>>9481>shipping seems almost exclusively femaleThat does seem like its on par for the course since women are the ones that mostly consume romance. Shipping itself also has more to do with people's social lives and how healthy or chronically online they are.
Don't want to pry much but did that fudanshi have a normal, healthy life?
Even if weebs don't involve themselves the same way as women with shipping, they will still throw a hissy fit when their hero doesn't get the girl, although they are more prone to waifufagging to the same unhealthy levels anyway.
And I was just now checking up a group chat where someone posted a sticker of a straight couple and they later mentioned that they were their favorite pairing. They like to ship but they don't dive too deep into it.
Personally I barely ever took an interest in m/f relationships (and never touched upon f/f) and would never read romance or care about relationships. But when it came to m/m it all changed and got those feelings of fuzziness and fulfillment that are akin to having a strong crush or adoration on someone.