Royally Speaking: Stan culture isn't healthy
According to urban dictionary, a stan is "a crazed and/or obsessed fan" who goes to great lengths to obsess over a celebrity, royal or public figure. It's believed that the term was originated from the song Stan by the rapper Eminem. Over the last couple of years, this online phenomenon has been widely spread in social media, especially amongst the royal fandom.
 |
| Kensington Palace/ Press Association via Twitter |
For Camilla fans, like me, the royal fandom has never been very friendly. Obsessed fans of the late Diana, Princess of Wales took a special pleasure in tormenting us and The Duchess of Cornwall herself (although Camilla couldn't care less about them).
I never thought that could be possible but things got even worst since the entry of The Duchess of Sussex in the Royal Family. It's clear that Meghan has suffered all kinds of abuse, from racism to sexism, by some member of the public and the press but in an attempt to defend her some of her "stans" crossed the line of respect and empathy.
It became common to see members of the "Sussex Squad" abuse The Duchess of Cambridge and The Duchess of Cornwall with sexist and ageist offences, or any other social media user that doesn't agree 100% with their narrative or make the smallest critic about The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
I have been targeted by some of these stans once or twice and I can say they spare no effort to attack you personally, and even humiliate you. They treat you like some kind of enemy that has to be destroyed at all coasts. Needless to say this is not a healthy behavior at all.
 |
| Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images |
The exact same thing can be said about some of The Duchess of Cambridge stans. It's absolutely disheartening to see them constantly targeting other users and Meghan with racist, classist and xenophobic comments.
It's totally understandable to have personal preferences and expressing your opinions, what I fail to understand is why some people have this extreme need to be mean or even cruel to others they don't like (Camilla, Catherine and Meghan) or don't agree with (other fans). The toxic mindset that a royal fan can only like one of the Duchesses is even more shocking.
One of my favorite quotes is: “Don't do unto others what you don't want done unto you " by Confucius. If you don't want to be attacked and if you don't want your favorite Duchess to be abused, don't do the exact same thing to others because that's very hypocritical.
 |
| Kirsty Wigglesworth via Zimbio/Getty Images |
My point is: let's debate and disagree but let's also be civil and respectful to one another. There's a huge difference between criticizing and abusing.
Great article. Agree with everything you have said. Comments can be so vicious and disrespectful at times, their is no need for it. My dear mum always use to say "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" I live by that, and have instilled that in my children. Today we live in a different world, I understand that, but not always for the better, you only need to look on social media. It goes back to basic's for me, how one is brought up in the family home and what is instilled in you. Merry Xmas to all.
ReplyDeleteGreat article. The lengths that some of the stans will go to are often unbelievable and cruel. Both Catherine and Meghan stand up against bullying, so why are some of these people attacking others because they have a different opinion. I am a fan of both Kate and Meghan and I refuse to pick a side. I will always defend and stand up for both of them. These obsessions are unhealthy and are examples of extreme bullying and hatred. I've also seen horrible, hateful, racist, sexist and just plain cruel things said about the youngest Royals. Children should be off limits for such comments. The children are ìnnocent and should be protected.
ReplyDeleteThis article is quite timely for me. I just got abused by someone from sussexsquad ( literally told to f.off) because I had the audacity to ask them to take a leaf out of the DOS book and be civil and not put down another female member of the royal family. It does my head in
ReplyDeleteJust Dont agree with the racist reference. I have personally seen zero reference to her ethnicity except from her followers. Not to say it isn't out there but rather I have not seen anything like that from her detractors . Our dislike is based totally on her actions.
ReplyDeleteYou're lucky if you've never seen anything because it's out there. I've seen Meghan referred to as a "monkey/ape", "n-word", "ghetto hoe" etc. And this was all on the Kensington Royal Instagram page before the separation of accounts. Since then there have been slightly veiled comments and the use of the monkey emoji whichastounds me because most posts in that page don't mention Harry and Meghan ever but they're brought up by these stans/fans. As an African-American woman, it's the same sly, nasty remarks I've seen and experienced in my own life. Be glad that you haven't seen it - it's vile, nasty and extremely hateful. And it's hurtful.
DeleteI agree with what you've said here. I just started following your page because I am a fan of Camilla's (actually all of the Royals). As one that has followed the Royals, from America, for many, many years it hurts me to see the vile hatred coming from all stans/fans. I've been verbally attacked by Catherine and Meghan fans for standing up for the other. I don't care because I can handle it but I wish this nonsense would just stop. I blame the media just as much as anything for igniting this divisiveness. They pit one group against another by the blatant lies they publish about the other(s) but this doesn't excuse the abhorrent behaviour of these stans/fans.
ReplyDeleteI've been a fan of the entire Royal family since I was little & I suppose it carried because my mom is. Her father left Germany to serve in the British Army. He had permission from the King to get wood from the Black Forest. He'd make furniture musical instruments he made a violin that was absolutely gorgeous but my sister destroyed it when i was a kid & mentioned that i wanted to learn to play it. His wife's sister was the first lady of Honduras. My Tio Beto had permission from his uncle to fly for the Honduran Air Force even though he offered full scholarship to any university in Germany.
ReplyDelete