If I see one more person say that BTS fans are a bunch of crazed fangirls, I think I might lose it. Every day I have to scroll past people online dismissing the group and their music because it must be garbage since women love it. It is sad how pathetic you must be to believe this because you are depriving yourself of an amazing group of artists.
When I found out that BTS was going to be performing on Saturday Night Live, I knew that there was a high possibility of the fans being portrayed as stupid, obsessive girls in some kind of skit. This is exactly what ended up happening when SNL released a promotional video where Emma Stone, the host for the week, and a few other SNL cast members were pretending to be BTS fans.
Many BTS fans were annoyed with how the video represented us and tried to voice their opinions on Twitter, but this caused a lot of people to come forward and defend the video. They claimed that since SNL is a comedic show, there is no reason to feel offended by the video because it was meant to be lighthearted. Even though I am sure that SNL did not intend to hurt anyone's feelings with the video, it does not mean that the fans' criticisms of it are invalid.
The entire concept of the "crazy fangirl" is rooted in sexism. The things that are popular among women are always trivialized because our society believes we are shallow. We are seen as being incapable of liking anything of actual worth because our feeble female brains cannot comprehend it. When it comes to boy bands, the public assumes that the female fans are only interested in the group because the members are attractive. The band's talent then starts coming into question because people assume that without their good looks, no female fan would listen to their music. It infuriates me that women are so looked down upon that people believe we do not even have the capacity to appreciate art. Why does it even matter if a fan of a boy band finds the members attractive? Can we not love them and also love their music? People love to claim that the fans reduce the band members to their looks, but that's actually what you all are doing by questioning our intelligence and the group's talents.
When it comes to BTS, it is absolutely ridiculous to try to make the argument that their success is the result of their physical beauty. Even though all of the members are attractive, that is not the strong point of the group. BTS' music is what makes people fall in love with them. Their songs are meaningful and have been a source of inspiration and positivity for fans all around the globe. Topics such as mental health and the struggles of learning to love oneself are touched on in their lyrics, so I will not sit here and let anyone minimize the impact that their music has had. If BTS' music is not really your style then that's fine, but what's not fine is writing them off because most of their fan base is made up of women.
The fact that BTS' music is Korean is used as "proof" that their non-Korean speaking female fans only support the group because they are handsome. The public believes that there is no way we could possibly feel connected to BTS' music if we do not speak Korean because we would have no idea what they are saying. This kind of statement always makes no sense to me because these people are acting like the internet does not exist. I do not know why the concept of looking up the translations to song lyrics is so foreign to many people, but yes, we do read the translations. Just because you are xenophobic and refuse to listen to music in a language you don't speak doesn't mean that everyone else does too. I think we should all be encouraged to listen to music in languages that we do not speak because it is a beautiful way to expose yourself to different cultures.
I want to make myself clear: you aren't quirky for not liking K-Pop. It doesn't make you cool to look down on a band loved by women. The truth is, you are probably just bitter that you have nothing in your life that brings you joy in the way that BTS brings us joy.
