# Does Gender Impact The Kind of Sci Fi You Like



## Setimi92 (Apr 3, 2013)

Hey everyone.

I was wondering if anyone's ever felt that their gender ever impacted the kind of sci fi they like, or maybe their gender pushing them towards sci fi above other genres. So as a woman, are you less likely to enjoy the Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi because Leia lost much of spunk or maybe you're more likely to watch Voyager because of Janeway? Or as a guy, do you feel you're more likely to watch action sci fi or maybe you're put off by the bodily penetration sci fi, a la Cronenberg?


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## Venusian Broon (Apr 3, 2013)

Hi Setimi92, 

On first thinking about your question, I would have said no, gender doesn't impact my tastes much at all. 

However a friend of mine, looking at my DVD collection, did comment that it was very 'male'. So perhaps subconsciously I do (what that means in terms of SFF I'm not sure, However I wouldn't have a called my friend a SFF fan at all, so perhaps it's her view of SFF and my other tastes as masculine!) 

However to set the cat amongst the pigeons, I'd have to say that I prefer Voyager/Janeway to the rest of the trekkie universe*. Strong women good, in my books. 

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* I should probably also admit to being generally lukewarm-to-cold about all things Star trek too...


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## AnyaKimlin (Apr 3, 2013)

As a female good characters, great writing and a gripping plot influence my choice of stories -whether sci-fi or not or TV, book, play etc

I do agree with Venusian about Voyager but the charactersin general were better than previous incarnations of the trekkie universe.   And I liked the others.


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## steve12553 (Apr 3, 2013)

Gender definitely affects my tastes and probably everyone else's , too. At least on a subconscious level. Both genetic traits and learned behavior affects choices and tastes constantly. If one makes a conscious effort at being open minded, you can affect your tastes but it really has to be serious. I try to be open minded but my tastes in everything still generally run to American male and I don't think there's a real cure. On the other hand, Science Fiction is a genre of new and different ideas. It probably has pulled me in more new directions than anything else in my life.


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## Parson (Apr 3, 2013)

I've got to say that my first impulse is to say no. But probably unconsciously in does. Who can tell about such things? 

Most of my favorite characters are women. Does that count for something?


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## nixie (Apr 3, 2013)

I have rather blood thirsty tastes and my favourite trek was TNG, no I don't think gender comes into it.


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## Connavar (Apr 3, 2013)

Of course a guy gender impacts on the kind of SF i like in tv,film.  Its only natural that it does without me even thinking about.  This is why SF in books,tv,film i try to think about to balance that and think about my choices not being too much male characters series.

Still without thinking about this, my alltime fav SF film character is Ripley in Alien, she was huge to me as a kid when i saw the films and still is.  Sarah Connor, Buffy in fantasy , River in Firefly, Olivia Dunham in Fringe.  There are some characters that are just great and happen to be female characters.

The problem is the film,tv bosses think female characters is less likely to be a hit.  There is prejudice there.


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## Mr Fraaz (Apr 4, 2013)

I don't know, it's hard to say on an individual level. Is it my gender or is it just my personal taste and experiences that makes me gravitate toward certain themes? I can't think of any good examples.

But I _assume _gender has an influence. I generally have several interests that fit with 'traditional masculinity', but very few that fit with the 'traditionally feminine'. I suppose this would hold true for my SF taste as well, but I'm not sure. (By the way, I like for example Star Wars, Post-apocalypse, some pulp-action stuff, Bladerunner).


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## Gordian Knot (Apr 4, 2013)

I'm not sure that a lot of this isn't decided for us. There just are a lot more SF with men as the primary characters than there are women. It is difficult to fill a collection shelf with films that feature strong women in this genre.

When there are strong females, very often the actresses they pick can't pull it off. Janeway was one of the wonderful exceptions. Keeping in that universe, Jadzea Dax was also wonderful as a woman in SF, where here replacement, Ezri?, was gawd awful.


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## Mouse (Apr 4, 2013)

No. And I don't think whether the MC being male or female makes a difference either. I like Star Wars, DS9, Farscape, Firefly etc. 

These sorts of questions always irritate me, actually. What you like depends on your personality.


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## Connavar (Apr 4, 2013)

Mouse said:


> No. And I don't think whether the MC being male or female makes a difference either. I like Star Wars, DS9, Farscape, Firefly etc.
> 
> These sorts of questions always irritate me, actually. What you like depends on your personality.



Its not as simple as personality because its easier as for many male viewers, readers to be drawn to macho characters, male POV.  The strong main characters will be popular no matter their gender but there is a reason female fantasy, SF authors sometimes chooses male sounding names to drawn in more readers.   Thats the simply, crass reality.  

