Stanning and the Cult Industrial Complex

Is stanning culty?

Forward

A version of the following post originally appeared in the Cult Community in September 2022. I shuttered that newsletter in January 2023 because writing about cults was interesting, but it was also emotionally taxing. One day we’ll discuss what it’s like being harassed by proud cult followers online. I decided to share a version of the essay here after I saw five content creators explaining that they’d been doxxed by the Barbz after criticizing Nicki Minaj's “Hiss.” In their comment sections, I saw familiar comments like: “They aren’t just her fans, it’s a cult.” It isn’t lost on me that one of the reasons I wrote the original essay was because Barbz doxxed a creator after she criticized Minaj back in 2022.

Stanning and the Cult Industrial Complex

In “When Barbz Attack | Nicki Minaj and the Cult of Standom” Kimberly Foster talked about being harassed by Barbz following a tweet criticizing Nicki Minaj. Leslie Jones and Zendaya were the targets of white male movie stans who did not want to see Black women cast as leads in Spiderman and Ghostbuster, respectively. I have seen many tweets claiming that celebrity stans (who harass the critics of their favorite celebrities) are cult members. While I disagree that every fringe group should be identified as a cult, seeing this sentiment repeated across platforms highlights the need for a more nuanced conversation.^¹

I am especially interested in the group dynamic amongst self-proclaimed “stans” and what their motivations are. In 2000, Eminem and Dido released the song and video “Stan.” Stan is an Eminem-obsessed stalker and fan. After his fan mail goes unanswered, an enraged Stan locks his girlfriend in his trunk and drives off a cliff. I recall watching the video and being horrified during its initial release.  Today, the term stan is used by many people to self-identify as fans of people and things.²

Stan:

(Noun) A person who is an ardent fan of someone/something.

Despite its casual usage today, Eminem created the song (and character) to urge his followers not to obsess over him. In this interview, Eminem explains that he was inspired to write Stan after receiving a series of disturbing fan letters. I shudder to think what was in the letters that made early 2000s Eminem uncomfortable. Twenty-two years later his message has been diluted by repeated digital self-identification and proud stan culture. In 2015, Maddy Foley, Siena Gagliano and Emma Carey wrote, 

That said, the heart of Stan culture comes from a place of positivity — both in praising “stanned” artists, and creating a community where fans can find and bond with like-minded individuals.

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Foster supports this shared understanding of the term’s current use as largely positive and even differentiates between “normal” stan behavior and what she is experiencing (violent threats against herself and her family). Melanie McFarland explains the difference between healthy fan criticism of a media franchise versus toxic group trolling by groups like The Fandom Menace. 

We have talked about the cult of celebrity before, including that time Ezra Miller allegedly tried to start an actual cult in Iceland. We also discussed it in this cult adjacent segment, using Michael Jackson stans as the primary example. I cited Bryan Robinson’s article that claimed Jackson’s devoted fanbase saw him as family and fully supported him, despite heinous criminal accusations. In much of the writing I referenced, writers were primarily concerned with celebrity behavior endorsed or ignored by their fans.

For stans, their interest in a celebrity might just be the catalyst to their more intimate relationships with other fans. Dr. Lynn Zubernis argues, “We are all especially drawn to being part of a group at times of stress and times of transition, when our identities are altered.” Eminem’s fictional character Stan believes the two would make great friends because they have a shared history,

See, I'm just like you in a way

I never knew my father neither

He used to always cheat on my mom and beat her

I can relate to what you're saying in your songs

So when I have a shitty day, I drift away and put 'em on

'Cause I don't really got shit else, so that shit helps when I'm depressed.

In this age of digital community, the possibility of joining fan clubs and building relationships around celebrities is easier than ever. Fandoms or standoms in and of themselves can have other positive outcomes. According to Dr. Zubernis fandoms can be helpful for “...mental health, exploring one's identity, discovering creativity, and taking a much-needed break from the stresses of everyday life.” Stan is engulfed by the possibility of a one-on-one connection with Eminem, while current fans are stimulated by their ability to constantly band together and develop communal relationships. In “How Fandoms Turn Toxic,” Dr. Zubernis stresses that fandoms/stans, 

…are first and foremost groups, and that means that basic group dynamics apply. There are in-groups and out-groups, with cohesion increased by pathologizing anyone not in your particular in-group, even if those people are also fans.

She goes on to stress that many of the public forums fans aggregate on are largely unmoderated and without any posting or tagging limits. Thus stans who have joined together in pursuit of a shared interest are largely unstoppable until they violate some law(s). But the question I want us to answer is, does the potential development of toxic group dynamics make these fandoms culty?

The answer to this question is my least favorite: Not necessarily.

A little digging into the psychology of standom, across fanbases, reveals the line between stan and cult follower is fuzzier than I initially thought. For example, one of the key components of identifying a group as a cult is a charismatic cult leader. McFarland writes of digital comic fandoms, they’re “...leaderless and therefore easily deniable, allowing it to proliferate in spaces designed to be escapist and unserious.” Although one might assume that the celebrity at the center of a case of targeted harassment might be the “leader,” this isn’t necessarily true. Members of these groups are brought together by their adoration of a particular celebrity, but they may organize into sub-groups of their own and have distinct hierarchies with non-celebrity leaders at the top. McFarland goes on to say, “QAnon confounds many conventional analyses through its leaderlessness and gamification.”

Matthew Remski, cult survivor and independent researcher from Conspirituality explains that understanding digital stan culture as distinct from groups traditionally understood as cults is difficult because “most cult research has roots in the pre-digital era, and analysts are struggling to keep up.” He goes on to say that foundational concepts that are available are still quite useful. However, stanning as we understand it now is largely constructed by our changing digital eras. This means that our eventual understanding of stan culture, its participants, and consequences will be grounded in what we are witnessing right now.

1. I wrote about how I understand what a cult is in this post.

2. Be advised that if you plan to watch the video online, it is much longer and less censored than the version that aired on most stations in 2000.