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From "Friends or Just Fans? Parasocial relationships in online television fiction communities" by Charo Lacalle, Beatriz Gómez-Morales and Sara Narvaiza.
When people think of obsessive fans, certain images (read: stereotypes) come into their minds. One may think that fans of boy bands like N*SYNC, Backstreet Boys, One Direction, and BTS are all young teenage girls, with their screaming and crying as they wave signs and lightsticks at concerts and airport meetings. The fans of these groups often have traits associated with them that are seen as negative: shrill, young, shallow, dumb, and more. There are many girls in this age group who so badly do not want to be seen this way that they pretend to dislike these boy groups and treat "open" fans poorly - they are "not like the other girls." A large part of this is due to misogyny; men's perceptions of women's interests can lead to women trying so hard to not seem like they have those "undesirable, childish" interests. Conversely, men who like bands or watch shows that are associated with femininity are seen as gay and/or effeminate. Being interested in rock bands, heavy metal bands, and rappers are all seen as typically masculine traits, even though there are lots of female fans of these genres. The fact of the matter is, while BTS and One Direction's female fans may be the loud majority, male and nonbinary fans of these groups do exist. They just may not be as vocal about it as women are.
Research done by Charo Lacalle, Beatriz Gómez-Morales and Sara Narvaiza shows a link between fans on social media and their gender (see Figure 01). The researchers took a sample of several thousand Twitter and Facebook comments about Spanish TV shows, analyzing them to confirm the similarity between parasocial relationships with fictional characters/celebrities and real-life relationships. The study showed that parasocial behavior is linked to gender, with women having a greater tendency to have these thoughts and associations. Lacalle et al. describe how research differentiates between parasocial interactions (PSIs) and parasocial relationships (PSRs): PSI is a sense of awareness, attention, and adjustment to characters while watching a TV show or a movie, whereas PSRs are a viewer’s imaginary relationships with onscreen characters and/or actors. Research shows that PSRs are often more intense with fictional characters rather than celebrities, but that PSIs often happen when actors who play these characters appear elsewhere on television. Lacalle et al. then go on to describe the distinction between “insiders” and “devotees”: the former are more interested in forming a community and making friends with other fans of the shows they watch, while the latter are more interested in sharing their knowledge and passion for the characters and stories¹.
The fanbase for K-pop boy band BTS has grown exponentially since the group's debut in 2013. There are millions of ARMYs (the name given to the fandom by BigHit Entertainment) all over the world of all different ages, genders, and stages in life. The creators of BTS ARMY Census, Chaviva Grover and Roxana Ciocirlea, wanted to measure the demographics of BTS fans to disprove common misconceptions that all BTS fans are teenage girls, while also measuring participants' occupation, how long they've been a fan, and the social media apps they frequent. The survey was conducted over four months, from July 9th to September 30th, 2020. 402,881 people responded to the survey from over 100 different countries. The results were made public on March 27th, 2022, after careful analysis and translations into 46 different languages. The researchers also prefaced the results by saying that while many BTS fans are female (86/3%), they deserve respect and not ridicule.
The data for where the survey respondents are located shows that there are a lot of Southeast Asian, North American, Mexican, and South American ARMYs. The researchers stated that there are a large number of Korean BTS fans; however, the data does not reflect that because the survey did not spread a lot in South Korea. Indonesians made up most of the data - a whopping 20%! The gender data showed that 86.3% of respondents were female, 11.3% were male, 0.74% were nonbinary, and 1.32% chose not to disclose. 50.31% of ARMY were under the age of 18, with the next-largest category being the 18-29 range at 42.59%. 4.24% of respondents were between 30 and 39, 2.02% were between 40 and 49, 0.69% were between 50 and 59, and 0.15% were over 60.
Social media usage by BTS fans was sky-high. 86.41% of respondents use YouTube, 75.55% use Twitter, 73.75% use Instagram, 73.06% use V Live, and 68.56% use WeVerse. V Live and WeVerse are specific apps used by K-pop fans to read idols' posts and watch live videos of idols as they go about their days. The high Twitter and Instagram percentage means that many BTS fans are heavily involved in the online fandom, with both apps being primary places for K-pop stans to participate in celebrity worship².
The results of this survey are only indicative of one fandom. However, when combined with the study done by Charo Lacalle et al., there is a clear pattern here: the majority of people who participate in celebrity worship on social media are women and girls between the ages of 14 and 29. People participate in celebrity worship on social media all over the world - it is not just an American thing. English is used as a lingua franca on Twitter, though dozens of languages are spoken by fans and celebrities alike.
Lacalle, Charo, et al. “Friends or Just Fans? Parasocial Relationships in Online Television Fiction Communities.” Communication & Society, vol. 34, no. 3, 2021, pp. 61–76. Crossref, doi:10.15581/003.34.3.61-76.
Grover, Chaviva, and Roxana Ciocirlea. “2020 Results.” BTS ARMY CENSUS, 27 Mar. 2022, www.btsarmycensus.com/2020-results.
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