Why Do Cartoon Network And Adult Swim Exclude Female Viewers?

This blog was originally published on Xanga March 15, 2013.

 

Hey there my fellow Xangan friends, subscribers, and viewers of my page! I am ready to discuss a long overdue issue, which should've been addressed by on and offline viewers, years ago. 

Cartoon Network as a whole, has gradually become a more sexist channel than it used to be. During the 1990's and early 21st Century, Cartoon Network was meant for viewers of both genders to watch. 

Now, the network has become male-centric, even though the opposite sex has always watched animation regardless. 

Why the sudden change?

It's already bad enough, that Cartoon Network and Adult Swim's male viewers have started complaining about their lousy programming.

During my college senior year nearly 8 years ago, I noticed the programming was starting to suck. Cartoon Network gradually started to sneak Live Action Movies onto a network meant for CARTOONS by 2005. 

I can understand their reasoning for showing Animated and Live Action Movies with some animation in them. However, the moment Cartoon Network began airing Live Action Movies, the writing was already on the wall, so to say. 

Once Live Action Movies were shown, the channel started airing mind-numbingly stupid Animation and Reality TV Shows specifically meant for Cartoon Network's male viewers.

During the mid to late '90s, I didn't spend most of my time watching Cartoon Network. During those years, I mostly watched MTV. MTV had better cartoons, music videos, and reality shows. I was also attending middle and high school. 

Cartoon Network's programming was normally syndicated cartoons from the 1940's-80's. I already watched some of them, 3 decades ago. There was no such thing as Cartoon Network, in the '80s. 

Cartoons used to air on local channels 7 days a week, during the mornings and afternoons. Gradually, those same channels stopped airing cartoons and began airing more Daytime Talk Shows and news programs. 

During the early 1990's, Cartoon Network was niche; It only existed on basic cable in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Detroit. Cartoon Network was also the only cable channel, which aired 24-hour cartoons among Nickelodeon, USA, Disney, and The Family Channel. Cartoon Network didn't arrive on nationwide cable packages, until 1996.

That following year, Cartoon Network launched Toonami. The word "Toonami" is a portmanteau of the words "cartoon" and "tsunami." 

Toonami is supposed to mean a "tidal wave" of animated shows from both America and Japan. In other words, this was an Action Animation Block. 

I didn't start watching Toonami, until 1998. 1998 was when Cartoon Network began airing the Mahou Shoujo (Magical Girl) Anime series, Sailor Moon. 

Since Sailor Moon was a Mahou Shoujo Anime, it was specifically meant for the female demographic and maintained most of its demographic, regarding Shoujo Anime. I never had the chance to watch every Anime Cartoon Network aired. 

Throughout my youth, I was engaged in other activities and shows. Although, I did learn from a few Toonami and Anime fans, that there was another Shoujo Anime. That was Cardcaptor Sakura. 

Cartoon Network mostly aired Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, The Powerpuff Girls, and Hai Hai Pafi AmiYumi (a.k.a. "Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi") for the female audience. 

Is that pathetic or what? 

There were some unisex cartoons, but for the most part, Cartoon Network mostly cares about the male demographic, and even they are being misrepresented.

Meanwhile, there is Adult Swim. Adult Swim is a separate network of its own, which airs on Cartoon Network and is a bundled network supposedly meant for men. Adult Swim launched, when I was 19 years old.

Originally, I mostly watched Adult Swim's programming for canceled American cartoons, from Fox and The WB. 

In 1999 and 2000, 3 Primetime Cartoons were too controversial to be airing on Fox and The WB at the end of the 20th Century and the beginning of the 21st Century on local networks. Those 3 were Family Guy, The Oblongs, and Mission Hill.

Family Guy, The Oblongs, and Mission Hill all aired on Fox and The WB during my high school junior and senior years. All 3 were soon canceled because they were politically incorrect, morally corrupt, and had sexually explicit content. 

Them having dark humor was a bonus for viewers like yours truly.

By the time I was in my early to mid-20's, I started watching more Adult Swim. The network began airing Family Guy, The Oblongs, and Mission Hill. 

In addition to those 3 cartoons, Adult Swim started airing Shonen Anime such as Scryed, Case Closed a.k.a. "Detective Conan" (Meitantei Conan in Japanese), Crayon Shin-Chan, Code Geass, Death Note, Wolf's Rain, Witch Hunter Robin, Trinity Blood, and Bleach. 

To add more animation to Adult Swim's programming, the network launched their own animated and Stop Motion series such as Robot Chicken, Metalocalypse, and The Boondocks. All of the preceding gave me reasons to watch the network.

Even though some of us female viewers watch all of these Adult Cartoons, they are still meant for the male demographic. Adult Swim only wants to target the male demographic. 

In fact, lately it seems as though they only care about targeting teenage boys. All the while, some don't enjoy watching most of Adult Swim and Cartoon Network's currently airing shows. Those 2 networks are a heaping pile of misrepresentation for both genders young and older, which is a problem.

Now, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim mostly show the MOST mind-numbingly stupid, vapid, and worst live action shows and animation in a bundle. The viewers have complained a plethora of times to them. 

Both networks mostly feed their viewers lies about not airing certain shows and mock their Anime viewers. This is where it gets even better. They claim they are "lowly funded."

Cartoon Network is owned by Ted Turner. Adult Swim is contracted with Williams Street. Williams Street is a division of  TBS (Turner Broadcasting System), which is OWNED by Ted Turner. With that being said, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim are not NEARLY as "lowly funded" as they claim to be. Adult Swim exists in OTHER countries and those same countries have better programming than in America. 

Currently, there is division between both Cartoon Network and Adult Swim's viewers. In fact, viewers are so divided, that it's as divided as Republicans and Democrats in America. Very few male viewers are being represented and the female viewers are completely excluded.

For some reason, it seems like these networks don't believe that female viewers matter. Just because a show for the male demographic has at least 1-4 female characters in it, that doesn't mean the show caters to the female viewers. 

I get the impression, that Cartoon Network and Adult Swim assume us females are engrossed in watching reality shows, soap operas, Twilight, The Notebook, and taking slutty pictures, all the while giving our best duck faces, and posting them on Facebook. 

Last year, I was told many times on fan pages by fanboys, that airing Shoujo Anime on the Toonami block isn't "actiony enough" and that particular Anime genre does "poorly in sales." If that's the case, why do females enjoy watching Shoujo Anime? Apparently somebody is buying Shoujo.

If those working at Adult Swim and Cartoon Network would pull their heads out their asses and tried harder to properly represent both genders, maybe they would realize they could still regain more viewers

How could they succeed in attracting more viewers?

How about buying MORE shows, that BOTH genders like and would most likely watch? Hmm, there's a thought. 

If Cartoon Network and Adult Swim wanted my input, I would GLADLY give it to them. Airing Anime such as Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler), Jigoku Shojo (Hell Girl), Shiki, Special A, Kaicho Wa Maid-Sama, Shugo Chara, Vampire Knight, School Rumble, and Beelzebub to only name a few would be a start.

 They wouldn't have to necessarily run all those Anime at once. They could rotate these series, whenever 1 or 2 of them would end. Most of these titles cater to the female demographic but the male viewers can still watch them. I feel these titles have something for everybody and would bring in more viewership. 

Until then, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim's viewers will remain divided, and the female demographic will continue to be excluded. Therefore, neither network should beg more viewers for ratings, while lying and making excuses to us about it.