Gender of Reading

[Scheherazade]

Found the following article on http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4273152.stm very interesting and wondered what your thoughts on the issue are. Does our gender determine what we read?

Fancy a free book?
By Tom Geoghegan

When Ian McEwan gave away 30 novels to passers-by in a park, every woman accepted but only one man did. What happens when we do the same?

"Are you serious? What's the catch?"

It's an understandable response to being offered something for free.

But setting suspicion aside - and some people do need convincing that the only small print is on the flyleaf - giving away books in a west London street is highly recommended.

Every third person, on average, stops to listen and to browse, and most walk away with a pleasant surprise in their hand.

First to be snapped up is Harry Potter, by a man who wants to learn English.

That still leaves many illustrious names in the box, such as Twain, McEwan, Byatt, Eliot, Bainbridge and Pullman. But one bookworm is unimpressed.

AUTHORS IN OUR BOX

Beryl Bainbridge, Philip Pullman, Catherine Cookson, John Grisham, Joanna Trollope, Lorna Sage, Ian McEwan, Julian Barnes, Antonia Byatt, George Eliot, Mark Twain, Alex Garland, Penelope Lively, JK Rowling, Roddy Doyle, Frederick Forsyth, Tony Parsons, Alan Hollinghurst, Douglas Adams, Ruth Rendell

Leafing quickly through the box, the woman says: "I would help you, but there's nothing there for me."

Not a ringing endorsement of what I'd bought for £14 (of my own money) at a charity shop. But half an hour later, the 20 novels are gone - 12 to women and eight to men, although men were much more likely to turn down the offer.

A typical male response is "Nah, you're alright mate. Thanks." Or, more honestly: "I don't really read that much so it would be better if someone else had it."

McEwan said his findings echoed previous theories that the novel better meets women's innate skills in emotional understanding.

And Wendy Hamilton, who takes away McEwan's Enduring Love, makes a similar argument.

"Men don't open up in order to try and understand other people," she says. "Reading gets me into the minds of other people and how people feel, so I can understand their situation, even if I'm not in it.

Two books produced from the handbag of Jill McPhail, 45, is evidence of her enthusiasm, but she doesn't corner the bookcase in her household. Her husband, although not a fan of novels, likes a historical read.

Another bonus point for the men is earned by actor Tom Skitt, 22, who gives the box a thorough ransacking and settles for George Eliot. Mr Skitt, a big Douglas Adams fan (he's 10 minutes late for that one, but he's read them all anyway), thinks there's some truth in the generalisation that men don't read as many novels.

"It's a stereotype but for a reason, and women do tend to read more," he says. "My mum loved the Catherine Cookson-type stuff but I've never considered picking it up myself."

Tractors

Poor Catherine is proving quite tricky to shift, until Amir Rathmani, 42, snaps it up to bring the experiment to an end. "I don't have time to read but I'll take one for my wife," he says. "Every day I'm working here until 9.30pm."

Overall a 60:40 split on the street, then, but is this reflected in bookshops?

Although women do read more overall, it's not as simple as saying men don't like novels, they just like different ones from women, says Ghlas Ferguson, manager of Waterstones in Reading.

"Dan Brown readers are largely men because they like fantasy and action," he says. "Women tend to go for a reading experience which is emotive and with a broader range, so it might have action but with a wider perspective, like more family-orientated."

Generally, men are more likely to go for Chris Ryan, Andy McNab or true crime novels, whereas women prefer books with emotion, like the award-winning The History of Tractors in Ukrainian, he says.

And probably reflecting their attitudes to shopping, women like to browse books and men spend very little time buying them. At Christmas, Mr Ferguson notes, some even go straight to the counter and ask: "Have you got a book for my wife?"

[underground]

drat. i wish i lived in england.
i think men would like don lee's books. his books are very masculine style-wise.

[Pendragon]

Well, according to that article, I must be an odd duck. I'm male, and I buy books to keep. I have around 4,000. And forget gender specific. I love Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma Mysteries, for example. You can even forget age specific. I have all of Brian Jacquas' Redwall series and most of the Oz books. It's whatever tickles my fancy. One whole bookshelf contains nothing but Sherlock Holmes-- the canon and every pastiche I can get my hands on. One whole shelf contains nothing but Star Trek,one Star Wars, one nothing but Doctor Who. Shelves dedicated to pulp fiction. Classics like Twain, Burroughs, Lovecraft, Hawthorne, Poe, Stevenson, Verne, Wells, Dickins, etc. Many books of poetry. I'm about 100 books behind on my reading usually. Reading can give you an education that no school can ever match. And it's ecellent stress therapy.

[mono]

Interesting article. Thanks, Scher.
I try not to see in only a 'black-and-white' perspective, so to speak, but I think with this topic, a lot of truth shows in the general trends of male and female literature. Though, perhaps, not depending so much on the gender of the author, I think it important for the male who purchased George Eliot's work that a great intention of hers aimed at not writing what she called 'the typical female novel' (though I love Jane Austen and the Brontës).
Most of the authors, I admit, I have not even heard of, and had to do some Googling to understand, but, even through observation, one can easily pick up on such trends. Interesting to see it now documented.

[PistisSophia]

Stories written with emotion and about relationships, from a different era, that could make for a costume drama; The Forsyte Saga, Age of Innocence, Wives and Daughters, the works of George Eliot and the Bronte Sisters. Jessamyn West, DuMaurier, appeal more to women. Novels like Wuthering Heights, Heathcliffe!!! are on the feminine side, it seems to me, not to mention, the Scarlet Letter.

