Hating Media For Teenage Girls

Have you heard about the spectacular misogynist piece that a GQ writer recently lobbed at the young fans of One Direction? Boy oh boy, do I have something to say about this.

Media primarily aimed at teenage girls has always had it rough. Though Hollywood is ready and willing to provide all the "Twilight" and "One Direction" films they want, in order to make a few bucks, these titles are frequently the targets of derision and abuse. Their inferiority is assumed until proven otherwise. I've seen fans bemoan the fact that director David Slade would stoop to helming "The Twilight Series: Eclipse." I've seen disbelief that celebrated documentarian Morgan Spurlock would sign on to direct the recent "One Direction" movie. Justin Bieber is no different from most young pop idols that have come and gone over the years, but the utter loathing I've seen for him online has been borderline disturbing.

Just about anything that appeals to young girls can be suspect. Most young actors who go through the teen idol phase take measures to distance themselves from the label as quickly as possible, because they aren't taken seriously. Sure, the critics are willing to give them their due, but the mainstream forms grudges quickly. Ryan Gosling's first big hit was "The Notebook," and resulted in many male viewers eyeing him with suspicion for years, until "Drive" came around. Leonardo DiCarpio went through a similar spell during his pretty boy "Romeo + Juliet" and "Titanic" days. Zack Efron and Robert Pattinson are still trying to dig themselves out from the fallout of "High School Musical" and "Twilight." What appeals to young women and teenage girls seems to automatically repel a good chunk of male viewers.

But compare this to the media aimed at teenaged boys. Think of the "Transformers" movies and the superhero movies that are squarely aimed at the testosterone-fueled sensibilities of young men of a comparable age. These are the PG-13 blockbusters that break records and drive profits. These are the properties treated as friendly for all audiences, but they really aren't. Ladies get some token romances and shirtless heroes, but most of these movies are built for boys. You might argue that these are generally better quality films, and that's true. However, I suspect that's largely in part because the better talent is attracted to the projects where they'll see greater rewards. Everyone loves superheroes.

Even the terrible fanboy-flicks often get a lot of love. Look at the "Transformers" series, which has been critically reviled roughly on par with the "Twilight" series. They've both been box office smashes despite this. However, you don't see wide-scale bashing of the "Transformers" franchise or its fans. Nobody but the critics wonder if Michael Bay's career is in jeopardy after churning out three awful, shamelessly pandering CGI slug-fests. And the stars who appear in these films? Their involvement is seen as a plus. Megan Fox was a hot commodity for a while because she'd played the sexy Michaela in "Transformers." She had some real prospects until she started badmouthing Michael Bay.

But why should I care what the male half of the population thinks? Why should the Directioners and the Beliebers? Well, imagine an alternate universe where the supernatural romantic melodramas are the big summer blockbusters, where there are a dozen different varieties of them, the biggest featuring A-list stars, headed up by critically respected directors. Imagine that the feminine sensibilities are the mainstream default. They'll throwing in an action scene or cheesecake shot here and there for the teenage boys, but the focus remains on the romance. And imagine if the action films were considered the niche movies, the counterprogramming, given miniscule budgets and directed by second-stringers. Imagine people regularly dismissing the whole genre as formulaic fodder for immature minds, not to be taken seriously.

Why do we devalue media for teenage girls? Because we still devalue teenage girls themselves. We don't take them or their preferences as seriously. We ignore them and forget them. The insistent ones are called annoying and shrill. And when a lot of girls are particularly demonstrative of their fandom, crowding out fanboys at Comic-Con or shattering eardrums at boy-band concerts, spooked males label them as hysterical and abnormal. They feel threatened, confronted with this wave of emotions they don't share and can't ignore. A similar reaction from a mixed crowd at a rock concert or Hall H prompts no such adverse reactions.

How do we fix this? More media for teenage girls and women. Better media. More recognition for the good stuff, like the nicely gender-balanced "Hunger Games," and don't take the double standards lying down. Normalize movies and shows and music and games made for women. Maybe stop pigeonholing it as being for women only. Maybe find a happy medium. Maybe get Michael Bay to direct a romantic comedy.

Unlikely? Yes. But it could happen.
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