io9
I love when clueless humans tell me to my face that women don't like science fiction. Usually they tell me this at a science fiction convention, after we have talked about scifi for an hour and I have said that I edit a science fiction blog. These humans have an amazing ability to not believe their eyes, which is the only way I can explain what's happening when somebody says to my face that women like me don't exist. And unfortunately, the SciFi Channel seems to have the same problem: There's an article in the New York Times today about how the channel boosted its ratings among women by de-emphasizing spaceships in Battlestar Galactica ads and airing supernatural horror movies. I cannot believe the stupidity here.
According to the Times:
The network has expanded its audience, especially among women, chiefly by stretching the definition of science fiction . . . It is not just "Star Trek" or "Star Wars" that would fit the definition. Superheroes, Indiana Jones and even the baseball fantasy movie "Field of Dreams" would all be considered part of the genre as defined by Sci Fi's programmers . . . The network has drawn more women by making subtle tweaks to marketing and programming. In marketing materials for "Battlestar Galactica," for example, there are no spaceships, and the story lines try to create more of a balance between action and emotion. . . .OK, so let me get this straight. A woman (Bonnie Hammer, quoted above) ran the Sci Fi Channel for several years. Octavia Butler (yes, a woman) won a MacArthur genius grant for her science fiction novels, and many of the editors at scifi mega-publisher Tor are women. All of io9's editors are women. A woman (hi Bonniegrrl!) runs StarWars.com. But women aren't interested in science fiction? You need to drain the spaceships out of BSG to attract women? (Though apparently you also attract women with spaceships, as Taken demonstrated.)
"There were a lot of misperceptions that Sci Fi was for men, that it was for young men and that it was for geeky young men," said Bonnie Hammer, the president of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, which oversees Sci Fi. "We had to broaden the channel to change the misconceptions of the genre."One of the shows that did this was Steven Spielberg's "Taken," a miniseries shown for two weeks in 2002 that dominated those nights in the ratings. While the series "literally put Sci Fi on the map," Ms. Hammer said, it also exemplified the network's notion of the genre with its main characters as human beings living on earth, not aliens on some far-off planet.
Sorry, but this kind of wacky logic says a lot more about people's misperceptions of science fiction than it does about science fiction itself. It's true that there's been a stereotype that science fiction is for men, just as there's a stereotype that science itself is for men. And those stereotypes are wrong.
If there's something keeping women away from enjoying science fiction, it's not spaceships. It's not "aliens on some far-off planet." It's the fact that people on our very own planet keep telling us that women aren't supposed to like science fiction. It's a self-confirming prophesy, because the more that scifi creators are told this, the more they imagine that their audience is all boys. So they write rich, believable male characters and boring, cookie-cutter lady characters. They organize conventions with panels devoted to shit like "the hottest women of science fiction" and nothing devoted to female heroes — or the kinds of hotties that straight women might want to see (i.e., men).
Women who do love science fiction see all this going down, and they are ashamed to admit that they like science fiction. I'm not saying this happens to all of us, but many women wind up assuming that there's something wrong with them for liking SF. After all, everybody keeps telling them that SF is for boys, and the only reason why women would like it is if the definition of SF is "expanded" to include magic and romance. (Nothing against magic and romance, mind you — it's just not typical of SF.)
And on top of all this load of crap, women who like SF sometimes get the impression that men don't really want them to like it. After all, if men really wanted women to hang out and talk to them about SF, those men wouldn't write exclusively about male characters and make jokes about how the fun thing to do at SF cons is hire hookers (haw haw haw).
Luckily, it would appear that most people interested in SF do consider women to be part of the genre at this point. Battlestar Galactica is a perfect example of the kind of SF that appeals to women and men equally because the show offers both male and female characters in positions of power (and positions of yuck). Women are gobbling this show up without shame not because ads eschew pictures of spaceships (WTF), but because there are cool women characters in it. Women love Joss Whedon shows like Firefly for the same reason.
And you know what? Women love tons of science fiction, regardless of how many boys are main characters, because they like good stories as much as the next guy. They just might be ashamed to admit they like SF because they don't want people to give them the old "you don't exist" speech. Or, worse, give them the old hairy-eyeball that really means "there is something wrong with you."
So if the SciFi Channel is really concerned about courting women — which it really doesn't have to be, since tons of women watch it — then maybe they should consider airing more shows about women. In space. On other planets. Fighting monsters. And maybe they should consider acting like it's NORMAL for women to like stories about aliens ripping people's faces off. Instead of behaving as if they've discovered fucking faster-than-light travel because they noticed that tons of women enjoy SF, create SF, write about SF, and goddamn live and breathe the stuff. Hell, I'm heading to an ENTIRE CON devoted to women and science fiction on Friday.
