Didn't know where to ask this but a few month ago this topic has come up quite a lot on the Internet for me. This post is going to be quite long.

The most common take is that a woman's ass and boobs being exposed is the same as a man's dominant and protective personality (and that that means male characters are usually much more shallow than female characters in things targeted at men)or a man cooking and cleaning. Other takes are men being gay or being intimate or even more friendly then usual with other men and men having their chest exposed. I once even saw someone compare an anime woman with an overdressed anime man wearing many layers of clothing and saying that is the difference when it comes to fanservice.

I don't find many of these things to be fanservice and the sad thing is that I thought I might be alone.

Firstly we need to define fanservice. There are people claim that when to comes female fanservice them just being attractive counts. While I do think it could be fanservice, I don't think it is in the same sense most people think of. Like cute, adorable animal characters designs also fall under the same category of fanservice.

Sure women may find a man who is dominant and protective attractive but I don't think that counts as the sexual fanservice I am referring to and the one that people think of. Female characters also have archetypes and cliche personality. I also don't know how I feel about the claim that male characters are often more shallow than female ones for their demographic. I can see where people who say this are coming from. Many girls/women say the opposite. I can see both sides.

When it comes to cooking and cleaning again the male audience might point out that those are positives when deciding which waifu they like the best but does that mean it is sexual (s) fanservice?

When it comes to men being really friendly or intimate but not sexual, I was going to say that "I personally don't even find that to be fanservice in bl, yaoi or shounen ai. What I find to be s fanservice is the sex" but I wonder if having characters have sex counts as the same type of fanservice. However I think I understand the appeal whether it is morally right or wrong having two people of the same sex being touchy could be arousing to both sex. When it comes to me, depending on the situation deep kissing can be but then again that goes to both genders for me(if two people of the opposite sex did it in the right context I would feel the same). Things like handholding however would not count as s fanservice for me.

When it comes to men having exposed chests I think that many women can find it to be fanservice and arousing but honest for me when it comes to anime and manga they do nothing for me. Sometimes it does but most times it doesn't depending on how their chest is drawn, even if they have 8 packs and a really muscular. That leads me on to another point.

I know for a fact that a lot of women don't find exposed muscular chests/abs in shows/manga meant for men sexual/arousing/fanservice. You could argue that they are more to serve the male power fantasy or just a simple character design to show strength without caring about a female audience or being meant to be attractive to anyone.

For the the last one, please tell me that i am wrong and a woman with a lot of her ass and boobs exposed isn't the same as an overdressed man?

The worst thing with all this for me, is I think that many women are satisfied with this. Maybe because I like fanservice with women too that I have too high expectations for men.

The problem is that there is more ways to sexualise women than men. You hardly see people who draw nsfw art draw men and that includes men and women. You also see a lot of women drooling over sexualised female characters. Women's breasts, butt, tighs, tongues even, etc are sexualised. It could be the same with men but it often isn't. Even when it comes to men's chests those aren't seen as sexual. So you can't really sexualise a male character without showing through private parts.

I have only ever seen 2 or 3 women have a problem with this and other women seem fine with screaming and gushing over a fictional man's face so maybe this isn't really much of a problem. After all there is smut. Smut or nothing no inbetween unless you get aroused by most of the men's abs and muscular chest. 😢

there's probably a lot of contrived scenes with activity/preoccupation that cause unusual angles or cropped frames that remove male eye contact from readers.
(with the intent to mimic real life voyeurism.)
Once there is no requirement to hide your gawking, you get a green light to eyebang.
eye contact can be a little too intense initially.

suddenly zoomed in shots that contain a lot more detail than previously available

v-pose/throne or manspreading where a character is inexplicably framed/centered at their crotch

hands

injuries, maybe

I can only speculate. maybe there's a poll out there that could get some of those answers

However a fictional man is drawn makes no difference to me.

What I am into in men is character irl or in fiction. Also for me they all look like drawings and I can't see them as any way sexually because they are just fcking drawings. Fanservice for me is if his character is smart and strategic and he goes for power and he got the brains to do so and he also goes beyond the ways of normal to get the fl.

Now I do love fanservice on women but unfortunately most of manhwas that is mainly what I am reading have zero through female gaze which is very different from male gaze one(which I actually enjoy as well). The female gaze that creates a fanservice on the woman always feel artistic and beautiful and is mostly seen in gls the male gaze most of the times loses that.

finally pregnant

So when it comes to fanservice on women it is no longer just a drawing?

