Ahira's Hangar

According to the Daily telegraph.Quote:From today's (London) Daily Telegraph:

Adventures of Buffy and Lara see female sci-fi viewers outnumber males
By Elizabeth Day
(Filed: 29/10/2005)

Female science fiction fans now outnumber men for the first time.

The digital television channel Sci Fi UK has seen a 10 per cent rise in
the number of female viewers over the past eight years and 1.4 million
women now tune in - 51 per cent of the audience. The channel, which is
celebrating its 10th anniversary, links the rise in "girl geeks" to the
proliferation of heroines such as Buffy, Lara Croft and Xena.

Adam Roberts, a science-fiction author and a professor in English at Royal
Holloway, London University, said fantasy television programmes and films
were becoming more character-led. "Programmes are moving away from the
emphasis on machines and zombies in the 1960s," he said. "More women are
tuning in to see the relationships develop between wittily-written,
complex central characters they can identify with. A film like The Matrix
attracted female viewers partly because it was about complicated concepts
of life and death. It also had Keanu Reeves running around in leather,
which helped."

Ann McMeekin, a 29-year-old web accessibility officer from north London,
said: "People have an impression of sci-fi fans being small men who sit in
the dark watching Star Trek but it's not like that now.

"There has been an increase in positive female role models, whereas in
Star Trek, all the women were either aliens or wore short skirts. I have
been watching sci-fi since I was two or three and the shows are better
written and more mainstream." The new wave of shows has also encouraged
scholarship. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, has
inspired several books and essays, and an online journal, Slayage,
dedicated to critical studies of the programme. taraswizard
Allan Rosewarne N9SQT/WDX6HQV
Chicago area
W/T forever, always
Plan C - http://planc.bravepages.com/main.html<i>Edited by: taraswizard at: 10/30/05 4:37 pm
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Comments on the previous message taraswizard
Allan Rosewarne N9SQT/WDX6HQV
Chicago area
W/T forever, always
Plan C - http://planc.bravepages.com/main.html<i></i>

Yeah, I remember the demographics for Farscape were heaviest in the over 25 female category. I think I also remember reading somewhere that Star Trek was the first sci-fi show to get appreciable female ratings. *shrug* I wonder if it's more a sign of what's available. Sci-Fi used to be heavily male (geek) oriented (I'm thinking along the lines of Buck Rogers type stuff), but lately... I wonder what the demographics for the new BSG look like.

I'm sure there's a tie-in to the question of "where have all the young male sci-fi fans gone" and the one of "why isn't sci-fi as inspiring/good as days of yore." But I don't have an answer for it. ________________
I wanna feel the metamorphosis and cleansing I've endured within my shadow. Change is coming. Now is my time. Listen to my muscle memory. Contemplate what I've been clinging to. -Tool, "Forty-Six & Two" <i></i>

is it possible that some of the young male fans have switched over to the fantasy side of the genre, rather than the science fiction side?

I'm just going by my own sons here, and their friends, and other than Star Wars (which could be described as traditional fantasy set on space ships) they have a decided preference for fantasy, whether its Tolkien, Dianne Wynn Jones, or Roger Zelazny.

I can't get them to go to science fiction movies with me (other than the previously mentioned Star Wars) -- but they are completely geeked up about seeing the next Harry Potter movie and the Narnia movie. My older son has read Zelazny's Amber books repeatedly, but I can't get him to read any of his great science fiction novels. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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Syl thanks for the reply and please stay with the convo

Duchess, IMO you're probably on to something and interestingly it might tie in with the essay. As an example, the last paragraph has some emphasis on BtVS, and the essay opens by mentioning Xena:WP, and those both fall clearly into the fantasy camp. (wishing for Xena emoticon, would not use it much, just be cool to have)

However, the essay makes a literary point regarding character driven stories (and maybe this ties into Syl's comments, too). And for a while now this move towards character driven stories and writing.has been equated to a 'feminizing', also known as metrosexualizing, of science fiction. (see recent comments of Dave Truesdale of Tangent Online, criticism of Gardner Dozois tenure as editor of Asimov's, and an essay in the October Internet review of science fiction) Of course, this sentiment and POV implies that men and/or young men are not interested in character driven writing, and a corollary is that young men and men are more interested in gadget stories.

taraswizard
Allan Rosewarne N9SQT/WDX6HQV
Chicago area
W/T forever, always
Plan C - http://planc.bravepages.com/main.html<i>Edited by: taraswizard at: 11/5/05 2:50 pm
</i>

I think the boys are looking for heros, myself.

Not that there aren't male heros and male writers of science fiction right now, but it strikes me that many (though obviously not all!) of the leading fantasy novelists (with notable exceptions like Robin Hobb and J.K. Rowling)) are male. And many of the heros are also male - even in the novels of the women writers! And many (though obviously not all) of the leading science fiction novelists right now are female (like Lois McMaster Bujold and Elizabeth Moon) -- and many science fiction heros (though not all) are female!

I think that in today's world, which often seems so corrupt and complicated (ie. politics, doping in sports, etc) younger males are looking for heroic male role models. I would sure rather have my kids look up to Aragorn of Gondor than to a Washington politician when looking for a male role model.

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Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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