I see these posts on my dash, mostly from teenagers, saying that people over 30 shouldn’t be in fandom, that they don’t belong.
And I just…it makes me so sad for them? Do they really think passion and enjoyment has an expiration date? And especially one coming up so quickly? Do they think they won’t still love pop-culture in ten years, in fifteen years, when they’re adults?
What do we do to young people, and especially young girls, that makes them think after the age of 30 all they’ll care about is raising babies and taking care of their families?
Assuming they even have babies, plenty of women in their 30s don’t.
Guys, you still get to be a person when you’re older. You still get to love things, you still get to create things. You don’t stop being you after a couple decades…instead you get to be more you than you’ve ever been able to be before! Heck, if you’re lucky, you can finally afford decent supplies for cosplay, you can afford to go to all those cons you always wanted, you can decorate your whole house in fandom related things, because it’ll be all yours.
And you’ll get to have friends who are all ages, both younger and older than you would’ve thought. You’ll get to relate just as people, and not have to worry about perceived authority. You’ll get to take in all sorts of different perspectives, and enjoy all sorts of friendships, and age just…won’t really matter? I have friends from 18-70, and I enjoy spending time with all of them…and geeking out about how we all love the same things with all of them, too.
And just because you’re finally the same age as the people creating the content you enjoy doesn’t mean you have to stop enjoying it. It just means you’ve got more personal experience and more years of practice to add to your fic.
Really…getting older kinda rocks.
So…interact with people in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s in fandom–yes, they all exist–or don’t, but please…don’t think you have to give up who you are and what you care about just because you grow up.
Because you really, really don’t.
