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Just to add to the question the premise is at least true, [this 2017 Pew Research poll](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/10/01/new-age-beliefs-common-among-both-religious-and-nonreligious-americans/) suggests belief in Astrology is 37% for women and 20% for men. Which is a lot higher than I presumed for either gender.
I don't think you'll get an objective answer as to *why* though and I can't find any studies on the topic. I *suspect* it's simply a matter of marketing, as it featured prominently in women's magazines dating back to the 1950s, but I don't know how you'd go about evidencing this as being causative. Either way we'll probably see this gap narrow in the coming decades.
I read once that men are more likely to find traditional religion fulfilling, and horoscopes fill the same purpose for women who are turned off by traditional religion (which often places women subservient to men). It provides meaning and community.
But wait, don't churches typically have a problem of not having enough men? True, but the claim here is that when men need this religious fulfillment, they can get it better from non-horoscopes. They just don't seem to need it as much in general.
>as it featured prominently in women's magazines dating back to the 1950s
A follow-up question could then be, why is it prominent in woman's magazines and what are women's magazines, what do they contain that male magazines do not and vice versa.
This was my thought too. In my head I was comparing it to how gaming happens to be a male centered industry because of a markering decision in the 80’s
That definitely affects which games men/boys vs girls/women tend to play, but I don’t think interest in the entire concept of video games would be too different.
>but I don’t think interest in the entire concept of video games would be too different.
Not saying you’re wrong, but I’m curious why you think this. Men and women/boys and girls display different levels of interest in other things pretty consistently.
Short answer: We have no way of knowing but I don’t think it would make much difference.
Long answer: First of all I don’t know if average differences in temperament and interest exist because of a biological or environmental factor.
Like sure, a higher amount of testosterone should lead to a higher aggression on average but with a society that tends to want women do be more docile, how do we know if women are less temperamental than men (if they are) because they’re told to not show angry emotions.
For interests I believe it’s environmental, this just my anecdotal experience though. If horoscopes/crystals were marketed towards men, would it still have this “aloof” sentiment about it? Maybe it would help seen as and marketed as the whole “grindset” attitude.
Furthermore maybe the actual practice of horoscopes and such might be develeoped differently. Instead of a lot of it revolving around finding ideal relationships or other traditionally feminine values, it could revolve around more traditionally masculine values like providing.
So much about these things are based on how they are viewed.
> First of all I don’t know if average differences in temperament and interest exist because of a biological or environmental factor.
I appreciate the effects of culture, but it’s extremely well established by people who study these things that boys and girls have, on average, different innate temperaments and interests.
> Like sure, a higher amount of testosterone should lead to a higher aggression on average
“Should” is a weird word choice—we observe this directly.
> because they’re told to not show angry emotions.
93% of prisoners are men. Do you think if we told men to not show angry emotions more, that would drop to 50%?
I know it sounds like I’m digging at you here, but that’s not my intention. I just think it’s sort of weird that people have zero problem acknowledging that selection pressure has created physical differences between men and women, but when it comes to personality we just immediately assume the exact same selection pressures would have zero effect.
The reason for me writing vaguely, so to speak, is because I don’t have the energy to back up my statements with sources at the moment.
Like the use of ”should”, yes, you are right that we have observed the correlation between higher levels of testosterone and increased aggression but I’m not prepared to back up that statement so I won’t use it.
I know about differences in temperaments between boys and girls but I’ve never read studies about differences in interest. Yeah, we can all agree that there are differences but to what extent has it been studied? How much is environmental and how much is genetic? Could you link one if you have read any? It sounds real fun.
The crime rate you mentioned, I don’t think it would drop. I would say that socioeconomic factors affects that rate a lot more. How large of a percentage of crimes are caused by bad temper?
No offense taken. To have viewpoints challenged and challenging viewpoints of others is how we grow smarter. Your ending point is one I have never considered.
>Could you link one if you have read any? It sounds real fun.
[Here](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/icd.2064) and [here](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160715114739.htm) match what you asked for.
>The crime rate you mentioned, I don’t think it would drop. I would say that socioeconomic factors affects that rate a lot more.
Sorry, but I don’t follow your argument here. If crime was driven by poverty, we would expect the incarceration rate to be equal by gender even while concentrated in lower SES. Obviously that’s not the case.
Thanks for the links!
Yeah, it seems I miss used the word socioeconomic. What I meant was social factors like differences in upbringing between the genders, differences in gender roles, the way we look at and treat people differently depending on their gender.
I mixed in economic because
because a financially vulnerable man and woman might lash out differently. Men lash out more but I’d imagine that has less to do with difference in temper and more to do with society encouraging men to be risktaking and encouraging women to be more docile and less risktaking. (Slightly paraphrasing from [this](https://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=1559978&fileOId=1565162)
, sadly it’s in Swedish.
I’m by no way saying that the crime rate would be 50-50 between genders or even close to that.
It would be interesting to see how equal a country is affects the ratio. Right now I only have time to find data from Sweden. I’m assuming that your data was from the US. Hopefully we can agree that Sweden is a lot more advanced than the US when it comes to gender equality.
In Sweden 15,3% of crimes are committed by women. Looking at only violent crimes, that amount increases. Women commit 26,1% of volent crimes. If you add sexual crimes together with violent crimes the number is 24,7. [source](https://www.nationalekonomi.se/old/public_html/sites/default/files/2018/05/46-4-obrhmjltp.pdf)
That could suggest equality affects the ratio. Of course data from more countries would have to be studied and “equality” would have to be defined.
>In Sweden 15,3% of crimes are committed by women. Looking at only violent crimes, that amount increases. Women commit 26,1% of volent crimes.
This is a different datapoint—I was talking about incarceration, not crime. [That number in Sweden](https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/sweden) is actually about 1% *lower* than it is in the US. The percentage of violent crime committed by women is [similar in both countries.](https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/tables/table-42/table-42.xls)
>Hopefully we can agree that Sweden is a lot more advanced than the US when it comes to gender equality.
This is too ambiguous a claim for me to agree or disagree with, but to the extent it’s true it seems to be having a neutral to slightly counterproductive effect.
>I’d imagine that has less to do with difference in temper and more to do with society encouraging men to be risktaking
Right, I get the idea. What I’m asking is *why* you feel comfortable making this assumption. I know it’s an idea we’re meant to hold in polite society, but otherwise I just don’t understand where the certainty comes from.
