Growing up in a time when boy bands like One Direction (RIP Liam) and other popular male artists where Justin Beiber was big had a major impact on my life. I remember seeing the YouTube videos being posted back in the early 2010s about “CRAZY FANGIRLS” obsessing over these artists and being the insecure 8-year-old- girl I was, I vowed not to ever become a “fangirl” to any artist out of fear of being labeled in such a derogatory way from male peers.
Sports have always been big in my family, we celebrated when September hit for the beginning of football season and I went to multiple March Madness parties as a child. I remember seeing the Carolina Panthers as a kid and seeing men riot in the streets, I would see them wearing face paint and decked out in team merch and screaming with joy. Every day when I go outside on my campus I see people wearing sports jerseys or t-shirts in support of their favorite teams, and this is something normalized.
Recently the “I Lied, Put Your Clothes Back On” TikTok Trend has been bouncing around and I’ve seen multiple posts and that’s what started to get me thinking about this phenomenon. These women who camp outside concert venues and wear band merch are accused of having parasocial relationships with the artists while the men who have been seen rioting in the streets are seen as “passionate.” Owning band merchandise is considered cringe while owning sports jerseys and wearing them wherever is considered appropriate. The “psychotic” fangirls are seen as obsessive and strange (eg: Swifties) while sports fans are seen as…socially accepted, and have been for decades.
Unfortunately, we live in a world where passion is seen towards sports fans, while parasocial relationships are associated with concert culture. Both concerts and sporting events are events meant to bring people together and to bond over common interests. Is there a difference if it’s a sports team or a song artist? No, of course, there isn’t. It all stems from misogyny towards stereotypically “feminine” things, even if saif feminine associated things are the same, if not more peaceful than their masculine counterparts.
Psychologists claim that being part of fandoms can help boost mental health and bring a sense of belonging, something crucial in our current digital age. Fandoms are powerful and are crucial for modern development, especially with the death of the third space causing people to unite over common interests through various social media apps. However, the association of these crucial fandoms being looked down upon as psychotic or abnormal can help isolate people, especially poor women who are afraid of their male counterparts looking at them at the infamous “crazy girl”
Fandoms are a socially accepted thing and it’s depressing to know that people are looked down on what they enjoy due to misogyny still running prevalent in the world we live in now. It’s ridiculous to see that sports are considered one of the only acceptable fandoms and they have some superiority over those who are interested in different things, especially those considered traditionally feminine. There is pushback against this hatred online, but we still have years to go before these hurtful stereotypes and caricatures of those impassioned by what they enjoy will vanish.