Faulkner, Flaubert and Proust seem neutral, liked by both.

Men opt for Steinbeck, Jules Verne, Tolkien, Dante, Michiavelli, Casanova and such seem to be favorites with men.

Oh, don't ask why!!!

[Wendigo_49]

Another author that I think men perfer more than women is Hermann Hesse. I had two friends whom I gave two of his books. The one said she couldn't understand why I liked Siddhartha so much. She said she found it boring. The other one said that she couldn't relate to the characters in Narcissus and Goldmund.

[Eliza]

Good article! Female, but I bounce back and forth between feminine reads and masculine reads. I've been reading biographies lately. (I'm reading Churchill, so I'm neck-deep in war strategy right now.) I have a "TBR" pile of other biographies plus some emotional-type books.

I do have a "will not read" list of authors. I think I dislike them because their writing style (not subject matter) is "too masculine." Example - anything by Steinbeck. I acknowledge the "classic" status, but I just can't read him. He annoys me. I also can't stand John Grisham although I occasionally read other authors in this genre.

[tames]

Male. Well, I like all kinds of novels. A lot of masculine books - like action books tend to not develop the characters enough. Recently I read Timeline by Michael Crichton. Although a good story, I really felt that he could have been more discriptive of the medievel countryside from a modern person's point of view. He touched on it a little, but I wanted more. I just finished The Italian by Anne Radcliffe. It is a gothic romance novel, but really more a mystery. I thought it was well balanced. Character development, good narrative, enough dialog to keep you interested, mystery, action and just enough challenging words to look up. I have a subscription to Easton Press's 100 Greatest Books Ever Written series. It runs the gambit of childrens lit through Shakespeare. All great stuff, why not read it?

Kindof like Pendragon, I accumulate books. I have over 300 now, and still going. I tend to like older books written/published before 1930. I also like leather bound and fine bound cloth books from Easton Press and Folio Society. Will I read them all in my lifetime? No, of course not; it is just fun to collect them.

--Tim

[volvoreta]

I am female, but I don't think it ever determined my choice of books to read.

On the other question, whether women in general read more than men, I think it is true. Bocaccio, in the introduction to the Decameron said that although his book was for both male and female readers, he thought women needed books more than men, as they had not much else to do when they were bored while men could go fishing, hunting, gambling or engage in commerce. I know the world has changed in the last seven centuries, but I still see a difference in reading between men and women. My father used to read when he was young, then practically stopped when his job was more demanding and did go back to it when he retired. I also see more women than men reading on the trains.

[rachel]

I really cannot say but some thoughts come to mind. I wonder if our first impressions of the written word as tiny mortals is some how molded and guided by those in our little worlds who had a strong influence upon us. Until recently women tended to stay at home and it seemed normal for little boys and girls to listen to faeries stories or mother goose and then play out their fantasies. or cowboys and indians, that sort of thing. children were around women more then who had despite their hard lives and great toil, those little moments in the house when they could pick up a book.
i also think of that gentleman tony warren the creator of coronation street. i heard him say once on a special that he practically lived as a child under the table in the kitchen of his ma'ms home and that he listened to and was enthralled with the gossip and strong personalities of the northern women folk. it certainly showed in his work.A child as a rule couldn't hang with father because of the practicality and no nonsense and tough world he dwelt in.There was sort of an aloofness with the father which was passed down from generation to generation and perhaps because he had to be 'strong and warlike'he didn't influence his sons and daughters to get into books. unless of course he was the academic type. probably he would have loved the football and hunting and fishing when he got the chance and so any child that looked up to him would have the same interests and pursuits and if they read would love that sort of
thing.My english nanny and one teacher who read puss and boots so well i thought he was real for years are the people who influenced my reading and tastes. In an excerpt from Peter Pan it tells of Mrs. Darling going through her children's minds each evening after the little ones were fast asleep. She would tidy their thoughts like drawers, get rid of the bad and evil thoughts and air out the lovely and prettier thoughts for the children to put on in the morning. that is a powerful lot of influence don't you think?
"Many people said to me"what a pity you had such a big family toraise. Think of the novels and the short stoiries and the poems you never had time to write because of that.' And i looked at my children and I said 'these are my poems, these are my short stories.' Olga Masters

[Rosalind]

Has anyone read 'The Asti Spumante Code'? It's a pardoy of 'The Da Vinci Code,' and it has some interesting (usually tongue in cheek) things to say about gender and literature.

I think that childhood and culture has more to do with reading taste than anything built in to your chromosones. Most ten year old girls will read anything that catches their eyes--if she likes mysteries, she'll read McGurk, Sherlock Holmes or Pendragon's Sister Fidelma. Boys, on the other hand, are basically brought up to think that reading is for girls, and if they do read, it should be something masculine, with boy protagonists and a few explosions. The same goes for toys and movies. When J.K. Rowling first published Harry Potter, her publisher reccomended that she use the initials instead of 'Joanna' because boys might not read it otherwise. Now a day, I see more and more girls behaving the same way (though I'm probably being naive. After all, the Babysitter's Club has been around for years). If it has male protagonists and any explosions at all, they some girls won't read it. Instead, you get 'girly books' like 'The Princess Diaries.' I guess the smart kids outgrow this mind set, but it's always there, being hammered into them.

It's a shame. It's not that I have anything against books that cater specifically to men or women, but most really good literature isn't gender-specific. Too bad our culture doesn't seem to recognize that.