Fans Need To Have Better Boundaries With Their Favs

Fans and stans are all the rage in modern media spaces, from dominating X feuds to creating edits of their favorite things; they are all over the place. 

Fan culture can be the best part of a fandom and the worst at the same time. It is important that we, as fans, start to draw a line between what is acceptable fan behavior and what is unacceptable to do. Especially because every year we see more and more individuals start to speak up about feeling uncomfortable with fan behavior in public and private spaces. 

While toxic fan behavior isn’t new, the internet takes it to a whole new level. Fandom exists and thrives in many spaces like art, music, books, sports, etc, which means that toxicity can spread in any of those. The most prominent examples in media are music fans, who take the love of their favorite artists to the next level.

Some well-known fandoms in popular music are the renowned Swifties and Beyhive. Both are known to be passionate towards their favorite singer and sometimes go to extreme lengths to defend them. This is usually towards people who are not fans and express criticism towards an artist. These fans can have a reputation for being very committed, and it can come across as obsessive and over-the-top.

Artists like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé obviously can not follow what their fandom does 24/7, and it is not their fault for their fans’ actions. However, boundaries can be established by these artists to try and prevent obsessive or hurtful actions that their fans can partake in.

Rising pop sensation Chappell Roan got heat recently for her reaction to her fans’ behavior. Specifically stalking her and her loved ones, and demanding things when they saw her in public. She used her platform to speak to her fans and express a boundary that was crossed by them.

Outside of the Western Pop scene, K-pop stans have gained a reputation for being loyal to their favorite groups, so much so that they feel as if they know the group or individual they follow intimately. The K-pop industry is really good at perfecting that parasocial relationship between fan and artist, which can lead to incidents like fans following and stalking artists, like what happened to BTS’s Jungkook when a fan attempted to break into his home in June. 

Fostering and allowing a fandom to grow and act unchecked can lead to dangerous and harmful acts by fans to other fans or even the artists themselves. With the technology that we have in the present day, it would not be difficult to simply post on Instagram acknowledging fan behavior in a critical way. 

Someone who is doing a great job of adapting to modern-day fan behavior is the girl group Katseye. Following recent rumors that two members of the group, Manon and Daniela, stopped being friends after Daniela deleted Instagram pictures of them, Manon posted a video on Instagram denying the rumors of her leaving the group and being mistreated. Other members have done similar things on social media that communicate their feelings about fan actions and rumors. 

Fans come in all shapes and sizes, and the toxic ones should not damage the reputation of the masses. But in order to limit the amount of toxic fans that exist in fan spaces, artists and companies should work on communication between themselves and fans. Getting rid of parasocial relationships and destructive behavior is just the start to better treatment of fans overall.