and celebrities). (If you want proof of fujoshis in regards to celebrities, take a look at the Markiplier x Jacksepticeye slashfics.)
When it comes down to it, most slashfic writers tend to be the more avid fans of a work, so it makes sense that they'd be avid fans of other things as well. If two characters of the same sex have any kind of relationship, no matter the type, you won't be able to avoid a fujoshi's mislabeling of the relationship. It's an unwritten sub-law of rule 34 of the internet.

"If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions."

"If there's any form of relationship between two characters of the same sex, a fujoshi/fudanshi has written a slashfic of it. No exceptions."

Now the sub-law has been written. It's worth noting
If you want to minimize the risk, your best bet is to minimize the exposure your story gets. Fujoshi and fudanshi are everywhere nowadays. If your story gets read by only a few people, you can probably avoid fujoshis/fudanshis from mislabeling relationships. However, it's safe to assume that the larger your readership gets, the more likely a fujoshi/fudanshi will romanticize/sexualize otherwise innocuous relationships.

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