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[dramatis]

From FiveThirtyEight's Culture section. Be warned of a lot of statistics talk.

At least, that’s what I thought until I saw the program’s remarkably poor score according to IMDb’s user ratings when I analyzed the data history of HBO. “Sex and the City” has an overall rating of 7.0 on a scale from 1 to 10 — the average score of an English-language television series with 1,000 or more ratings is 7.3. So why did a show roundly considered seminal in the now ubiquitous genre of driven-New York-women-make-a-go-of-it programming score so low?

Yeah, it’s men.

Nearly 60 percent of the people who rated “Sex and the City” on IMDb are women,1 and looking only at those scores, the show has an 8.1. That’s well above average. Male users, though, who made up just over 40 percent of “Sex and the City” raters, assigned it, on average, a 5.8 rating. Oof.

But looking at these extremes, another pattern emerges: The most male-dominated shows are very skewed, while the most female-dominated shows are less so. The 25th-most-male program has 94 percent of its ratings from men. The 25th-most-female show has only 75 percent of its ratings from women.

But the data doesn’t support the contention that female-skewed programming is inherently worse: Women gave their top 100 shows, on average, a 7.8 rating, about the same score they gave the top 100 male-dominated programs, 8.0. But here’s where that Twitter egg’s perception might come from: Men gave their top 100 an average score of 8.2 but gave the top 100 female-skewed shows a mere 6.9 average ratings. Shows with more than 10,000 ratings are inherently popular and yet men thought the programs in that group that skew female were below average.

Apparently it's not because female entertainment is worse, but because guys are more judgmental when it comes to female entertainment. lol

More charts and stuff at the link.

 

[YesNOnoNOYes]

I guess... guys doesnt really get into stuff that girls like and rate it harshly

whilst guys-centric stuff are the default so women are already conditioned to accept them easier






sex and the city was really fun, but crazy ex gf is my current jam tbh :>

 

[Septimus Prime]

I guess... guys doesnt really get into stuff that girls like and rate it harshly

whilst guys-centric stuff are the default so women are already conditioned to accept them easier

I'm thinking this as well. I did go through the entirety of Sex and the City back in the day, and there is pretty much nothing in there that appealed to me. That's by design, of course, but it still alienates a significant portion of its audience.

 

[Drazgul]

5.8 rating is awfully generous.

 

[CrocMother]

Is 538 becoming a clickbait site?

 

[Big Blue]

From FiveThirtyEight's Culture section. Be warned of a lot of statistics talk.



Apparently it's not because female entertainment is worse, but because guys are more judgmental when it comes to female entertainment. lol

More charts and stuff at the link.

It makes sense thought because shows like Sex and The City and Scandal are heavily skewed towards women in terms of content.

 

[Fugu]

I'm thinking this as well. I did go through the entirety of Sex and the City back in the day, and there is pretty much nothing in there that appealed to me. That's by design, of course, but it still alienates a significant portion of its audience.

Right, but the point is that women are similarly alienated by male-centric entertainment but are ostensibly better at realizing when something just isn't for them (as opposed to simply declaring it bad).

 

[Dynamite Shikoku]

Oh those dastardly men

 

[TI82]

Guys don't like show aimed at women but still give them ratings. Women do the same. What a shocker

 

[Eidan]

Is 538 becoming a clickbait site?

It covers various topics beyond elections. Has for a while actually.

 

[entremet]

Is 538 becoming a clickbait site?

Every site wants to drive clicks. That's just the way it is. Everyone is competing for those ads dollars.

 

[JDB]

Arrow seems to be doing pretty fine though. Season 3 is probably the highest rated of all the seasons, and that's when it became Felicity.

 

[YesNOnoNOYes]

I'm thinking this as well. I did go through the entirety of Sex and the City back in the day, and there is pretty much nothing in there that appealed to me. That's by design, of course, but it still alienates a significant portion of its audience.

guys, try to get into what girls like

it has LOADS of benefits

like, you may actually connect better to the women in your lives etc

one day, what women likey will be as mainstream as what men likey and it will be greatgreat \o/ for everyone \o/

 

[brianmcdoogle]

Angry Video Game Nerd has three spots in the top ten male shows, and Redlettermedia's Half in the Bag is top ten as well. No surprises there.

Edit: jeez, that last chart is a gut punch.

Edit 2: I don't watch a lot of television, so I'm only going off of the titles and what I imagine them to be, but the top 25 female driven shows look way more diverse than the men's list of "comics, sports, and games".

 

[Aztechnology]

Is Two Broke Girls aimed at women? Because that show is just goddamn awful. Am I wrong if I go and rate it poorly because I'm not the demographic they are targeting? Should only people in the targeted demographic be able to rate something?

 

[Eidan]

Guys don't like show aimed at women but still give them ratings. Women do the same. What a shocker

Well, women rate the top shows aimed at women comparably to how they rate the top shows aimed at men, while men rate shows aimed at women poorly, shocking? No. But unfortunate.

I for one loved Pretty Little Liars.

 

[Fugu]

Guys don't like show aimed at women but still give them ratings. Women do the same. What a shocker

The interesting part of this article is that the ratings that men give in this situation differ significantly from the ratings that women give.

 

[excelsiorlef]

So is this going to be another thread where people start taking observations of macro socio-political trends personally?

 

[pigeon]

It's a small issue, but it's an insightful example of one aspect of the patriarchy -- the assumption by men that everything is designed for their consumption, so if they don't like something, it must just be bad.

 

[Eidan]

Man, with this thread, the lingering thread full of guys who don't think women are funny, and the Ghostbusters threads, one could be forgiven if they thought a lot of men don't think very highly of women.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

http://www.imdb.com/chart/top

I mean yeah, imdb's loudest users are men younger than 30. I wouldn't go there for an honest appraisal of a show like Sex and the City.

