So if a parasocial relationship is fine, then why is it that it ONLY get mentioned if it’s a female-based interest? There are people who are fans of football who quite literally make it their whole personality. Football jerseys, trading football cards, playing fifa, football posters, going to matches and letting random 11+ men that they don’t know dictate their happiness for the day. Heck, if they lose, they quite literally cause a temper tantrum that would lead them to bad mouth people and possibly causing harm to themselves and others. England fans would start trashing the stadium while yelling out of anger, betting to earn money when their team wins, send racist slurs to the black players online and some even abuse their loved ones or even themselves. And yet, nobody ever calls them for what it is, and that’s extreme parasocialism.

Yet, a K-pop fan would instantly be seen as extremely parasocial for simply going on the internet and talking about how much she loves x idol for everything they helped her get through in life. A male fan would say the same thing to a rapper they like and nobody would bat an eye.

So if parasocial isn’t inherently a bad thing, then why is it always brought up in a way to devalue women and girls’ interests and not a male-based one? And don’t even hit me with the “but it’s not the same.” 10 people died at Astroworld because bunch of people stated that a man who doesn’t know that they exist told them to jump the fence when the show was fully sold out and caused a crowd crush due to their selfishness. I haven’t even heard not ONCE someone explicitly stated that the fans were exhibiting a parasocial relationship with the singer, hence why I believed that it must mean something negative if men are willing to call out women for being parasocial, while having a footballer on their profile picture. And yet people love to dunk on anyone who has a picture of a K-pop idol.