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How does your gender affect your reading?

S

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The Hemingway thread in the Author forum made me think about this.

I've met lots of women who read romance novels and guys who read westerns, period, that's about it.

But that's just never been for me. I guess it started because my Dad was/is a more prolific reader than my Mom, so if I wanted adult books, they were going to be L'Amours and Hemingways and Puzos and McMurtrys. Then it got to be where reading both was sort of a way of understanding relations between the sexes better, like the old movie ploy where a man wakes up in a woman's body or vice versa, and realizes, "Wow, life's just tough for all of us whatever our plumbing is".

And not that it matters, but I'm overly girly girlish. I was never a tomboy. I've always been the silk blouse and lipstick type of chick who really "enjoys being a girl." So I totally mix it up of course, I have my romance novels too lol. Still, sometimes, I feel very unique in the gender openess, not sure if it's where I live or what, but I don't meet nearly as many people who aren't chauvanist readers as ones who are.

How much does your gender and the author's gender affect what you choose to read? Does it matter who the story is about, m or f? Or do you fall into any genre stereotypes for your sex? Do you notice some genres just take you too far into a foreign sexes perspective for your taste, but it doesn't matter so much in others? If yes to any of these, please explain why you think that is. If no, please, also explain.

Might be a fun way to get to know some of y'all up here in the actual book part of the board!
 
I can read anything, and I love reading novels from a woman's point of view. I just reviewed Carrie Kabak's Cover the Butter , which I enjoyed. It's always good to read about a different perspective be it gender, race, religion, class, etc.

That said...I think what dictates someone reading romance and western vs other genres isn't necessarily gender but education level and literature exposure level. Also, you have to consider the fact that for hundreds of years, women authors, those most likely to write from a womans perspective, were looked down upon.

There are a lot of factors. Overall, I think most people find themselves tied to a specific genre rather than a specific character type/gender.
 
I read lots of different things (including Hemingway) and I don't feel my gender really plays a part of it. I've read everything from romance and westerns to classics and recent award winners. I don't care for Tom Clancy, who writes "guy books". It's because of his boring, technical talk though rather than the manly stories.

I disagree with the idea that education and exposure dictate what you like to read. I've got a lot of education and read a lot of "literature", but every once in a while I like to read something junky to break up the monotony. I have a friend with a masters, working on a doctorate and in a very high stress career field. He only reads books he can buy in the supermarket and says "I have enough stress in my life, the last thing I need is more serious reading".
 
well unless someone comes here talking about the diferences of the left and right side of the brain in men and women, i would say that gender doesnt affect your lecture.
well is posible that being raised in a conservative family could bring you in contact with certain cultural and social factors that might affect you according to your gender, but thats a case by case thing.

i doubt that if i was a woman, i would have any different taste on my readings, we are three brothers and one sister, and my mother (who happens to come from a very conservative family, and was raised in the country), always encouraged us to read, all the same, she never forced us to read, but always keeped a good collection at hand, in case any of us might be interested.

in my case i dont care if the author is male or female, (i like crichton, patterson, irving, and others but one two of my favorites are anne rice and taylor caldwell) i give a shot to any book looks interesting, or is highly recomended, and if i like it, ill try to get more books from the same author, and yes most books i read have a male lead character, but i also had enjoy some books where the main character is a woman (for example, the prodigal daughter is one of my favorites).
 
I just like reading anything which I feel either taxes my brain or takes me on some sort of journey. I've never been able to muster enough interest to read any of the Mills & Boon or other such "girly-ish" books.
 
Obviously there's something going on, or there wouldn't be a whole genre devoted to 'chick lit'. How many men do you think pick up a book from the 'Romance and Family Saga' section in a book shop?

And look at the covers - walk through the chick lit section and the covers are all pink and flowery and girly. The topics are about babies and weddings and shopping.

That said...I think what dictates someone reading romance and western vs other genres isn't necessarily gender but education level and literature exposure level.
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I don't agree with the education level aspect - but literature exposure, yes. Stick with what you know's safe. I think the average consumer who just walks in and picks up something they fancy from the looks of it, probably would be more drawn by something targeted at their gender (or with a picture of an author they know in it apparently!)
 
Mr Michel - I wrote a paper about the differences in the brains between men and women - men display distinct lateralisation whereas women tend not to. Also, their (men) ability to perform visuo-spatial tasks at a higher rate than women. Women, however, use both hemispheres of the brain for verbailisation tasks. VERY interesting area. My boss totally disagrees with the concept so we have lively arguements.

