History Main / GirlShowGhetto

* Males who enjoy {{Shoujo}} works are often looked at askance.

** J.K. Rowling apparently chose to go by her initials to obscure her gender for this very reason, at least in the beginning. By now her gender is common knowledge of course.

* WonderWoman in general has had this problem. She's supposed to be one of DC's Big Three superheroes next to {{Batman}} and {{Superman}}, yet she hasn't had a Live Action Film yet (infamously in DevelopmentHell.) She hasn't had an animated series yet ([[BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Batman]] [[TheBatman has]] [[BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold had]] plenty, and [[SupermanTheAnimatedSeries Superman got his own show, too.]]) and the last time she's been out of the comics solo (besides the animated film, above) is the 70s live action series.

* ''{{Jem}}'' was also popular with male viewers but aimed at females.

* Some ''Beauty and the Beast'' trailers completely downplayed Belle's role and the romance, such as [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nOEH1Fy5vI this one.]] However, the fact only one of the five trailers included on the DVD and Blu-Ray uses such techniques suggests Disney didn't rely on them as heavily as for ''Tangled''.

* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower'' was an interesting case. She-Ra was meant to basically be the DistaffCounterpart of HeMan, but despite having a female lead and a brighter color pallette the tone wasn't all that different from its predecessor. So it basically attracted most of the same audience that He-Man did, despite trying to be a girl's show. A girl who wasn't into He-Man probably wouldn't be into She-Ra either, but a boy who liked He-Man would usually like She-Ra too (unless scared off by the fact that it was supposed to be for girls).
** Also worth noting, the toyline tie-in was far more Barbie-esque than the actual show. The BigBad's underling, Catra, was upgraded to the BigBad in the toyline because she was female, while Hordak, the male BigBad from the show, was sold as a ''MastersOfTheUniverse'' toy. This was all because Mattel didn't think girls would play with a Hordak toy, nor would boys play with a toy of a female She-Ra character.

*** Well actually, during the 90's, some ''Beauty and the Beast'' trailers completely downplayed Belle's role and the romance, such as [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nOEH1Fy5vI this one.]] However, the fact only one of the five trailers included on the DVD and Blu-Ray uses such techniques suggests Disney didn't rely on them as heavily as for ''Tangled''.
** However, in the early 2000s, they started to make boy-oriented movies, such as ones focusing either on [[{{Disney/Tarzan}} men living in jungles with gorillas]], [[{{Dinosaur}} dinosaurs]], [[Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove emperors]], [[TreasurePlanet pirates in space]], and [[BrotherBear bears]], but [[AtlantisTheLostEmpire one particular film released during this era]] had a princess in it.
*** ''LiloAndStitch'' managed to avoid the ghetto for the most part, despite its female main characters, and became one of the more profitable Disney films of this era. Although, the marketing tended to focus exclusively on Stitch (presumably male), which may be why.

* DC's recent animated films have suffered from this. After ''WonderWoman'' achieved only moderate success, DC declared that there would be no more films starring female heroes, and cancelled the upcoming Batgirl film. Also, Supergirl's movie was given the misleading title ''SupermanBatmanApocalypse'', and she was removed from much of the marketing.

* ''KimPossible'' stars a well-renowned ActionGirl with an incompetent male sidekick, yet managed to gain a rather large fanbase. This included male viewers.

* Happens in music quite often. {{Boy band}}s/{{Teen Idol}}s (usually aimed at girls) usually end up gaining a huge PeripheryHatedom, with people sometimes literally sending death threats, but a GirlGroup probably won't have as much of a problem, because of all of the {{fanservice}}.

* ''{{Bridesmaids}}''' aversion of this trope was a major factor in its success. A lot of the reviews praised it for being a female-centric comedy that wasn't a StrictlyFormula [[RomanticComedy rom-com]], and apparently, a lot of female moviegoers agreed.
** Female writers at Slate.com and other sites practically begged readers to buy tickets to convince studio execs to greenlight more female-driven scripts.