Its not about the characters we like but which gender has more characters in lead roles and which gender has creates more tv,films and books in SF.


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## Mouse (Apr 4, 2013)

'Many' male viewers - not _all_. I'd say depending on their personality. We'll have to agree to disagree.


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## nixie (Apr 4, 2013)

I thought the question was does gender impact the kind of sci fi you like, meaning are you more drawn to a certain sub section of the genre due to your gender not what gender has the most lead roles/ creates most of the art.

Like mouse I feel it is down to personality.


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## steve12553 (Apr 4, 2013)

nixie said:


> I thought the question was does gender impact the kind of sci fi you like, meaning are you more drawn to a certain sub section of the genre due to your gender not what gender has the most lead roles/ creates most of the art.
> 
> Like mouse I feel it is down to personality.



From there gender and the influences on you because of gender affect your personality. Much of it is subtle. More so today than when I grew up. I may not be identifying with a lead character of one gender or another but rather how you react to that character. Gender appeal and sexual attraction are part of everyone's personality. As society becomes more open the influence becomes more subtle, but it's still there. It boils down to whether you are drawn to be like this character or be with this character.


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## Mr Fraaz (Apr 4, 2013)

I think it is important to distinguish between the individual level and statistical tendencies.

About any individual it is impossible to say if a certain preference is caused mostly by gender or by personality. Or by education, occupation, economy, age, social networks or whatever. Maybe you could make a decent guess after a psychological analysis

But if you look at statistics, you will probably find that different genders tend to look at certain things differently. As far as I understand, this implies that personality isn't the only explanation. Neither is gender. There is, however, something about gender that _tend to_ push us in certain directions on certain issues.

It is important to recognise that these tendencies are not excuses for oppressive determinism on an individual level. ('Because you are a boy/girl you will like to play with cars/dolls, otherwise there is something wrong with you!') They are tendencies, nothing more. As individuals, we may also be conscious about these mechanisms and tendencies and may choose to act against them or try to break them down!

Anyway, I assumed in my post that I was probably influenced by gender in my SF and other preferences, but I really can't say for sure if it is gender or something else, or, most likely, several different things in combination. I just suppose I'm like most people, half-consciously pushed around by gender (among other social forces), and that this might apply to SF taste too!


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## clovis-man (Apr 4, 2013)

As a long time volunteer at our Fresno County Library bookstore (profits go to the library system in the county) I have been put in charge of the sections which contain 1) Espionage and International Intrigue, 2) True Crime, 3) Gothic and Horror,and 4) Science Fiction and Fantasy. The four sections collectively are referred to by the other workers (mostly women) as "The Men's Section". Mysteries, Romances and general fiction (including historical fiction) are handled by female volunteers.

Draw your own conclusions.


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## alchemist (Apr 4, 2013)

nixie said:


> I thought the question was does gender impact the kind of sci fi you like, meaning are you more drawn to a certain sub section of the genre due to your gender not what gender has the most lead roles/ creates most of the art.



Indeed.

I prefer space opera, which is more about the story and settings than character. I don't even have favourite characters. Whether that's influenced by gender or not, I have no idea.


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## Ursa major (Apr 4, 2013)

Given that I've only ever had the one gender**, it's somewhat difficult to determine how large an influence it has had on my choice of reading matter.






** - And even those who've had their gender reassigned, formally and physically, often say that all they're doing is making their physical form match what they've always been inside their heads.


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## allmywires (Apr 4, 2013)

I like fantasy because I like mystical things. I don't like most sci fi because I find the suspension of disbelief too great when it concerns our own universe (same applies with most urban fantasy). That's not my gender speaking. When I read/watch/ingest media I'm a) looking for an intelligent, holds-her-own female to identify with (this happens rarely) or a male character who's odds on a bit of a weirdo/charming antihero type to go all googly eyes over. (Ideally he would also have a scampy friend/companion with considerable HoYay going on but that's quite beside the point). That probably is my gender. But the only way that kind of thing affects me is if I turn off/stop reading something with pansy female characters because that winds me up. Anything else, I'm usually ambivalent about.


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## Ursa major (Apr 4, 2013)

allmywires said:


> I like fantasy because I like mystical things. I don't like most sci fi because I find the suspension of disbelief too great when it c


Shouldn't that be "...when the ship goes faster than c"?


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## Parson (Apr 5, 2013)

allmywires said:


> I like fantasy because I like mystical things. I don't like most sci fi because I find the suspension of disbelief too great when it concerns our own universe (same applies with most urban fantasy).



