OPINION: FEMALE FANS CAN MAKE A MUSICIAN'S CAREER, AND IT’S TIME THEY WERE TAKEN SERIOUSLY

Young women so often launch the career of the legendary bands that ‘real’ music fans (ie. men) then wish to gatekeep

When Harry Styles remarked in his 2017 Rolling Stone interview, “who’s to say that young girls who like pop music – short for popular, right? – have worse musical taste than a 30-year-old hipster guy?” he made a great point. Female music fans have never received the same respect as their male counterparts, despite their equal knowledge and enthusiasm. Instead, music is yet another interest that women - and young women in particular - are pigeonholed and made fun of for; if a girl enjoys mainstream artists like One Direction, she’s basic and shallow, and knows nothing of ‘real music’; if she happens to prefer more alternative bands, she’s trying too hard to be interesting. We just can’t win!

Harry Styles, Rolling Stone

Perennial sexism in the music industry has often seen female fans stereotyped as hysterical. Rooted in Ancient Greek, ‘hysteria’ has long been used to portray women as somehow innately unstable, and therefore incapable of critical thought. It’s what kept us out of politics for so long, and it’s why our opinions are still being discredited.

The 1960s saw the rise of Beatlemania - excitement expressed by The Beatles’ young female fans. Beatlemania courted the idea of hysterical females by implying that these fans were nothing more than delirious, screaming kids. Some journalists at the time even described the phenomenon as a “mental disturbance” or “Liverpool lunacy” that “drives the immature, shall we say, ape”. The language choice very indiscreetly suggests that these women were not of sound mind, and sent that message that female music fans were not to be taken seriously. The reality, however, was that these young women were able to launch the career of the legendary band that ‘real music fans’ (ie. men) now wish to gatekeep.

Fifty years later, One Direction came into existence and, like The Beatles, they owe their giant success largely to their teenage fans. Selling over 50 million albums, and the first British band to debut at number one in America, One Direction was undoubtedly among the most successful modern day artists in the world. However, mention of them often elicits eye-rolls, and disparaging remarks that their music is bad simply because it caters to young women. 

An assumption is also made that the fans are only engaged because they find the band (and other artists) physically attractive, rather than having any meaningful appreciation of the music. Where a male fan would be regarded as taking an intellectual interest, women are dismissed as mindless groupies, which is both patronising and sexist. In a 2020 interview with Evening Standard, Sports Team’s Rob Knaggs remembered coming across this narrative as a teenager: just like his female counterparts, he was “obsessed with bands and wanted photos with them”, yet found he was treated with far greater respect because of his gender. His bandmate Al Greenwood also criticised the prejudice toward their own female fans, describing them as “an amazing and increasingly growing community of really young, really intelligent, empowered women”, with a genuine passion for music. Instead of their dedication being recognised, though, these women are “misrepresented” as merely superficial.

The view that young women aren’t serious fans is an attitude that can, sadly, be held even by musicians themselves: back in 2015, 5 Seconds of Summer’s drummer, Ashton Irwin, was quoted by Rolling Stone as saying that “seventy-five percent of our lives is proving we’re a real band”, as they didn’t “want to just be, like, for girls”. At the time at least, they evidently couldn’t see themselves becoming a legitimate band until they had the approval of male fans.

A recent victim of the ‘hysterical female’ trope has been the rise of the ‘fangirl’. Reminiscent of peak 2014 internet culture, perhaps, the term describes young women with a dedicated interest in something. It isn’t a compliment, though; a quick Google search of the phrase ‘are fangirls’ produces the autofill suggestions ‘annoying’, ‘the worst’, and ‘cancer’. It’s become an insult - levied against women who are too loud, or too passionate in their interests. 

In reality, we should be celebrating these women. From personal experience, I know that female music fans are some of the most committed people in the world: whole communities are created around shared musical interests; songs inspire new forms of art such as painting, makeup or clothing design; gigs and their queues become safe places to make new friends and memories. Of course it isn’t only women doing these things, but they deserve their fair share of recognition. After all, they’re pretty fundamental to music culture.

Unfortunately, this is a problem that speaks to sexism throughout the music industry, as well as society as a whole. It isn’t something that will ever disappear overnight. However, the more we shout about it and bring it to people’s attention, the sooner change can be achieved. We need media outlets to engage with fans positively, changing the language away from ‘hysterical’ connotations. Perhaps most importantly, we need the music artists themselves to keep voicing their appreciation of female audiences. As Harry rightly acknowledged, his success would never have been possible without them.