By Reigha Weaver | Staff Writer
When I first laid eyes on Louis Tomlinson, there was no going back; I knew from then on I was destined to be a fangirl, and my first crushes were all boyband dreamboats. Now, after surviving 11 years without One Direction, it’s fair to say not much has changed. Yet, at a certain point, being obsessed with Harry Styles stopped being endearing and started being off-putting.
I’ve always wondered what makes the line between a celebrity crush being cute and being strange. Regardless, I don’t think there should be a line at all. Celebrity crushes are healthy expressions that should be celebrated, not shunned.
I had many people telling me that no boy would put up with my allegiance to celebrities, which made me respond with an eye roll and “They’re not Tom Holland anyways.”
A large portion of the online space presently consists of fan media including edits, fan pages and fan fiction. According to Deloitte Digital, 75% of Americans who are 18 and older are in a fandom and 52% of people in a fandom “seek out fan-created media.”
Furthermore, about 80% of people report having celebrity crushes, according to Chapman University. This means a majority of people around you are crushing on a celebrity or fictional character.
However, most of these interactions are forced to stay online. Most people divulge in their crushes using fan fiction, an increasingly popular form of media. Fan fictions such as “After,” “50 Shades of Grey” and most recently “Duplicity” have gone from fan fictions to published books. Archive of Our Own, more commonly referred to as Ao3, has nearly 12 million users and 18 million works.
With such a wide fanbase, it seems kind of ridiculous that most people cannot express celebrity crushes more openly. For women especially, it seems that admitting to have a celebrity crush makes you weird and undesirable.
Of course, parasociality is an important conversation to have when discussing celebrity crushes. Disrespecting people’s privacy is no longer a crush, just like truly believing that someone you’ve never met is destined to be your soulmate is not equal to having a fan page. Not every person who has a celebrity crush is parasocial, but some do cross the line.
All this to say, most people have a celebrity crush. It shouldn’t be taboo to openly experience emotions, it should be celebrated. Fangirls especially unashamedly post, talk and follow the celebrities they admire. That shouldn’t be a small population.
Those of you who crush on a celebrity should make yourselves known. Write the fan fiction, make the edits and go to the concert. Life’s too short to not love loudly.
So, if you see me going to a double feature of “Whalefall” and “Resident Evil” just to see Austin Abrams, judge all you want; I’m right where I want to be.
