Female Fan bases and the Media's Blatant Sexism

“Crazy”, “hormonal”, “dumb”…All words used to describe female fans. These are words used to belittle and bully any fan base that is predominantly made up of girls and/or women. These are descriptions that generations of women had to endure and grit their teeth at, just for being a fan of someone. And you want to know why? Our emotions have always made us easy targets.

All one has to do, is look back at various decades and see how often tabloids have used sexism when talking about male celebrities and their female fans. This is because, in their world, every young girl wants to date their fave, and grown women want to sleep with every male celebrity they buy an album from or watch a movie of. According to the media, that’s all we've ever been good for.

Side note: It’s also the reason why gay male celebrities are forced into PR relationships with women (yes, this is very much still a thing) or are required to follow a script that was mapped out by management companies, that would eventually have them pay tabloids to run the fake stories… It all goes hand-in-hand, really.

So, what happens when women start thinking for themselves and ignoring attempts to discredit the truth? Well that brings us to the most recent display of sexist journalism. The current attack on Johnny Depp fans.

You might already know that these past few weeks had fans and the general public following Depp’s defamation case against The Sun, over in the UK. Of course, with daily testimonies, more and more information has been brought to the forefront that is painting a completely different picture from the one Amber Heard has been trying to sell. Thus, leading more people wanting to support Depp and see his abuser held accountable. After all, that’s what Me Too is all about, right? Supporting victims?… Apparently that’s not the case if the victim is a man. You see, if you’re a woman supporting a man, it’s automatically because you haven’t outgrown your teenage crush. Yet, I never see a single article claiming male supporters want to sleep with their favourite female celebrity. Funny that.

Well, this recent display has led me to have my own questions so, if you'd excuse me while I take a moment to address these publications *clears throat*. Hey guys. Just another grown woman who you would categorise as a “fan girl”, here. You know, it really is funny how no matter how old we get, we’re always just young girls to all of you. If only my skin knew I was still 15, am I right? *laughs passive aggressively*. Anyway, I just have a few questions for ya.

1) Why is it so hard to believe that women can form their own opinions and judgements?

2) Why are you so threatened by us gathering our own research?

3) Why are you so quick to assume that every female fan wants to date or sleep with a male celebrity when literally, heterosexuality isn’t the only orientation that exists?

4) Why the hell are you all so misogynistic?!?!?

Ahh, I feel better.

So, what can we conclude from all of this? Well a few things, really. First thing being that the media doesn’t care about victims of abuse, especially if they are male victims. I mean, sure they heavily report on Hollywood abuse cases, but that’s only when it fits their narrative: Man = Bad. Woman = Good. Also, when looking at it, if they truly cared about victims, would they not be concerned that a (possible) abuser is parading around as a voice for victims? Bit counterproductive, innit? Second thing, mainstream media is threatened as hell when we start thinking for ourselves and make our own conclusions. Lastly, we need to keep doing what we're doing and not care. No seriously, regardless of what we do, we are always going to be wrong so why bother changing how we choose to be a fan? Why should we abandon our own critical thinking just to conform to whatever it is some random journalist wants us to believe?

As female fans, we have supported and lifted. We're basically THE best bra these men could've asked for. We are the ladder that helps them to keep climbing, and they know it. But don’t take my word for it, Donnie Wahlberg said it best.