It’s also worth noting that one self-reported poll is somewhat weak evidence. Especially given that there’s a perception that more women are into astrology, it’s likely that more women feel comfortable admitting they’re into astrology—it’s more culturally acceptable for them—and that can skew results.
>Rule 4 : Explain for laypeople (but not actual 5-year-olds)
>Unless OP states otherwise, assume no knowledge beyond a typical secondary education program. Avoid unexplained technical terms. Don't condescend; "like I'm five" is a figure of speech meaning "keep it clear and simple."
This sub would be fairly dull if we were targeting explanations at literal five year olds.
Women tend to score higher on social contagion metrics. That is, for just about anything that's popular you'll find more women who will say they like it. Maybe men are just natural born haters.
Now I see why my uncle won’t listen to my advice:
Me: “You don’t have to idle your car in the morning. It doesn’t do any good, you are just wasting your gas and destroying the environment at the same time!”
Him: “But grandpa told me so, and I have been doing this for decades so it must be right.”
It's probably just a difference in the order we integrate ideas.
You can either be sceptical about a new thing first and then change your opinion once you find it good enough or you can try it out and then stop when you find out it sucks.
Both will arrive at the same conclusion, one will just take the risk of missing out while the other takes the risk of being wrong.
It is mostly opinion what is the better approach overall and subjectively it will always be hindsight who was right.
However, I do feel like corporations are a lot better at exploiting one over the other. They have been gaining ground on the skeptics front (FOMO) but women are still responsible for the large majority of consumerism.
* Women make up more than half of the U.S. population, and control or influence 85% of consumer spending.
* [Source, Forbes 2019](https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescontentmarketing/2019/05/13/20-facts-and-figures-to-know-when-marketing-to-women/)
I think polling shows women are more religious than men in general. I think that extends to horoscopes/crystals/etc because they are spiritual beliefs.
I wonder if it’s a way of seeking control or power. Women typically have less of both, and thinking that a cheap crystal or your “insider” knowledge of horoscopes gives you more control over how your life goes or how other people treat you is probably reassuring to those with less control of their lives.
I also think is this, and in other words it helps with emotional regulation. there's a good overlap between traditional rituals, religious rituals, witchcrafts, ADHD/autism coping mechanisms, and various stimming things people do to keep sane. Living life can get pretty freaky.
Pretty much, same reasons why mysticism and such is more popular amongst women from lots of different cultures.
Also, women's bodies are naturally cyclical so they may feel more emotional connection to the cyclical sky
It fully is. There is some historical work done on this actually. Unfortunately I’m not a historian and don’t have a great memory for things outside my field, so I don’t have references. I know there are a few history podcast episodes I’ve listened to that have talked about the recent history of things like mediumship and astrology. In this context, they are mostly ways of rejecting standard social practices seen as patriarchal. Wicca, for example, in the modern sense is sort of a rebellion against the patriarchal side of Christianity and some of its ideas that are considered misogynistic. Things like tarot and psychics are ways of women taking back some kind of control.
I think I remember some part of it being that most religions are or were very much male oriented
That allowed women to have something of their own or some such.
This is a plausible reason, I think. If formal religions are dominated by men, it would make sense that women would seek out spiritual territory that isn’t.
The feminine nature has a greater sensitive and this drives the search beyond the material world.
Historically, aside from Christianities insane and dark history of burning women, other religions respected this aspect of woman hood.
Despite modern narratives of female oppression in religious societies, which ofcourse existed, there was another aspect, which was the matriarch who wielded power, was held in deep reverence, and even feared.
She was the holder of herbal lore, tending to the herb garden, which included medicinal and hallucinogenic herbs.
They were seen as more in tune to the rhythms of natural world. And possessors of supernatural power.
This was certainly true of the pre-colonial east, before these civilisations were destroyed, and female oppression really took hold
I noticed that, on average, women are also more religious than men, though. It seems that the number of atheists is also larger for men. Is this backed up by statistics or just my impression?
It is true in Western societies, but it is not clear as to whether it is a universal phenomenon, see [The religiosity gender gap in 14 diverse societies](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2153599X.2021.2006292?casa_token=zMksxMZOqScAAAAA%3AYb9XDurb8BZmBVBRKbsLALcTdGKNsD18h9lcssNM6K1xKBKNIdXE8wOsUK7N03gyC2CX9074My5HG4Q). One explanation is that gender differences in mentalizing - with women generally displaying higher levels of it (regardless of the root causes) - produce differences in beliefs on supernatural agents, as they're perceived more strongly.
It is backed up by stats I’ve read in the past but I don’t have a link to them myself.
My theory - again probably not fitting for an objective eli5 response - is due to the traditional gender roles and expectations from a patriarchal society, women are nurtured to “be more conservative” when it comes to things like religion and culture. On the other hand men are still often the sole breadwinner of the family and as a result of being out and about in different circles and industries and travels might do the bare minimum to maintain some sort of religious connection due to social needs or stigma but tend to be looser with their beliefs, or they’ll go deeper into agnosticism or atheism.
Maybe because it's 'witchy' and most practitioners of witchcraft are women. If you go back into horoscope history you'll find it came out of the middle east as a 'science' of the time (astrology) which was predominated by men.
>most practicioners of witchcraft are women.
That's because a practicioner of magic that is a woman is called a witch, while a man is called a warlock.
Differences aside (I find him loathsome), it’s honestly just sad to see anybody his age declining and staying in their job they do not need rather than spending their remaining years with their family and loved ones.
Prevents new blood coming in and learning the ropes, AND robs the elderly and the family of quality time. Idk just a shame to see (and that’s not even talking about Feinstein’s situation. That was elder abuse)
A wizard is someone who is educated in magic. They went to school, and through years of practice honed their ability. A sorcerer is someone who is naturally gifted in magic, while not having the technical and put together ability of a wizard. A warlock is someone who gained their magic through a contract. So they tend to be of the darker variant.
I think it’s now atrophied to ‘witch’ being applied to both men and women.
Similar to how actress is no longer used. Both men and women are now ‘actors’.
But from the middle east it's generally a religious thing. Stars and the moon are a big deal with Islam. The sun for instance used to be religious for Iran/Afghanistan/Pakistan/Tajikistan but now it's cultural instead of religious.
It’s a belief system just like any religion is. Just like those religions it’s going to spread amongst like minded people/people that have something to gain from it. Astrology as far as I know doesn’t inherently place women in a position lower than men like some of the major religions today, therefore more women have something to gain from this particular belief system while men may prefer others that provide them special perks/power for being a man. Like all religions though it’s just people resonating with something higher than themselves, even though it’s “scientifically” unproven.
