The vast list of very broad definitions for gatekeeping on Urban Dictionary all give the same impression of what the word means, or rather what it has come to mean.

Gatekeeping, in its definition from Oxford languages, is “the activity of controlling, and usually limiting, general access to something”. It is manual exclusion.

Through the internet, gatekeeping has evolved into a punchline in moments meant to depict an outraged fan or someone speaking to others with an unnecessary amount of pretension. It is normally used to describe a defensive attitude some people have on the internet which usually presents itself as a form of anger taken out on undeserving internet bystanders.

In general gatekeeping isn’t exactly associated with fun times on the internet. When it really shows itself, it’s typically by way of an angry fan group, either of an artist or anything else one can be a fan of, who is upset at other fans that they’ve deemed to be illegitimate fans or not deserving of equal status as fans. Moments like these usually involve hostility from one side to the other if not on both ends of the battle, and those who instigated, the gatekeepers if you will, are more often than not left to blame for any ill feeling that resulted from the interaction.

So that’s gatekeeping, or at least an explanation of how it exists in today’s social atmosphere. But in all honesty I think gatekeeping is something else, something more than just hostile, digital interactions, and if it isn’t more than these social media conflicts then it must at least come from somewhere else.

Gatekeeping is an expression of something more sincere. It is the consequence of alienation rather than the cause we all thought it was.

In trying to understand what gatekeeping really is, I’ve come to two conclusions. The first being that it’s usually rooted in intimacy (hear me out) and the second is that it doesn’t come from a place of anger or hatred, but rather a place of fear or frustration. 

While these conclusions may not always be the case for gatekeeping as a general term, they do apply for gatekeeping in its existence on the internet among upset fan groups. 

When gatekeeping leads to conflict in social media the situation usually goes as follows. There is a fan of something, for the sake of this scenario we will say an artist, and they are expressing their new found interest in this artist. Another fan, the gatekeeper, will then express he is upset at the new fan for not admiring the artist or being as knowledgeable about the artist at the same level as they are. The majority of those observing this interaction will come to the conclusion that the gatekeeper is pretentious and has no reason to be upset at the new fan as anyone is allowed to be a fan of whatever they like. They will then write off the gatekeepers actions as invalid anger that they resorted to for the sake of alienating the new fan or making them feel bad. 

The truth is the gatekeeper is not acting for the sake of making the new fan feel bad in situations like these. To understand where gatekeeping comes from you must understand what it feels like to be a fan of something. A real fan is more than a distant observer or consumer. A real fan is an admirer,  a devotee. 

I know what you’re thinking, who am I to decide what “a real” fan is? And that is often the criticism of gatekeepers, but you really have to understand their perspective before criticizing their actions.

The gatekeepers are acting as fans before anything else. They feel as if they really are devoted to the things that they are fans of. There are often emotional attachments to the things that we are fans of. Whether it’s because someone we hold close introduced us to these things or because we found these things at an important point in our lives, there are usually deep emotions associated with the things we are “real fans” of. These deep emotions make the things we are fans of feel exclusive to us.

Finding out that others are fans of those things can take away from that exclusivity. It can also make those emotions associated with the things we are the biggest fans of feel invalidated. Gatekeepers act in defense of their emotions. They don’t want to lose the exclusivity of what they are fans of. Being a fan of something feels like being a part of something, and where there are high emotions associated with it, it can truly feel like you are experiencing something other people either never have experienced or never could. It is an intimate relationship of being a fan and gatekeepers act in fear of losing that intimacy.

The emotional aspect of being a fan might be a stretch in the justification of gatekeeping, but being a fan can still validate gatekeeping to some level. See, being a devotee requires some level of work ranging from following an artist’s album roll out, to spending considerable amounts of money on merchandise, shows or even the art itself. A passive fan or a new fan may not go to the same lengths. Gatekeepers often act out in the thought that their work as a fan would mean less if those who did not do the same amount would still get the same title as fans. There is fear that the work is of no use if at the end of the day it is not needed to be in the same position as a fan.

In all honesty I started writing all of this to find the reason behind day to day internet interactions, but the more I write the more I realize that I may have written all of this to justify my own habits. I could continue on for an eternity presenting more points defending gatekeepers with causal fallacies. I am most definitely the gatekeeper in most of these situations I presented, perhaps not literally in that I am the one attacking others on the internet, but more in the sense that I do find myself upset at those I consider “not real fans”. It may have been much to chalk my internet hostility up to what I have concluded to be fear rooted in some intimate emotions as a fan, and maybe the only intimate fear at the root of my gatekeeping is insecurity of some sort. But my intention in writing this, just the same as my intention behind gatekeeping, never came from a place of hostility. All I intended was to ask for more consideration. 

I don’t gatekeep because I’m upset, I do so because I wish you would take the time to learn more about the things that I care for.