I have always considered myself a “fangirl.” Growing up, I had the fan pages, watched the edits and consumed all the media I could. I was the stereotypical screaming fan seeing a celebrity. It’s simply a fun indulgence; I am able to join a community of fans and be fully immersed in a world of my own design.
“Fangirls” are typically viewed through a feminine lens — it’s in the name. Musical artists are consistently known for their fortifying fan base, the three most notable being The Beatles, One Direction and Taylor Swift (Beatlemaniacs, Directioners and Swifties, respectively). We are known for being crazily obsessed with the idol of our choice — screaming and clawing for a chance at acknowledgment.
Needless to say, sports fans are very similar to fangirls, in their own slightly twisted and warped way. I was intrigued by the leagues and wanted to find connections with other people. I wanted to get into sports because of the fandom-esque space that surrounded it; I am used to being a fan of musical artists and TV shows — how different could it be?
So I started doing all the things. I chose two sports to get into last year, football and hockey, and devoted myself to becoming a fan. I decided I would conquer other sports and their leagues after I got this down. Fantasy Football leagues were joined, games were watched and favorite players were chosen. Plenty of friends and family were called with “urgent” pleas to explain a play or recite the rules of the game. It was exciting to enter a new, previously unexplored world to learn new things and become a part of the community.
There’s a pleasant similarity between the two lives I’ve started to live. I am consuming media from artists and actors I enjoy, but now I am also following sports players and their spouses on Instagram. Watching The Eras Tour livestreams on TikTok is not so different from streaming a hockey game on my TV. I am still turning on interviews queued up from YouTube, whether that be press for a movie or post-game locker room questioning.
However, it’s difficult to fully immerse myself in the enjoyment of a sports game while being aware of how incredibly misogynistic and homophobic the leagues tend to be.
I watched the simplified lessons on TikTok and was frustrated that it had to be dumbed down to help me understand. The act of “girlifying” a topic is belittling, as it assumes we can’t understand how it works when explained normally. The first few videos were funny when the author uses a stupid voice or silly reference, but it gets upsetting at a point.
Entering the world of sports and all that comes with it (history, rules, teams, players) was a daunting feat to accomplish. It’s irritating to hear the same variations of questions pestering me to “name five players” or to know what happened on a team three seasons ago with players that aren’t even in the league anymore. Why can men enjoy the field normally while I have to have extensive knowledge, devotion and consumption of the subject to be validated as a fan? Men were raised on this. It is going to take a new fan time to understand all of the extensive lore. It is also unfair to expect every female fan to want to be a devout consumer. Maybe they just want to pick a team, buy a jersey, and watch a game or two when they get the chance — that is entirely OK and does not devalue their support.
The act of men being into sports while women are not is also unfortunately tied to systemic and historical sexism. We weren’t given the chance to watch the football game for a long time. I can’t even recall the number of stories I have been told of women cooking dinner and washing the dishes while the men in the family sit in the living room and watch the sports game. This has been romanticised while looking back, setting the scene of a kitchen filled with sunlight and laughter, sitting parallel to a living room of shouts and slamming fists.
It is unfortunately more culturally acceptable for a man to cry after their chosen team wins the Super Bowl than it is for him to cry after the birth of his child. Sitting stone-faced in the hospital room is more masculine than showing emotion. To be emotional in other situations is to be girlish and feminine, which is also seen as weak. And a man can never be weak. It’s okay for women to cry — it’s expected. Men are known for their extreme emotions during sports games, whether that be extreme anger, joy or sadness. It also serves as a form of connection between those of like minds; it’s a way for men to spend time with their friends.
Watching the Super Bowl is an activity frequently shared by the entire family, with many making it an event. It has always been fun to watch the halftime show, but I also enjoyed watching the game last year and recognizing that I understood more of what was happening than I originally anticipated. It is demeaning to hear the constant quips that women only watch the game for the performance halfway through. That may be true for some of the spectators, but it dismisses the women who enjoy watching the game just as much as the men. There’s also plenty of men who don’t engage with football that intensely — maybe they are into a different sport, maybe they aren’t interested in sports at all. This binary black-and-white divide of men understanding sports and women not being able to is ostracizing to the larger audience, omitting them from the record.
The Vegas Golden Knights were the first hockey team I claimed to be a fan of — they were representing my hometown and had a few players I enjoyed watching (for talent and looks). I then found out the team’s main goalie was involved in a sexual assault case, having been found innocent by the judge and guilty by everyone else. This took place before he was in the NHL, as reported by ESPN, and the VGK still drafted him knowing the charges. This was a difficult fact to reckon with, and I found that I was distancing myself from the team, looking outward to the rest of the league.
