I don't know if you guys know this - it's a really difficult concept to understand - but it's okay not to like something! Yes, really! But it's not okay to constantly put down and insult the intelligence of people who do!
Popular culture is a collection of ideas, attitudes, art and other phenomena that permeate the society mostly through and influenced by mass media. There are some people who look down on popular culture and its products from their "high culture" horses because they think it's superficial and "less intelligent" than their 18th century oil paintings and 16th century Olde English plays. These people seem to think that because they look down their noses at popular media that is well loved by millions of people across the world, they are superior in some way or another. Let me stop you right there. Look, darlin' - you're a part of the same society we are. You can't escape it, and as it becomes more and more globally phenomenal, you're the one that looks like a stuck up conservative if you can't accept the way the world's media is changing.
I got a bit off topic there. This is really about how sick I am of these people (mainly old/er men but also often teen boys too) insulting not only literally everything teenage girls like, but insulting them because teenage girls like them. And then insulting the teenage girls for liking them.
None of this is okay. You may not like One Direction. You may not like Taylor Swift. You may not like Twilight. You may not like The Mortal Instruments. And that's okay, because they're not targeted for you and nobody really cares what you think anyway. You are entitled to your opinion. But simply hating these things because they are popular with teenage girls and because these teenage girls are very passionate about them is a completely invalid argument and in fact, makes you look a bit dumb and also very sexist. And when your opinion becomes an insult towards the people that have a different opinion to you - well. Fuck you, to be honest.
Why is it not okay for us as girls to care about something that makes us happy? Why is it not okay for us to make signs and scream for our favourite boyband? Why is it not okay for us to spend money on paraphernalia pertaining to our favourite bands and movies? Why is it not okay for us to want to listen to songs that relate to things we are experiencing right now in high school and so on?
Why is it not okay for girls to do these things, but it's okay for boys and even grown men to get into fist fights over football results, paint their faces club colours for a game, yell, scream and swear in the crowd at matches, buy expensive replica football jerseys and religiously follow the stats of their favourite players? When they do this they're just dedicated fans. When we do it, we're crazy psycho mobs.
We may have been influenced by mass media and consumerism and pushed to buy tickets for an arena tour over a year in advance, but so have you. You're being pushed and sold into things just as much as we are. You buy season tickets to your football games. You are told sport is a manly thing, so you care about it. And I think this is another of your issues. You must be so insecure in your manhood that saying a nice word about something a teenage girl likes is abhorrent to you. You couldn't bear to be compared to a woman!
The fact that society thinks that girls aged 12-18 group is somewhat worth less than anyone else and therefore everything targeted to them ends up criticised for being inferior and silly is quite frankly disgusting. Also, very backwards, because there is a lot to be gained by marketing something towards us. 1D is the biggest band in the world right now for a reason.
We are dismissed, called crazy, our intelligence insulted. Everything directed at us is palmed off as "the next..." because god forbid there be MORE THAN ONE THING FOR TEEN GIRLS AT A TIME?????
I'm sick of having to hide what I like from people because I will automatically be judged as stupid by most people. I'm sick of YA movies getting trashed in the critics reviews because they can't see what its intended audience can see and take it as something that is not intended to be a piece of art but to please the fans. I'm sick of popular teen superstars being booed at awards shows and insulted in the press and by men who are stuck in the stone age. I'm sick of things we love being dismissed simply because they are marketed directly for us.
The things we like may not be Oscar or Grammy worthy. We know this. They may not be Shakespearian or feature a lot of banjo. But they're fun. They make us happy. And at this point in our lives, that's all we can ask for.
Collective effervescence is the phenomena of mob mentality, the loss of individual sense or opinion in favour of the group's, often leading to behaviour individuals themselves wouldn't usually engage in. But a big group of men is just as susceptible to it as a big group of girls - the only difference is what we choose to focus our attention towards. Sure, there are some fans who are just a little bit more "passionate" than the rest, and I'd never attempt to excuse any death threats or other hate they have said or done, because it's simply not okay. But when you generalise us all into one being, we become synonymous with them and looked down upon as crazy and violent. And for those of us just trying to get through life and liking something because it makes us happy - this sucks.
We're allowed to like things just as much as you are. You're allowed to not like what we like, but it's simply disgusting that you would stoop to things like this just to feel secure in your manliness.
a) no. b) calling us medically certifiable idiots is a sure-fire way to ruffle some feathers, dearest Paul. It's this shit that we have to deal with every day. It's okay not to like One Direction. You could have just said that. There was no need to rack your brains for the most complex insult for the fans your narrow mind could come up with. and c) How dare you joke about the Holocaust to further your already disgusting argument - but that's another rant entirely.
And this is it. Teen girls are constantly pushed aside, insulted and called inferior and stupid. We're pressed into a single entity under constant scrutiny. We're perpetually under pressure to keep what we like a secret from non-teen girls, and live with a constant boiling rage towards our male oppressors.
And you wonder why we're so quick to get angry at you when we're provoked.