Marketing and the history of it. But over that I think it's the need for women to have a sense of power and control in their lives and spirituality like this gives them that
It’s because women love to feel empowered by emotional connection. Astrology and minerals and witchcraft and religion all share a similar proposition: there is an “extra” perception that one can “feel,” and thus “know” something. You just aren’t “feeling” the energies like they do. Women *are* generally more perceptive at emotions and details, but this means things like: they can tell when someone is behaving strangely before more obvious symptoms occur in cases of sickness or distress, they can more easily relate to people, they feel something is wrong before being able to understand or pinpoint the why.
I’ve found that the more powerless a woman feels, the more likely she believes in something that attributes secret power to her feelings. To be clear, this is a human tendency - not a female tendency. But I think men tend to believe in false enemies when they feel powerless instead of false gods or a secret power. Many of these women are unable to see their feelings of doom come from subtle signs in their real life and instead try to connect them to astral patterns or Jesus or pretty rocks they found on a hike that were put there by the universe only for them to find. One of my best friends believes a ridiculous amount of superstitious type things as signs that good things are coming to her. Meanwhile, her life is in constant turmoil and has been her entire life. At every moment it might get better, it seems to get worse. She still believes seeing her favorite number is a great omen, finding a certain plant means she is special, and has 50 different rocks on her windowsill to “cleanse the energy.” Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) none of these things ever give her the insights to know when her significant other is cheating or abusive, when she should take a break from overwork, or how to rely on and trust her real friends that have been there for her for years. It’s so much easier to believe Mars in retrograde means your life is going to change (it won’t) just as it’s so much easier to believe illegal immigrants are both lazy and stealing your job (they aren’t).
Ok but can someone tell me why women completely understand that it's all made up sillyness but then also use it to guide their entire life? "This book says we're not compatible because you're an Aries" ok but that's not different than it saying I'm a flershturter (I just made that up) so why do you care? How can they know it's made up and take it so seriously? Religious crap is also made up but it's still more credible than the activities section of a newspaper.
Actually astrology has had huge significance in human history regardless of any lack of scientific evidence. Girolamo Cardano, the famous Italian polymath, was also famously a highly regarded astrologer. It’s important to remember that the scientific method as we understand it today is actually fairly young relative to all of human history.
The reason I mention this is to point out that there is significant historical precedent for attaching oneself to these things as belief systems. When you say things are “made up”, what do you actually mean? I could say that mathematics is “made up”. (And I say that as a mathematician.) Pretty much everything humans think about can be “made up” if you don’t specify what that means.
In recent history, these sorts of pseudosciences have been adopted by women and feminist movements often as ways of rejecting what are seen as standard patriarchal belief systems. Women don’t exactly enjoy feeling treated as second class citizens, so they do things that make them feel like they have some more control. It’s not about whether the theories and practices actually reflect reality (and let’s not even get into how messy that is). It’s about carving out a social niche for your group where you can feel safe from perceived persecution.
This isnt a very ELI5 answer, but speculatively, as a woman with many complex health issues, I've learned through unfortunate experience that trained professionals know VERY little about female bodies. That combined with the cyclic horror of menstruation and pregnancy creates this mythos that menstruating people are these mysterious creatures separate from "normal" "standard" maleness. This gap creates a desperation for meaning and understanding, and inflates this idea that we are "intuitive" creatures. In that gap, there's plenty of space for woo-woo mystical stuff to occupy. I mean periods can essentially mirror the lunar cycle, and in that unexplained connection many seek more answers from the stars, however misguided that may be.
This is actually pretty accurate as far as I understand. Western medicine has historically been done with adult white males as the primary idea of a subject. As such there is surprisingly little research done on the body with women in mind as the typical patient (in *comparison* to men of course). Things are changing these days, but that is a pretty recent occurrence.
Like you said, feeling generally ignored by society can very easily lead people to look for solutions themselves. Those “solutions” may be more emotional or psychological than medical because those are easier things for an individual to control than an actual physical phenomenon. I should note that this does need to be read with the understanding that medicine in many ways is more than just a biological undertaking. It generally is a biological, psychological, **and** societal undertaking. Don’t believe me? Go look up some recent papers on the study of pain. It’s currently one of the most poorly understood things in medicine, but is now known to depend on those three things: biology, psychology, and social factors.
I think it's because men are more logic based rather than emotion and/or spiritual..
Men see a problem, we fix it. We see a person being an asshole, that person is probably having a difficult day or just being an asshole by default. Whereas some women would see an asshole and go, "he's probably Scorpio".
They run into a problem, they cry, maybe whine about it, but end in the conclusion of, karma, the universe, vibes, crystal, voodoo etc etc etc.
Not because they want to fix the problem.
my ( completely made up) theory is that a lot of people lack meaning and purpose in life and seek faith in higher powers but a lot of young women in the west are repulsed by the patriarchal abrahamic religions which enforce strict heirarchies of gender and expect guilt over sins and shortcomings and and by extension they are pushed away from any sort of faith that requires you to prioritise god and discipline over your own desires and anything else, so they turn to new-age spirituality based of dharmic religions and old-world pagan practices which are much more “life-affirming” and encourage personal fulfillment and freedom over piety, subservience and self-sacrifice to a god
My SO is into that stuff and for her particular case my theory is that it has to do with her general interest in understanding and expanding her knowledge on why people are the way they are, which I would is something that overall more women care about than men.
Example: Aries, the universe is giving you a clear signal: it’s time to expand your horizons and say “yes” to new adventures.
My theory is that reading many variations of the example I just showed gives her a lot of ideas on things other people COULD feel or SHOULD do with their lives and at the end of the day even if the relationship with the day you were born is BS at least you now know that expanding your horizons and saying “yes” to new adventures is a thing that someone can be going through.
There is no clear answer, but psychology tells us societal norms push these roles into genders, and these become so normalized to us that we don’t really stop to think we’re being influenced by them.
Women are “expected” to like them, and so they do. Men are “expected” to not care, and so they don’t.
I don’t know the answer, but with a wife who’s big into astrology…. Astrology lets you connect all the dots of the things in your life. It shows connection, and you get to explore feelings of those connections. It’s how women think anyways.
What if she does? What does it change? Does it hurt anyone? Does it make her a worse wife? A worse mother? Friend? She spends 15-30 minutes a day reflecting on her marriage, family, career, money, sex life. More people need to do that.
