The scene opens in the bedroom. Pastel wallpaper is covered by the faces of teenage heartthrobs ripped out of the pages of the latest issue of J-14 and a mix of posters and concert merchandise is strewn around the room in a purposeful mess. The only light in the room comes from the flickering LED smartphone screen casting shadows into the hollows of her face and emphasizing the whites of her headphones. Her thumbs are swift and agile: scrolling, typing, tweeting, tumbling.

“Did you hear the new 1D song? ️️️️”
“HALSEY IS MY QUEEN!!!”

“All hail Queen Bey #FLAWLESS”

At the sound of a knock at the door she recoils into the shell of her bed, camouflaging into the night as a quick kiss goodnight signals the end of the day. Once the door is shut and the hallway lights shut off, she pulls her phone out from under her pillow and the cycle starts again. This is the life she’s chosen to lead. This is the life of the teenage fangirl.

Fangirl:
An obsessive female fan usually of something technological or of pop culture.
Noun. Present tense. Sometimes used as a verb, for example “I fangirled so hard at the Fall Out Boy concert, I think their security got freaked out.”

Though stigmatized nowadays by the permanent prominence of social media, the teenage fangirl has been a staple to American society since Hollywood’s Golden Age in the 30s and 40s when movie ticket sales were through the roof and figures like Cary Grant and Fred Astaire were all the rage. Fangirls were there when the Beatles first set foot in the states and they were there when Zayn Malik decided to go solo.

To the bigwigs of the entertainment industry, fangirls are the cream of the crop; they’re the impulsive demographic, ready to launch themselves at anything marketed their way, making them easy bait for the attractive lures companies make for them. Their passion is the fuel that keeps the industry going and yet, outside of the business meetings, the teenage fangirl is thrust aside as “over-emotional,” “hormonal” and of course, “psychotic.” The fangirl’s passion is undermined by her public displays of affection and suddenly her feelings become invalid.

Teenage girls always seem to be at the center of social attack. We never do anything right, and when we do what people want, we’re just like everybody else. The media has taken away the glory of teenage womanhood and placed it in the hand of corporations to create an efficient tunnel to our parents’ banks accounts. But what companies and the middle-aged Debby Downers of Reddit fail to understand is what it feels like to be a young girl in love with music.

There was a time in my life where many choices I made in life were based on a simple phrase, “What would Harry Styles do?” One Direction was my eighth grade craze and I was very vocal about it. I made an entire Twitter devoted to following their every move, I squealed whenever they did something adorable, I teared up every time Zayn would hit a high note perfectly, and I had mini heart attacks at the sight of threatening tabloid headlines claiming that they had “girlfriends,” but my name was nowhere in sight. They were my gospel and, in middle school, it was comforting to know I was a part of something bigger than myself. Around the world, millions of other girls were fighting for the same cause, retweeting the same tweets, giggling at the same jokes. We were Directioners and it didn’t matter that our chances of meeting our idols were slim to none; we connected to each other and formed friendships that were worthwhile.

My love for One Direction eventually waned as I traded in Harry Styles for Chris Cornell, but there’s always a part of me that will defend the girls that spend the night outside the venue or scream at deafening levels the minute their favorite band walks on stage. The stigma surrounding the teenage fangirl stems from simple sexism; a woman’s passion towards her favorite artist must be considered childish in order to make her feel inferior and insecure about her own interests. There’s nothing wrong with finding safety in a band or musician. There’s nothing wrong with telling the world how much you love them. Fangirls invest in the music and work hard to see returns. Without us, there isn’t a industry. We are the industry.

So as the teenage fangirl hides in the shell of her bed, CDs and posters covering the ground around her, she knows her worth, that she’s something greater than the screaming fan in the stands. In the words of Penny Lane from Almost Famous, “We are here because of the music, we inspire the music.”