A Case of “the Feels”: Why Fangirls Freak Over Fiction
Everyone, at one point or another, has seen, heard, used, or even claimed the term “fangirl.” The term itself can have several definitions, from the overly-literal translation of “obsessive female fan” to the derogatory, though frighteningly accurate description “usually mistaken for a stalker.” Other times, it is claimed as a title by someone with a vocabulary filled with terms such as “OTP,” “fanfic,” “ship,”(no, not a boat) and, perhaps most fitting term, “asdfghjkl” — used to convey the fangirl’s spastic, seemingly unconveyable emotion. Though fangirls can be devoted to any number of things from bands to books (and are not just girls; there are fanboys, too) the bulk of the “intense” fangirl emotions are usually a result of the actions, words, or death of a fictional character. These intense emotions, commonly referred to by fangirls as “the feels”(usually typed in caps lock) are the cause of people’s dismissal for such fanatics, and the reason that many people find fangi