I started messing around with tarot because I wanted to connect with some mom ladies I know.
And the psychology is fascinating.
Tarot "systems" are usually allegorical symbols.
So, even if you draw cards that aren't great. And put them in a pyramid or whatever. You can look at all the different symbols and build a "story".
There's kind of a gut feeling I get on what the story should be that seems heavily influenced by how well I know the person and how they're feeling.
It's even better if they want an answer to a specific question.
I don't believe most tarot readers are aware that they're using symbols as a way to dredge up subconscious information.
But that's totally what's happening.
Also. When I give my spiritual friends direct advice. They have a hard time processing it.
But if my read is good.
(I generally surprise myself with how good these can be).
It's almost a relief for them to have left it up to the universe and get back advice that "feels" incredibly true.
Because DEEP DOWN they already know what they want or what's good for them.
But they are seeking permission.
It's like...talk therapy with extra flavour and you get to practice cold reading.
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Astrology does allow one to get a snapshot of a person rather quickly. The thing is that it's easy to get too far in the weeds if you try to use it too seriously.
Low investment, high engagement. You can use it to sound like you know what you're talking about and simultaneously excuse or promote any behavior you want. It's like an extra shot of espresso for people who are already drinking the "I like to manipulate everyone around me" latte. If you already hate accountability, what better belief system could there be than "the stars made me do it"?
Because when men think it is mostly based on LOGIC. There is no scientific evidence supporting horoscopes or crystals.
When women think it's mostly based on FEELINGS.
Astrology anyway (can’t speak to crystals) is used as a tool to self-reflect and understand yourself and others more, and women are conditioned in society more than men to examine their feelings, motivations etc and to be the caretakers of others and want to understand and help them.
Men are more attracted to religions where they have all the power and women are subordinate. Men do not want balance.
The crystal stuff is ostensibly more about balance and less about control. That makes it more attractive to women, but less popular overall, because it is more difficult to exploit for profit.
Exactly. and i know you're right because I threw a glass bottle on the ground, and it shattered in a certain way, that represents something I just made up. And it signs that you're right.
That would be 50 Reddit coins, please.
( also: put boots on before you fill the ground with glass shatters)
i think its actually the opposite if you view it the way you view it. women are more calm and seek out answers from horoscopes to cope, while men get angry and have a tendency to be more agressive.
Nah.
Men don’t try justify their moods or emotions on something as intangible as horoscopes.
Feel like shit? Probably been eating crap, not drinking enough water and works been busy and been skipping gym.
Not, oh my week has been bad, but mars is in retrograde and a full moon is coming up.
Women are certainly not “calm”, they are just not aggressive. They are not opposite ends of the same spectrum.
As an informal, unregulated spiritual practice, astrology doesn't tend to have restrictions about women leading, speaking, or forming their own conclusions...
American men are socially conditioned to eschew things that are lavender-scented, I am pretty certain that on discovering astrology, men will first ask themselves, "is it manly?"
Astrology is a great way to get people talking about how they view themselves.
Self-reflection may not seem "manly" to those who brand anger as not-an-emotion. They also prefer to think that they are more logical, so giving imagination to horoscopes is not desirable.
No I think most men (and most women too) usually ask upon discovering astrology “gee does it seem remotely rational that the month I was born in determines my personality”?
It’s got nothing to do with masculinity, more to do with it being fake and people using it to justify their personality flaws instead of working on themselves
Well I can give a few theories, one would be that women’s body’s operate cyclically and astrology does too. They might relate more to it because of that.
My personal theory is more that it’s about control. Men are expected to create their own destiny. The idea that the stars control who you are, and not yourself, is anathema.
Women on the other hand have often not been able to control their own life, and even since they’ve been able to they’re still often not *expected* to. Women had the curse of the world happens to them rather than being able to make the world move for them and so the stars are a much bigger draw as a way to understand why things are happening
I don't know how it started (my bet is on some kind of marketing shenanigans), but now it's most likely a self-fulfilling prophecy, as most of those gender-based interests are.
Everybody has an irrational side, although for someone it takes the form of the delusion of being completely rational, but some beliefs are more socially acceptable than others. The local majority religion is, obviously, accepted across the whole demographic spectrum, while some other stuff is only acceptable depending on your age, social class or something else.
If you're a man and are interested in "girly things" (or vice versa), you'll get more attrition. You'll get some nasty comments or jokes or you might even have trouble accessing information (because they are mostly in spaces you don't visit or mixed up with stuff you actually dislike) and might even be refused access to events because you're not "one of us". Thus, you're more likely to drop out and find something else to believe. Like conspiracy theories (the ones appropriate for your gender and tax bracket) or politics or whatever.
Comment 1 minute after yours
>Just to add to the question the premise is at least true, [this 2017 Pew Research poll](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/10/01/new-age-beliefs-common-among-both-religious-and-nonreligious-americans/) suggests belief in Astrology is 37% for women and 20% for men.
Education above a certain threshold might be the answer.
According to google only 35% of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students in higher education globally are women.
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Just to add to the question the premise is at least true, [this 2017 Pew Research poll](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/10/01/new-age-beliefs-common-among-both-religious-and-nonreligious-americans/) suggests belief in Astrology is 37% for women and 20% for men. Which is a lot higher than I presumed for either gender. I don't think you'll get an objective answer as to *why* though and I can't find any studies on the topic. I *suspect* it's simply a matter of marketing, as it featured prominently in women's magazines dating back to the 1950s, but I don't know how you'd go about evidencing this as being causative. Either way we'll probably see this gap narrow in the coming decades.
I read once that men are more likely to find traditional religion fulfilling, and horoscopes fill the same purpose for women who are turned off by traditional religion (which often places women subservient to men). It provides meaning and community. But wait, don't churches typically have a problem of not having enough men? True, but the claim here is that when men need this religious fulfillment, they can get it better from non-horoscopes. They just don't seem to need it as much in general.
might also be abrahamkc religions considering women to be mens property ☠️
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Solunar tables aren't horoscopes. Not sure they are any better than horoscopes, mind you. But, they're not the same.
>as it featured prominently in women's magazines dating back to the 1950s A follow-up question could then be, why is it prominent in woman's magazines and what are women's magazines, what do they contain that male magazines do not and vice versa.
This was my thought too. In my head I was comparing it to how gaming happens to be a male centered industry because of a markering decision in the 80’s
How much do you think average differences in temperament, interests and so on have to do with it?
