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Is The Simpsons a boys’ show?


I’ve known a lot of boys who are obsessive Simpsons fans – and “obsessive” usually manifests itself as “able to drop a random Simpsons line into pretty much any conversation1”. These boys have seen every episode of The Simpsons a million times, or at least season every episode from The Simpsons‘ golden age (which roughly encompasses seasons three to nine) a million times. And will happily watch these episodes again and again and again and again, probably until they are very old men. I count myself among these girls.

I haven’t met many girls like this.

That’s not to say they don’t exist. I’ve known obsessive female fans of The Simpsons, and I’m sure there’s plenty of them out there. Just not as many as there are male fans.

I wonder why this is. Is there something about The Simpsons that appeals more to male psyches than to female ones? Its irreverence, its mix of the high and lowbrow? The fact that the focus has always been more on Homer and Bart than Marge, Lisa and Maggie? The fact that it’s a cartoon?

Theories? Refutations?

  1. Thus proving the maxim that there really is a Simpsons quote for every occasion [↩]

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 8:42 pm and is filed under TV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Being one of those girls who can drop a Simpsons quote into any conversation, I must say that only a couple of my female friends will get the reference without explanation.

    The guys can sometimes carry on the conversation until we end up reciting entire scenes.

    Perhaps it is, as Rachel suggests, a matter of geekiness. The same girls that quote Simpsons also go to comic book conventions and watch loads of anime...
  • I know girls and boys alike who quote The Simpsons constantly - but yes, in general I think it's more common among guys. Something about our ability to amass large quantities of useless information, I don't know.

    I think you're probably right, also, that the fact it's a cartoon means it holds more appeal with males. I asked my housemate the other day whether she had ever watched The Simpsons and she said she didn't watch it as she doesn't like cartoons, and finds them 'childish' and 'immature'. I put it to her that she just doesn't GET the quite intelligent humour that is actually there in spades. I think she was a bit affronted.
  • The Simpsons probably makes me laugh more than any other show on television (even now that it's not what it used to be, the hardcore fans I know tell me). Still, I'd be hardpressed to quote anything from it, and I know legions of guys who - as you point out - quote it damn well constantly.

    I think the show has a broad appeal, but maybe the quoting has more to do with a particular brand of geekiness that manifests itself more commonly in men than in women (you can see this in music, as well - John Cusack's character in High Fidelity). I also suspect this is a generational (20- and 30-something) thing - I wonder if teenage boys today share the same enthusiasm for the show.
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