My life can be sorted into fangirl phases. One Direction posters were plastered across my pre-adolescent bedroom walls. 5 Seconds of Summer lyrics were scrawled across the inside of my wardrobe when I was 13. Now the likes of Michelle Obama and AOC grace my nightstand, although granted, Harry Styles is still my phone lockscreen.
Fangirls have been historically disparaged by their peers and the media alike. Deemed psychotic, hysterical and creepy, their reputation is yet another example of the misogyny ingrained within our communities. Teenage girls are vilified for their personal interests; either labelled as basic or try-hards, under constant scrutiny compared to their male counterparts. As Yve Blake, creator of the musical Fangirl, points out in her Ted Talk: ‘boys crying at the footie, that’s the love of the game. Girls crying at a Justin Bieber concert? That’s pathetic.’
Despite this double standard, I believe that being a fangirl can be one of the most formative experiences a young girl can have. Not only does it prepare them for the harsh realities of the patriarchal world, but it emphasises the importance of a woman’s voice, fosters creativity and teaches them how to channel that creativity into fighting for social justice.
Fandoms are female-dominated safe spaces, where race, religion, gender etc. are of little importance and young people can come together to feel understood and heard. These intersectional spaces are often girls’ first experiences of true sisterhood. Websites such as Tumblr provide platforms to voice their opinions and discuss shared interests without fear of mockery. It teaches them the value of their voice, which in turn bolsters their confidence to break into male spaces. The NYT article Narrowing a Gap in the Sci-Fi Universe: One Fangirl Giving a Voice to Others featured Ashley Eckstein, a Star Wars actress who founded her female-focused apparel company Her Universe to create themed and fashionable clothing for young women, after witnessing their exclusion within the male-dominated science fiction world. She later expanded to a publishing house to uplift fellow fangirls after being approached by other like-minded women at conventions.
Fan communities have nurtured creativity for years, dating back to pre-internet fan-zines filled with art and writing which were frequently circulated within the British pop-rock scene. While the idea of fanfiction may seem crazy to some, it has been a powerful tool in demanding more representative casts. NYT’s How Female Fans Made ‘Star Wars’ Their Own highlighted female fans who created their own feminist universes when the franchise failed to establish more female relationships in their films. It underlined that ‘in recent years, a whole world of chatty podcasts, metacriticism, and fan art and fiction has cropped up to satisfy that need. ‘
As reported by the Independent, this innovation has found its way into activism. When the problematic #WhiteLivesMatter tags started trending across social platforms, K-pop fandoms united to flood the hashtags with fan-cams (fan made video edits) of their favourite bands, blocking out racist propaganda and misinformation.
So why are we so critical of these young women despite their obvious merit? They hold power and potential, and instead of silencing we need to be amplifying their voices. It’s time that we move past the tyranny on teenage girls and recognise them for who they are: unapologetic, innovative, passionate—and Harry Styles fans.
Works Cited
Blake, Yve. “Why Are Fangirls Scary? | Yve Blake | TEDxSydney.”Youtube, 23 July 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0TAE9x9qc4.
Hess, Amanda. “How Female Fans Made ‘Star Wars’ Their Own.” The New York Times, 3 Nov. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/06/movies/how-female-fans-made-star-wars-their-own.html?searchResultPosition=5.
Schmidt, Gregory. “Narrowing a Gap in the Sci-Fi Universe: One Fangirl Giving a Voice to Others.” The New York Times, 17 Jan. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/01/18/business/media/a-publisher-for-fangirls-by-fangirls.html?searchResultPosition=3.
Michallon, Clémence. “K-Pop Fans Drown out Racist ‘White Lives Matter’ Hashtag with Clips of Favourite Artists.” The Independent, 3 June 2020, www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/k-pop-fans-twitter-whitelivesmatter-hashtag-racist-a9546866.html.
