I am pretty sure the guys are in the majority when it comes to sci-fi or anime fandom. Why are most sci-fi fans are guys?
My WAG is that things in Sci-Fi universes has to make a deal of logic sense, and that many movies and books showcase thought-through evolved versions of technology, which is quite a ‘hook’ for the young male. (Of course, positing the stereotype that a young boy/man is more interested in technology than a young girl/woman)
The logic part kicks in because in a universe where you’re basically rewriting a lot of existing rules, you have to have a deal of structure to keep the story from going abstract and becoming frustrating to read. I won’t say that this makes the story ‘easily followable,’ that’d be condescending, but it does make it a bit linear since you can basically access a deus ex machina at will.
Anyway, I think the combination of a (usually) colorful set of characters, interesting - sometimes even fascinating - technology, dramatic scenery and that little slice of mystery that comes from the unknown, all of that, appeals to your basic guy. (Also, I guess, characters that can be more evil than you could plausibly let your average down-to-earth novel villian, be)
Of course, all standard disclaimers apply. I’m just speaking from my personal reaction to the question.
Among the anime crowd it often seems as if there are more girls than boys. I suspect they’re relatively even overall, but I know more girl fans than guy fans. It also seems as if girls tend to be more vocal and, well, fan-girlish, so that may skew perceptions a bit. You also get the shojo/shonen split, so many series tend to attract one gender more than the other, and depending on your tastes you may find yourself among more girls than guys, or vice-versa (especially if you like shonen-ai/yaoi, boy does that bring the fan-girls out of the woodwork). I doubt that overall there’s more boys into anime than girls though, but if you prefer the shonen animes you’d probably find yourself talking to more guys than girls.
Among anime music video editors though, I believe there are significantly more males than females, although there is a decent number of female editors. This probably has something to do with guys tending to be more into computers and technology than anything else, especially back when making an AMV involved hooking two VCRs together.
What I’ve perceived in that fansegment, IMO, is a generational skew – the older anime fans tended to fit closer to the profile of SF fandom of the 1980s-school-club variety, who were the early-adopters. That was a male-dominated scene, and yes, a lot of it had to do with the hardware-head skills required to make fansubs, bootlegs (before it became heavily commercialized), and AMVs. Even then, though, the female “fen” were a high-growth segment of the cohort, and IIRC from the start likely to show great interest in anime.
Because when women get socially interested in SF fandom, they get chased out - either by the constant come ons and sexual harrassment, or they get chased out by geek guys defending their territory as some sort of geek male bonding thing.
Just my experience. It took a lot of effort as a woman to be involved in SF Fandom, and I gave up - it wasn’t worth it nor was it comfortable.
In my experience, as someone who goes to a lot of science fiction conventions and science fiction club meetings, the sort of s.f. fan who goes to cons these days tends to be rather older. Perhaps they are about 40 on average. Perhaps about 40% of them are female. I know of a lot of couples who met when they were both at s.f. fan-type events.
SF isn’t marketed to women. SF that IS marketed to women is shoehorned into a more “woman-friendly” genre – generally SF/Romance (Diane Gabaldon & Catherine Asaro, for example) or general fiction. The MIsts of Avalon is an example of the latter; though the majority or Marion Zimmer Bradley’s work is shelved SF, you often see this one book – very popular with women – shelved elsewhere.
SF Romance is actually a pretty popular subcategory of Romance.
Sorry, hit submit too early.
SF Romance is actually a pretty popular subcategory of Romance… but these readers do not self-identify with SF fandom. They wouldn’t dream of going to a SF con, for example and are very clannish to their favorite authors.
Why would this be shelved in SF? Fantasy yes (I’ve seen it there), and often that’s right next to the SF section in bookstores, but please explain to me why this book would be in the SF section at all.
What part of science fiction or anime would be appealing to women? 90% of it is escapist fantasy for adolescent boys - lasers, alien monsters, space ships, big busted warrior chicks. The question answers itself.
I’m a female fan of sf and fantasy books, media, anime, etc. And I have to give a lot of credit to my dad for introducing me to the genre at a young age.
He’s a scientific type, engineer, and he had books by Heinlein, Asimov, Niven, and Herbert on his shelves. As a young avid reader I tucked into everything he had in his collection as well as the standard YA books. I read Jurassic Park and Dune at the same time I was collecting the Babysitters Club books.
Dad and I watched Star Trek:TNG and he showed me Lynch’s Dune when I was 12. Now we trade books we like and talk about upcoming movies. For Christmas he got me Firefly on DVD and Serenity, and I promised to let him borrow them.
So for me, personally, a male introduced me to science fiction. He was probably more of the standard young college engineering major into SF type of guy, but he passed on to his kids a real love of science even though we both turned out to be arts majors in college.
To answer msmith537 I have to say that a lot of it does. Girls can relate to those adolescent boy escapist fantasies because, at least in my case, it fed into similar escapist desires I held. I always figure that if the reader has a well developed enough imagination, they can easily identify with any narrator.
But I have to disagree when you say that 90% of either SF or anime is directed at boys. I don’t know how it was in my dad’s generation, but lately I’d say that’s an incorrect ratio.
Don’t forget the part where other girls mock you, and where adults express concern that you’re interested in science and violence.
Girls don’t like lasers? Space ships?
SF&F is also full of competent hot butch men within stud-covered leather garments, or clean-cut square-jawed types in uniform.
What’s not to like?
For science fiction, the number of female fans is increasing and may be close to the number of males. I looked over the preliminary members list for Albacon 2005, for instance and, out of 69 names, there were 34 females and 33 males (with two undetermined).
Women are definitely becoming more interested in literary SF fandom, and as fandom ages, couples tend to go to the cons.
Not all bookstores separate the two. It is a SF/Fantasy section at Borders for example. I was using SF as a blanket term, which was not correct of me. I should have said “SF/F section.”
I am a woman, I am big into SF – I used to be in the biz actually. There are a lot more great women authors these days, and Tor has, at times, toured female authors together to get more female customer interest generated.
We still have female authors like Jo Rowling being told to use “J.K.” in order not to alienate male readers.
Thanks for the clarification, I know what you mean. I usually see the two next to each other but seperate, but it wouldn’t surprise me to find them mixed together,.
Is it just me or do women authors tend more towards soft SF and SF/F mixes, while men are more likely to do hard SF?
What is hard and soft sci-fi?
Hard SF is nitpicky science, soft SF is fun science. 
Seriously, soft SF is a story that just so happens to be set in a time with lasers, spaceships, aliens etc. Hard SF has “accurate” science and the story involves how everything works in a bit more detail.
No, unless they’re being operated by ponies. 
That’s unicorns, Bub, with laser rainbow action.