That is highly interesting. I would say I feel the same way about fantasy with magic and dragons and all of the stuff that goes into high fantasy as too great a suspension of belief. But faster than light, might be possible. I doubt that this is a gender thing at all. 

But that I have trouble finding Fantasy believable, and yet believe in miracles baffles even me, but there it is.


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## allmywires (Apr 5, 2013)

Well I'm not a massive fan of high fantasy truth be told   I like my spec fic subtle. I think that's the thing. With hard sci fi in particular, everything is explained to a minute detail. I prefer in fantasy where things are a bit more hand-wavy. Not to the point of ridiculous, that's where I switch off. But the line between something being unexplained and mysterious, and being just about logical enough for me to suspend my boring, real-world belief.


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## Gordian Knot (Apr 5, 2013)

With respect to Mouse, yes and no. Obviously what one likes/dislikes is a personal decision for everyone. I agree that far. There is also looking at the bigger picture trends, and it is here I have to disagree. Trends over large groups are significant for showing who likes what.

Movies are about the perfect example to show this disparity between male and female films over all (i.e. not just SF). Studios keep extremely careful stats on what gender goes to what movies, and even what age groups, what ethnic groups, etc.

To use a current example, _G.I. Joe Retaliation_ crowds were 68 percent male and 59 percent 25 years of age and older.

Whereas _The Host_ audience was 78 (WoW!) percent female and 61 percent under the age of 25.

It is hard to argue that your gender does not play a significant role in what you watch, at least when you are looking at the data for large groups.


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## TheDustyZebra (Apr 5, 2013)

For myself, I would have to say no. I've never been drawn to much of anything stereotypically "female", and that includes books and movies. I do like all kinds of different things, including some romance-type books and "chick-flicks", but I also like crime fiction, horror (until I had kids, but that's a different story), and hard SF.

I think it's about personality, as Mouse says. And I'm just a weird one. 

However, I have to agree that a great deal of the population seems to be hard-wired in particular directions, hence the demographic targeting of entertainment. Obviously it works.


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## HoopyFrood (Apr 5, 2013)

I wouldn't say hardwired (but then I wouldn't, I'm a big ol' deconstructionist). I think, as said, gender on a larger scale is more apparent; I reckon that it's in proportion to the number of people involved. In larger groups you're more likely to perform your gender -- one great current example of this performance is the new masculinity 'lad culture' -- what a performance that is! More for the benefit of other 'lads' than anything else. It becomes a behavioural rhythm, ways in which people feel they should behave (and rarely on an actual conscious level) because hey, look, it seems to be the majority. Why the majority? Well, if you've grown up (for women) being told that girls like romance and waiting for men to sweep them off their feet, it becomes part of the prevailing consciousness and it's hard to move beyond this without looking over, questioning and breaking down all the influences throughout your life and in society in general. Making an active attempt to deconstruct it.      

Regarding tastes in films and books and the like, I think it works both ways -- the influence of gender on the level of a person, and the gendering of things. As said, films are gendered -- action for the men, romance for the women and as such are marketed towards these demographics. But as such, you can often feel excluded (or not even aware of them) because of this marketing and so don't feel compelled to see them, even though they might actually contain something you'd enjoy. It's not about sticking in action into romance films for men, or romance in action films for women (both of which are also gendered and can be enjoyed by both). If action films are about white men doing actiony stuff with other white men and the women are just eye candy or not present at all -- well, if you're a woman, (or a minority group) you'd probably feel somewhat excluded, anyway, never mind the fact that there doesn't seem to be much attempt to get you on board. 

There are women who like 'masculine' things, there are men who like 'feminine' things and there's a whole mess of middle ground where they both like similar things. Gender partitions especially in entertainment boggles my mind because surely you're just cutting out potential extra profit!


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## allmywires (Apr 5, 2013)

I agree with your post, Hoopy, but I really don't think I've been brought up to be brainwashed to enjoy romance. I actually just like reading it - not because of the wanting a man to sweep me off my feet, just because I like reading about people falling in love. Of course whether I like a romance book depends entirely on the characters (can't stand sappy females or Mr Darcy-esque men - except Mark Darcy of Bridget Jones). Also, I don't like action movies partly because they all follow the same template (seemingly) and really, I just don't see the point in blowing stuff up every five minutes (who has to clean your mess up, eh?!).


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## HoopyFrood (Apr 5, 2013)

Brainwashing isn't particularly the word to describe such influences (though it does sound like it when you first start poking around in it all ) and of course people have all sorts of interests on individual levels that are down to personality. It's on the larger scales, when it's all sweeping comments such as "have a girl's night out and enjoy the latest romance film!" that bother me. The clean division between genders when we know that it's actually more grey areay than that.


