Fangirls and sports fanatics are both groups of individuals with a heightened interest in something they are  outstandingly passionate about. The only difference in the way members of the groups are perceived is that the former is predominantly female, and the latter predominantly male. This alone, acting as the only true discrepancy, affects public and private perception of the ways in which their interests are enjoyed, playing into pre-existing and engrained societal stereotypes and judgments.

Fangirls are stereotyped as immature, excessively passionate, obsessive, crazy, and inextricably bound with the demographic of teenage girls. These are individuals who are depicted as overtly admiring men. Usually these men are movie stars, musicians, or even fictional characters, but this concept plays into the idea that women are at the beck and call of influential males. How sexist and outdated is that? It undermines and superficializes female appreciation and condemns any regard to roots in sexual appeal, and sexual appeal alone. But it’s now time for pop culture to abandon its favourite pastime: profiting from the mockery of female fans and selling it as a hysterical punchline.

This mockery is institutionally damaging. It openly normalizes the criticism of women for things they are simply passionate about, feeding into the narrative that a passionate woman is axiomatically juvenile, obsessive, or crazy. It is harmful to the broader self-perception of animated women, informing the understanding that a rational woman has to be apathetic and indifferent. 

But what about fanboys? Well for starters, that is not really a thing. Probably because an enthusiastic man does not face the same shame and stigma that a zealous woman does. The term “fangirl” bears a certain offensive connotation that the word “fanboy” does not. But again, mostly because it doesn’t casually exist. “Fangirls” as a concept have existed in a contemporary context for decades. The term was coined in 1934 in a novel called Holy Deadlock, authored by A. P. Herbert. While the term fangirl is often used to undermine passionate women, fiery male sports fanatics never come under that same fire. Rather, sports fanatics are stereotypically associated with men whose partisanship to their teams showcase them to be proud, headstrong, loyal, and possess an appreciated level of machismo.

Here’s the thing: fangirls and sports fanatics are really one in the same. Both of these groups, built on a stable foundation of stereotyping, are passionate, interested, knowledgeable, eager, and, in sporadic cases, obsessive. But at the end of the day, a teenage girl depicted drooling over a One Direction magazine drawing hearts with Harry Styles’ initials has the same qualities as a grown man wearing a foam finger screaming at his television under the impression that the players of his favourite football team can hear him. The only difference between the two is the societally-inflicted double-standard that an obsessive woman is far more abnormal and quirky than an obsessive man.

There is nothing wrong with being part of a community with mutual interest, whether that community praises a Jonas brother or Tom Brady. There is never any need for belittling someone’s knowledge or damning their interests as inappropriately admired, freaky, or juvenile. Especially when that judgement is based on misogynistic principles.

Header: Aglaia Joithe