Gender and books... I think people read what takes their interest. I don't read Mills & Bon because I find them formulaic and shalow. That said, I don't have a problem what people read, as long as they do!

He who hates female authors flicked through a book I recommended (female author) and saw they described a woman's hair in depth. He gave it back to me in disgust and said that men never write about hair in that way! He was wrong but boy did I laugh!
 
Hey, I read chick-lit on occasion, I'm not overly proud of that fact but some of it is funny and enjoyable .... of course, I get Ice to actually buy it :D Apart from that I've never thought gender was such a big issue in books, admittedly I've never seen a woman reading a Tom Clancy book, but thats probably only because he likes to throw in technical jargon and storyline in a 50/50 mix. To be honest, I dont even understand much of it myself these days (there was a time when I was widely read on military jargon, but not for a while now).

As others have said, you read what you find interesting, regardless of the genre - if a book has a strong storyline and engaging characters chances are that people of both sexes will enjoy it - regardless of where people choose to pigeon-hole the book at the library.

Phil
 
Historically there's a lot of reason why there IS a dichotomy that has only started to disappear in the late 20th century. Women were not supposed to write, especially not on serious subjects. If they did write, they were supposed to confine themselves to the 'feminine sphere'--romance, cooking, household issues. They were actively discouraged from reading outside these subjects and actively discouraged from writing about finance, politics, leadership, social justice, general morality, etc., even in fiction. Hence you have Jane Austen and Mary Shelley just subtly breaking those rules, but nothing really concrete. You have George Eliot using a man's name.

Even in the early 20th century things did not change all that quickly. Virginia Woolf was considered extraordinary, though her books are still confined to the 'feminine universe' they have a deeper psychological exploration of both genders.

It's easy to feel now that all things are equal, but alas they are still not. As Freya says, there are whole shelves of books that men will not (and are not expected to) pick up. Even authors like Amy Tan and Annie Dillard are tough sells to the male buyer (though I know guys on TBF have read them).

One might think that now all choices are open and authors write for the open market, but when you are an author whose work is being categorized for marketing and sale, you understand that the universe is still being actively divided--if not by individual readers, then by packaging, marketing, and placement. To me, the genres that really open up the territory both ways are detective fiction and horror, both read early by girls and boys.
 
I would say exposure has more to do with what one likes than gender. I prefer fiction, which tends to coincide with my father's reading preferences more than my mother's. It turns out that we have very similar tastes in books and genres, and he's the only person I'll take a recommendation from without thought. I would guess that the particular books that were available very much influenced what I like. I have ventured away from my father's books, but I tend to take the new books I find and send them dad's way, so we still have many reads in common.

As far as what I read, I tend to read sci-fi and fantasy, predominantly, and have recently gotten into mysteries. I despise chick-lit, for my own reading, as I find it boring and I can't really relate to those books. Oh, and Phil, I read Tom Clancy, and I'm a chick. ;)
 
Gender isn't really an issue for me. I think you would have to be pretty narrow minded to stick to just "chick" or "boys" novels. I just tend to read what I like the sound of. I do like some supposed chick lit, for example: "For Water like Chocolate" by Laura Esquival.

I think the advertisement agencies have a big role in all this. They just love to create and promote labels. The want you easy to target and sell to. "chick lit" isn't really a gender issue. It's a marketing issue. Books are created for that market and push and promote a certain life style out look. It's all advertising.
 
VTChEwbecca said:
Oh, and Phil, I read Tom Clancy, and I'm a chick. ;)
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Kudos to you Chewie :) Did you enjoy it?? I cant say I've read one of his for a while, I stopped after Sum of All Fears. Some of his works may be easier to pick up than others .... Cardinal of the Kremlin I seem to remember was more political in scope than the military-type ones he often writes.

Oh, and I have read an Amy Tan book, so I shall feel suitably smug and impressed with myself :D I even had the daring to enjoy it in parts!

Phil
 
i would venture that gender affects our interpretation/enjoyment of a novel more than the decision whether or not to read it.

of course, i may be biased due to recent experience: my book club met yesterday, and our book for the month was catch-22. i enjoyed it because i am very familiar with the military (though no, i wasn't ever in myself) and it really pointed out the total lack of logic in "the system"-- war, miltary, government, hierarchy, authority, etc. all four of us in attendance (all women) were torn on the book, however, and it was mostly due to the women in the novel. there were very few women characters; they weren't very well developed; they were constantly referred to as "whores" (they were whores, but that's not the point); and when one character rapes a woman and then kills her, the other character's objections are based on the fact the murder is wrong, not that rape also happens to be wrong, by the way. it was hard to take the misogynistic material (mildly misogynistic or extremely misogynistic, according to different members of my book club) seriously because it's hard to take anything in the book seriously. but it definitely left me a bad taste in my mouth. and one of the book club members said she asked a couple people she knows about the book, and they both loved it-- it's a fabulous book, absolutely hilarious. and both of the them are men.
...thoughts to ponder...
 
