The SimpStans
Demystifying two extremes of the Gen Z spectrum by Ananya S Rao, Strategy Associate
‘Ah man, what a simp’, have you seen something similar on Twitter, Reddit? Or an Instagram meme maybe?
‘A simp is someone that puts like, a woman on a pedestal,’ said Tiago Garcia-Arenas, 22, a TikTok creator with more than 2 million followers who released a song called “Simp” earlier this year. Such men, he said, see women ‘as a higher being, or something like that.’
The term simp took the internet by storm in 2020 with it’s evolving context and rapid usage. But to one’s surprise, the word is old. Like, reaaaally old. The word Simp was a common diss used in 1980’s hip hop music. Simp is the shorter version of the word ‘Simpleton’, in layman’s terms meaning silly or foolish. Oh, but don’t let it fool you, in 2020’s context this word takes a whole new meaning. In 2020, SIMP stands for a term that’s ostensibly inappropriate for a company blog post.
Let’s give you some context, have you ever slid into a female’s DM using the phrase ‘where my goodnight at?’ or ‘I’ll be there for you no matter what!’? If yes, I’ve got some news for you. In the #ReelWorld, you sir will be referred to as a Simp.
The term refers to a male who will do anything to receive validation or rather ‘get with’ a female. A reverbed version of the Nice Guy™. A man who is willing to let his self-respect be stomped over by any woman, a man who treats a woman with empathy and kindness. In short, when a man treats a woman as an equal, in current times he is welcomed to ‘Simpnation’.
‘Simpnation’ is a term that gained popularity on TikTok with the audio of Post Malone’s hit ‘Rockstar’, which soon evolved into a #SimpnationChallenge. As the popularity of this challenge increased globally, men who treated women with kindness were mocked as simps. Men who supported female rights and equality were termed as simps. The toxicity of this challenge severely impacted social forward-thinking in terms of social equality and basic human emotions. Popular iconic male roles have been termed as simps. Even Archie, the comic book character, couldn’t escape from this toxicity!
In a more diluted sense, at least in the Indian context, Gen Z Twitter users changed their names to ‘ ___ Simp account’, which implies they would do anything for the romantic counterpart. Another widely used variation is by K-pop fandoms. Where they simp for their celebrity crushes which was followed by a larger audience simping to inanimate entities as well.
This feels like a huge upsurge in terms of feminism, equality while it mildly propagates patriarchy.
On the contrary to simp culture, another Gen Z term coexisted and made its presence abundantly. We call this the ‘Stan culture’. ‘OMG, we stan a queeeeen!’, ‘ ______ stan account’, ‘S/HE COULD NEVER!’, encountered some of these on Twitter?
The term ‘Stan’, was coined by eminent rapper Eminem. Yes, that’s right! Eminem’s hit ‘Stan’ about an overly obsessive fan who goes to great lengths and attempts to get in contact with Eminem, who ultimately commits suicide.
This song was written by Eminem as an attempt to reflect upon taking things for granted in his own life. But little did he know that his attempt at addressing a serious issue on obsessiveness and privacy would soon turn into another meme bait.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the hype culture. The hype community makes being a part of a fandom a wholesome experience. But the problem arises when individuals cannot look past this glorified image of their idol. Individuals who identify themselves as stans adore their idols to no end while inciting hate on anyone who mildly critiques them. From lowkey stalking to tattooing their idols face on their body, this obsession hs no limits.
An example would be Post Mac Miller’s death, his stans took up the role of spewing hate on Ariana Grande by flooding all her Instagram and Twitter by blaming her for his death. Another would be K-pop fans mocking XXXtention’s death while not being able to tolerate even a tiny diss towards their K-pop idols.
Many celebrities such as Charlie Puth have publicly expressed their opinion on how toxic these stan communities can be, take a look:
On an individual note, this sort of obsession with a star-like figure is called a parasocial relationship. These sorts of relationships are one-sided interactions towards a celebrity, media, or any entity that is unaware of the other’s existence. In short, this is a type of affinity that is toxic to one’s mental health.
This sort of behavior did not arise just in 2020 but has existed since the dawn of time. I’m sure you’re familiar with the super fan of The Beatles that plotted to assassinate John Lennon. Something more recent would be the 22 year old artist Christina Grimme who was shot amidst her own concert. A few others who led to their demise by obsessive fans or in today’s lingo ‘Stans’ were Rebecca Schaeffer, Dimebag Darrell, Albert Ebosse, among others.
The phenomenon of stan-ing was not only fostered internationally but also very close to home. In 2016, a man in Lucknow, India, transformed his entire house into a Shah Rukh Khan museum. Aditya Roy Kapoor received a letter wishing him Happy Birthday from a fan, written with her own blood. Some have even gone to the extent of creating temples for Rajinikanth, Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandhi, Sachin Tendulkar, and Amitabh Bachchan, etc. Well, I guess some may say that Indians took the term idolizing a little too literally. But actions speak louder than tweets, am I right?
Okay, back to 2020. So now the question arises — What differentiates healthy idolization from an obsessive stan? Well, the answer is simple. If you can rationally make decisions based on the actions of your idol and not being overly invested in their every move…you’re good! If you are blinded towards the flaws of your idol, willing to look through all the horrible things they might have said or done and are willing to back them up on their miserable deeds, it’s time for some self-reflection.
Though this is subjective, this would act as a basic framework for understanding your current stance of investment.
Hope this short analysis provides a better perspective into the social environment of Gen Z, this was my first attempt at cracking digital anthropology, I would love to hear what you think or suggestions for other potential things to simp-lify.
