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Aug 114 min read

Girls v Guys; Unhinged v Normal

Certified Swiftie Beth Nicholls was feeling their ‘Reputation’ era, as they explored the double standards for male sports fanatics during the recent Super Bowl vs. the fangirls at Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour. 

 

Fangirl behaviour is often seen as unhinged, irrational, and emotional. Whereas fanboy behaviour is often seen as masculine, dedicated, and normalised.

 

A common example of this phenomenon within society is the comparison of a girl who loves Taylor Swift against a guy’s passion for sports. 


Earlier this year, Taylor Swift touched down in Australia, playing seven sold-out shows, three at Melbourne's Cricket Ground and four at Sydney’s Accor Stadium. The Eras Tour saw over 600k fans flock to see Taylor across the seven nights, with this being one of her biggest Australian tour legs. [1] She was the first artist to ever play four sold-out shows at Accor Stadium during the one tour as well as also playing the biggest show of her career of 96k at the MCG with her previous record being 76k at Sydney during the 1989 Tour, both of which are certified queen status in my books.

 

Securing The Eras Tour tickets was a bloodbath, with many still scarred from the period known as The Great War, leaving only some survivors. I will never forget those hours I spent staring at the Ticketek loading page – so much lost time… The tickets ranged from $65.90AUD for restricted view tickets up to $1249.90AUD for VIP package tickets. [2] 

 

Many debate that the VIP packages really weren’t worth the extra money you paid for them, however, they had no option if they wanted a ticket. And if I was between no ticket or a VIP ticket package, I would have spent the extra to ensure that I had a ticket (But by a miracle, someone three degrees from me managed to survive and get my sister and me a ticket). 

 

The Eras Tour fostered a place of love and community, with a large part of the tour being creating outfits based on different Taylor eras and trading friendship bracelets with other fans, a concept created by the lyric ‘make the friendship bracelets’ in her song ‘You’re on Your Own, Kid’, from the 2022 album Midnights.

 

Many fans were criticised for how much they spent on Taylor tickets and merch, how far they travelled to see her, and how ‘crazy’ they went at the concerts. Many fans were left without tickets due to the high demand, and tens of thousands ‘Taygated’, where they listened and sang from outside the stadium. Much like sporting crowds, the love extended outside of the inner sanctum of the stadium, but Swifties were also criticised for such behaviour. Fans could simply just not be fans who loved Taylor and her music. Many comments flooded social media posts with people saying they hated Taylor Swift, or that people were crazy for their commitment to The Eras Tour.

 

Swifties proved the ‘unhinged’ fangirl reputation.

 

Also in February 2024, was the 58th annual Super Bowl where the Kansas City Chiefs took on the San Francisco 49ers, in the biggest game on the NFL calendar. The game saw just under 62k fans [3] flock to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to watch the game.


Tickets for the Superbowl cost a pretty penny, with the cheapest face-value tickets from the NFL being $ 2000 USD and going up to $ 37000 USD on resale site StubHub the day of the game. [4] Going to the Superbowl isn’t exactly a cheap affair, and when compared to concert tickets, even Taylor Swift’s most expensive tour packages cost less than a ticket to an NFL game.


Many male sports fans will very quickly drop their money on gameday tickets, supporter jerseys and merch, along with even buying specific cable packages to watch their preferred sports teams on TV. This behaviour is seen as normalised and okay, no matter how much money they have spent, simply because they are men and for them, it isn’t ‘insane’ or ‘crazy’. If a man screams for his favourite player at a sports stadium, nobody blinks an eye, those are just the typical emotions tied to a sports match. But if a woman screams and cheers at a concert, she’s seen as overly emotional and told to not be so ‘dramatic’.

 

The media also did not let down on the fact that Taylor Swift attended the Super Bowl to support her boyfriend Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs. Many men complained about how ‘Taylor Swift was being shoved down their throats’, however, she was only featured for 55 seconds across the entirety of the Super Bowl broadcast, which was 0.36% of the total game time [5]. Many argued that Taylor Swift being brought into the NFL scene brought a new type of audience with her, with many Swifties now joining the NFL crowd.

 

The standards between men and women for things they love and enjoy are so different, and women and girls are constantly belittled for being a fans of something and expressing their joy. As Taylor Swift says: I don’t think you should ever have to apologise for your excitement. Just because something's cliche, doesn’t mean it’s not awesome. The worst kind of person is someone who makes someone feel bad, dumb, or stupid for being excited about something.’


Note: I am gender diverse myself and I understand this article is written with a focus on the gender binary. However, I believe gender-diverse and non-binary individuals receive the same criticism as girls would in this context.






 

ENDNOTES

[1]  Dailey, Hannah. Taylor Swift Blown Away by Size of ‘Biggest’ Crowd at Final Eras Tour 


[2] Mitchell, Rebbeca. Green, Cassandra. It’s Not Over! How To Get Taylor Swift Tickets If 


[3] Florio, Mike. Super Bowl LVIII has lowest attendance for any non-pandemic edition of the 


[4] Gibson, Kate. How much were 2024 Super Bowl tickets? See average, cheapest and most 

expensive prices for the game, CBS News, 2024. 


[5] Blinn, Michael, Taylor Swift got just 54 seconds of air time at Super Bowl 2024, New York Post, 2024. https://nypost.com/2024/02/12/sports/taylor-swift-got-just-54-seconds-of-air-time-at-super-bowl-2024/


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