Next time somebody tells you that women don't like science fiction, just send them to io9. Our phasers are not set to stun.
At SciFi Channel, Universe is Expanding [New York Times]
Comments
damn right, annalee.
I'm pretty sure women like science fiction because there are so many neat shoes in the future!
rawr
I tend to think that space ships and ray guns and robots are all guy things, because we had those toys as little boys, and most little girls didn't. And I don't think most little girls wanted robots, they wanted baby dolls and Barbies. So, most guys probably think that if you girls didn't like that stuff when you were little, you probably don't like that stuff now.
"Women who do love science fiction see all this going down, and they are ashamed to admit that they like science fiction. I'm not saying this happens to all of us, but many women wind up assuming that there's something wrong with them for liking SF."
Sheesh... figures females would react that way.
@moff: Well, and also because their fathers didn't pay enough attention to them.
@moff: Oh, and because they can imagine alternate histories where ladies are allowed to vote!
@moff: Oh, and the hair styles are just insane. How many wiggs did whatsherface wear in that clone movie? Nutty chick. "Stop, I need to change my clothes and wig and makeup again!" What was George thinking?
@moff: Math is hard!
@Jeff-Minor: I had plenty of little girl friends when I was a tot who played Batman with me. And who coveted my Godzilla robot toy. Honestly, how the hell do you know what kinds of toys girls really want? When everybody is TELLING you SO LOUDLY that girls want dolls, how can you possibly hear the little girls telling you what they actually desire?
@Jeff-Minor: As someone who owned Original Princess Leia, Hoth Leia, Bespin Leia, and Endor Leia, I'm pretty sure he was thinking he could sell more action figures.
@Annalee Newitz: What's that? Did you say you wanted a doll?
@moff: Well, and our shoes will match our spaceships and ray guns!
@moff: It's NOT A DOLL! It's an ACTION FIGURE!
Annalee, this was a really good post. I'm sorry I can't stop myself from making the same terrible, hackneyed jokes I always make when someone makes a genuine point about sexism.
Bonnie Hammer might run SciFi, but she by no means likes science fiction. I mean, just look at how she runs the god damn network!
Redefining "scifi" to suit her needs, adding wrasslin and an unending parade of "reality" programming...
There's also the small manner of running MST3k into the ground, but I'm sure over time that wound will heal too.
But you are right: the best way to entice females into scifi is to act as if it were perfectly normal for them to enjoy it, and in fact make it seem abnormal if they don't. Cause women are heard animals, easily confused and controlled.
Also, shoes.
@moff: Or paid the wrong kind of attention to them, whatever that is.
Well, I'm glad that's all explained and I know that my life has been a sham. I guess I can finally move on, begin to hate Sci-fi like all respectable women and start freeing up all that Lost/Battlestar/Batman Tivo space for Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives.
@Annalee Newitz: You know what would be a great Sci Fi Channel series? Space Stenographer.
@Dunny0: The thing is that, scientifically speaking, shoes do appear to work pretty well.
My wife watching 'Who Wants to be a Super Hero?' shocked the hell out of me. I've never been with a woman that was into SciFi. My receptionist is the only openly nerdy girl I've been around and she's more D.C. and I'm more Marvel.
@handngrain: Wait, what? Gray's Anatomy isn't science fiction? So confused . . .
Is this crossing to Jezebel? Cuz I think this one is a winner, across the board. Great job, Annalee. I'm a chick, I love sci-fi. That is all.
@moff: I saw a male stenographer once (once!), but don't tell me that means men like stenography -- because I don't, I swear.
I thought spaceships were just metaphors for penises, anyway.
Thank you for the post Annalee, because I finally know who to blame for BSG missing all the hot ship-on-ship action: its YOU!!!!!! ;)
Does anyone from SciFi channel read io9? Seriously, we're their PAYING target demographic. Do we need to start a letter writing campaign or something? You just summed up in a single post the stupidity of pandering to a perceived demographic. Brilliantly done.
@StrangelyBrown: No, no, no -- they are metaphors for vibrators and strap-on dildos. And the Death Star? A ben-wa ball looking for its mate.
@moff: What about kitchens... in space?
Also, I can't quite put my finger on why, but that picture of Ripely looks... odd. Almost matronly, not something I would ever have labeled Ellen Ripely as.
When you've got a genre, everyone looks like an outsider.
