Sexism is rooted deep in society within many different aspects, ranging from stereotyping women to act a certain way, making deprecating jokes about women, and even sexism in the workplace as seen with the wage gap. However, sexism is even rooted in something as simple as interests between men and women. 

When boys have interest  in sports, they are seen as motivated and inspired. They are viewed as someone who is pursuing their dreams at a young age, watching sports and idolizing players as role models to look up to. No matter how much money they spend on tickets to games or merchandise, they are never seen as obsessive, just  inspired. In fact, the term “fanboy” is not even really used when it comes to talking about sports fans. 

However, the same can not be said about girls. When a girl takes interest in people like musicians or bands, they are seen as crazy fangirls. If girls spend money on concert tickets or merch, it is seen as a waste of money. If girls follow these artists on social media, they are seen as obsessive. If girls hang posters of their favorite artists in their room, they are seen as weird or crazy. But what about the boys who hang posters of their favorite athletes in their rooms or posts about them on their social media? Nothing is ever said about that. 

This stereotype between fangirls and fanboys can be traced back to sexism within society. For decades, girls have been seen as more immature than boys, so it is no surprise to see this stereotype carried over to the interests between girls and boys. When talking about obsessive fans, pictures of girls are plastered on news sites or on social media, always followed with terms creepy, obsessed, single or desperate. Headlines always include the word “fangirl” almost in a degrading way. You would never see a group of men acting out aggressively when their favorite teams do not win, which has happened many times. Men have gotten violent and even destructive when their favorite teams do not win playoff games or championships, yet they are not labeled crazy. 

This stereotype between fangirls and fanboys has even caused internalized sexism in some girls. An anonymous student comments “Even though I thought fangirls were a little crazy and obsessive at first, I realized that they are no different than fanboys who love sports.” It is no surprise that young girls think that way. Growing up in a society where terms like delusional, crazy, and obsessive are used to label ‘fangirls’, of course girls are going to grow up believing that stereotype, and even finding pride in not being a fangirl and not being a part of that stereotype. 

When it comes down to it, there is no difference between girls who support their favorite artists and boys who support their favorite sports team. The stereotype degrading fangirls originates from sexism rooted in society. However, if society can create a stereotype, they can change one, and it is time to change the stereotype placed on “fangirls”.