Same‐Gender Characters: Appeal and Identification

Abstract

Gender plays a role in how people attend to, process, and respond to media characters. People are drawn to same-gender characters, and this preference tends to be stronger for males than for females. According to social cognitive theory, people expect that similar individuals will offer more rewarding interactions, provide more personally relevant information, and are more likely to model achievable outcomes. In media contexts, identification is defined most commonly in two ways: (i) identification during media use refers to the process by which a media user adopts the emotional/cognitive perspective of a media character and vicariously shares their experiences; (ii) identification that endures past the media use context is referred to as wishful identification, in which an individual desires or attempts to become like a media character. People may be more motivated to adopt the perspective of someone who shares their gender, because their experiences are more familiar or are seen as more relevant to their own life. Although males and females both identify more strongly with same-gender media characters, they differ in the attributes they find appealing in characters of their own gender. Through identification, media users learn new attitudes and behaviors, as well as the consequences they can expect to receive. Identifying with a character of the same gender can provide information and influence life choices, such as health decisions, relationships, and occupations. Festinger's social comparison theory suggests that the appeal of same-gender media characters may lie partly in the opportunity they provide for self-evaluation, self-improvement, and/or self-enhancement.