A look into the 5 Seconds of Summer Fandom.

During winter vacation, I have become infatuated with the band 5 Seconds of Summer. If you are unfamiliar, 5sos is a band of four Aussie gentlemen that made their mark when they toured with One Direction during the Take Me Home tour. Their first hit single on the radio had to do with American Apparel underwear, lipstick stain and an arrow heart tattoo. Ringing any bells?

Well, on Christmas, my 12-year-old sister received their album. Knowing how much she awed over them, as well as the fact that I liked the few songs of their's that I had heard, I decided to give the whole album a chance. Man, are they good. 

I started to obsessively play the album on repeat every chance that I got. My sister, catching on to my growing admiration, let me in on a few things. It started with their social media, then led to YouTube videos. 

We found ourselves watching hours upon hours of interviews, music videos and vlogs of the band. Once we thought we had watched every interview possible, she decided to show me some of the fan videos that were put up by some of their girl fans. I was taken aback. 

The fans had actually started making "stalking 5sos" videos, in which they spend days stalking the band until finally they are able to meet them, or they just give up with discouragement. The girls then take to the internet to tell their stories about the time(s) they stalked 5sos, encouraging other girls to do the same. It doesn't stop there. 

Tumblr being our next outlet that we used to explore the 5sos fandom, my sister let me in on some jargon. There is actually a term, "fan-girl," that can be used to describe any overly-obsessive fan — it can even be used as a verb, to fan-girl. I decided that I would follow some of the more popular 5sos fan-girl accounts, just to see what they were about. 

Scrolling casually through the Tumblr feed, I came across a gif of what can only be described as porn. Thoroughly confused, I quickly slid past it and read the description underneath it. It was posted by one of the 5sos fan accounts: a sexual, fantasy story about one of the band members and "Y/N," which I later learned from my sister meant, "your name."

Their young, female fans were actually writing smut, "fan fiction," about them for all of their followers to see, and their followers were actually encouraging it. Highly uncomfortable, I switched over to Instagram. Little did I know that the smut would follow the Aussies to that platform as well. 

Scrolling through Ashton Irwin's photos, I noticed the recurring comment, "daddy." Confused, yet again, I looked to my sister for explanation. Allegedly, Irwin had "liked" certain sexual photos online that led many of his fans to believe that he had, what they called, a "daddy kink." Keep in mind the ages of most of their fans. 

I can't help but to feel bad for the boys and the many awkward situations that their fans force upon them, assuming they take notice of their many fans and their posts. When did fandom turn from liking music to sexually harassing band members via social media? When did it turn from going to a concert and enjoying the music to stalking the band's every move while it's in town? While the 5sos band members seem to be good sports about it all, loving their fans for being fans, I can't help but ask, how far is too far?