Good literature need not be "serious", it's about the quality of writing and the ability of the writer. What "supermarket" books does your friend read? There are bestsellers in the supermarket, if that is what they are reading then I understand that. Tom Clancy, Stephen King, et el....while not writers of high brow literature, are very fine, talented authors. If they are reading pulpy romance/scifi/western junk - then I don't know what to say - to each his own. People have different exposure levels and that is usually the indicator - my education comment was mainly due to a correlation between education level and literature exposure. There tends to be a higher level/standard of art appreciation among educated people. And by no means was I talking about degrees...

Stress is a cop out though. I don't care what your stress level is, if you are reading trashy books on a regular basis, keeping track of the winners on American Karaoke and Island Fun and renewing your subscription to Celebrity Gossip - it will reflect on you. Don't be ashamed, don't make excuses...you like, admit it, it is who you are. :) I'm all for to each his own, but I can't stand excuses like "Im too stressed." That's not the issue, you just like it is all. No shame in that.
 
Personally I don’t feel my gender plays a great role in influencing the genres/authors I choose to read. My two favourite genres are Sci-Fi/Fantasy and Historical Fiction – which I certainly wouldn’t class as being written for a predominantly female audience. I do find I had similar taste in books as my father whom owned a large collection of science fiction books (though not fantasy) which I greatly enjoyed reading when I was younger. I tend to prefer books with a predominant male lead, although saying that Auel’s Earth Children series and Borchardt’s Legends of the Wolves series both have female lead characters and which I enjoyed immensely. Unlike most females I am more than happy to read all the ‘technical jargon’, especially if it is on a subject I enjoy :)

However, I have also been known to read ‘chick lit’, especially if I want an easy read to take to the beach/on a plane etc – one author that springs to mind is Kinsella (and possibly Lloyd and Rees whom Phil is referring to).

I do agree with the fact that some female writers find it hard to break into a male dominated genre. I’ve noticed that some use an androgynous pseudonym to avoid the stigma (this is how I perceive it anyway).
 
I don't think gender matters to me. im a girl but i hate reading those predictable teen girly books that i am supposed to relate too. if i wanted books like that id read my friends diary instead of buyin one
 
phil_t said:
Kudos to you Chewie :) Did you enjoy it?? I cant say I've read one of his for a while, I stopped after Sum of All Fears. Some of his works may be easier to pick up than others .... Cardinal of the Kremlin I seem to remember was more political in scope than the military-type ones he often writes.

Oh, and I have read an Amy Tan book, so I shall feel suitably smug and impressed with myself :D I even had the daring to enjoy it in parts!

Phil
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Yes, I did enjoy them. Sum of All Fears was a favorite, but Cardinal of the Kremlin stands out as my most favorite. I haven't read the recent ones, though my dad keeps wanting me to read the one with a shoot-up in fashion square in Charlottesville, Virginia...we go shopping there quite a bit.

Amy Tan is an excellent author :)
 
The fact that I am a woman does not affect what I read except that I will not touch romance or girly novels with a ten-foot pole. Personally, I think women who read romance novels have not found the right man.

I read for substance. If I cannot learn something from a book I do not waste my time on it.
 
Neat responses!

Novella, I thought about the same things while I was making up the question. It seems like women probably "have to" read in a more diverse way, because there's just not nearly the history of female authorship that there is male authorship, but then, that makes men who read outside their stereotype that much more remarkable too I suppose.

demetrio, I love your point about "just admit it's who you are"! I've been known to watch "Jugando de Amor" at work with a coworker, and it's like double the lame stigma, a trashy dating-elimination show in a language I don't even fully comprehend lol. Has nothing to do with stress or excuses, it's just my inner Jerry Springer guest jumping out now and then.

To the latest poster, ouch! But then, I haven't found the right man yet, so I can't exactly stand up as testimony to contradict your theory I guess.

Fun reading this thread, everyone's responses, but those posters just stood out for reply on a fast read through. Keep em coming, I like making a thread with pages of responses, makes me feel lurved :p , or at least, like I'm starting to get "in" here :D
 
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