http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GirlShowGhetto

Please don't list this on a work's page as a trope. Examples can go on the work's YMMV tab.

Bob Chipman discussing the backlash to discussing the backlash to Titanic "Let's be very honest about something. The quickest way for any work of art, fiction, or other pop culture ephemera to cease being taken seriously is for the broader culture to intuit that it was made for or enjoyable by women, especially teenage girls. This is not up for debate, we're not adding a feminist argument here, all you need to do is live in the culture and look around a little, and you already know this is a fact."

Advertisement:

There is a prevalent Double Standard most people have regarding media: that women's entertainment should only be enjoyed by women with no crossover allowed — despite it being okay for women to watch shows primarily marketed towards men — keeping in mind most media is male-focused. Not to mention the stigma that media specifically tailored for women is 100% guaranteed to be of inferior quality, no exceptions. This line of thinking is very clear in most creators and executives' minds. Men and women could watch shows meant for men/starring a man, but only women could like a female-centered, never mind "girly", show. Watching and enjoying a "girl" show would be unmanly and be subject to ridicule, which brings in homophobia to the mix. Most shows with merchandise usually focus on the male characters being represented way more than female characters due to the double standard.

Advertisement:

Women-targeted entertainment also has a reputation of being worse than other shows. Common criticisms are that women's media is overly touchy-feely, simplistic, poorly-written, and shallow. The men can be the badass heroes and problem solvers who go on quests, but women don't do much except entangling themselves in their relationships and wallowing in a soup of hormonal emotions.

This attitude isn't as prevalent as it once was, but it's still rather pervasive. It's still taught at some film schools and since Most Writers Are Male, they're going to go for what they think is the greatest audience. The stigma is still entrenched not only in entertainment, but in Real Life as well.

This may also be in play when women writers are encouraged to adopt a Moustache de Plume, which may be seen as increasing their marketability in a male-oriented genre.

Advertisement:

Compare Real Women Don't Wear Dresses, What Do You Mean Its Not For Little Girls, The Bechdel Test, Double Standard, The Smurfette Principle, White Male Lead, Race Lift, Animation Age Ghetto, Minority Show Ghetto, Lifetime Movie of the Week, Daytime Drama Queen, Chick Lit, Chick Flick, Extruded Book Product, Feminist Fantasy. For when the series itself avoids the ghetto but the merchandise falls into it, see Unisex Series, Gendered Merchandise.

Contrast Testosterone Brigade, when a work ostensibly aimed at girls has a surprisingly large number of male fans. See also Real Men Wear Pink.

Examples:

open/close all folders

Anime and Manga

Comic Books

Films — Animation

Films — Live-Action

Literature

Historical Fiction author Nancy Rue said at a workshop that the reason all of her protagonists are male is that girls will read "boy books" but boys won't read "girl books".

The same thing was mentioned by John Christopher regarding The Tripods.

And so did Diana Wynne Jones, but she also said that things changed during her career, and started writing books with female protagonists.

The In Death series of sci-fi detective novels was published under the pseudonym J. D. Robb due to the fact that their author knew nobody would take them seriously if she put her real name, Nora Roberts, on the cover. She has kept it up even after it was revealed that she was the author, likely for this reason.

When the book Strana horoshih devochek ("Land of obedient Girls") by A. Starobinec was going to be adapted as film, the producers doubted that a film about girls was going to attract large audience. As a result half of the girl charachters were changed into boys and the film was renamed Strana horoshih detochek , "Land of obedient Children". This then led to an Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole, as the children, now including boys, are still forced to do only typically feminine tasks such as washing and cleaning.

, "Land of obedient Children". This then led to an Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole, as the children, now including boys, are still forced to do only typically feminine tasks such as washing and cleaning. In 2010, Jennifer Weiner set off a controversy in literary circles when she criticized The New York Times Book Review for showering praise on Jonathan Franzen's novel Freedom, seeing literary criticism in general as dominated by upper-class white men to the point of dismissing female voices and marginalizing "chick lit". As noted in this article by Constance Grady for Vox, this controversy marked the beginning of a sea change in literary criticism in The New '10s that saw the breakdown of the ghetto, especially in Young Adult Literature.

Live-Action TV

Music

Taylor Swift has been fighting a massive uphill battle to break out of this mold. In many respects, she's succeeded: her music is taken seriously by critics, she sells to a pretty wide audience, and her business savvy has been praised by many. Nonetheless, she still has a pretty sizable Hatedom, largely spurred on by the fact that she writes songs specifically aimed at young women.

Evanescence's lead singer is Amy Lee, but Executive Meddling demanded that their single "Bring Me to Life " incorporate male vocals by Paul McCoy from the Christian Rock band 12 Stones so the song wouldn't end up in the ghetto. Hence the famous Call and Response/Soprano and Gravel chorus with McCoy calling as the gravel and Lee responding as the mezzo-soprano. The band later released a version with only Lee's vocals, which is apparently closer to her own intent.

" incorporate male vocals by Paul McCoy from the Christian Rock band 12 Stones so the song wouldn't end up in the ghetto. Hence the famous Call and Response/Soprano and Gravel chorus with McCoy calling as the gravel and Lee responding as the mezzo-soprano. The band later released a version with only Lee's vocals, which is apparently closer to her own intent. Vocaloid producer Oster Project did not reveal her gender until years after she debuted because she wanted listeners to view her work under a gender neutral lens, possibly because people may have viewed her work differently if they knew she was a woman.

Professional Wrestling

Theatre

Toys

Video Games

Web Original

Western Animation