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## Connavar (Apr 5, 2013)

HoopyFrood said:


> if you've grown up (for women) being told that girls like romance and waiting for men to sweep them off their feet, *it becomes part of the prevailing consciousness and it's hard to move beyond this without looking over, questioning and breaking down all the influences throughout your life and in society in general. Making an active attempt to deconstruct it.
> *
> * If action films are about white men doing actiony stuff with other white men and the women are just eye candy or not present at all -- well, if you're a woman, (or a minority group) you'd probably feel somewhat excluded, anyway, never mind the fact that there doesn't seem to be much attempt to get you on board.*



This is what i mean and you said it well Hoopy.  I know there are somethings i will not like some genres like romance but i can try to break down some influences that i havent thought about before. 

Also a minority i feel often excluded from some genres like action,SF,Fantasy films,books about white males doing things. I dont want to exclude others. This is not really about what we like individually but what options we are given as customers.

As as a male i try to not limit myself to stories that limit women to eye candy,damsels in distress. Not limit books to dead white men as the literary canon does. I try to think about reading more female authors so i dont just read the male POV,things 100 % of times without thinking.   Being too inbred, insular in my choices is a worry to me.


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## Mr Fraaz (Apr 5, 2013)

I liked the Twilight movies. (I did.  At least the first one or two. There was such a good tension in them.)

Great posts by the way.


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## Connavar (Apr 5, 2013)

Mr Fraaz said:


> I liked the Twilight movies. (I did.  At least the first one or two. There was such a good tension in them.)
> 
> Great posts by the way.



Foolishly i use to think my brother was weird as a guy who was Twilight book fan.  Seemed like he broke some code but i know better now.  Dont care how good or bad it is i think its cool he knows he likes that type of story.


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## Parson (Apr 5, 2013)

In reality what we have here is a group vs. an individual thing. As individuals everyone has their own nuance of what they like. You will notice that everyone who claims that gender has little influence will mostly talk about their own experience, while everyone who claims that gender has significant influence looks at larger demographics. As in almost anything else you cannot read the general truth into the particular, nor can you extend the particular truth as a general truth. 

Clearly, individually our likes and dislikes are mostly our own and to some degree what society expects us to like. In the general population likes and dislikes are determined to some degree by societal pressure and I believe to some degree by more deep seated differences between males and females. I'm sure that no one here, and likely no one at all, will be able to determine how much of what a person likes is related to their own taste, to society, and to their gender. But I am utterly convinced that all of it plays some role in the determination of what a person likes and dislikes.


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## Moonbat (Apr 5, 2013)

If we are talking books then I don't think I am influenced much (if at all) by gender, take the Culture novels and I'd be hard pressed to tell you which ones had female leads as compared to male leads (I think both Matter and Surface detail were female leads - those being two of the more recent ones I've read) but Iwouldn't say that it matters.
Where as in films we are at the mercy of the studios and who is cast in the role, often I have noticed that female leads are all action tough gals, dressed sexily (except Weaver as Ripley in Alien(s)) and part of the (not sure what to call it) re-feminisation movement of Hollywood.

I guess that I am more likely to associate with male leads (particularly if they are my age group and creed) than I am with female leads, but I don't think it impacts what I like. I think the genre I like might well be due to my personality/gender. I am a bit of a geeky chap so I like ones with medium-hard sci-fi with technical details (details about technology, not so bothered with the orbital mechanics stuff) but that is (as mentioned by others) a by product of my upbringing in this society.

On a side note, when I first started courting Sonia she told me her favorite book was 'the time traveller's wife' so I read it, if she had said it was 'Wuthering Heights' I might not have read it, but time travel is definitely a sci-fi genre so I read it, but it is not my 'type' of sci-fi, I enjoyed it but I don't like my sci-fi to be that emotional (I actually had to stop reading because I was crying too much - I know, I'm a wimp) so I suppose that says something about my 'type' of sci-fi and it would be a man's type, more science less emotion please.


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## manephelien (Apr 6, 2013)

Interesting question!

I don't think gender has much to do with the kind of movies I like, because there I'm an atypical female. The movies I watch are almost exclusively science-fiction, fantasy or action. I never go to the movies with my girlfriends, because we can't agree on what to watch. I haven't seen a romantic comedy in years, the last movie that was aimed at women more than men that I enjoyed was probably Pretty Woman (!). I find shows like Sex and the City a total waste of time.

I do enjoy well-written, strong female characters more than the sappy damsels in distress, but plenty of men feel the same way. 

I think that the one point where my gender shows is that while I enjoy action movies quite a lot, when things go overboard with the testosterone I always start to laugh. I don't think most men necessarily do that.


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