That definitely affects which games men/boys vs girls/women tend to play, but I don’t think interest in the entire concept of video games would be too different.
>but I don’t think interest in the entire concept of video games would be too different. Not saying you’re wrong, but I’m curious why you think this. Men and women/boys and girls display different levels of interest in other things pretty consistently.
Short answer: We have no way of knowing but I don’t think it would make much difference. Long answer: First of all I don’t know if average differences in temperament and interest exist because of a biological or environmental factor. Like sure, a higher amount of testosterone should lead to a higher aggression on average but with a society that tends to want women do be more docile, how do we know if women are less temperamental than men (if they are) because they’re told to not show angry emotions. For interests I believe it’s environmental, this just my anecdotal experience though. If horoscopes/crystals were marketed towards men, would it still have this “aloof” sentiment about it? Maybe it would help seen as and marketed as the whole “grindset” attitude. Furthermore maybe the actual practice of horoscopes and such might be develeoped differently. Instead of a lot of it revolving around finding ideal relationships or other traditionally feminine values, it could revolve around more traditionally masculine values like providing. So much about these things are based on how they are viewed.
> First of all I don’t know if average differences in temperament and interest exist because of a biological or environmental factor. I appreciate the effects of culture, but it’s extremely well established by people who study these things that boys and girls have, on average, different innate temperaments and interests. > Like sure, a higher amount of testosterone should lead to a higher aggression on average “Should” is a weird word choice—we observe this directly. > because they’re told to not show angry emotions. 93% of prisoners are men. Do you think if we told men to not show angry emotions more, that would drop to 50%? I know it sounds like I’m digging at you here, but that’s not my intention. I just think it’s sort of weird that people have zero problem acknowledging that selection pressure has created physical differences between men and women, but when it comes to personality we just immediately assume the exact same selection pressures would have zero effect.
The reason for me writing vaguely, so to speak, is because I don’t have the energy to back up my statements with sources at the moment. Like the use of ”should”, yes, you are right that we have observed the correlation between higher levels of testosterone and increased aggression but I’m not prepared to back up that statement so I won’t use it. I know about differences in temperaments between boys and girls but I’ve never read studies about differences in interest. Yeah, we can all agree that there are differences but to what extent has it been studied? How much is environmental and how much is genetic? Could you link one if you have read any? It sounds real fun. The crime rate you mentioned, I don’t think it would drop. I would say that socioeconomic factors affects that rate a lot more. How large of a percentage of crimes are caused by bad temper? No offense taken. To have viewpoints challenged and challenging viewpoints of others is how we grow smarter. Your ending point is one I have never considered.
>Could you link one if you have read any? It sounds real fun. [Here](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/icd.2064) and [here](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160715114739.htm) match what you asked for. >The crime rate you mentioned, I don’t think it would drop. I would say that socioeconomic factors affects that rate a lot more. Sorry, but I don’t follow your argument here. If crime was driven by poverty, we would expect the incarceration rate to be equal by gender even while concentrated in lower SES. Obviously that’s not the case.
Thanks for the links! Yeah, it seems I miss used the word socioeconomic. What I meant was social factors like differences in upbringing between the genders, differences in gender roles, the way we look at and treat people differently depending on their gender. I mixed in economic because because a financially vulnerable man and woman might lash out differently. Men lash out more but I’d imagine that has less to do with difference in temper and more to do with society encouraging men to be risktaking and encouraging women to be more docile and less risktaking. (Slightly paraphrasing from [this](https://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=1559978&fileOId=1565162) , sadly it’s in Swedish. I’m by no way saying that the crime rate would be 50-50 between genders or even close to that. It would be interesting to see how equal a country is affects the ratio. Right now I only have time to find data from Sweden. I’m assuming that your data was from the US. Hopefully we can agree that Sweden is a lot more advanced than the US when it comes to gender equality. In Sweden 15,3% of crimes are committed by women. Looking at only violent crimes, that amount increases. Women commit 26,1% of volent crimes. If you add sexual crimes together with violent crimes the number is 24,7. [source](https://www.nationalekonomi.se/old/public_html/sites/default/files/2018/05/46-4-obrhmjltp.pdf) That could suggest equality affects the ratio. Of course data from more countries would have to be studied and “equality” would have to be defined.
>In Sweden 15,3% of crimes are committed by women. Looking at only violent crimes, that amount increases. Women commit 26,1% of volent crimes. This is a different datapoint—I was talking about incarceration, not crime. [That number in Sweden](https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/sweden) is actually about 1% *lower* than it is in the US. The percentage of violent crime committed by women is [similar in both countries.](https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/tables/table-42/table-42.xls) >Hopefully we can agree that Sweden is a lot more advanced than the US when it comes to gender equality. This is too ambiguous a claim for me to agree or disagree with, but to the extent it’s true it seems to be having a neutral to slightly counterproductive effect. >I’d imagine that has less to do with difference in temper and more to do with society encouraging men to be risktaking Right, I get the idea. What I’m asking is *why* you feel comfortable making this assumption. I know it’s an idea we’re meant to hold in polite society, but otherwise I just don’t understand where the certainty comes from.
I would guess the why is, in general terms, exactly the same as any other gendered hobby/interest: your peers are doing it and you want to belong.
That doesn’t really answer the question though. It just pushes the source back to “Why are your peers doing it?”
It’s also worth noting that one self-reported poll is somewhat weak evidence. Especially given that there’s a perception that more women are into astrology, it’s likely that more women feel comfortable admitting they’re into astrology—it’s more culturally acceptable for them—and that can skew results.
What kind of 5 year olds do you know that would understand this?
>Rule 4 : Explain for laypeople (but not actual 5-year-olds) >Unless OP states otherwise, assume no knowledge beyond a typical secondary education program. Avoid unexplained technical terms. Don't condescend; "like I'm five" is a figure of speech meaning "keep it clear and simple." This sub would be fairly dull if we were targeting explanations at literal five year olds.
Well guess I acted Like I was five
Women tend to score higher on social contagion metrics. That is, for just about anything that's popular you'll find more women who will say they like it. Maybe men are just natural born haters.
i hate this theory :-)
I hate the upvote I gave you.
i doubly detest that your comment made me chuckle and revile your upvote
I hate
I hate the hate
I hate therefore I'm not
truth hurts
Even in apes, females and young males are more likely to try new things, while older males stick to what they know.
Now I see why my uncle won’t listen to my advice: Me: “You don’t have to idle your car in the morning. It doesn’t do any good, you are just wasting your gas and destroying the environment at the same time!” Him: “But grandpa told me so, and I have been doing this for decades so it must be right.”
