Is Astrology Just for Girls?
New research looks at men’s interpretations of the cosmos. Also: Mercury is in retrograde, which is why this newsletter is late (!).
You’re a free subscriber to Wait, Really? For the full experience, become a paying subscriber.
People are apparently timing pregnancies so their babies get “good” zodiac signs. Bumble, the dating app, now has an astrologer on the payroll, while Spotify offers horoscope-inspired playlists. A couple of weeks ago, there was a rumor circulating that J.Lo had cut dancers from an audition because of their astrological sign (they were Virgos, which, honestly, if you know any Virgos… you know she made a big mistake).
Astrology — or the general belief that astronomical phenomena can influence events or personalities — seems to be everywhere these days, from memes to merch to the friend who blames all of their most irritating behavior on their Sun Sign. According to the American Federation of Astrologers, 70 million Americans read their horoscopes every day, while a 2017 Pew Research Center poll determined that more than 1 in 4 Americans believe in astrology, with slightly more women than men, and more young people than older adults. (As one comic — a friend of a friend of a friend — recently put it in a funny TikTok: “I don’t believe in God, I’m not insane. I’m an adult woman — I believe in horoscopes.”)
There are various theories about why this is: the decline of organized religion; a world in chaos; escapism. And to be clear, as a Double Virgo with Extreme Virgo tendencies (high standards, great taste, logic… obviously) I too enjoy dabbling in the cosmos, whether it be to try to make sense of the world or just to forget it. You don’t have to believe in astrology to think it’s fun.
(@notallgeminis on Instagram)
But though I often write, and think, about gender dynamics, it never occurred to me that astrology too was gendered. Sure, most of the astro-memes I share are with girl* or gay friends, but that says more about me than astrology, right?
As it turns out, Ian Waller, a social scientist at UC Santa Barbara, has spent the last four years studying exactly this. A doctoral student in sociology, Waller has spent most of his academic career looking at identity and the forces that shape it — whether that be race or gender. But he also briefly considered becoming an astrologer himself, after being given an extremely accurate birth reading while on a trip to Hawaii. “It blew my mind,” he said of the experience.
These days, Waller calls himself “astrology curious,” explaining that while he studies astrology as a social phenomenon — and indeed finds some truth to it — he is skeptical of those who treat it like religion. “I don’t know if I feel comfortable calling astrology a science,” he said, “but I do think it's an incredible tool to have discussions about what science can and can’t do.”
And so, as part of his research, Waller has been looking at the ways that people across the astrology spectrum — from the cosmically ignorant to the professional astrologer — respond when asked about it, and how they make sense of its place within their own sense of identity.
And, guess what? People seem to think that astrology is feminine.
Waller conducted interviews, distributed surveys and attended astrology meetups in multiple cities around the U.S. Even from the outset, he said, most of the people he spoke with tended to think astrology was for “girls,” or more socially acceptable for women to be into. And in some instances, a female interest in astrology wasn’t just accepted, it was expected.
And yet for men, the opposite was true. When Waller showed up to a Chicago-based astrology meetup, the host remarked with surprise, “It’s a guy!” Meanwhile, the men he interviewed — and straight, white men in particular (although not exclusively) — often referred to astrology with insults like “weird” “stupid” and “dumb” or, as one respondent put it, “magical nonsense.” “Real bro-type” guys didn’t do astrology, one man told him, though “gay guys” did.
Waller’s study, which is under review by the journal Men & Masculinities — he hopes it will be published sometime next year — is called “Astrology is for ‘Girls’: How Men are Threatened by the Stars,” and its primary finding is not just that astrology is perceived as feminine but that men seem to view any association with it as a threat to their masculinity. (In turn, they are willing to go out of their way to disassociate themselves from it.)
Which is funny, because for most of history, astrology was considered primarily a man’s domain. Isaac Newton, Galileo, Copernicus — all of these male scientists studied astrology, which back then was considered basically the same thing as astronomy. Before 1875, Waller said, there appears to be no documentation of women doing astrology whatsoever.
Which doesn’t necessarily mean that women weren’t doing astrology behind the scenes; it was simply that men were the only ones that were documented practicing it. But it wasn’t until much later, early in the 20th century, that astrology came to be viewed as a woman's wheelhouse. Susan Miller, who may be today’s most famous astrologer, likely has women like Evangeline Adams to thank. At a time when there were few available roles for women, Adams — an astrologer in New York City, who died in 1932 — published multiple books about astrology, and had one of the most popular shows on radio. But it was Linda Goodman’s bestselling 1968 book, “Sun Signs,” that really brought astrology into the mainstream – and planted a feminine flag.
These days, still, horoscopes remain the stuff of women’s magazines and advice columns, often read and helmed by women. Then the internet came along, meme-ified every last cosmic placement on our birth charts, and astrology went from trend to trope.
Today, there are “Astrology girl” starter packs. “What’s your sign?” has become a pick-up line to be coveted, not scoffed at, while “What time were you born?” is seen by many as a dating red flag. There’s now an astrology meme or prediction for almost everything you can think of: Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde’s sexual compatibility; how likely you are to U-haul if you’re queer; what song you are on Beyoncé’s latest album.
All things considered, the fact that a few guys in one study think astrology is nonsense seems about as significant as the fact that I think fantasy football (equally made up) is an absurd waste of time (in other words: not very). And yet it’s interesting, too: Another way that gender roles and stereotypes can play out in even the smallest ways.
But I’ll need to check my horoscope to be sure.
* Yes, I know I used “girls” to refer to adult women — a linguistic choice.
What I'm Reading:
(Barbara Alper / Getty Images)
Women in Iran are cutting their hair and burning their hijabs to protest the death of a 22-year-old woman while in custody of the state’s “morality police."
More lawsuits for Trump: E. Jean Carroll, the journalist who accused Trump of raping her (and who I wrote about here), has already sued him for defamation. Now she's suing him again under a new civil law.
The youngs: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on? Also, FYI, apparently reaction GIFs are for Boomers.
6pm is the new 8pm: New Yorkers are dining suburban cul-de-sac early, and I must say that I love this development.
Can I offer you some NyQuil chicken? This week, the FDA alerted the world to the existence of a harmful TikTok "trend" that very few people were actually doing, which was cooking chicken in NyQuil. But by virtue of alerting the world to said trend, now it has actually gone viral.
No bra? No problem. Nobody is wearing bras anymore, but when they do, they're wearing them as shirts, prompting the Very Serious financial publication The Wall Street Journal to ask, "Is a bra a shirt?"
From the Archives, Cosmos Edition!
Using astrology as an excuse to break up is nothing new.
In 1927, Dorothy Rogers, of Brooklyn, filed for divorce from her husband, Victor Rogers, on the grounds that his "reading of the stars" had doomed their wedded bliss.
Apparently, as reported by The New York Times, Mr. Rogers had told his wife soon after they were married "the stars are against us and we can never be happy.”
The husband was a boat captain, and so he decided to depart the marriage by sea. Before sailing away, he allegedly told his wife: “I have read the message of the stars; I was born on Sept. 4 and [you were] born on Oct. 11, and according to the zodiac, there can be no love between us.”
Here’s hoping Mrs. Rogers (a Libra) found love again. 💫💫
⏩ Forward this newsletter to a friend or sign up to get it to your inbox.
💬 Have thoughts to share? Email me at supwaitreally@gmail.com. (You can also just reply to this email.)
🙋🏻♀️ Follow me on Instagram or learn more about my writing and books here.