I mean it is like I thought I assume you are female. Both men and women like female fanservice but men aren't into male fanservice and apparently a lot of women too.

Guess I should be the change, I want see.

Never though about that. Indeed, I don't remember seeing any fanservice directed for woman. Maybe that's because I'm a man, I don't really know. I always thought that, in average, women weren't really that fond of fanservice. Even 3d porn itself seems to be more directed to man rather than woman. Interesting topic, I will try to search more about this.

I read a lot of rofan manhwa, and while I don't personally find that kind of stuff arousing, there is absolutely a fuckton of what I would call unambiguous fanservice, which isn't really surprising since it's a female-targeted genre.

There are so many scenes where MLs (or even just male side characters, even the FL's dad, any hot guy really) are shirtless for no good reason, and lots of pretty slutty shirts with boob and ab windows, plus rofan MLs just love to sit at their desks doing paperwork with their robes wide open and their chests and abs exposed.

There's also often a lot of focus on muscular arms and hands, tons of shirts made of magical shrink-wrapped material that looks painted on leaving nothing to the imagination, and occasionally you'll even get FLs openly checking out guys' asses and thighs (although it seems like in manhwa at least, the biggest emphasis is on the abs and chest).

Yeah, maybe it's not as openly sexual as fanservice oriented towards men, but what would you call all that stuff if not fanservice?

It's just as unrealistic as male-targeted fanservice too, with buff MLs shown with ripped pecs and 6- or 8-packs no matter how much time they spend a day at a desk doing paperwork, if they've been in a coma for a year, or if they're literally on the brink of starvation.

A classic example of this is this scene from the absolutely terrible manhwa Savor the Taste when the FL is feeling sorry for the (allegedly) starved ML (who currently has the FL enslaved after destroying her kingdom, like we're legit supposed to excuse his war crimes because he's hangry). After that chapter came out "he's so skinny 🥺" became a bit of a running joke in the otomeisekai subreddit.

Exposed muscular chests/abs are fanservice only when they are drawn to be fanservice. Just like you can draw a exposed female chest without being fanservice.

Many creators either don't know what actually make something a sexual fanservice for women and think just having a bare muscular torso is enough or they are afraid of alienating the male part of the audience and they make it more discreet or appeal to the female audience with non-sexual fanservice (like handsome faces or bromances). So unless something is created specifically for the women audience, the female-targeted sexual fanservice is usually weak, fails or is completely inexistent.

I agree with other people mentioned as sexual fanservice for women. Torso (naked, covered with tight clothes or under loose clothes that shows it off a bit), strong hands and arms, ass, crotch, I guess the jaw and the neck can also count sometimes... But they need to be shown off with the fanservice context (no good reason for it to be exposed, panels that exist exclusively to show it off, poses like the manspreading or being languid sexily, showing the body without the face, panels that purposely draw the gaze to the body part instead of the face/eyes...). Some expressions, attitudes and actions are also considered sexy enough to be sexual fanservice for some women (sultry gazes, the smirk, some possessive/dominating attitudes for those that are into it...). Specially if they come together with the body fanservice (ie. show off power in a panel focused on the guy's hand/forearm)

You'll struggle to find the stronger examples in general or male-targeted shows/manga, but female-targeted romances are full of them. The higher the rating, the more often you can find them, but I remember a bunch of clearly fanservice chest, abs, muscular hands/arms and even crotch shots in romances that aren't smut, but are for an older (female) audience.

Lastly, I also think an overdressed man and a barely dressed woman can be both sexual fanservice, but they are not the same kind of sexual fanservice.

The first is of the kind that tries to stimulate your imagination, giving only a hint. And it's going to need more creative poses, expressions and/or angles to take it from pure beauty fanservice to sexual fanservice. I think one of the closest male-targeted equivalents would be a girl wearing short skirts with knee high socks leaving just a bit of skin between the socks and the skirt.

The second is the very-in-you-face fanservice, practically nothing left for imagination. It's harder to make it not be a sexual fanservice than the opposite.

But I think the different types of sexual fanservice is also why some people consider certain personalities and actions as sexual fanservice. It is sexual fanservice because it's something put in the story to make the target audience think "hot", but it's not the same as showing off the body.