Should women be allowed to have fun?

As the FIFA World Cup 2022 came to an end on the 18th of this December, we see the streets of Dhaka decorated with Argentina flags and a good chunk of people wearing Argentina jerseys. Throughout this whole football season, we hear reports of verbal fights, physical clashes and violent assaults over disagreements on football; yet we don't hold them with nearly the same disdain and ridicule as we hold towards teenage girls. To the general public, nothing is funnier than humiliating a girl for simply existing.

Why do women have interests?

People fixate on and hold deep interests for the purpose of entertainment and relieving the stress of their hectic days. It recharges our minds and maintains our emotional well-being. Otherwise, our life would become monotonous; living would no longer feel like a necessity and want but rather a punishment.

Similarly, women also need stress relief in the form of entertainment and interests. Women, especially young girls, might need it more than others; due to the added stress of being a female on top of their daily lives. Therefore, entertainment is not simply just a want but a requirement. These interests can range from silly and immature to serious and profound; that is how it is supposed to be. It is supposed to be stimulating and riveting for whoever is taking part in it. Now that we have developed why it is necessary to have hobbies, let us question ourselves and the hypocritical society we have created.

Double standards between these fandoms

Football, cricket, "Star Trek", "Call of Duty" and Disney princesses, BTS, dramas, romance novels belong to two different categories. The former has a male-dominated fandom, and the latter has a female-dominated fandom. Male-dominated fandoms are regarded with general acceptance and even with esteem on numerous occasions, whereas female-dominated fandoms aren't just rejected; they're also mocked and degraded. Grown women and young girls in fandoms are labelled as hysterical and extreme. On top of that, the fandoms' demographics are reduced to crazy, immature teenage girls who can't differentiate between reality to fantasy. Even Michael Jackson and The Beatles were once taunted for having frenzied female fans. Not that the stereotype is true, but if it was... isn't that how teenagers are in general? Growing children who are learning to understand themselves and life, aren't they bound to stumble around and make mistakes? Then why are we so harsh on young girls? Also, let us be honest with ourselves; is the idea of young girls obsessing over grown men singing worse or the idea of grown men obsessing over other grown men running around? My dear readers, I will let you mull over this and decide for yourself.

Considering the hysterical stereotype is also true, male fans are still equally as crazed, if not more. People forget their own experiences and how these groups have a history of brutality. During football season, for example, rates of domestic abuse and violence, in general, have soared. We have fostered an environment that mocks and assaults women. Femininity is excessively demeaned and detested. 

Double standards inside the fandoms

This contempt is unfortunately internalised by women, given how this is ingrained in us from a young age. Many girls look down on other girls who, for example, enjoy romance novels and cling to male validation. There is an age-old phenomenon: girls that don't want to "be like other girls" because that would apparently mean they are not intelligent and lesser than other people. This is how degraded women are in our society.

Ironically the same people they desperately seek validation from are the ones who invalidate their interests, even if it is the same thing. Girls with more "boyish" interests are constantly probed and accused of doing it for attention. Doomed if you do, doomed if you don't.

Society puts women under the microscope and pushes too many unreasonable standards on them. It is hard for a woman to do anything without the looming anxiety of being scrutinised. It is not okay to be too simple or too bizarre, do anything that might attract men or do anything that might repel men. Women have been stripped of their autonomy.

Therefore, whenever a friend tells you about their interests, I urge you to pay attention and participate in their happiness. Small acts of acceptance and compassion can go a long way, and hopefully, we will soon be able to break free of this chauvinist paradox.