Ageism in Fandom: Too Old to Fangirl?
Most Fandoms are comprised mostly of women, young and old.
It’s interesting to me when Young Women– who are the most likely to champion women’s rights can turn around and show their youth-bias when it comes to Older Women in Fandom.
There are women who champion Gay Rights, and often Slash– and fall for men old enough to be their fathers—
—but somehow, the idea of Older Women in Fandom seems to an affront, that there’s something inherently wrong with it.
Very puzzling. You’d think there would be more tolerance in a subculture that is based on freedom of thought and expression for ALL.
~ from the 52 year old Fangrrrllll.
What the younger generation seems to think is that they invented this fandom thing. Fandoms have been around longer than any of us. 43yo Fangurl here and will be that way until I scatter my atoms back to the universe.
I was a Trekker and a Whovian all through high school in the early-mid 80s. I wrote fanfic for both fandoms. On an electric typewriter, since almost nobody had a home computer. We stuck together as fans through newsletters and fan clubs and conventions. We got together at those cons and fangurled so hard the tremors are still visible on seismic readers. And here I am still at 48 years old.
When I was 7 or 8 I was a proud member of the Ricky Schroder fan club and pretty sure I would end up marrying him. Thankfully I grew out of that idea because he apparently turned out to be a very right wing NRA supporting rancher! 😛
I then moved on to Duran Duran in my pre and early teen years. My best friend and I wrote what we called “sagas”, which were basically fan fics, about them. It was all fun and games until my mom found some of them… 😨
Some other minor fangirling occasionally through the years. Now here I am, BC’s age (about 2 weeks younger, actually), and having a blast! I’ve literally met some of the best friends of my life. 😊
Honestly, I think a lot of it comes from VERY young women who are only used to seeing older women as mothers and teachers. And yeah, of course young girls don’t want mothers and teachers spying on their hobbies. I sure didn’t when I was a young teen.
HOWEVER. How young and sheltered do you have to be to think that older women are ONLY teachers and mothers? How self-centered do you have to be to think that older women SHOULD all revolve their lives around the wants or “needs” of kids? (I know it’s natural and normal for young teens to be just THAT self-absorbed, but honestly, it’s not a good look on anyone, so stop it.)
One of the things I loved most about the internet when I first got on it in the mid-90s (as a function of my job at a newspaper) was the sort of illusion of social equality it provided if you never put any demographic info out there.
I still don’t. My ‘About’ on Tumblr says nothing whatsoever about my age, gender, sexuality, location, ethnicity, etc., and it never will. If you want to know those things, you’ll learn them the organic way, by getting to know me and reading my posts. I honestly have no idea of the age of most the people I interact with on this fairly superficial platform, nor do I care.
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