While they are bad, the rest of the league is not much better. Women fans and sports are not taken seriously — the hockey world was put under a microscope after the 2026 Winter Olympics, when the men’s team was singled out for laughing at a snide remark directed towards the women’s hockey team by President Donald Trump on his congratulatory phone call. The women’s hockey team had won Olympic gold (for the third time) just as the men had, and Trump joked that he was going to “have to” invite the women’s team to the celebratory dinner at the White House along with the men’s team, ABC News reported.
Hockey has also had issues pertaining to its use of Pride Tape. Hockey players will wrap their sticks with the rainbow tape to demonstrate their support of their LGBTQ+ audience. The league was involved in a slight controversy when it banned the tape from being used in 2023, but the upset from fans caused a surge in purchases. Pride Tape has become a symbol of support, allyship and defiance. Pride Tape has recently had a boost in sales after the popularity of “Heated Rivalry,” according to Front Office Sports.
The fans of shows like “Heated Rivalry” are bringing a different perspective to hockey that hasn’t been seen before — or at least wasn’t as popular before. They have been so vocal about their views and opinions that it has pushed the NHL to become more accepting in response — or to demonstrate the appearance of acceptance.
Unfortunately, this has had unforeseen consequences as the NHL tries to keep up with their changing audience. The NHL is putting up a front of support without actually being a safe space of inclusivity. Whether this is playing clips from “Heated Rivalry” on the jumbotron or playing hits from the show like “I’ll Believe in Anything” by Wolf Parade or “All the Things She Said” (t.A.T.u. version), they are leaning on the popularity of the TV show as much as they can.
There is a lot of negativity and judgment that surrounds new sports fans. Sports-based television has been rapidly gaining public interest, whether that be “Ted Lasso,” “Heated Rivalry,” “Off Campus” or “Chad Powers.” Sports fans have complained about new fans not knowing the history, the players or how the game works and generally being irritated about the new audience being drawn to the sports world.
As they lean into the female audience, they are risking coming off as stereotypical and misogynistic as well. They are turning more of the coverage of players into a Teen Vogue interview shoot, and focusing less on what we are here for: hockey. In a recent GQ article with the Sharks Center Macklin Celebrini, the interviewer focuses on his “heartthrob” looks and relation to current television phenomena. This was upsetting to fans who would rather hear about his generational talent or the pressure he may feel after being anointed as the youngest captain in his team’s history. This is belittling to both his character and what we as fans care about.
The idea of women being fans of sports because of the attractiveness of the players or because they were led there from other media, and the judgment that comes with that, is so insulting and demeaning. Maybe a woman finds a player attractive or found the sport through a separate outlet, but maybe they just enjoy watching and engaging with sports. Both of these are completely valid, and there’s nothing wrong with your reasoning. Women are allowed to enjoy anything they like for any reason they choose. Most women are sports fans because of the activity and the intrigue that comes with the game. A player may be objectively attractive, but you aren’t going to interact with that side of the field while they are playing.
This route of engagement also entirely focuses on straight women and the allure a sports player may have towards them. Unfortunately for the PR department, not all female fans are straight or in a younger age group. Women can enjoy the fandom-based side of the field and not be attracted to any of the players; they may not be attracted to men at all. They may be in their late forties and just now getting into sports — are you expecting her to be watching the hockey game for the attractiveness of the 20-year-old athlete? Or will you finally admit that she’s watching the game for the love of the action, of watching a team work together and of anticipating the outcome of a genuinely good competition?
They seem to want our support, but are going about it the wrong way. Instead of leaning into female fans’ support in a similar way to men’s, they are stereotyping and objectifying our interest. It ends up hurting both the players and fans. It feels disheartening and disappointing to devalue female sports fans in this way.
My experience with the sports world is still ongoing. I love the community that comes with both my interests. The energy is abundant and highly immersive; it exudes from stadiums when you are watching live events. The cheers from devout fans are exhilarating to experience in both environments; we are both supporting a field we care deeply about. I have found these similarities, and it has been so enjoyable to immerse myself in this world. The experience has not been all bad — I truly do love watching the games and have met so many wonderful people through this journey. It has just become increasingly difficult to grapple with the ostracism and judgment that occurs when entering a space like this. There has been just as much judgment as there is support, and it is disheartening to learn that it has only become more extreme. There has been more focus on the sports world from an audience that has never before looked at it this way, and this brings on differing responses of equal measure.
I’m not sure where the world of sports engagement is headed as more fangirls find their way into consumption — I am both apprehensive and excited. No matter the outside reaction, women should be able to interact with anything they’d like. We are allowed to engage with new outlets however we would like for any reason. We belong here. I love concerts, TV shows and sports, and I am looking forward to finding more things to love in the future. Keep looking for new things to immerse yourself in; you are allowed and welcome.