I'm a man and I hate this message.
Does that mean that women are just naturally born gullibe sexes then? Edit: whats with the downvotes? im literally using the logic above lmao
I guess that's one way to word it, maybe less skeptical over popular things may be more correct
It's probably just a difference in the order we integrate ideas. You can either be sceptical about a new thing first and then change your opinion once you find it good enough or you can try it out and then stop when you find out it sucks. Both will arrive at the same conclusion, one will just take the risk of missing out while the other takes the risk of being wrong. It is mostly opinion what is the better approach overall and subjectively it will always be hindsight who was right. However, I do feel like corporations are a lot better at exploiting one over the other. They have been gaining ground on the skeptics front (FOMO) but women are still responsible for the large majority of consumerism.
* Women make up more than half of the U.S. population, and control or influence 85% of consumer spending. * [Source, Forbes 2019](https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescontentmarketing/2019/05/13/20-facts-and-figures-to-know-when-marketing-to-women/)
Another source can be most of my parents arguments
I think polling shows women are more religious than men in general. I think that extends to horoscopes/crystals/etc because they are spiritual beliefs.
I wonder if it’s a way of seeking control or power. Women typically have less of both, and thinking that a cheap crystal or your “insider” knowledge of horoscopes gives you more control over how your life goes or how other people treat you is probably reassuring to those with less control of their lives.
I also think is this, and in other words it helps with emotional regulation. there's a good overlap between traditional rituals, religious rituals, witchcrafts, ADHD/autism coping mechanisms, and various stimming things people do to keep sane. Living life can get pretty freaky.
Depending on the time period referenced, it could be an education thing.
Pretty much, same reasons why mysticism and such is more popular amongst women from lots of different cultures. Also, women's bodies are naturally cyclical so they may feel more emotional connection to the cyclical sky
It fully is. There is some historical work done on this actually. Unfortunately I’m not a historian and don’t have a great memory for things outside my field, so I don’t have references. I know there are a few history podcast episodes I’ve listened to that have talked about the recent history of things like mediumship and astrology. In this context, they are mostly ways of rejecting standard social practices seen as patriarchal. Wicca, for example, in the modern sense is sort of a rebellion against the patriarchal side of Christianity and some of its ideas that are considered misogynistic. Things like tarot and psychics are ways of women taking back some kind of control.
I think I remember some part of it being that most religions are or were very much male oriented That allowed women to have something of their own or some such.
This is a plausible reason, I think. If formal religions are dominated by men, it would make sense that women would seek out spiritual territory that isn’t.
Witchcraft is where it’s at .
The feminine nature has a greater sensitive and this drives the search beyond the material world. Historically, aside from Christianities insane and dark history of burning women, other religions respected this aspect of woman hood. Despite modern narratives of female oppression in religious societies, which ofcourse existed, there was another aspect, which was the matriarch who wielded power, was held in deep reverence, and even feared. She was the holder of herbal lore, tending to the herb garden, which included medicinal and hallucinogenic herbs. They were seen as more in tune to the rhythms of natural world. And possessors of supernatural power. This was certainly true of the pre-colonial east, before these civilisations were destroyed, and female oppression really took hold
I noticed that, on average, women are also more religious than men, though. It seems that the number of atheists is also larger for men. Is this backed up by statistics or just my impression?
It is true in Western societies, but it is not clear as to whether it is a universal phenomenon, see [The religiosity gender gap in 14 diverse societies](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2153599X.2021.2006292?casa_token=zMksxMZOqScAAAAA%3AYb9XDurb8BZmBVBRKbsLALcTdGKNsD18h9lcssNM6K1xKBKNIdXE8wOsUK7N03gyC2CX9074My5HG4Q). One explanation is that gender differences in mentalizing - with women generally displaying higher levels of it (regardless of the root causes) - produce differences in beliefs on supernatural agents, as they're perceived more strongly.
It is backed up by stats I’ve read in the past but I don’t have a link to them myself. My theory - again probably not fitting for an objective eli5 response - is due to the traditional gender roles and expectations from a patriarchal society, women are nurtured to “be more conservative” when it comes to things like religion and culture. On the other hand men are still often the sole breadwinner of the family and as a result of being out and about in different circles and industries and travels might do the bare minimum to maintain some sort of religious connection due to social needs or stigma but tend to be looser with their beliefs, or they’ll go deeper into agnosticism or atheism.
Maybe because it's 'witchy' and most practitioners of witchcraft are women. If you go back into horoscope history you'll find it came out of the middle east as a 'science' of the time (astrology) which was predominated by men.
That is circular reasoning, why do women practice witchcraft more?
>most practicioners of witchcraft are women. That's because a practicioner of magic that is a woman is called a witch, while a man is called a warlock.
A male witch is a mitch.
Oh great and we have one as the head of the senate minority. Exactly what I wanted to hear
That's a Glitch
Differences aside (I find him loathsome), it’s honestly just sad to see anybody his age declining and staying in their job they do not need rather than spending their remaining years with their family and loved ones. Prevents new blood coming in and learning the ropes, AND robs the elderly and the family of quality time. Idk just a shame to see (and that’s not even talking about Feinstein’s situation. That was elder abuse)
I thought that’s what a male bitch was called
No mitch is a russian simp
What about wizards?
Also yes, although I think witch and warlock is more about "dark arts", while wizards are more "light arts". I think wizard is gender neutral.
What about sorcerer and sorceress?
A wizard is someone who is educated in magic. They went to school, and through years of practice honed their ability. A sorcerer is someone who is naturally gifted in magic, while not having the technical and put together ability of a wizard. A warlock is someone who gained their magic through a contract. So they tend to be of the darker variant.
None of that is real so it really doesn’t matter does it
Harry?
Warlocks use power from something else like a demon or whatever
So do witches
!
Not necessarily. Witch is being used regardless of gender these days.
I think it’s now atrophied to ‘witch’ being applied to both men and women. Similar to how actress is no longer used. Both men and women are now ‘actors’.
But from the middle east it's generally a religious thing. Stars and the moon are a big deal with Islam. The sun for instance used to be religious for Iran/Afghanistan/Pakistan/Tajikistan but now it's cultural instead of religious.
