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Erica Friedman is an academic specializing in manga, the only one I know of focused on yuri manga specifically. Her website, okazu.yuricon.com, is the main online clearinghouse for information about and reviews of English-language yuri manga and anime. She’s a legitimate expert, in academia the yuri expert, not a random blogger.
Ever heard of Mark McLelland? Wim Lunsing? Rachel Thorn?
Admittedly, none of them works with an exclusive focus on yuri manga. They have a broader field of study, which includes BL, GL and queer manga. But any of them knows more about yuri than Ms. Friedman ever will. Also, you said "an academic specializing in manga" and "a legitimate expert, in academia the yuri expert." What academia are we talking about? She has a degree in Library Science and a bachelor in Comparative Literature, and that's about the extent of her training. She never had a faculty rank in any academic institution, or worked for any research project in an academic environment. She has been a guest at conventions and festivals as an internet personality, not as an academic expert. She has visited a few campuses and written articles for magazines by the same token. The rest is her blog. Now, compare with Rachel Thorn. She studied both in American and Japanese universities. She's a doctor in cultural anthropology and a master in East Asian Studies specialized in Japanese manga, and the list of distinctions conferred on her by various institutions is huge. Her academic work in America was so respected in Japan that she was chosen as a permanent associate professor in Kyoto Seika University (Department of Manga Studies) and has lived in Japan since then. Mind you, she still writes English papers, like a recent one about Takako Shimura's Wandering Son and Sweet Blue Flowers. I believe she has even given permission to Ms. Friedman to post some of her works in the Essays section of her blog. Thinking about it, the Essays section is probably the best part of that blog. I myself have given permission to Ms. Friedman to post a couple of my essays there. 
If you visit that section and check the names of the authors, I do think you'll find many who are way more competent than Ms. Friedman on the subject of yuri.
I agree that Ms. Friedman is not a random blogger. She's an influential blogger. Her website is huge, and, twenty years ago, was a preeminent source of information about yuri in the English-speaking world. But today? There are loads of places in the internet where you can find such information, many of them presenting data that is much more accurate, complete and comprehensive. Remember what Nezchan said before?
I am reasonably confident that zero of the staff here chose the tags thanks to Erica Friedman's comments.
I am quite confident that Nezchan is right, and with good reason: tagging is a form of cataloguing, and I know of nobody with a literary job to do and who takes it seriously who would use Ms. Friedman's viewpoints and opinions as a ground basis for their work. And that's because she has zero qualifications to talk about yuri manga with authority. Her opinion is worth as much as yours, or mine, or that of any other person. Actually, to be fair, her opinion is probably worth less, because you or me can back up our opinions with rational thought while she is incapable of doing it. She hates the vast majority of the yuri out there, but, when she writes a review lambasting some well-loved yuri series, she can't offer one good reason for her dislike -- only the political dogma of her radical lesbo-feminist agenda.
I have to say I'm really surprised to find you, of all people, defending her so vehemently. You are the one who was poking fun at people who (I quote) seem to be devoted to what amounts to a contemporary version of medieval canon law—only the overt depiction of mutually administered orgasms can qualify as consummation of a relationship, [...] a modern version of a traditional “bedding ritual” that is required before these de facto spouses can be truly said to be “going out.” Ms. Friedman is the foremost champion of this people, the supreme internet paladin of these twisted notions. In fact, the reason she hates 99,9% of the yuri out there is that the stories are focused on love, not sex -- and by her agenda that's anti-gay crapola and lesbian discrimination. I have trouble grasping what it is that you like so much in her, when her every idea and sentiment is set against us... and, as a matter of fact, she considers us, the readers who enjoy manga like A Room For Two, deluded fools or homophobic creeps.
last edited at Apr 18, 2019 10:20PM
