If we ask this question to anybody in a general context, people will say that girls can obviously like whatever they want to. However, there are many situations in our society in which we can see young girls and women’s interests being invalidated and mocked.
The most common examples are situations related to
music taste.
As there are different women all around the world,
their music tastes differ greatly. Still, some of them share a particular
interest in boy bands. They can usually be connected to young girls in the
majority of cases.
 |
| One Direction |
BTS
Ironically, this ill-treatment never falls upon male
football fans when they freely show their “support” for their favourite team by
causing riots or fights.
England fans during 2016 European Cup. 
Derby between Galatasaray and Besiktas.
This mistreatment that women suffer regarding their
interests and hobbies has nothing to do with the quality of that particular
activity or thing. It is entirely related to the fact that is liked by young
girls and women.
A clear proof of this statement is what happened in
The Beatles fan base. At first, they were a band mostly liked by young girls and
they were ridiculed for it. Nowadays, as they are liked by both grown men and women, they have become a cult
band and they have been recognised as one of the best bands ever.
The Beatles.
Well, Maria, the time is come, so, as you can remember (I think), after reading your post I asked you about the sources you used to affirm all that points, but you never responded, so I am not sure if you are very busy or you don´t have a proper bunch of sources. Anyways, your post can be read like it is fill by facts or fill by opinions and, about the nature of your explanation, I think that it fill by (hypothetical) facts. In that case, I´m going to critise some inaccuricies. Let´s go.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, about boy bands, it´s not true that music industry critise the music produce by this bands, because... music industry created them. This industry produce their music, choose the singers (usually, all of them are very handsome) and, in many cases, write their lyrics. Maybe, the idea you was trying to share is "they are critised by professional critics".
And that is a correct way to talk about this kind of bands, because they rescued the old formula created in the 90´s but with a insidious increment of its characteristics. Decades ago boy bands were formed by very beautiful guys who could dance and, sometimes, sing (thanks to autotune and other modern machines, there is no problem with a "bad singer" because it can be fixed in the mix, and in the gigs they can use playback). In addition, the creation of this groups was with the idea to get a massive fandom with a lot of (emotional, almost hysterical) girls. They were a ridiculous product, a clear son of the capitalised scene of music and, nowadays, boy bands reborn again thanks to South Korea and, ufff, korean idols have a lot of problems (girls and boys), because they must to conserve the idea of purity (like in the previous form of Disney Channel) and they lose a lot of rights related to their private life.
When someone critise boy bands is, actually, because there are all these problems (and more), and the reason isn´t related with girls or women liking that kind of bands (that is a nonsense).
Then, you try to convince us that mal football fans cause riots trying to "support" their teams. Oh, come on! You are talking about hooligans and they are the shame of the sport, and almost anybody like them. Even teams and whole stadiums ban their pressence into matches, because nobody want to be near to them!
Inappropiate example and (very) bad generalization of football´s male fans.
And, finally, that horrendous mistake about The Beatles. In what universe the most (probably) important band of western music culture, with The Velvet Underground and The Beach Boys, was liked by only FEMALES in the 60´s and 70´s?
Maria, the impact of The Beatles was so HUGE that they changed the music and inspire a loooooot of bands and artists (yeah, not only to women). We can say, without no doubt, that The Beatles was loved by almost everyone in those decades, you know? They were "more popular than Jesus" (John Lennon, March, 1966).
I think you had good intentions before publishing this post but I think you need more information before pretending to say facts and not opinions. For this reason, (and don´t missunderstand the next as "mansplaining") I recommend you to read articles like this:
https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/celebrity/what-makes-the-beatles-the-most-influential-band-of-all-time
And, well, try to enjoy all kinds of music without thinking who critise what.
P.D: Maybe I was a little rude, but I was a musical journalist in several magazines years ago, and I hate the idea of people spreading lies about music´s history.
You've just provided a perfect example of why this post needed to be written.
DeleteI do not expect you to change your biased and sexist opinion but I might as well try.
DeleteIt seems like you are being willfully ignorant. First of all, this writing just states a very simple fact: young girls are ridiculed because of their interests. Boy bands are just an example but you could talk about romcoms, about YA books or about mostly every other form of entertainment. Apparently you asked Maria for her sources. People make fun of girls all the time. That's her source. Her everyday life. No one is denying that The Beatles were liked by everyone. We are just pointing out how women were made fun of something both women and men did: screaming at their concerts.
The funniest part is you just proved her point by calling female fans "hysterical". But if a woman's testimony is not enough for you, please do check out these sources:
- This is the link of a youtube video called 10 things I hate about fangirls. You may notice the comments are deactivated, probably because people were rightfully criticizing this youtuber for ridiculing and berating women
https://youtu.be/3wcuCfG21SY
-Here is a very interesting The guardian article which explains the phenomenon Maria is talking about. As you can see, they use The Beatles as an example. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/music/2013/sep/29/beatlemania-screamers-fandom-teenagers-hysteria
If these examples are not enough for you you can do a quick google search and you'll find an endless amout of articles and think pieces written about the topic. And please consider that just because you don't experience something, it does not mean that it doesn't exist.
You do make a good point when talking about the capitalized music scene and the manufactured music groups. It is true that they were forced to perform the idea of purity and they did loose a lot of rights when it came to their private lifes (they still do). A lot if these so called boy bands ARE marketed towards teenage girls. Women just don't like how girls are ridiculed for it, which is a FACT, not an opinion.
Hope this answered some of your questions.
I do not expect you to change your biased and sexist opinion but I might as well try.
DeleteIt seems like you are being willfully ignorant. First of all, this writing just states a very simple fact: young girls are ridiculed because of their interests. Boy bands are just an example but you could talk about romcoms, about YA books or about mostly every other form of entertainment. Apparently you asked Maria for her sources. People make fun of girls all the time. That's her source. Her everyday life. No one is denying that The Beatles were liked by everyone. We are just pointing out how women were made fun of something both women and men did: screaming at their concerts.
The funniest part is you just proved her point by calling female fans "hysterical". But if a woman's testimony is not enough for you, please do check out these sources:
- This is the link of a youtube video called 10 things I hate about fangirls. You may notice the comments are deactivated, probably because people were rightfully criticizing this youtuber for ridiculing and berating women
https://youtu.be/3wcuCfG21SY
-Here is a very interesting The guardian article which explains the phenomenon Maria is talking about. As you can see, they use The Beatles as an example. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/music/2013/sep/29/beatlemania-screamers-fandom-teenagers-hysteria
If these examples are not enough for you you can do a quick google search and you'll find an endless amout of articles and think pieces written about the topic. And please consider that just because you don't experience something, it does not mean that it doesn't exist.
You do make a good point when talking about the capitalized music scene and the manufactured music groups. It is true that they were forced to perform the idea of purity and they did loose a lot of rights when it came to their private lifes (they still do). A lot if these so called boy bands ARE marketed towards teenage girls. Women just don't like how girls are ridiculed for it, which is a FACT, not an opinion.
Hope this answered some of your questions.
As I think I said already, María, this is a very interesting reflection on how the standards are different when it comes to what is acceptable for men and women to do in the world we live in – well done for critically interrogating those assumptions, as expressed in the context of music and sports!!!
ReplyDelete