I’m a Girl, and I Like Supernatural
Every so often a man comes around talking about how he’s a guy who watches Supernatural like it’s something risqué or how he’ll somehow potentially lose his man cred because he’s watching a “Chick Show.” A large amount of posturing is usually the result. One such article came out yesterday. (UPDATE: The article has since been removed.) While it was not as bad as some of the ones I’ve read in the past, the title and dismissal of the Tumblr fandom were rather unfortunate. It’s also kind of comical, considering the show’s problem with misogyny in general. (That has gotten better this season, as I spoke about here.)
The Supernatural fandom is admittedly overwhelming and at times off-putting to outsiders and even for many of us who are part of it in any way. However, it’s not the fans’ jobs to make sure they fan right so that other potential fans will start watching. If you are scared to watch Supernatural because some people heavily ship Dean and Castiel as a couple, that’s a reflection on you, not the Destiel fans. Also saying, “I’m not homophobic but…” is probably not the best choice of words.
There is absolutely nothing about Supernatural that infers that the show is somehow a show for girls. The fandom is skewed heavily toward women, but the show itself, according to the ratings, has male and female fans of all ages. Watching a show with good-looking guys says nothing about whether you’re a real man or not, or how straight you are. These are insecurities. There are no girl shows or guy shows. There are just shows and the people who enjoy them.
The great thing about Supernatural is that it appeals to so many different people of all ages, sexualities, nationalities, economic statuses, religions and other demographics. This is because at the end of the day, it comes down to family, both blood and found. This is something that everyone can relate to in some way. It’s also why the show resonates so deeply with the fans. It’s the connections and love between the characters.
Blaming the fans for not being the right kind of fan is highly problematic. There is enough of this mentality within 
the Supernatural fandom already. Check out the spntrufan parody account on Twitter for a good time. It’s not an accomplishment to finally check out a show despite all the “silly girls.” You can’t come around as a fairly new fan basically saying, “I’m so awesome because I watched Supernatural despite you all being crazy man-sex obsessed girls. I watch because heavy metal and classic cars are awesome!” Yes, yes guy fan, so do us girls. We love the classic cars and classic rock and mythical storylines. And hey, some of us do get a little starry-eyed with hot guys staring at each other. I’m not a shipper myself, but I hardly see the shippers out there as a problem that means one shouldn’t watch a TV show. Perhaps a better way of researching Supernatural would be SuperWiki, where there is a plethora of information, rather than our fan spaces where we have fun and fan in our own way.
Men and boys have always been fans of Supernatural. I’ve always had men in my Supernatural watch group. I love getting their perspective on the show. They aren’t involved in fandom, but they love the show and they love discussing it. Not to mention there are plenty of men involved in the fandom and who go to fan conventions. Anecdotally, my brother has watched every single episode of the show. He never once thought that Supernatural was geared toward women. (It isn’t.) He’s also a huge Jensen Ackles fan and fan-casts him as every anti-hero character ever. Maybe it’s because he’s a feminist or just that he’s a decent guy, but he doesn’t feel the need to posture when it comes to talking about watching a TV show.
Next time you want to pat yourself on the back for getting into a TV show despite the girl fans, remember that maybe, just maybe, Supernatural is still around for you to get into this late in the game because of those fans. Being a fan of anything does not insult your manhood and it’s not necessary to insult women to justify your being a fan of something. Just like something because you like something.
Author: Jessica Rae
Jessica has a BA in music with an emphasis in voice and spends her day typesetting, editing, writing, and moderating webinars. Jessica primarily reviews anime and comic book series. She also offers insights on various movies, books, games, and other geeky topics.
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Well said.
Thank you!
Very well said… but sadly to say as long as some viewers believe in the deliberately created and taught deception of diversity (Frankfurt School aka Cultural Marxism aka Political Correctness) between men & women there will always be loud commentators that believe their trained mindset is the right one, it’s only their right to express their opinion and who ever opposes shows automatically that he or she’s misogynous, homophobic, xenophobic, or what ever gender or ideology stupidity that is momentarily en voque… and therefor has to be called out and lynched.
Hence it doesn’t matter than if Supernatural shows with two protagonists aka human beings the real power of family, of companionship and love that has absolutely nothing to do with sex… because the blind fanatics will not see it anyway.
Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts. People are always allowed to express their opinions and when expressed to the public, people will respond. When a man puts down women to make himself feel better about watching a TV show he deems as being seen as girly, there is a problem. Feminism isn’t a fad, it exists because it’s needed. Lynching is not necessary, but people should be able to express their thoughts, just as the original poster did. And he did respond to people accordingly from what I had seen before the article was removed.
I’d have to argue that ideals of companionship and love isn’t diminished because some people see a romantic element. It’s just different ways off interpreting the source material and that’s okay.
About the necessity of feminism…
“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.”
William Pitt the younger
I’m a mature woman living in Germany and all I can say feminism is a racket, beware ideologies… research the hints I gave and please widen your perception.
Supernatural is a remarkable serie, not only because they ‘show’ the true meaning of ‘partnership’ but also ‘show’ the mechanisms of manipulation,the altering of perceptions by so called authorities, how social engineering functions, the philosophical problematic of sigularity, the moral & ethical philosophies that are based on apriori given reason, motivation driven by mankinds subconcious mind etc.
