The Fangirl Phenomenon

     This is a topic I've wanted to talk about for a while, but I'm a little scared to write about it because of the fact that so many girls my age, and at my own school take it very seriously and I don't want to offend anyone. But it has to be said, so here goes.
     There's a phenomenon sweeping the nation and it's getting out of hand. This is what I like to call The Fangirl Phenomenon. This outbreak, in short, is the widespread obsession of celebrities (specifically internet born stars) that is afflicting teenage girls. This is not a new concept. Just look at pictures from the Beatlemania era-- girls crying at the sight of the band, throwing their underwear on stage, sending passionate and often sexual notes to the Beatles. But just because it's been affecting girls for decades does not mean it's not totally unhealthy.
     At it's core, the Fangirl Phenomenon is about girls who are deeply possessive of famous individuals who they have no real prospect of ever actually getting to know. These girls believe in the very depths of their heart that if they could just meet Shawn Mendes or Austin Mahone or Justin Bieber and get to know them, they would fall in love and live happily ever after like a fairy tale. But the logic they are missing is that there are literally tens of thousands of other girls with the same exact opinions and the same exact ludicrous dreams of winning over untouchable celebrities.
     Because they are disregarding the fact that so many others are equally "in love" with the same person as them, they become incredibly possessive and outright poisonous to people who might want to become fans. I literally heard someone say "I hope [insert celeb] never does a shirtless photo shoot because i don't want him to gain new fans just because of that. Plus, I don't want all these other girls to see him."
     While on the surface this seems somewhat reasonable-- not wanting a star to compromise their body just for the sake of gaining fans-- on a deeper level, this person was essentially saying that she did not care about the celebrity enough to want him to be happy and gain new fans, but only cared about "keeping him to herself". Similarly, when you try to make conversation with one of these Fangirls and attempt to relate to them by talking about their interests, instead of getting excited that someone new is showing interest in their favorite celeb, they get uber-defensive and secretive about that celeb.
     For instance, here's a sample of what a conversation with a Fangirl might be like:

Fangirl: I'm obsessed with Shawn Mendes.
Rando: Oh yeah, I like that one song by him, "Stitches." Have you heard of Jack and Jack? They're even cuter than Shawn!
Fangirl: First of all, of course I've heard of Jack and Jack but they are absolutely NOT cuter than Shawn. And second of all, the fact that you only know one song by Shawn means you're not a true fan. I don't even want to talk to you.

     Which brings me to my next point, which is that Fangirls think you're only a "true fan' of something if you've been stalking them for years, preferably since "the very beginning." Now I'm going to be honest, I am occasionally guilty of doing this myself. Like I told MF the other day, it's a tell tale sign of a hipster when they get upset at people who only like music after it's been popularized by the media. But just because it's slightly annoying does not mean you have the right to completely disdain a person and tell them whether or not they're a fan of something just because they haven't been a fan AS LONG, or just because they became a fan in a different way.
     What I'm trying to say is that if anyone can be accused of not being a true fan, it's the Fangirls. Because if you really truly appreciated a celebrity and their work, you would want to share that with everyone, you would be excited when others showed interest, and you would be glad that their fan following was growing.

See? Beatles Fangirls were just as crazy!

      Essentially, this phenomenon is unhealthy. These Fangirls literally get emotional over every tweet their celebrity sends and every new picture of them that comes out. Instead of relishing in the excitement after going to a concert of their fave person, they literally go into near depression. They leave concerts early to go out back and wait for the celebrity to leave so they can find them and follow them to their hotel in the hopes of accosting them for a signature or a hug. Listen to me: those things are not normal and they're not healthy! It's totally cool to be a fan of something! I'm a fan of lots of things, and I get excited about them and I'm passionate about them, and I even call myself a Fangirl on occasion. But my level of fangirling is not bordering on an unhealthy obsession with a human being! The celebrities I'm interested in I do not treat like objects that I possess. And neither should anyone else.
     If you're a Fangirl, please take a step back and realize that you're not showing true appreciation for celebrities. You're just objectifying them and obsessing over them in an unnatural way.
     A quick google search reveals that I am not the first to realize the dangers of this phenomenon. I'm actually not even the first to call it "The Fangirl Phenomenon!" (that's kind of a bummer, but oh well). Here's what other people have to say on the topic, as well as examples of the dangers of Fangirls:

An Example of Extreme Fangirling: "Zayn Malik and his girlfriend Perrie Edwards broke up in December of 2011 after a few years together, and when they got back together in April of 2012 Edwards had to delete her twitter due to the barrage of death threats she amassed from Zayn's one-directioner fans. They're now engaged but have postponed their wedding."

Here are some tweets from when the breaking news about the Sandy Hook shooting cut into the Ellen Show when Justin Bieber was the guest: 
"The stupid shooting is all over the news and cutting into my Ellen and Justin Bieber! So mad!" 

"The f***ing shooting better not cut into Ellen"

More insanity over OneDirection: The band traveled to Australia and met with two famous Aussie radio hosts for an interview and some promotion. While at the station, they talked to an intern and one member asked her out on a date. Immediately after discovering this, the intern was attacked by fans, and in some cases their mothers, who were insanely jealous over the instance. After recieving all the attention, the Intern called off the date. 

My Thoughts Exactly: "It upsets me that some of these people, mostly girls from what I've seen, send mean messages to other people who don't obsess over what they love. I understand they love certain things but when they start fainting, crying and doing whatever they can to get near whoever they're obsessed with, it becomes a bit much,"

     I'm sorry if I have offended anyone with this post, but I still think it's a necessary thing that needs to be talked about, so take it as you will. As for me, I'm going to keep loving the celebrities and things that I love, but I'm going to keep in mind that they are real people and that realistically, their lives and my life are going to remain very separate. 

-VaughnDL