Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Beatles: We just want to be fangirls

Opinion

Powerful fans
Fangirls are often dismissed as hysterical. Finally take her seriously!

Young women are the most powerful fans that stars, studio bosses and female managers can have on their side. Despite this, they are often not taken seriously. Our author thinks this has to end.

The Beatles, Timothée Chalamet, Harry Styles, BTS and Taylor Swift have one thing in common. Their fan base is mainly made up of girls and boys women out. They buy records, storm the cinemas, stream and order fan articles until the last special edition is sold out. They create fan accounts, upload self-edited videos of their idols to social media, camp in front of concert halls or cinemas for days. In other words: the girls fill up the coffers. And yet no one is smiled at like the “fan girls”.

When I put on my Harry Styles Love on Tour shirt, people roll their eyes, when my roommate wears his HSV jersey, nobody does. (Even if he deserved it, because objectively St. Pauli would be a better choice.) Why is he allowed to stand screaming in front of the TV and is therefore a passionate football fan to the outside world, but I am labeled crazy by them if I scream along at the Olivia Rodrigo concert? Pure misogyny. The men are taken seriously, the women, once again, not. A clip recently went viral on TikTok in which two men seriously questioned whether women even have hobbies. Her conclusion: no. Stereotypically female interests like painting or reading don’t count for her. But women too, myself included, must first learn to shed internalized misogyny. One’s own passions have to please one and only oneself and not be cool for anyone else. Especially not for men.

It all started with Beatlemania. The first boy band knew exactly how to conquer women’s hearts. And what did it bring to the members? Chart records, world fame and probably the eternal place as the most important band of all time. Back then, the girls who fainted in droves at the concerts were labeled as hysterical. Today, a Boomer Herbert pays 2224.99 euros for a White Album from 1968 on the Discogs collectors’ platform. He is then a passionate collector, a music connoisseur.

Taylor Swift and her fans are also in the grip of politics

Just how powerful fans can be is shown by the example of Taylor Swift, whose mostly female followers refer to themselves as “Swifties”. So numerous are these Swifties in the United States that Taylor Swift is the third most likely candidate for the White House after Donald Trump and Joe Biden. And when Canada, Thailand and Chile didn’t get any concert dates for the Eras tour and the fans complained, the politicians got involved without further ado. So tweeted Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with borrowings from three Swift songs: “It’s me, hi. I know places in Canada would love to have you. So, don’t make it another cruel summer. We hope to see you soon.” And Pita Limjaroenrat, Thailand’s democratic hopeful, is also begging Taylor Swift for concerts.

Young women are arguably the most loyal and devoted fans one could wish for. They catapulted a Zac Efron or Robert Pattinson into superhuman spheres of fame overnight. They buy new old Taylor Swift albums without batting an eyelid because she decided to re-record them. The sleazy romance writer Colleen Hoover made her an international best-selling author with concentrated girl power. And while the chances of the band reuniting are slim, One Direction fans remain loyal and look to every social media post, interview, and interaction from the band’s veterans for clues of a possible collaboration. The emotion that is in the foreground in everything is ultimately the pure joy of the fan community.

Why belittle these friends? Even label them as embarrassing just because it’s girls who feel that joy? I feel sorry for everyone who doesn’t scream because they don’t want to be a “fangirl” and are embarrassed about their interests. By the way, I’m going to accompany my roommate to the HSV stadium next year. We’ll be standing in the front row for Taylor Swift and screaming our hearts out.