Is the sexism of "Space Opera" keeping the genre from appealing to a wider audience?

[ShootingStarAstro]

I was not too interested in space or sci fi until I experienced "Mass Effect" after being tired of being a CoD type gamer.

What I experienced blew me away. I immediately fell in love with the story, universe, and characters Bioware had created even though before I didn't care too much about "Wars" or "Trek".

The first game gave me a huge sense of wonder.

After finishing the trilogy I immediately searched for books that came close to Mass Effect. I ended up devouring "The Expanse" and Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon the Deep".

It seems like mostly men tend to gravitate to this genre. Most of my female friends who read tend to gravitate to fantasy and romance.

I wish we lived in a world where most people were excited by space travel but with the world the way it is I don't blame people for having no hope for the future.

I wish we had a space opera novel series with a lovable spaceship crew, exciting space battles, and gripping story set in an amazing futuristic universe filled with a sense of wonder that was taking the world by storm and captivating a huge mainstream audience.

I remember seeing 1 and 2 star reviews of "Leviathan Wakes" saying that there was sexist stuff.

I don't remember any sexist stuff in Leviathan Wakes but if there were then something better than "The Expanse" needs to be created.

This article shares my sentiment.
https://outtherebooks.wordpress.com/201 ... endations/

[the_snail]

I’m not really sure that I’m following in how The Expanse is sexist? The cast of characters is very diverse with women filling all sorts of powerful rolls.

[Murmur]

I was not too interested in space or sci fi until I experienced "Mass Effect" after being tired of being a CoD type gamer.

What I experienced blew me away. I immediately fell in love with the story, universe, and characters Bioware had created even though before I didn't care too much about "Wars" or "Trek".

The first game gave me a huge sense of wonder.

After finishing the trilogy I immediately searched for books that came close to Mass Effect. I ended up devouring "The Expanse" and Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon the Deep".

It seems like mostly men tend to gravitate to this genre. Most of my female friends who read tend to gravitate to fantasy and romance.

I wish we lived in a world where most people were excited by space travel but with the world the way it is I don't blame people for having no hope for the future.

I wish we had a space opera novel series with a lovable spaceship crew, exciting space battles, and gripping story set in an amazing futuristic universe filled with a sense of wonder that was taking the world by storm and captivating a huge mainstream audience.

I remember seeing 1 and 2 star reviews of "Leviathan Wakes" saying that there was sexist stuff.

I don't remember any sexist stuff in Leviathan Wakes but if there were then something better than "The Expanse" needs to be created.

This article shares my sentiment.
https://outtherebooks.wordpress.com/201 ... endations/

If you think that extant space opera novels don't satisfy the criteria you would like, have you considered writing your own? It seems like you should.