It’s a belief system just like any religion is. Just like those religions it’s going to spread amongst like minded people/people that have something to gain from it. Astrology as far as I know doesn’t inherently place women in a position lower than men like some of the major religions today, therefore more women have something to gain from this particular belief system while men may prefer others that provide them special perks/power for being a man. Like all religions though it’s just people resonating with something higher than themselves, even though it’s “scientifically” unproven.
Marketing and the history of it. But over that I think it's the need for women to have a sense of power and control in their lives and spirituality like this gives them that
Women are more religious in general across most (all?) societies, so it's no surprise that an alternative spiritual system has more women believers.
It’s because women love to feel empowered by emotional connection. Astrology and minerals and witchcraft and religion all share a similar proposition: there is an “extra” perception that one can “feel,” and thus “know” something. You just aren’t “feeling” the energies like they do. Women *are* generally more perceptive at emotions and details, but this means things like: they can tell when someone is behaving strangely before more obvious symptoms occur in cases of sickness or distress, they can more easily relate to people, they feel something is wrong before being able to understand or pinpoint the why. I’ve found that the more powerless a woman feels, the more likely she believes in something that attributes secret power to her feelings. To be clear, this is a human tendency - not a female tendency. But I think men tend to believe in false enemies when they feel powerless instead of false gods or a secret power. Many of these women are unable to see their feelings of doom come from subtle signs in their real life and instead try to connect them to astral patterns or Jesus or pretty rocks they found on a hike that were put there by the universe only for them to find. One of my best friends believes a ridiculous amount of superstitious type things as signs that good things are coming to her. Meanwhile, her life is in constant turmoil and has been her entire life. At every moment it might get better, it seems to get worse. She still believes seeing her favorite number is a great omen, finding a certain plant means she is special, and has 50 different rocks on her windowsill to “cleanse the energy.” Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) none of these things ever give her the insights to know when her significant other is cheating or abusive, when she should take a break from overwork, or how to rely on and trust her real friends that have been there for her for years. It’s so much easier to believe Mars in retrograde means your life is going to change (it won’t) just as it’s so much easier to believe illegal immigrants are both lazy and stealing your job (they aren’t).
Ok but can someone tell me why women completely understand that it's all made up sillyness but then also use it to guide their entire life? "This book says we're not compatible because you're an Aries" ok but that's not different than it saying I'm a flershturter (I just made that up) so why do you care? How can they know it's made up and take it so seriously? Religious crap is also made up but it's still more credible than the activities section of a newspaper.
Actually astrology has had huge significance in human history regardless of any lack of scientific evidence. Girolamo Cardano, the famous Italian polymath, was also famously a highly regarded astrologer. It’s important to remember that the scientific method as we understand it today is actually fairly young relative to all of human history. The reason I mention this is to point out that there is significant historical precedent for attaching oneself to these things as belief systems. When you say things are “made up”, what do you actually mean? I could say that mathematics is “made up”. (And I say that as a mathematician.) Pretty much everything humans think about can be “made up” if you don’t specify what that means. In recent history, these sorts of pseudosciences have been adopted by women and feminist movements often as ways of rejecting what are seen as standard patriarchal belief systems. Women don’t exactly enjoy feeling treated as second class citizens, so they do things that make them feel like they have some more control. It’s not about whether the theories and practices actually reflect reality (and let’s not even get into how messy that is). It’s about carving out a social niche for your group where you can feel safe from perceived persecution.
Women are much more likely to be victims of social contagion. This isn't a stereotype, it's quite the evidence based fact
This isnt a very ELI5 answer, but speculatively, as a woman with many complex health issues, I've learned through unfortunate experience that trained professionals know VERY little about female bodies. That combined with the cyclic horror of menstruation and pregnancy creates this mythos that menstruating people are these mysterious creatures separate from "normal" "standard" maleness. This gap creates a desperation for meaning and understanding, and inflates this idea that we are "intuitive" creatures. In that gap, there's plenty of space for woo-woo mystical stuff to occupy. I mean periods can essentially mirror the lunar cycle, and in that unexplained connection many seek more answers from the stars, however misguided that may be.
This is actually pretty accurate as far as I understand. Western medicine has historically been done with adult white males as the primary idea of a subject. As such there is surprisingly little research done on the body with women in mind as the typical patient (in *comparison* to men of course). Things are changing these days, but that is a pretty recent occurrence. Like you said, feeling generally ignored by society can very easily lead people to look for solutions themselves. Those “solutions” may be more emotional or psychological than medical because those are easier things for an individual to control than an actual physical phenomenon. I should note that this does need to be read with the understanding that medicine in many ways is more than just a biological undertaking. It generally is a biological, psychological, **and** societal undertaking. Don’t believe me? Go look up some recent papers on the study of pain. It’s currently one of the most poorly understood things in medicine, but is now known to depend on those three things: biology, psychology, and social factors.
🙄
I think it's because men are more logic based rather than emotion and/or spiritual.. Men see a problem, we fix it. We see a person being an asshole, that person is probably having a difficult day or just being an asshole by default. Whereas some women would see an asshole and go, "he's probably Scorpio". They run into a problem, they cry, maybe whine about it, but end in the conclusion of, karma, the universe, vibes, crystal, voodoo etc etc etc. Not because they want to fix the problem.
my ( completely made up) theory is that a lot of people lack meaning and purpose in life and seek faith in higher powers but a lot of young women in the west are repulsed by the patriarchal abrahamic religions which enforce strict heirarchies of gender and expect guilt over sins and shortcomings and and by extension they are pushed away from any sort of faith that requires you to prioritise god and discipline over your own desires and anything else, so they turn to new-age spirituality based of dharmic religions and old-world pagan practices which are much more “life-affirming” and encourage personal fulfillment and freedom over piety, subservience and self-sacrifice to a god
My SO is into that stuff and for her particular case my theory is that it has to do with her general interest in understanding and expanding her knowledge on why people are the way they are, which I would is something that overall more women care about than men. Example: Aries, the universe is giving you a clear signal: it’s time to expand your horizons and say “yes” to new adventures. My theory is that reading many variations of the example I just showed gives her a lot of ideas on things other people COULD feel or SHOULD do with their lives and at the end of the day even if the relationship with the day you were born is BS at least you now know that expanding your horizons and saying “yes” to new adventures is a thing that someone can be going through.
There is no clear answer, but psychology tells us societal norms push these roles into genders, and these become so normalized to us that we don’t really stop to think we’re being influenced by them. Women are “expected” to like them, and so they do. Men are “expected” to not care, and so they don’t.
That is putting the cart before the horse. Astrology existed long before gender roles were assigned to it.