Ally McBeal got a 6.7. That show was a monster, but it's probably the poster child for what this article is about.

 

[Farsi]

"sabotaging"

 

[ZealousD]

Is 538 becoming a clickbait site?

Do you know what clickbait is?

 

[excelsiorlef]

It's a small issue, but it's an insightful example of one aspect of the patriarchy -- the assumption by men that everything is designed for their consumption, so if they don't like something, it must just be bad.

Ding

 

[metalslimer]

Watching how the male 18-35 gamers respond when companies dare make products not aimed at them, it's not surprising it extends to tv as well

 

[harSon]

The same thing is done to black movies

 

[jack_package_200]

I expect the Rottentomatoes and IMDB pages for the new Ghostbusters to get raided regardless of quality.

 

[LUFTRAUSER]

It's a small issue, but it's an insightful example of one aspect of the patriarchy -- the assumption by men that everything is designed for their consumption, so if they don't like something, it must just be bad.

I understand where you're coming from with this, but most men are going to read statements like yours and take it to mean that their opinions don't matter because they're men.

 

[excelsiorlef]

The same thing is done to black movies

Yup.

Women and minorities are raised to like the dominant cultural products regardless of representation hereas the folks who are the target audience of the dominant cultural products are raised to believe that anything not for them can't be good

 

[Dice//]

Well, women rate the top shows aimed at women comparably to how they rate the top shows aimed at men, while men rate shows aimed at women poorly, shocking? No. But unfortunate.

I for one loved Pretty Little Liars.

Ding ding

 

[studyguy]

The same thing is done to black movies

Dear White People has amazing user reviews

 

[RedVladimir]

 

[uncelestial]

Should only people in the targeted demographic be able to rate something?

There have been many times where I wish that's how it was. About 90% of people disliking things is from not being in the target audience in the first place.

 

[excelsiorlef]

Dear White People has amazing user reviews

So does Bridesmaids. One product does not disprove the concept

 

[studyguy]

So does Bridesmaids. One product does not disprove the concept

I meant that sarcastically. Prob should have clarified.
Have you seen the salt?

 

[excelsiorlef]

I meant that sarcastically. Prob should have clarified.
Have you seen the salt?

Ok phew sorry. It's hard to tell in this atmosphere lol

 

[Spinifex]

So does Bridesmaids. One product does not disprove the concept

I regularly, REGULARLY hear men saying how overrated / bad that movie is.

 

[FUBAR McDangles]

It's a small issue, but it's an insightful example of one aspect of the patriarchy -- the assumption by men that everything is designed for their consumption, so if they don't like something, it must just be bad.

If something is not designed for me and I try it out anyway and dont like it, what am I supposed to do? Forget about it? Not rate it at all? Rate it to reflect my viewpoint?

If I watch Sex and the City and honestly find that it is boring and unappealing to me, why cant I rate it unfavorably?

 

[studyguy]

Ok phew sorry. It's hard to tell in this atmosphere lol

Sall good, but it's definitely across the board. Lots of 'I can't relate' to general minority sitcoms as well that are in syndication. Just closed minded fools.

 

[Farsi]

Oops, I responded. Not trying to get into this argument.

 

[NullPointer]

It's a small issue, but it's an insightful example of one aspect of the patriarchy -- the assumption by men that everything is designed for their consumption, so if they don't like something, it must just be bad.

Does a lower rating mean a show is bad, or just that the reviewer didn't enjoy it?

And is it the responsibility of a user review to state the overall quality of a show on some objective level, or to provide a subjective score of their personal enjoyment?

It reads to me as if subjective scoring is being taken as an objective assessment. If you watch a program that isn't designed for your consumption and you don't enjoy it, I don't see the problem in giving it a low score.

As somebody looking at these ratings, you're either going to experience them in aggregate, or read the written reviews for more details behind individual scores. To view those scores in aggregate as sabotage makes no sense unless you have evidence of some kind of organized campaign.

I guess I don't see the sabotage, or why people should review based upon anything other than their own personal tastes, no matter how fickle those tastes may be.

 

[metalslimer]

If something is not designed for me and I try it out anyway and dont like it, what am I supposed to do? Forget about it? Not rate it at all? Rate it to reflect my viewpoint?

If I watch Sex and the City and honestly find that it is boring and unappealing to me, why cant I rate it unfavorably?

I understand where you're coming from as I don't like Sex and the City at all either, but I think the article is more pointing out the disparity in how the different sexes rate things rather than trying to shame males for not having a positive view of all female oriented shows. To be honest most decent shows now have a wide variety of perspectives that are relatable to most people.

 

[sphagnum]

I think what would be important to know is how many people rating things negatively genuinely didn't like it and how many are just idiots rating things negatively out of spite without even having tried it.

 

[harSon]

Dear White People has amazing user reviews

It's an IMDB thing: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2235108/ratings?ref_=tt_ov_rt

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

But..........I thought dudes liked to watch Sex and the City.

 

[Dark Ninja]

These shows being listed. Godzilla: The Series

Hahaha

 

[Ether_Snake]

Now one must find out the percentage of men voters who are straight or gay, to really get to the bottom of this.

Also, how many men gave a poor rating to those shows because they had to endure watching them with their girlfriends/wives.

 

[brianmcdoogle]

It's an IMDB thing: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2235108/ratings?ref_=tt_ov_rt

Note the difference in voting between men and women for that movie, too.

 

[shintoki]

The fact that Entourage is a mother fucking 8.6 on IDBM. When it is the exact male equivalent of Sex in the City.

 

[Eidan]

The fact that Entourage is a mother fucking 8.6 on IDBM. When it is the exact male equivalent of Sex in the City.

Hahah nothing more needs to be said.