Good post Shax and obviously there are multiple reasons for it and many exceptions. I would posit one reason would be that, considering the 1960s and 1970s, the comics code was somewhat to blame. How? 

First off, girls mature earlier than boys. Trying not to generalize but girls were more attracted to the romance and teen comedy genres than superheroes too. However these female oriented genres were mostly written by middle aged men. Also the comics code kept these comics, essentially, stuck in the 1950s (except for the fashions) as far as values went. Based on my observations from my sister who read comics as a young girl and stopped as a young teen, these comic stories had no relevance to the world around her in the early 1970s. She went on to romance paperbacks, pop star magazines or other female magazines and left Archie and Girl's Love comics behind. She had no interest in spandex superheroes, with or without breasts. There was nothing in the comics field that she could relate to as a teen. 

So she was gone. So where millions of other women. Mad Magazine might have been the only thing that kept her interest for awhile in the 1970s

Very interesting points all.

I'd never thought of it before, but, somehow, all of that seems to make sense.

So I've been sharing the link to this thread in various places on facebook, and someone there raised the point that women's representation in comics from the 1940s to the 1950s parallels their representation in the workforce. In the '40s, while all able-bodied men were at war, women were empowered to be the bread-winners for the first time and, when the men returned from war, so did the expectations for women as wives, mothers, and home-makers.

So maybe 1940s comic readers were also more accepting of women as independent protagonists than they were a decade later.

My guess would be that the proportion of female comic readers stayed fairly stable into the 70s, but they were reading Gold Key, Archie, Dell, DC and Marvel's Romance and teen books, etc. I wouldn't be surprised (based on a tiny focus group of my sister an two cousins) that they read Warrens and other horror/mystery books as well. (Note that when Atlas was created in the mid-70s, they still included teen and romance titles.)

I think the collapse of the traditional market and the image of early comic shops as "girl free areas" led to the impression that girls weren't interested in comics. They were invisible in the new model, though many were still interested, though not in superheroes and much of the mainstream product (Vertigo being an exception.)

In my humble opinion - I say "No" in this subject matter, why?


In the late 50's to early 70's and that's was the time I was a young boy and I do remember going to Comic Book Stores with my oldest brother who was into Comics like I was. Most of the female readers were into more in Marvel Comics than DC Comics why?

Marvel Comics were attractive to females because they were attune to the many problems of superheroes and Marvel is more realistic than DC Comics. When, I do went to the store with my brother many young girls and girls in their teens were buying up Daredevil, Tales of Suspense, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and Avengers. For DC Comics it was Wonder Woman, Action Comics, Hawkman (if Hawkgirl involved in the story), and Legion of Super Heroes. It was the Legion of Super Heroes were the drawing card for DC Comics because this group has a nice balance of both male and female superheroes and for Marvel Comics the females (girls) prefer Daredevil and Tales of Suspense because of one character - Black Widow because she was strong, determined, and sexy too. I just don't know why in my days that my brother keeps commenting to me that many of the teenaged girls were snatching up these two titles like hotcakes.

To answer the question did the Silver Age chase away female readers - to be honest with you Yes and No. Many of the girls that liked about comics did not feel comfortable going to the store that sells comics because of it's large male readership and they ask their brothers to buy the books for them. Secondly, the female readers had a large silent readership and by saying this most of the sales were dominated by males - but in my own opinion about 30 percent of the sales were conducted by their brothers (males) and that's a moot point to me.

That's why all through my life - Males dominated the Comic Book Stores and that drove away the female readership away because they did not feel safe going there and that's why their brothers and their boyfriends brought comic books for them. I had a girlfriend in High School and she did not feel comfortable going the Comic Book Store and I always brought her Batman and Wonder Woman Comic Books for her because she loves Batgirl and Wonder Woman and later on she had a taste for She Hulk, Spider Woman, and couple other books that I just can't remember and that's contributed her of not going to the store in the first place.

This is a very difficult question to answer but this is the best I could and it's a valid subject matter that warrant serious discussion and I'm happy that Shax came up with it.

It seems to me that the shady environments of some comic shops is what drove female readers away. When female readers could simply go to a newsstand and buy their comics, they didn't have to deal with lecherous looks and snide misogyny.

I wouldn't say exclusively, but the archetypal western hero is certainly more male than female; combine that with the typical teenage male traits (feelings of inadequacy, drive to rise to the status of alpha male, probable resentment at being picked on by more powerful competitors) and you basically have the blueprint for the superhero genre.

Your example of the Hunger Games is quite germane, as that story is clearly a power fantasy (male-oriented, generally) with a female protagonist. I think that it is however telling that said protagonist is not simply a male character in a woman's body. Her motivation is far less self-aggrandizing than would that of a typical male hero, and she's definitely not as agressive as most male heroes. (She doesn't even end up with the alpha partner, as I understand it : didn't she go for the dweeb at the end?) I would therefore view the Hunger Games as sort of a "Boy's Tale" for girls. Nothing wrong with that, and there is definitely an audience for such stories (as there is for "Girl's Tales" for boys). I'm just not convinced that most women are as interested in power fantasies as most men can be, irrespective of whether the main character is a man or a woman. They're simply less influenced by a biologically-driven need to kick the a$$ of competitors and to use violence to solve problems. (Again, that's obviously a generalization, but I think numbers reflect that).