Girls as comicreaders and -fans
Mattias Hallin
Mattias.Hallin at jurenh.lu.se
Tue Feb 1 14:42:37 CET 1994
MARK et al:
as has been stated a coupla times over the last week or so, there
aren't too many girls neither in duck fandom, nor in comic fandom generally. I
don't think this is MAINLY due to lack of role-models or the certainly
second-hand treatment girls get in many comics. Sure -- these are relevant
aspects too, but they ought to reflect equally general readership as well as
hardcore fandom, and I don't believe this to be the case. Of course, there is
too a difference between comics targeted more or less exclusively on either
sex, and those aimed at a general readership, or any specific age-group.
In the case of Donald Duck, it would be my guess that KIDS in Sweden reading
Duck comics would be fairly evenly distibuted between the sexes. Fandom and/or
ADULT duck readership is a totally different matter, and here I believe there
are other factors at work than those mentioned before; e.g. the fact that
boys/men as social creatures seems MUCH more wont to congregate around their
hobbies, and in particular to ORGANIZE them into clubs or societies, while
girls/women doesn't seem to find this very worthwile (a perfectly valid point
of view, too! Fanclubs are tremendously SILLY things -- and terrific FUN too, I
think). I believe that this confirms rather well with accepted sociological
views, as does, I think, the fact that men are more apt to be "mono-causal" in
their hobbies/pursuits than women.
It should also be remembered that hardcore comic fandom is a PUNY movement --
there aren't too many of us altogether, and while most comic fans I know
socially are nice, broadminded often well-educated people with a wide variety
of interests, on a statistical level it's rather few men that take a deeper
interests (out of the entire male population), as well as very few women -- the
difference isn't all that big in the larger perspective.
These are just a few muddled thoughts -- but here's a clear one for a clincher:
the cover of the very-soon-upcoming #24 of NAFS(k)uriren is drawn in a
Gottfredson style by a friend of mine from Lund, Hanna Petterson (20 years old)
who is also a board-member in the South-Swedish NAFS(k) local, and an avid
comic- and duckfan. So at least -- thank heaven! -- there are a few around...
Mattias
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