Fangirl

The term fangirl can be used to describe a female member of a fandom community (as opposed to the masculine "fanboy"). However, it is most often used in a derogatory sense to describe a girl's obsession with something, most commonly a male teen idol or an aspect of Japanese pop culture.

Fangirl behaviour is believed to vary in intensity. On one end of the scale are those that, while harbouring a crush on a particular actor or character, are perfectly capable of understanding that the fulfilment of the crush is never going to happen. On the other end are the girls who are said to be obsessive in their claims on a fictional character. Fangirl behaviour can fall anywhere between these criteria, but the closer someone is believed to be towards the obsessive end, the more derogative the use of the term 'fangirl' to describe them is perceived to be.

Teen Idol Fangirls

These fangirls will commonly hold a crush on a major male star, athlete or celebrity (Common examples include Johnny Depp and Pete Wentz). This can range from a simple crush to the complete belief that the male celebrity is either madly in love with the fangirl, or will fall madly in love with the fangirl once he lays his eyes on her.

Japanese Pop Culture Fangirls

These fangirls will often follow a particular aspect of Japanese pop culture, sometimes broad, but sometimes as focused as a single anime/manga series or even a fictional character.

In the cases of particular anime or manga series, the fangirls are believed to hold less interest in the storyline, being more interested the potential for romantic relationships between the fictional characters of the series. In more extreme 'cases', the fangirl will claim that a particular character is in love or married to her, despite the physical impossibility of such a relationship.

Also fangirls who are extremely obsessed with a character will make fanfictions, fanart, fanflashes, or anything else there may be to put either them and the character together, of the character and another one together. Fangirls are different from otakus. These relationships will often be removed from the canon context of the series, and are often expressed in fanfiction. Examples of series' commonly claimed by fangirls include Naruto, InuYasha, Bleach, Sailor Moon and the multiple Gundam series' (in particular Gundam Wing).

Fangirls are believed to be the largest contributors to fanfiction websites, often disregarding the canon storyline or altering it to fit either their own favoured romantic pairings (known as shipping) or themselves into the continuity (termed self-insertions or Mary Sues).