How come it's usually females getting possessed?

I think it is because people are more threatened by women when it comes to the supernatural. Historically, females were usually the ones accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake too. Even in the Bible, many women were portrayed as temptresses. This makes even more sense when you consider that the devil is portrayed as generally male. That would also make it more likely that he would prey upon the opposite sex, beginning with Eve.

Thank you! I was looking through the thread to see whether anyone else addressed this. Rosemary isn't possessed, nobody is, she is impregnated by the devil. The thing I find the most interesting is: in the film she freaks out, but in the book when she finds out she is okay with it and says that of course she will take care of the baby because she is his mother.

Assuming God exists within the movie's plot (which he should, if there's a genuine demonic possession in the movie), what would the demon in question get a kick out of more, possessing some guy that doesn't care about any God, or someone more devout and "pure"?

Basically, because it pisses off people more when you corrupt something that's harder to corrupt, and demons seem to be all about spitting in God's face about that stuff.

It's because if someone is mentally ill, catholics are the ones with a mythology about posession and so are more likely to interpret the illness to demons. But any culture that has stories about posession will show the same phenomenon.

It's the same reason why people stopped seeing angels and started instead seeing UFOs or Aliens only after the age of cinema and science fiction movies/television. The human brain is pattern-recognition machine so when they experience something they can't explain, the brain substitutes something that the person CAN comprehend (often something from their religion or popular culture or whatever).

Not actually being catholic, I don't know that much about possession, but I do know a bit about the history of UFO and Alien sightings, and the history matches the history of aliens and space ships in cinema almost exactly. It went from cigar shaped UFOs to flying saucers, and so on.

The human brain is just... weird.

Bunch of interesting theories as to why Hollyweird and/or storytellers almost always depicts possession of the female.

the fact of the matter is you can blame it on the Christian Bible. The same book that instructs one on how to treat their slaves also makes it quite clear in several passages that women are inferior to men, are basically possessioins themselves, and are to be treated as such with a firm hand, etc. to keep them in line.

No, the "good book" doesn't talk about possession, but depicts women as the "weaker" sex. throughout the ages, this has been mistaken by masses as physical weakness, but it actually means less able to resist such things as temptation (anyone care for an apple?). What HAS happened is that which has been read and preached throughout the years has become ingrained in us collectively.

When men decided to take over the healing arts, humankind demonized the female of the species so that any woman who attempted to become a healer was turned into a witch in public opinion. Kitchen staples were turned into tools of the witch: The broom became the instrument of flight, the kitchen cauldron became the thing in which to make potions, etc. you get the idea.

Pretty much these are the reasons modern day has basically pounced on possessing women.

I think everyone on here might have some decent concepts, but I think everyone is overthinking why there are so many females getting possessed in the movies. I think the actual reason is because The Excorcist was massively successful and Hollywood, true to form, is just trying to re-create the success of the past using a "safe", anti-creative formula.

"Bulls**t MR.Han Man!!"--Jim Kelly in Enter the Dragon