You mentioned K-pop, and I have to say fan culture so strange. A man can be obsessed with a sports team, play fantasy football, talk about his favorite athletes all day...but if a feminine person dares to like a celebrity (e.g., Taylor Swift, but literally anyone), they're automatically an object of ridicule. It's "okay" by society standards to make fun of these people in media, on social media, and in real life, because their interests are considered "silly," "immature," "childish." It's like how an old white man can love The Beatles, but who does he think truly popularized them and supported them?
"Fangirls" (for not all of us are strictly girls/women, but for the sake of the dreaded term) are often the ones who are creating and supporting industries all over, including ones that men consider "theirs." Fangirls were there reading comic books from the beginning, loving the Gundam series...everywhere. But everything we do gets picked apart.
It's interesting that this also goes into fangirls attacking each other, in their own defense. They have to say they like something in the "right" way, to differentiate themselves, to say what other fangirls are doing is "wrong," but don't you worry, they (for they know how outsiders see us as a whole) would never like something in *that* unacceptable way. They're "not like the other girls," a thing so many femme people say they are, are told they are, because being "like the other girls" is obviously a problem.
After all, who would want to be associated with anything "girly"?
I haven't used the term "guilty pleasure" in a long time, and likely won't use it again, but I think my last was Ancient Aliens. 👽
Sadly, misogyny is so embedded in Western culture that it's not just men who despise women for drinking pumpkin spice lattes, reading romantasy, wearing nail art, or (as in my case) rocking a Ms Marvel or Eras Tour t-shirt. We're depressingly likely to be lectured by other women about how 'unserious' our pleasures are, how Taylor Swift isn't a 'real feminist' because of her bodysuits and Loubutins, or how we should know we're just slaves to capitalism. Yes, we know, but so f-ing what? "Good is not a thing you are, it is a thing you do" is a slogan every girl should be raised with, and Taylor's concert community of shared joyous/sad/righteously angry girlhood of all ages provides an experience which can be honestly trancendent. One of the few advantages of being 68 is that I no longer feel guilty about liking and advertising what I like.
What an excellent dissection of the term “guilty pleasure “. It is sad how many things that are women-coded are derided as not being worthy. It just makes me want to say, “Fuck that, there are no guilty pleasures, only pleasures.”
You mentioned K-pop, and I have to say fan culture so strange. A man can be obsessed with a sports team, play fantasy football, talk about his favorite athletes all day...but if a feminine person dares to like a celebrity (e.g., Taylor Swift, but literally anyone), they're automatically an object of ridicule. It's "okay" by society standards to make fun of these people in media, on social media, and in real life, because their interests are considered "silly," "immature," "childish." It's like how an old white man can love The Beatles, but who does he think truly popularized them and supported them?
"Fangirls" (for not all of us are strictly girls/women, but for the sake of the dreaded term) are often the ones who are creating and supporting industries all over, including ones that men consider "theirs." Fangirls were there reading comic books from the beginning, loving the Gundam series...everywhere. But everything we do gets picked apart.
It's interesting that this also goes into fangirls attacking each other, in their own defense. They have to say they like something in the "right" way, to differentiate themselves, to say what other fangirls are doing is "wrong," but don't you worry, they (for they know how outsiders see us as a whole) would never like something in *that* unacceptable way. They're "not like the other girls," a thing so many femme people say they are, are told they are, because being "like the other girls" is obviously a problem.
After all, who would want to be associated with anything "girly"?
I haven't used the term "guilty pleasure" in a long time, and likely won't use it again, but I think my last was Ancient Aliens. 👽
Sadly, misogyny is so embedded in Western culture that it's not just men who despise women for drinking pumpkin spice lattes, reading romantasy, wearing nail art, or (as in my case) rocking a Ms Marvel or Eras Tour t-shirt. We're depressingly likely to be lectured by other women about how 'unserious' our pleasures are, how Taylor Swift isn't a 'real feminist' because of her bodysuits and Loubutins, or how we should know we're just slaves to capitalism. Yes, we know, but so f-ing what? "Good is not a thing you are, it is a thing you do" is a slogan every girl should be raised with, and Taylor's concert community of shared joyous/sad/righteously angry girlhood of all ages provides an experience which can be honestly trancendent. One of the few advantages of being 68 is that I no longer feel guilty about liking and advertising what I like.
What an excellent dissection of the term “guilty pleasure “. It is sad how many things that are women-coded are derided as not being worthy. It just makes me want to say, “Fuck that, there are no guilty pleasures, only pleasures.”
Thank you for your thought-provoking article.💕