A Fangirl is a Fangirl

So there's been a fair amount of talk about the term "Fangirl" lately.

Since the origin of this debate essentially comes from being linked on WFA, and I'm the one who came up with the name of the link blog, I thought I'd weigh in.

Jade of Nerd in High Heels (a very snappy name itself, if I may say) asks if The term 'Fan Girl' is derogatory. (She concludes yes, here.)

There's a lot of interesting interchange back and forth (I think Brainfreeze has a nice post up.)

What I want to know is...does it matter?

I remember a while back there was a podcast floating around which criticized WFA for using the term, I'd link it if I could remember where it was, but it probably doesn't matter. There was something about how using the term somehow lessened our cause.

I consider that bullshit, but your mileage may very.

Jade quotes sites that differentiate fangirls from fanboys as being more involved with shipper debates than canon debates. I think this differentiation is arbitrary and meaningless. Sure there are many female fans particularly interested in who's romantically involved with whom, and slashers in particular make a very large subset, one that is likely not matched by the male fans.

But ultimately is that the definition of "fangirl"? I don't think so. I think the most important components in "fangirl" are simply "fan" and "girl".

There are many female fans more interested in relationships than canon, but there are quite a few who like to pick apart canon as well as any man. I've gotten into my share of "can Hulk beat Superman?" or "Wolverine vs. Cyclops" fights after all. I like to dissect canon. I like to nitpick and bitch about inconsistancies and the like.

So if you use the wikipedia and common definitions of fangirl, I'm really not one. I'm a fanboy.

But I'm not a boy. I'm a girl. Are you saying that whether I squeal over a particular actor, stalk someone at a convention, or care about romance versus nitpicking, that those qualities somehow override my GENDER?

I'm a fan. I'm a girl. I'm a "fangirl". I've got just as much claim on the title as anyone else. In fact, since "fan" is a fairly old term, as is "girl", I'm pretty sure it's a term that's older than any of those linked sites. There may not be documentation to support it, but it's hardly unique nomenclature. "Fanzines" existed as early as the nineteen-seventies, (they were in fact the origin of the term "slash", from the relationship denotion of "Kirk/Spock". I wouldn't be surprised to find out some women writing in "fanzines" would decide to call themselves "fangirls".

And even if not, I've used it longer than that wikipedia site's had the definition. Longer than the other sites Jade's linked. Why should those definitions, written by outsiders, trump mine and those of other women who've taken the term for themselves?

To try to argue "fangirl" as derogatory implies a sense of shame that simply doesn't exist among most of the people who actually claim the title. It's not even a matter of reclamation as is the case with "bitch" or certain racial or homophobic slurs. I feel no need to reclaim a term I've used since I was a twelve-year-old kalinara first embarking on the internet in 1995. It's always been mine and has been long before those sites written by non-fangirls have tried to turn it into something mean.

Sure some outsiders, often men but not always, might try to turn the phrase INTO something derogatory, but hell, I've seen some men turn "woman" into a derogatory term. Does that make it by nature derogatory? No. A woman is a woman. The only negative meaning is from someone who wants to feel powerful by belittling someone else.

"Bitch" means "a female dog". It's by nature a derogatory term designed to put down the target by comparing her to an animal. "Woman" means a female person. There is nothing innately dirty or insulting about being called a woman. There is no attached negative meaning except for what some stupid people try to latch on to it.

By extension "fangirl" means a "fan" who is a "girl". Anything else added to it, anything derogatory comes from outside of the classification, from context rather than inherent to the term, and I don't see why that should have anything to do with me.

I am a fangirl. I use the term proudly. If anyone wants to read something negative into that, they're more than welcome to do so. I reserve the right to laugh derisively at anyone who tries though.