Female Genre: Why Soaps Are Often Considered a Female Genre

Soaps are often said to be a female genre, due to the fact that the female genders are strongly portrayed within soaps, as previously mentioned in my post on Male and Female Characters and Representation. There is also said to be strong evidence which supports these claims, such as a debate which argued women can accurately predict the outcomes of domestically focused storylines. Even though many soaps are polysemic and offer different interpretations or meanings which not only to appeal to a larger target audience, but can be understood by a large number of people. Despite this point, soap opera is suggested to be a female genre.
I believe that it would be too stereotypical to class soap opera as a female genre, this is because woman are more likely to take part in day-to-day discussions amongst peers, as they may feel that soap opera mirrors real time which is why they may gossip about the social issues and storylines as they may be able to relate to them.

Other than soaps themselves having dominant female figures, and being subjected to being a female genre, television magazines themselves may also appear to be more appealing to the female genre, this is because the main storylines almost always contain reference to relationships within soaps which is something women may gossip about, as well as other content within the magazines, such as competitions which may appeal more to the female gender.