This is a genuine question that I’m curious about: is reading manga seen as feminine? I mean socially.
If you want my view on the question, I’m going to have to say yes. I don’t have the statistics on the number of female and male readers, though I assume that there are more female readers than male readers. I’ve seen girls browse manga sections of book stores where boys tend to browse the graphic novel and tradeback section. I wondered whether it was a social thing. Though the reason to my thinking is because of one thing. That thing is shojo manga. I think female readers want to read comic books, but don’t have a specific genre played out to them.
Many male audience enjoy action movies, whereas many female audience enjoy “chick flicks” (and some like both). That audience I just described have a niche that would like to read comics targeted to them, but there isn’t much of that going on in American comics. That is where shojo comes in. Even though they shouldn’t, they do read those comics.
No, my observation isn’t scientific. Nor should you take it as a truth. However, this is what I think and that is what I want to hear from you guys. Now I’ll shut up and let you have the floor.
Note: I’ve been updating the post to clarify and clean up a few things, though I keep my original view on the matter.
September 22nd, 2009 - 7:29 PM
Gantz.
September 22nd, 2009 - 7:35 PM
I’m not talking about the types of manga that aren’t feminine. I’m talking about whether socially we see reading manga as feminine.
Edited the post to clarify what I meant.
September 22nd, 2009 - 9:09 PM
It’s an interesting question, and your observations are valid. BUT, ask the average (young) person if they know anything about manga, and chances are, regardless of gender, they’ll mention one of the big three shounen titles (Naruto/Bleach/One Piece).
What does that mean? No idea. As you say, it’s not very scientific. But it’s worth thinking about. Cheers.
September 22nd, 2009 - 9:14 PM
Good point. The question is more complex than I thought it to be…
Okay, here is a slightly more specific question:
Is there something about manga that socially make it out to be feminine when reading it in front of others or being seen browsing a manga self?
September 22nd, 2009 - 9:20 PM
I’d say no to your question since it’s no more feminine to be reading manga anymore than it is feminine to be watching TV. That’s for the general case though and if you were to subdivide it between specific genres, (shounen, rom coms, etc) there might be a difference.
September 22nd, 2009 - 9:40 PM
That is a good comparison.