Bifauxnen, a portmanteau of the French faux (false) and the Japanese bishounen (beautiful boy), is a term used amongst American anime and manga fandom to refer to an androgynous female character who resembles a handsome young boy.
They feature predominantly in shoujo works where they are considered one of the popular fetishes of certain Japanese fangirls. They are one of the classic roles in yuri fandom. In promotional art and mechandise where characters wear unusual costumes they might appear in the equivalent of male dress, especially in the Victorian style.
Bifauxnen are rarely used in shounen, a demographic where bishoujo prevail. However, a few series do include rough equivalents, since a boyish female character tend to be more marketable than a male character. This is usually the case when the entire cast is female.
Origin of Term
Typically women are referred to in animanga fandom as bijin (lit. beautiful person but in practice beautiful woman) if they are past their teens or bishoujo if they are younger. These terms are connected with traditional concepts of distinctly feminine beauty. Bokukko is a term popularized in dating sims, but this usually only refers to a comparitively mild tomboy.
Bifauxnen was created partly from the lack of a consistently positive word for a sterotypically 'masculine-acting' female character. For example, butch is highly loaded slang, especially outside the LGBT community since it is still generally used as an insult. By contrast, shoujo manga and anime traditionally portrays both sexes as equally beautiful; describing a character having the traits of another sex is often a compliment. Bifauxnen are often popular even among straight characters because they embody many attractive traits found in males but are have a degree of personal understanding of other women.
Bifauxnen usually embody a fetishized version of various sterotypical lesbian traits, such as a 'rough' or masculine manner of speech (frank opinions, and use of the pronouns boku and ore) and crossdressing. In yuri themed stories they are classically the aggressors in relationships due to greater confidence, age than their typically cute bishoujo-esque counterparts (who are usually themselves designed to be representations of the reader).
Bifauxnen are contrasted with the onee-sama characterization, who is usually precieved as a more feminine role model: classically beautiful, intelligent, and graceful. This type has become more popular in recent years.
Other Examples
Some fans feel bishie succinently includes bifauxnen and bishounen, but it is still mostly used (by fangirls) to refer to male characters. Bishie has also been used, tongue-in-cheek, to refer to describe female characters who are not really androgynous, but display sterotyped characteristics of melodramatic shoujo-style bishounen. These include moody behavior, mysterious pasts, and excessive angst.
See also
