Real Fans Or Fake Fans?
It's one of the oldest stories in the book: if men are fans of something, it must be deep and intellectual; if women are fans of something, it must be silly and vapid. Despite women making up roughly half the world's population, their interests in "boy things" are often seen as illegitimate. Let's look at a few fandoms with predominantly male fanbases and a few with predominantly female fanbases.
1. Star Wars
Let's get something out of the way: you don't have to be a specific gender to engage with a specific piece of media. That said, the Star Wars fandom has come under fire numerous times for its resistance to including women both in-universe and in the fandom. It isn't very welcoming to female fans.
Agnieszka Stankiewicz on Unsplash
2. Anime
Watching anime like Pokemon or Naruto is a formative experience for children of all genders, and anime is a medium rather than a genre. However, shonen series are given more screentime and press. Unsurprisingly, shojo series such as Sailor Moon and Revolutionary Girl Utena are popular with women rather than men.
3. Sports
To avoid listing individual sports, we've elected to lump them into one big group, we're sure to the ire of many male fans. Men are more likely to be fans of sports teams because they're encouraged to by society, and men's sports receive far more attention than women's sports. Read on to learn what sports fandom is dominated by women—it might surprise you!
4. Call of Duty
If any trends can be gleaned from video game data, it's that men are more likely to prefer action-based games like first-person shooters, while women gravitate towards story-based role-playing games. Call of Duty is one of the archetypal FPS. The game is overwhelmingly geared towards men, so it's unsurprising that there aren't many female fans.
5. Marvel
When Marvel went mainstream with the release of The Avengers in 2011, there was a big hullabaloo over "fake" female fans hijacking fandom spaces. It's true that fandom demographics have shifted over time and that fandom makeup varies by niche, however the face of Marvel fans is still male. Given how the films treat women, we aren't exactly surprised.
6. Minecraft
While there isn't anything particularly gendered about crafting and battling mobs, Minecraft, like many video games is targeted towards men. As an online space, Minecraft encourages boys to collaborate and be creative with one another. Unfortunately, this can lead to insular and hostile communities.
7. Game Of Thrones
Game of Thrones was one of the biggest shows of the 2010s, popular with all audiences. We didn't want to say it, but the amount of sexual violence towards women turned many female fans off the show. However, the spin-off series House of the Dragon is extremely popular with women thanks to the central relationship between Rhaenyra and Alicent.
8. Lord Of The Rings
An estimated 65-85% of LoTR fans are male. This overwhelming majority mirrors' the books/films cast of characters, or which there are only three—as much as we love Arwen and Eowyn, it's sort of dire. While women don't necessarily have to relate to female characters to enjoy something, it certainly helps.
9. Sci-Fi
To make a vast oversimplification: men prefer science fiction while women prefer fantasy. There are exceptions to this rule, as we will just saw with fantasy and will see with sci-fi, however the gender divide is pretty clear. Science is seen as "masculine", so more men gravitate towards science fiction.
10. My Little Pony
As a general rule, men do not like "girl stuff" even though anyone can like anything. However, there is one major exception: My Little Pony. Male fans of MLP: Friendship is Magic are one of the most notorious fanbases on the internet.
Now that we've discussed some majority male fandoms, let's look at a few that are majority female!
1. Star Trek
While Star Wars has historically been a male-centered fandom space, Star Trek is historically female centered, despite the amount of female main characters (in the original series, at least). Female Star Trek fans practically shaped fandom as we know it in the 1960s. All those fanfics didn't write themselves.
2. K-Pop
We suppose we could have said "music" as some of the largest music fandoms from Lizstomania all the way to Swifties have been predominantly female. However, we want to specifically highlight one subsection: K-pop. K-pop is popular with women not only thanks to the bops, but because there are a ton of girl groups to support.
3. Doctor Who
While people across the world watch Doctor Who, if you take a survey of who's creating fanworks and engaging in fandom spaces, the answer is: mostly women. The strong character arcs and many female companions draw women to this fandom. Additionally, response to the first (and so far, only) female Doctor was overwhelmingly positive.
4. Supernatural
Not every show is jazzed about having female fans, just ask the people behind Supernatural. Every aspect of the show was designed to draw a large male viewership, but ended up being a hit with women instead. The cast and crew were not happy with this, openly mocking the fanbase within the show.
Supernatural (season 7). on Wikimedia
5. Hockey
While we mentioned sports being mostly male-dominated in terms of fans, there is one big exception to this rule: hockey. The fast-paced thrill of hockey as well as the rise of hockey romances have made this one of the biggest female-led fandoms. Now, if only some of these fans would tune in to women's hockey...
6. The Hunger Games
While stories about men are considered "universal", stories about women allegedly only appeal to women. That said, many women love The Hunger Games because it takes a gritty, historically male-centric genre—dystopian—and puts a woman at the forefront. Katniss's moral complexity and strong personality make her a role model for young girls to look up to and carry into adulthood.
7. Barbie
It isn't surprising that girls love Barbie. After all, it's one of the first fandoms that many are exposed to and teaches them that they can be whatever they want to be. Additionally, Bronies aside, it's seen as socially unacceptable for men to be interested in "girly" things.
8. Fire Emblem
The Fire Emblem games, specifically 2019's Three Houses are incredibly popular with women. Part of this popularity is due to the cast being an even gender split, while another part is due to the game's roleplaying nature. It general, women appear to gravitate towards character and story-based games.
LeLaisserPasserA38 on Wikimedia
9. Arcane
While the majority of League of Legends champions are male—both players and player characters—the animated spin-off show, Arcane has majority female fans. Arcane centers around female relationships, whether they be familial, platonic, or romantic. The show is popular with many who have not played the original games.
10. Life Is Strange
Another game that's a hit with women is Life is Strange. Specifically, Life is Strange is popular with teenagers and young women, who see themselves represented in time-shifting protagonist Max Caulfield. While gaming can be hostile to teen girls, it's nice to know that they have some safe spaces.
