I am female. And I'm a fan of anime, video games, comic books and fantasy books. That by definition makes me a fan that is a girl. Whenever someone finds this out, they grimace slightly and with a role of their eyes say, 'oh, so you're a fangirl', at which time I promptly haymaker the rude SOB. But to a point I can't blame people's reaction. For years, fangirls have received a reputation similar to the overweight, creepy, anti-social, nit picky group collectively known as fanboys, or as my friend calls them fanboiz. This is through consistent bad behavior, stupid stereotypes and the kind of craze that makes a 6'2" fairly muscular guy as scared to be around a group of women as a pretty blond in a biker bar. And because of this, girls like me whose insanity and obsession is contained and for the most part accepted, immediately get ripped apart as soon as they see them wearing a Seme t-shirt. And quite frankly I'm sick of it. So thus I wrote these rules to being a loyal fan-that-is-a-girl, without being a dreaded fangirl.

Follow up:

Law #1: DON'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY

If someone doesn't like your all-time favorite character/series, don't attack them. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, and just because someone disagrees doesn't make them Satan. I see this all the time on boards that if someone says Sasuske is an emo jerk or that Inu Yasha is overrated, there is usually a fifty seven post response saying the person has no taste and that they are going straight to hell. Don't do it.

I am a pretty big fan Clamp fan, and a mega CCS fan, and one day a guy at my anime club started a rant about how much Clamp sucks. Everyone looked at me like I was gonna kill the guy. I said I very much like Clamp, and agree some of their series aren't very good, but if he didn't like it, oh well.

Law #2: LOGIC

What gets fangirls into trouble the most outside of discussion boards are fan art and fan fiction. Most of this has to do with fanshipping. Everyone's got their favorite non-canon couples, a lot of these become canon later on, so most people actually don't have anything against them. They can lead to a lot of fun discussions and funny comic strips. Where the flames start throwing and people get annoyed are stupid, illogical, non-nonsensical pairings. It doesn't matter if they are weird hetero couples, odd yaoi shipping or unnecessary mary-sue OCs based on the creators personality. Here are the rules of fanshipping:

1. Characters must have met. This sounds obvious but some of the stupidest pairings I've seen are couples where the characters have never met before, and could not have met in any way of the current space-time continuum

2. Characters should not already be in a relationship. I've broken this rule a few times myself, because you know certain characters are better off than with their current flame, but be prepared to bare the consequences. So once again refer to Law #1

3. With Yaoi couples please remember rules 1 and 2, they apply especially for male/male couples. The most groan inducing fan fictions and art work come from strange male couples where characters have never met, are already in love with a female character or have such fleeting contact that it doesn't make a difference that they've met at all.

4. Use OCs responsibly. A Mary Sue is a character with no personality depth and no flaws. They are good at everything, everyone likes them and all the boys want to be with her. People like this don't actually exist, and people already hate Mary Sues. So to really get raged at, stick one of these flat, sacrine characters with a male character that already loves someone, or even if they are single. Most of the time OCs are avatars of the fangirls themselves. It's okay to really, really like a character, or find them attractive. And it's okay to fantasize about them, just don't write a 700 page ode with a boring character and force other people to bare witness to it

Law #3: DON'T HARASS COSPLAYERS

I don't care if they are a dead-ringer for your favorite character, I don't care if they are insanely hot, I don't care if someone else just hugged them: don't randomly go up to strangers and hug them. Personally I hate being touched, so if someone randomly glomped me I probably would strike them before realizing they mean no harm. If someone has an awesome costume, politely go up to them, ask a few questions (cosplayers LOVE to talk about their costumes), and ask if you can take their picture with you or give them a hug. Most people will say yes, and even if they don't, remember Law #1. If people say no it's probably because you're the 40th person to ask and they're still working their way to the dealer room or want to talk with their friends.

Also, if you see some guys/girls dressed up as your favorite couple, don't bug them about doing suggestive poses. Even if they came together to play a couple, they may be shy about doing certain things with each other. Being polite is the key. 'I love that character' and 'that's a great costume' should suffice.

Law #4: THEY AREN'T REAL

Your favorite characters, no matter how hot they are or awesome a character, are fictional beings draw on paper or constructed with 0 and 1s. The voice actors who play them, the people who dress like them, the artists who create them aren't the character. So if you have a boyfriend, don't ask him to constantly play the character. It's just sad

Law #5: THEY'RE HOT ISN'T A GOOD ENOUGH REASON

Another thing that irritates people about fangirls is the fact the only reason they like a character is because they are attractive. Have other reasons, like they have a complex personality, or an interesting back story. For every one of my favorite characters I can give a complete analysis about why I like them.

Law #6: NOT EVERYONE LIKES YAOI

Not all fangirls are yaoi fangirls, but the yaoi fangirls can be especially ravenous. The truth is not everyone likes yaoi, it doesn't make them homophobe or prejudiced, it just means they don't like it. I personally don't like it, though I love shonen ai. It weirds some people out, so have some respect

The general theme of the rules is this: be polite, be considerate and be realistic. No one says you can't love a series or a character, but remember that other people have to put up with you.