In defense of the fangirl
| News Media Commentary | |
|---|---|
| Title: | In defense of the fangirl |
| Commentator: | Bri Little |
| Date(s): | September 16, 2015 |
| Venue: | Online |
| Fandom: | One Direction |
| External Links: | In defense of the fangirl at Flat Hat News |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
In defense of the fangirl is an article published in Flat Hat News, the student newspaper of The College of William & Mary in the United States. It recounts how the author, originally wary of the idea of fans and celebrity culture, became immersed in One Direction fandom during her first year of college [1]. The author goes on to speak about the public perception of fangirls and offers a rationalization for why it can be easier to be emotionally invested in a fictional character or celebrity.
Excerpts
It turns out that being a fangirl (I’m using this term as an umbrella that includes persons of any gender) in a society that rarely takes women seriously is one heck of a feminist statement. Because it’s easy and humans are pretty much programmed to do this, I relied on stereotypes and assessed young girls who are religiously devoted to celebrities (boy bands in particular) as desperate, naïve and too dependent on a stranger — someone they will likely never meet — for happiness. On the surface, that’s exactly what it seems, right? Our dismissal of adolescents’ feelings and actions as trivial and overly dramatic contribute to the negative connotations associated with being a fangirl.
Boy bands are so popular among teenage girls and young women because they portray a romanticized image of emotional availability that straight men in reality rarely possess.
Reaction and Commentary
The article was linked in a post on the OTW FanNews Blog, collecting a number of similar articles (all published within that week) primarily from younger college-age fans, examining fandom and the state of being a fangirl from a socially aware, feminist lens.[2] Two of the articles came from other university and college publications, while the third was an article at The Mary Sue.