Simple: girls are supposed to be dainty flowers, which sci-fi ain't. I have a friend who proudly professes that her favorite movies are ones about weddings and babies. The people behind the BSG ads obviously believed that all women care about drama and not explodey space violence. I agree that there are tons of girls out there that shamelessly love sci-fi, myself included, but they run along a different vein than what you would call a "normal" girl.
Amen, sister.
@DarkPlaces: Letter writing campaigns and SciFi Channel never go together well... I think the problem is in presupposing that Bonnie Hammer can a) read and b) gives a flying frak about her viewing audience.
Not that I'm bitter or anything.
@StrangelyBrown: Well there is the Stargate...
@DarkPlaces: What I want to know: what is it with scifi fans and letter writing campaigns? They must be organized by these "female" scifi fans Annalee speaks of.
@Tiwa Face Kontrol: Well, you are as "normal" as a guy who likes scifi -- who (let's be realistic) might not be totally normal.
@Annalee Newitz: Wow, intense. And here I thought rocket ships were the long, hard cock of Mankind probing the dark recesses of the universe.
I'm not sure where I'm going with this, I just wanted to put that out there.
@moff: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA re: shoes
@Annalee Newitz: Did you just call me a freak?
Not that I'd have any specific problem with that, I'm just making sure.
For my resume, you see.
@Jeff-Minor: Dude, I was building Space Winnebagos out of Legos long before I ever touched a Barbie doll. I had one big squishy doll, but I decided after seeing the Ghostbusters movie that she was the fifth Ghostbuster. (Um, in a pretty dress.)
The genre has such a social stigma in some crowds, but once you find a fellow fan, it's like you found an old friend. I'm a big scifi fan, but the genre really needs to add more female heros. My favs include Buffy, Firefly & Alias. Whedon is the man. Anyway, I was at Comic Con this year, and there were a lot of women there.
Does this story possibly have any revelant connection to the "Women do not experience emotional feelings during orgasm" article from a couple days ago?
I kid. Despite a general gender-neutral misanthropy, many of the human females that I have been able to relate to over the years (and some couple dozen that I've dated, most very briefly) have been as into scifi as I am, and often into specific scifi material that I wasnt into myself (specifically, I'm thinking of all the BSG and Bab5 girly fans ive known; btw, i realized later those shows are awesome).
Growing up, it was my mom who took me to see a lot of scifi movies when I wasn't old enough to go alone(Terminator 2 and Alien 3 come to mind, tho i date myself horribly), and she grew up on superhero comics she got from her older brother. My sister was raised with an eye towards gender neutrality (though, being social creatures, that didnt go so well) but she does share my interest (if not my love) for scifi.
Which leads me to the conclusion that women are humans, and while they may be just as interested in scifi as men,and all that that implies, when our robot overlords take over in bloody revolution they will be, same as men, the first against the wall...
I think the qualification Nerd can supersede the designation woman. Similar to a gay superceding man when it comes to musicals and Sex and the City. like so...
"Well of course THEY'D like it!!! They're (insert gay or nerdy). Doesn't count."
So much word. We female science fiction fans love aliens as long as we're not regarded as stranger than them.
I always read my dad's sci fi books when I was a (girl)kid- and ummm, yeah maybe there is no "romance" per se, but my goodness there is certainly a lot of sex in there!
Also, I had dolls, action figures, model horses, and comic books growing up, so anyone who says that little girls and little boys just want one type of toy or another is just a lazy marketer.
As a woman who's loved sci-fi and fantasy since childhood I'm so disappointed by people who think women are anit-sci-fi. Some of the biggest Star Wars and BSG fans I know are women. My girlfriends and I have been known to gather specifically to watch episodes of BSG or go see Serenity on opening weekend. It's often we who shush the men in the room for trying to talk during an episode!
A woman also wrote what is considered the first science fiction novel [en.wikipedia.org] .
At the time she asked her readers to consider: "How I, then a young girl, came to think of, and to dilate upon, so very hideous an idea?" Two centuries later we are still asking that same question.
@Tiwa Face Kontrol: You know, that reminds me: isn't the average male sci-fi fan a little... um... more likely to get his ass kicked than a "normal" guy? ou have to admit that despite (or perhaps because of) the rocket-cocks, sci-fi fandom is hardly the butchest segment of our culture. Maybe that explains the backlash against women? Maybe we (dudes) are afraid that with every woman who claims to like sci-fi, we're all one step wussier by association?
Thank you Annalee. when my teenaged self started reading hot off the presses Snowcrash, I almost cried, it was such a relief to have a strong female SF character I could relate to.
@AndSheSaid: A woman wrote the Bible?!
Y'know Annalee. I'm not sure why this "women don't lik