let’s start out with the terms ‘gatekeeping’, when someone decides who does and does not have access to a community or identity, and ‘ageism’, stereotyping/discriminating someone on the basis of their age.

now let’s talk about one direction and the boys’ solo careers.

THREAD.
one direction was formed in 2010, their target age range for fans was preteen and teenagers. with the boys themselves being 16-19, the estimated age range would be 9-19. this means that’s those fans back then, grew up with the boys. fans age too.
ageism on twitter is huge. you expect 18+ to “have a life” and not have twitter. just because they do, does not invalidate the life that they have. whether they have a job, go to school, have bills to pay, does not give you the right to tell them to get off twitter.
i am 22, i was 12 when i became a fan. i have two jobs, i finished school, i have bills to pay, an apartment, a dog and bunny to take care of. i do all of that and still have time to love these boys that saved my life multiple times. but that’s another story.
the boys mean the world to these 18+ year olds. they were the target audience. just bc the boys are reaching a newer audience, does not negate their original fans. we went through everything with them. we grew with them. they helped us through our hard times.
okay now gatekeeping. that’s a new thing fans are doing now. back then, you were allowed to like multiple things no matter how much you knew about it. it’s ridiculous, i will never understand how you can tell someone they can’t like something??
anyways. gatekeeping one direction/the boys is not okay. old fans telling new fans they can’t like them for whatever reason, and vise versa, is appalling. don’t tell someone they can or can’t love something. don’t tell them that that something doesn’t love them back either.
new fans need to know that we will always know more than them, regardless of the new fan’s research, they never lived through it. and THAT’S OKAY. new fans just need to understand that they will never understand the feelings growing up with one direction gave.
in conclusion, if you’re uncomfortable with someone 18+ or minors, don’t follow them. but also don’t tell them what they can or can’t do. unless you lived through the happiness and heartache these boys caused in real time, you have no say. sorry.
You can follow @anditslou.
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