* ''ClarissaExplainsItAll'' was groundbreaking not only in its content, but because it finally disproved the common (at the time) thinking for children's television -- that boys would NOT watch a show starring a girl. {{Nickelodeon}} proved everyone wrong by making Clarissa -- a smart, funny, free-thinking girl, who was only a tiny bit {{tomboy}}ish -- the lead character and one of the most recognizable characters in that time period. Much of Nickelodeon's future programming, from ''TheSecretWorldOfAlexMack'' to ''{{iCarly}}'', has had similar "girly girls" in the lead roles, and also pushed tons of girls' merchandise in the pink aisles of toy stores -- all without sacrificing boy viewers.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has a ''huge'' male following (who call themselves "[[FanCommunityNickname Bronies]]"), most of whom had to be cajoled to watch it first because of this very reason, but eventually became hooked. Not only is this a show about ponies and magic, but there are literally six female main characters and one male character.
** It should be noted that this aversion was [[InvokedTrope invoked]] by LaurenFaust, as shown in the page quote, who purposefully had the goal of making it appealing to not just little girls, but older viewers as well, ''including'' older males. Judging by the massive male fanbase, it seems she's succeeded.
** Unfortunately, it's not the case for the toys. In particular, the store owners requested the Princess Celestia toy to be pure pink, since they think it would sell better to little girls than if she stayed white (or actually, very light pink).
* ''{{Jem}}'' was also popular with male viewers but aimed at females.

* ''ThePowerpuffGirls'' was another cartoon that was admirably able to avoid the GirlShowGhetto and attract an audience of both genders. However, creator {{Craig McCracken}} noticed that by the time the show reached its third season, it had spawned a disconcerting amount of girls-only merchandise. When CartoonNetwork asked him to helm a [[TheFilmOfTheSeries Film Of The Series]], he decided to bring ''Powerpuff Girls'' back to its action-packed, "whoopass" roots. The DarkerAndEdgier product received mixed reviews and made less money than any other movie of its year.
* ''{{Daria}}'' has fans of both genders.

* The first ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' movie nearly experienced this. The idea that female moviegoers alone could turn a film into a blockbuster hit was considered so unthinkable that, when Paramount was adapting the movie, [[ExecutiveMeddling they tried to make it far more action-heavy]] (basically, a high school version of ''{{Underworld}}'' or ''{{Blade}}'') in order to attract the male audience that they thought was necessary. [[http://www.hollywoodlife.com/2010/09/23/twilight-saga-almost-turned-into-action-film-summit-paramount-robert-pattinson-kristen-stewart-stephenie-meyer-mark-morgan/ This page]] goes into detail on the changes that would've been made. These plans were [[ExecutiveVeto vetoed]] by StephenieMeyer, leading to Summit's far more faithful adaptation.

** It should be noted that this aversion was [[InvokedTrope invoked]] by LaurenFaust, as shown in the page quote, who purposefully had the goal of making it appealing to not just little girls, but older viewers as well, ''including'' older males. Judging by the massive male fanbase, it seems she's succeeded.

-->--'''LaurenFaust''', former executive producer of ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''

* ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has a ''huge'' male following (who call themselves "[[FanCommunityNickname Bronies]]"), most of whom had to be cajoled to watch it first because of this very reason, but eventually became hooked. Not only is this a show about ponies and magic, but there are literally six female main characters and one male character.

* {{Jem}} was also popular with male viewers but aimed at females.
* In-universe, one episode of ''FamilyGuy'' features Lois dragging Peter to a ChickFlick, which he thinks might turn him gay. However, he quite enjoys it (and several others), and decides to make a Chick Flick of his own.
* ''SheRaPrincessOfPower'' was an interesting case. She-Ra was meant to basically be the DistaffCounterpart of HeMan, but despite having a female lead and a brighter color pallette the tone wasn't all that different from its predecessor. So it basically attracted most of the same audience that He-Man did, despite trying to be a girl's show. A girl who wasn't into He-Man probably wouldn't be into She-Ra either, but a boy who liked He-Man would usually like She-Ra too (unless scared off by the fact that it was supposed to be for girls).

* ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' got hit with the merchandising version; with no female action figures even though girls made up a good half of the cast. What made this even more jarring was that male characters who only appeared in a few episodes, like Jet, got action figures, but Katara, an ActionGirl and a member of the MAIN CAST (appearing in all episodes except [[VillainEpisode "Zuko Alone"]]) never got one and neither did Toph, (also a main character from the second season onward) despite being more of a tomboy. However, the sequel series, ''TheLegendOfKorra'', is bound to force their hand by putting a girl as the main character.

* ''CardCaptorSakura'' was a quintessential girls show, but when it was released for English Markets the dub saw heavy edits to turn one of the male characters into a Protagonist along with Sakura.

* ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has a ''huge'' male following (who call themselves "[[FanCommunityNickname Bronies]]"), most of whom had to be cajoled to watch it first because of this very reason, but eventually became hooked. Not only is this a show about ponies and magic, but there are literally six female main characters and one male character. That's right, a good show is just good, no matter what gender it was intended to appeal to.
** So it was averted, just to clarify. However, this trope is partly why Bronies get some flak from {{Fan Hater}}s and media outlets alike (other reasons including AnimationAgeGhetto, and a few fans giving others a bad name, which is typical of most fandoms).

* In one episode of ''FamilyGuy'' Lois draggs Peter to a ChickFlick, which he thinks might turn him gay. But he quite enjoys it (and several others), and decides to make a Chick Flick of his own.

* This has an interesting effect with shows in syndication. A lot of shows that were very gender-neutral during their original run can be put into reruns on networks that are considered exclusive to women (NetworkDecay aside, networks like Lifetime, Oxygen and We have a long reputation of being solely for women.) A lot of shows that were gender neutral and incredibly popular with men and women, like ''WillAndGrace,'' ''{{Frasier}}'', ''{{Roseanne}}'' now have to overcome a stigma that they're shows for women.

** However, in the early 2000s, they started to make boy-oriented movies, such as ones focusing either on [[{{Disney/Tarzan}} men living in jungles with gorillas]], [[{{Dinosaur}} dinosaurs]], [[TheEmperorsNewGroove emperors]], [[TreasurePlanet pirates in space]], and [[BrotherBear bears]], but [[AtlantisTheLostEmpire one particular film released during this era]] had a princess in it.

* This trope is probably the reason why the DisneyChannel has such a large PeripheryHatedom. A lot of its programming is aimed at girls, so it is seen as stupid or saccharine. It got bad enough that Disney created a sister network (or should we say, ''brother'' network), DisneyXD, because they couldn't get boys to watch the main DisneyChannel's programming.
** YourMileageMightVary though, since sometimes boys would watch the said shows with reasons ranging from "Having a crush on the lead girl or the other girls in the show" or "Watching it for their antics". In that case, The PeripheryDemographic of Disney Channel is... boys. Which is the same reason why some girls would watch DisneyXD as well for the same reasons, but gender-inverted.

*** ''LiloAndStitch'' managed to avoid the ghetto for the most part, despite its female main characters, and became one of the more profitable Disney films of this era, though the marketing tended to focus exclusively on Stitch (presumably male), which may be why.

This line of thinking is very clear in most creators and executives' minds (though not without warrant considering many RealLife instances and attitudes). Men and women could watch shows meant for men/starring a man, only women could like a "girly" show. Watching a girl show would be unmanly and be subject to ridicule. Just watch any show and the guy who's the more [[TheChick sensitive]], [[TheHeart caring]] member of the cast is usually the ButtMonkey.