My life has been filled with seeing my favorite artists in concert (Harry Styles, Taylor Swift and Noah Kahan just to name a few) watching movies just to see my favorite actors and over-obsessing over my favorite celebrities.
Why?
Fangirling.
Don’t go screaming bloody murder now. Fangirl isn’t a bad word and I’m going to tell you why fangirls are the backbone of our nation.
But, before we get into that, a quick shoutout to my best friend Belle <3 who inspired this article. Her senior thesis is on fangirls and the community and passion they radiate. Belle, I’m so proud of you and I can’t wait to see all that you do with the wonderful skills you possess and beautiful mind that you have.
Anyways, fangirls, a fangirl (according to Google) is “a female fan, especially one who is obsessive about comics, movies, music or social fiction.”
So why are fangirls the backbone of this country? Well that actually might be a bit of an exaggeration but fangirls are definitely holding the entertainment industry together.
As they purchase merch, concert tickets, movie tickets to see their current favorite celebrities they are helping these celebrities pay rent.
Take Taylor Swift for example; The Eras Tour made roughly $4 billion. Yup “B” as is billion, that’s a lot of money for a tour that lasted just less than a year.
So give credit where it’s due when fangirls are literally boosting the United States economy.
Speaking of giving credit where it’s due… lets converse about the inequality and double standards between fangirls and sports fans.
Again, let’s talk about my love, Taylor Swift (or any celebrity you’re obsessed with) and they drop a new album or their new movie comes out. As a fangirl you’re crying out of joy and pride yet you’re depicted as being overdramatic.
But if you’re a man and a die-hard sports fan watching your favorite team lose maybe the biggest game of their season and you’re emotional and yelling but you’re not seen as overdramatic. No, you’re seen as passionate. Two very similar scenarios yet only one group of people are being put down for their interests.
You probably owe a thank you to your local fangirl. They are the ones who are chronically online and they probably are the ones that provided you with all the trendy slang, trends and topics.
Fangirls culture also comes with a wonderful sense of community. You’ve probably heard the word fandom. Every celebrity, band, movie, book they all have groups of fans that make up these fandoms. There is a special connection within each group, a shared interest amongst everybody allows for everyone to feel welcomed and nobody feels excluded.
As mentioned I’m a fangirl at heart. I love Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, the Harry Potter series, Gracie Abrams and at my core I’m still a Directioner.
So let’s wrap this up. I encourage you to seek out your local fangirls, ones who you hopefully share an interest with. Belle and I bonded over One Direction and Harry Styles during our junior year of high school and now I genuinely couldn’t live without her.
Also don’t be ashamed of being a fangirl! Embrace it, it’s what makes you unique and unapologetically yourself.