Why do young girls scream at their boy bands?
WHEN ONE Direction perform on the North American leg of their ‘‘Where We Are’’ tour, starting in August, you’ll have to squint your ears to hear the boy bands’ hits amid a more ancient and fascinating sound: the emptying of adolescent lungs.
Obviously, there will be screaming – high- decibel, high- pitch swells that push hard on the eardrums and then harder, toward the surreal.
But what’s behind that feeling? Why do young women assembled at pop concerts express their collective ecstasy with the most alarming sound available to their bodies?
In some ways, today’s young fans are simply imitating the ritualised shrieks of the generations that preceded them, from the Beatlemaniacs to the Beliebers. And while today’s tween screams aren’t reserved exclusively for young male heartthrobs, concerts by Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift don’t seem to generate quite the same sonic fervour as a per- formance from Ed Sheeran.
Since the splashdown of Elvis Presley in 1956, the American media has often characterised the din of young female fans gathered in the presence of a pop idol as ‘‘ hysteria – a description that denigrates their musical engagement,’’ according to a 2003 article written by Australian researcher Sarah Baker.
‘‘Not only do these screaming, crushing bodies animate these [ performance] spaces,’’ Baker writes, ‘‘but they also make the pop experience feel intensely real for both the girls involved and the wider public.’’
So when the lights go down at a 21st century boy band revue, we aren’t hearing a helpless, hysterical howl. We’re hearing a complex expression of individualism and collectivity – perhaps with a dash of Darwin thrown in.
‘‘ When men cry at a sports event, it’s very similar’’ to the screaming that takes place at a One Direction concert, says author
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or You better Belieb it: Fans scream as singer Justin Bieber appears at the window of a hotel in central London. Rachel Simmons.
Simmons argues that young women are unfairly asked to squeeze into an impossible mold of politeness and modesty. She says a concert is a unique event that gives girls the rare opportunity to break out of those roles.
‘‘A concert offers an oasis from the daily rules about being good girls. Screaming is about letting go and leaving the confines of being the self-conscious pleaser.’’
Michelle Janning, a professor of sociology at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, believes that girls have felt an expectation to scream ever since Beatlemania spread across the land in 1964.
‘‘ We’re constantly being socialised to see crowds of girls screaming at rock stars. So we’re following the crowd, doing what we’ve seen other people do.’’
Janning and Simmons agree that concert screaming ultimately provides girls a chance to express their individuality while reinforcing their place in the larger group. And it can also be a place for competition.
‘‘ Adolescent girls are really invested in the acceptance of their peers,’’ Simmons says. ‘‘But there’s a competitive element to fandom and fan-girling – and screaming is an expression of that fandom.’’