IN DEFENCE OF THE FANGIRLS

While fandom is slowly becoming more mainstream, I still believe that it is still quite looked down on and somewhat seen as illegitimate. To be a hardcore fan of a television show, movie or book is still seen as strange because these are things you should invest your time in usually because they are fictional. I have many arguments as to why fandoms are, in my opinion, toxic places and I cover some of these points in this blog post but for this post I want to argue in defence of these fans. I find it unfair that people often dismiss the feelings these fans have towards the media that they love. I find it unfair that, in particular, girls who are fans are usually called ‘fake fans’ for one reason or another. No one ever lets them be.

The emotions of young girls are never taken seriously and I don’t fully understand why. They’re human just like everyone else and so they have emotions – just like everyone else. Even so, they are condescendingly looked down upon and laughed at a lot. They might be one of the largest demographics out there when it comes to media consumption and yet, as a whole, they are so easily dismissed. When something is loved by a legion of female fans, it apparently loses all credibility in the eyes of everyone else.

A comparison that is thrown around a lot is that fangirls are exactly the same as sports fans except for the fact that the feelings of sports fans are usually never dismissed or said to be invalid. This is never not true. Here is a compilation of videos of Cubs fans crying after their 2016 World Series win. Here is a compilation of One Direction fans crying after Zayn Malik left in 2015. They’re crying for different reasons but the feelings that reduce them to tears are both legitimate. Each group reacted to something they cared about and were deeply invested in. When they’re both the same, you cannot devalue one but accept the other as normal.

Young women are out there consuming just as much media as everyone else and they’re not idiots. To ignore them or dismiss them or devalue them means losing a large chunk of your audience.