Why science fiction and fantasy?

One thing Im struck by the few times Ive sold books at local markets is the number of women over a certain age who, when presented with a sci-fi or fantasy book respond with oh no, I dont read that stuff. I dont know if this is a gender thing or an age thing, and those are probably waters too deep for me to navigate. All I know is, as someone who was assigned female at birth (I think AFAB is the acronym for the cool kids) and who still identifies as such, Ive always read sci-fi and fantasy...