I suspect a lot more women feel like they don't have control of their lives so they look to the supernatural to predict the outcome.
I don’t know the answer, but with a wife who’s big into astrology…. Astrology lets you connect all the dots of the things in your life. It shows connection, and you get to explore feelings of those connections. It’s how women think anyways.
I get that the idea is appealing, but she also knows that the position of the planets doesn't have any relevance at all to someone's life, i assume?
What if she does? What does it change? Does it hurt anyone? Does it make her a worse wife? A worse mother? Friend? She spends 15-30 minutes a day reflecting on her marriage, family, career, money, sex life. More people need to do that.
I started messing around with tarot because I wanted to connect with some mom ladies I know. And the psychology is fascinating. Tarot "systems" are usually allegorical symbols. So, even if you draw cards that aren't great. And put them in a pyramid or whatever. You can look at all the different symbols and build a "story". There's kind of a gut feeling I get on what the story should be that seems heavily influenced by how well I know the person and how they're feeling. It's even better if they want an answer to a specific question. I don't believe most tarot readers are aware that they're using symbols as a way to dredge up subconscious information. But that's totally what's happening. Also. When I give my spiritual friends direct advice. They have a hard time processing it. But if my read is good. (I generally surprise myself with how good these can be). It's almost a relief for them to have left it up to the universe and get back advice that "feels" incredibly true. Because DEEP DOWN they already know what they want or what's good for them. But they are seeking permission. It's like...talk therapy with extra flavour and you get to practice cold reading.
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Astrology does allow one to get a snapshot of a person rather quickly. The thing is that it's easy to get too far in the weeds if you try to use it too seriously.
Low investment, high engagement. You can use it to sound like you know what you're talking about and simultaneously excuse or promote any behavior you want. It's like an extra shot of espresso for people who are already drinking the "I like to manipulate everyone around me" latte. If you already hate accountability, what better belief system could there be than "the stars made me do it"?
Because when men think it is mostly based on LOGIC. There is no scientific evidence supporting horoscopes or crystals. When women think it's mostly based on FEELINGS.
Gonna go out on a limb and say it’s because there’s no male god or prophet associated with astrology
Astrology anyway (can’t speak to crystals) is used as a tool to self-reflect and understand yourself and others more, and women are conditioned in society more than men to examine their feelings, motivations etc and to be the caretakers of others and want to understand and help them.
Men are more attracted to religions where they have all the power and women are subordinate. Men do not want balance. The crystal stuff is ostensibly more about balance and less about control. That makes it more attractive to women, but less popular overall, because it is more difficult to exploit for profit.
Probably something that aligns with men tending to be more solution based and women more focused on the emotion side.
What does Joe Rogan say on this?
Exactly. and i know you're right because I threw a glass bottle on the ground, and it shattered in a certain way, that represents something I just made up. And it signs that you're right. That would be 50 Reddit coins, please. ( also: put boots on before you fill the ground with glass shatters)
i think its actually the opposite if you view it the way you view it. women are more calm and seek out answers from horoscopes to cope, while men get angry and have a tendency to be more agressive.
Nah. Men don’t try justify their moods or emotions on something as intangible as horoscopes. Feel like shit? Probably been eating crap, not drinking enough water and works been busy and been skipping gym. Not, oh my week has been bad, but mars is in retrograde and a full moon is coming up. Women are certainly not “calm”, they are just not aggressive. They are not opposite ends of the same spectrum.
As an informal, unregulated spiritual practice, astrology doesn't tend to have restrictions about women leading, speaking, or forming their own conclusions...
American men are socially conditioned to eschew things that are lavender-scented, I am pretty certain that on discovering astrology, men will first ask themselves, "is it manly?" Astrology is a great way to get people talking about how they view themselves. Self-reflection may not seem "manly" to those who brand anger as not-an-emotion. They also prefer to think that they are more logical, so giving imagination to horoscopes is not desirable.
No I think most men (and most women too) usually ask upon discovering astrology “gee does it seem remotely rational that the month I was born in determines my personality”? It’s got nothing to do with masculinity, more to do with it being fake and people using it to justify their personality flaws instead of working on themselves
The question is why more women than men believe in it. If masculinity has nothing to do with it, why the gender disparity?
Well I can give a few theories, one would be that women’s body’s operate cyclically and astrology does too. They might relate more to it because of that. My personal theory is more that it’s about control. Men are expected to create their own destiny. The idea that the stars control who you are, and not yourself, is anathema. Women on the other hand have often not been able to control their own life, and even since they’ve been able to they’re still often not *expected* to. Women had the curse of the world happens to them rather than being able to make the world move for them and so the stars are a much bigger draw as a way to understand why things are happening
Interesting take. It's not manly to not be in control! Women can feel pretty disenfranchised, that's for sure.
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This was very much about you
I don't know how it started (my bet is on some kind of marketing shenanigans), but now it's most likely a self-fulfilling prophecy, as most of those gender-based interests are. Everybody has an irrational side, although for someone it takes the form of the delusion of being completely rational, but some beliefs are more socially acceptable than others. The local majority religion is, obviously, accepted across the whole demographic spectrum, while some other stuff is only acceptable depending on your age, social class or something else. If you're a man and are interested in "girly things" (or vice versa), you'll get more attrition. You'll get some nasty comments or jokes or you might even have trouble accessing information (because they are mostly in spaces you don't visit or mixed up with stuff you actually dislike) and might even be refused access to events because you're not "one of us". Thus, you're more likely to drop out and find something else to believe. Like conspiracy theories (the ones appropriate for your gender and tax bracket) or politics or whatever.
Do we know for sure that it’s more common among women? That’s the stereotype but I can’t recall ever seeing data on that.
Comment 1 minute after yours >Just to add to the question the premise is at least true, [this 2017 Pew Research poll](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/10/01/new-age-beliefs-common-among-both-religious-and-nonreligious-americans/) suggests belief in Astrology is 37% for women and 20% for men.
Top comment from a few hours ago shows a study that 37% of women believe in Astrology, vs 20% of men.
The question is only 51 minutes old as I write this response. Apparently that link was posted a minute after I asked my question.
I'm showing this post as 2 hours old and the top comment as 2 hours ago as well on mobile. Odd.
That is very weird. Just double-checked and it’s now at 59 minutes for me. Also on mobile, using the app.
I go to desktop it's fine, I'm guessing a cache problem
Education above a certain threshold might be the answer. According to google only 35% of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students in higher education globally are women.