alfreda89: 3 foot concrete Medieval style gargoyle with author's hand resting on its head. (Default)
alfreda89 ([personal profile] alfreda89) wrote2005-07-18 05:11 pm

Women are still a closed book to men

If you missed this, it's quite interesting. I get the impression we're talking literary works, here. How about genre? Who do you read, and why?

Women are still a closed book to men

"Men have finally realised what they are missing, but they still
aren't all that keen to do anything about it.

This is the conclusion of a study into sex differences in reading
habits, which found that, while women read the works of both sexes,
men stick to books written by men."

http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,1495060,00.html

[identity profile] kristine-smith.livejournal.com 2005-07-18 11:07 pm (UTC)(link)
I wish they had discussed the reasons why this appears to be the case. Is it because the men surveyed feel books written by women are the equivalent of chick flicks--tearjerkers with no action? All feelings and emotion? Is it subject matter, or simply the name on the spine? Both? Did they survey mainstream readers, or genre as well?

Apropos of nothing, Cormac McCarthy, afaik, it considered a lit'ry writer, but he writes some bloody stories that but for the grace of categorization could fall into the suspense category.

[identity profile] alfreda89.livejournal.com 2005-07-19 05:16 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, I wish they'd taken this farther, too. I'd really like to know the answers to your questions. But most of the men I know read F/SF--both men and women--so they probably can't answer the questions.