Where would the Beatles or Elvis be without their fangirls?

I was writing a paper on fangirls last semester and this quote really stuck with me. you may or may not know, but I am in grad school. My research emphasis is in young female music audiences (aka fangirls). I know, as well as anyone, about the stigma that comes with being a female fan of basically any genre of music. We're seen as hysterical and superficial. Clearly, we only like bands because of their looks and not their music. ::insert eye roll here::

The truth of the matter is, a lot of the most popular artists in pop/rock would be literally no where if their audience didn't consist of female fans.

Hear me out. Where would Elvis be without his fangirls? Where would the Beatles be? Where would Justin Bieber, One Direction, Lady Gaga, or any pop artist for that matter be without female fans?

Fan girls are INCREDIBLE. I know that I'm biased on this, but we unite in our respective fanbase and make shit happen! 1D fans ban together to raise money to donate to a charity for each member's birthdays every year. They banned together to get the fan favorite song, "No Control", on the radio (even when the band hadn't chosen it as a single). Panic! at the Disco fans coordinated an project where at every single show on the latest tour, fans held up different colored hearts during "Boy/Boys/Girls". Each section of the arena was a different color to create a rainbow of lights in support of LGBTQ+ rights.

Fangirls create art, videos, fiction, merch, and promote the hell out of their favorite bands. ALL FOR FREE. Where else can you get free promotion like that?

They also pay a TON of money to see their faves in all the cities, own all the merch, and pre-order the special edition(s) of all the albums.

So, where's all of their credit? Oh yeah, they have none because they're "just a bunch of screaming girls".

Let me go ahead and say this. I have never seen anyone with more passion than a determined fangirl, myself included. The reason I'm studying this as a graduate student is because it's something that has affected me personally and something that I hope to help change in the future. No one should be shamed for their music tastes (unless you listen to country haha jk), especially young girls that are already facing a lot of other issues.

This topic means a lot to me. I travel to see a lot of bands in a lot of different cities. Music is the only thing that's ever really kept my interest. There's no other feeling like standing in a sea of people screaming the words to one of your favorite songs. I hope I never lose my passion or love for music. It's been such a huge part of my life from a very young age. I'm extremely lucky to have parents and friends who understand this lifestyle and support me.

I hope we can eventually take back the term fangirl and make it empowering. Fangirls are powerful. Fangirls are the future. Let's encourage them instead of crushing their creativity and dreams.