The "Hysterical" Fangirl
2014 IS BACK!
“Fandom” has always been kind of like the black sheep of the internet. There’s countless “fandom cringe” compilations on YouTube, and if you just type in “fandom” on reddit, you’ll be greeted by a subreddit full of people who think that Tumblr is a plague on humanity. Even people who are heavily involved in fandom spend a lot of their time saying “oh no, I’m a fan but I’m not one of those fans”.
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But who are “those” fans?
WHAT IS FANDOM?
So, you don't need a fanblog to be considered part of fandom. You don't need to cosplay, and you don't need to create fanworks. You’re probably participating in fandom in your daily life just by having an interest in things.
Still, there comes a point where people believe fandom culture to be “too much”. The line is usually drawn when someone is perceived to be acting outside of the acceptable social norm.
THE ORIGINS OF FANDOM
Johnson, like many others of his time, viewed the people who liked the Beatles as being “enslaved by a commercial machine” and having “huge faces, bloated with cheap confectionery and smeared with chain-store makeup, the open, sagging mouths and glazed eyes, the broken stiletto heels”. Though Johnson never specifies that he’s particularly referring to female fans, his emphasis on words such as “makeup” and “stiletto heels” plays into harmful gender stereotypes and heralds a specific image in one’s brain.
DEPICTIONS OF THE FANGIRL
“Hysteria” was used as a diagnosis only for women. The uterus was thought to be the basis for several health issues. There are a plethora of explanations from multiple ancient scholars, all of which are wrong. Hysteria was quote “used as a diagnosis to explain everything that men found mysterious or unmanageable in women”. However, when these quote en quote “unmanageable” traits were observed by doctors in men, there was no need for alarm or further treatment. Those with a uterus could be given a hysteria diagnosis for excessive emotion, increased appetite, changes in sex drive, or really anything.
"HYSTERICAL"
Since 1980, “Hysteria” is no longer considered an honest-to-goodness medical condition. Still, our fear of women’s emotions, particularly those that we cannot explain, remains. It is for this reason that we seek to exclude the “fangirls” from the “fandom”.