But because of the viewers deliberately caused narrowed perception, what does the deliberately contioned viewer only want to see? Right, the deliberately for diversity reasons created gender agenda….
There is more to the eye that can be seen, therefor to reduce this extraordinarily serie just to a ‘girly or boy’ serie is ignorant and reveals how control agendas and ideologies are pushed into the heads of inexperienced, clueless and innocent viewers.
“Feminism is a racket.”
Be advised that you are on a feminist website. We welcome respectful debate (and so far you have remained respectful), but we ARE feminists and if the discussion veers into any sort of misogyny it’ll be going against our policies.
As a fellow mature woman, I’d like to know why you consider it to be a “racket”
Waving the banner of “anti-political correctness” is simply hiding from reality. You buy into stereotypes because they’re designed to make your mind up for you and enable your desire to stay safe and sound in the devil you know, rather than face the natural adversity that comes with trying to change things for the better.
People react negatively to articles that are misogynistic and homophobic because they need to be heard. Nothing in history has ever changed by keeping quiet about it and going with the flow.
That having been said, if you prefer not to make a fuss, that’s your choice. But to label others as clueless and inexperienced simply because they choose differently, says more about your inner turmoil than it does about them.
Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts!
“People react negatively to articles that are misogynistic and homophobic because they need to be heard. Nothing in history has ever changed by keeping quiet about it and going with the flow.”
Very well said. 🙂
I think we’ll just have to disagree that feminism doesn’t have a place in modern society. Oppression is much more in line with dictatorship than people standing up for freedom and rights. I implore you to consider the benefits of equality of the genders. What about this scares you?
“therefor to reduce this extraordinarily serie just to a ‘girly or boy’ serie is ignorant and reveals how control agendas and ideologies are pushed into the heads of inexperienced, clueless and innocent viewers.”
As I had explained in my article, Supernatural has something for everyone. Viewership according to Nielsen ratings is almost half and half men/women. I don’t think you are giving the viewers enough credit. I’ll have to respectfully disagree.
Labeling tends to restrict thought, not expand it.
Great article, Jessica. I like that the show and its viewers have sparked so much conversation about these things. I applaud The Geekiary for creating a space to have those conversations. 🙂
Thank you! It’s an important topic that shouldn’t just go away or be silenced.
I’m a single grown man who is a welder and live in Oklahoma and I like supernatural.
I enjoyed your article, and I agree. Supernatural has something for everyone. It’s a great story and it does all come down to family.
I’ve had male friends who are into it that when we talk about it around others some of them have felt the need to justify their manhood while talking about it. Which they shouldn’t feel pressured by society, fandom, etc. to have to validate their manliness because of it. I mean the main protagonists are two bad ass dudes!
A male friend of mine is responsible for getting me into the show somewhere around when season 5 was still airing. I’ve seen every episode myself. I nearly fell out watching around season 7 & 8. Glad I stuck with it, because the story line picked up again and it’s just good fun.
I think maybe some of what Daisy was saying and perceived you saying was lost in translation a little bit. Because some of her comments seemed to be reiterating what you had already said. I’m glad she mentioned being from Germany because I was having some eye stalls while trying to read and comprehend what she was trying to say in some of her sentences.
I digress, good post.
*Cheers* -Heather
Thank you Heather! I’ve never had a guy friend of family member feel the need to justify their manhood watching the show. It’s too bad that some guys feel that way. Supernatural has many male viewers and it’s not a girl show anyway!
Y’know, this reminds me of something that happened about 5 years ago. A male friend of mine and I were talking about 5×10 and the passing of Jo and Ellen, and this other guy just came up to us, cut me in the middle of a sentence and said “wait, there are girls out there who watch Supernatural? Why? It’s a show for men: nice car, guns blazzing, rock music… That’s not things a girl can actually enjoy” and then he took a good look at me and said “nevermind, I guess the guys are hot”. My friend and I were so baffled. I was 17 and being overly emotional about the ep so of course I was talking in a high pitched voice, with my hands flying everywhere. The fact that that guy, whom I didn’t even know, had the balls to tell me what, as a girl, I should and should not enjoy, and that he assumed that OBVIOUSLY I was watching for the actors’ pretty faces… So what, I wear high heels and make-up so it’s impossible for me to also like nice cars, and blazzing guns and rock music? The show is not about that for me, but that’s not the point. And what if I was watching for the actors’ physics anyway? It was like my love for the show was invalid and ridiculed because of my gender. My friend and I had both been watching the show for about 2 years and loved talking about it, and it had never even once occured to him that I would be faking my interest. And it had never once occured to me that he had to justify his. That was before I discovered the extent of the fandom, but since then, this kind of situation has happened so many times… “The actors are getting old, are you gonna keep watching?” “If we were in the Supernatural universe you would be too worried about breaking a nail to survive the first 5 minutes of the ep” “You say you’re a feminist but you love Supernatural, who are you kidding? That’s impossible. Hence the show is for men” (that one I still don’t understand), etc. I’m not kidding when I say that when I started watching at 15, the show saved my life. To have this belittle like that so often really hurts. Men feeling the need to justify their manhood when watching the show actually makes me more sad than anything else nowadays, because that means that deep down they must really be insecure and that the pressure of societal gender expectations is chocking them, somehow.
Anyway, thanks for that article, I wholeheartedly agree on everything.
If there’s nothing that implies this is a show for girls, then why does everybody think it’s a show for girls?