Sex and Reading: A Look at Who's Reading Whom

Nicole wrote: "Amazingly, you don't see the opposite happening. You don't see tons of people(men), who read books by mostly male authors only, in a hurry to stand up to justify that they oh so love books written by women, just in case they are viewed as a "negative reader" or some such thing. And according to the infographic, most men don't even bother trying to read books by women. (80/20)"

I agree with your (insightful) assessment of bias - not reading women's books is not considered as big a crime as not reading men's books. We do have a ways to go in the perception department.

However, I don't think it is true that "most men don't even bother trying". Here's why:

I have said from the beginning that this infographic is confusing the issue, and it never actually answers the question in its title (who reads whom??). But I used their own statistics to finally calculate the actual percentages:

Men read 66% male authors (2014)
Women read 66% female authors (2014)

Hey, wait! The bias is equal?!? (And not so extreme?!?) This comes from:

"Women read 2X as many books published in 2014 as men." So if women read 120,000 books, and men read 60,000 books, and we use my (66%) values:

Women read 80,000 female authors, men read 20,000 female authors.

Women read 40,000 female authors, men read 40,000 female authors.

This matches the 80/20 and 50/50 ratios cited in the later graph. They make it look like men aren't trying, when in fact, men read the opposite sex just as often as women did, it's just that women read so many more books that the "women read by women" section got inflated.

So they are misleading us by quoting author gets read by statistics instead of quoting us readers read whom statistics. Don't even get me started on the "we are still sticking to our own sex" section. I don't know why they don't present the actual ratios. It almost appears that they are trying to cause an uproar?!?

You are right Michael, as I read it, the whole shebang is basically statistically insignificant.

MomToKippy wrote: "You are right Michael, as I read it, the whole shebang is basically statistically insignificant."

What are you talking about?

This doesn't solely indicate the "reader's" preference, what it also indicates is that men are writing stories that interest men and women are writing stories that interest women - and don't be fooled, there is a gendered trend here in all of our "likes". Even if you put anonymous on the book, there is still a gendered approach to reading and writing that this study clearly indicates, and I would bet is contained in all of our bookshelves.

So many posts here are trying so hard to show a humanist side of themselves, instead of digging deeper in to the quality of the book they claim they have no idea of the author's gender or sex. If you never ask yourself the author question when reading, then it could be said you are missing out on the cultural "embeddedness" of the author. Go to any workshop or author interview and the old adage "write what you know" or "stories are often autobiographical in nature" is always brought up.

Without stumbling into a de-constructionist minefield, it is interesting nonetheless.

Nicole wrote: "Likely mentioned, but I find it amusing, how people (women especially due to the infographic), feel a great need to quickly justify that, hey, they are reading books by male authors, liking books b..."

This is almost undoubtably because you probably enjoy genre's in which the majority of authors are female so everyone jumps all over themselves to be fair. Trust me the sci-fi groups had much of the same stuff of everyone jumping all over themselves to prove that they did read an equal amount of women as men along with constantly seeking for new good books with the only condition of it being written by a women.

Also good stuff on giving 75 ratings all of them being 5s. I wish I had that good of luck on picking out books to read.

Honestly I find that different genders tend to like different genre's/subgenre's and enjoy them and a women that writes a certain subgenre of sci-fi isn't that different from a man that writes the same kind of sci-fi. I find different cultures to be a way bigger system shock.

I find that I do prefer reading male authors. I am not sure if this is some form of conformation bias or not, but when I do read a female author I find myself being extra critical. Just sayin...

Interesting findings, although I pick books based on their premise and genre.

Greetings, this brings me back to an issue I would love to discuss (Sexism in the book industry). You're welcomed to join to my group and be heard:
https://www.goodreads.com/group/invit...

i don't care who wrote the book as long as it is of my genre.

Nicole wrote: "Likely mentioned, but I find it amusing, how people (women especially due to the infographic), feel a great need to quickly justify that, hey, they are reading books by male authors, liking books b..."

I had exactly the same thought! And women's books still get the sexy-or-fluffy cover treatment. Caitlin Kiernan's The Red Tree, a horror story about an evil tree whose main character is a deliciously unreliable, angry, alcoholic, lesbian writer. And the cover looks like it's about a vampire crime fighter or something.

Sherrie wrote: "I like this, but why the focus on books written in 2014? I don't choose books based on how new they are and none of my friends do, either. It would probably be a better metric to look at ALL books ..."

Yeah, that's weird too. I guess because everyone is always thinking about using this data to sell products?

What are y'all's favorite colors?

Arnav wrote: "Why is EVERYTHING these days phrased in gender terms? These very analyses make people think in those terms and thereby calcify those boundaries."

Maybe it's because of how the book industry is designed. The categorizations make an inevitable psychological influence in people's reading choices. Of course there are exceptions but I would like to share a group to talk about this. Got some very interesting articles on the descriptions. Maybe you'll like to share too. :)

https://www.goodreads.com/group/invit...

Kazzy wrote: "I read both sexes but will be honest and say I read more female writers then males."

I would love to discuss opinions on this gender "division" in my group. You're invited and you can share if you like!

https://www.goodreads.com/group/invit...

I checked the 45 books I read this year for a different statistic - 22% non-fiction and 78% fiction. And I'm pretty much divided on sex - 44% male, 56 female. Now I want to check the sex of fiction authors vs non-fiction. I never consider the sex of the writer but I think it is greatly determined by the subject matter of what we like to read. I do not read romance, sci-fi, or horror fiction but I do read a lot of travelogues and novels that take place in foreign countries. Now I wonder how many men vs. women are members of Goodreads.

Noora wrote: "This is interesting! I got curious and had a look at the books I've been reading this year. 23 out of the 44 I've read so far have been women (counted Galbraith as a woman despite the alias). So al..."

I agree with you. A good book it's a good book, no matter the author's genre. In fact I believe this so firmly that of all the categories that exist to browse books, I question one of them that not necessarily shares our thought. "Women's fiction"

I have a group and I would love people to join and discuss this. I also posted two interesting articles on the subject. You are welcomed to join and share. :))

https://www.goodreads.com/group/invit...

Lesley wrote: "I checked the 45 books I read this year for a different statistic - 22% non-fiction and 78% fiction. And I'm pretty much divided on sex - 44% male, 56 female. Now I want to check the sex of fiction..."

Hey! I'm passing along my group where I would love to discuss an issue that I think has a lot to do with this stats. You are welcomed to join and share! :))

https://www.goodreads.com/group/invit...

Igor wrote: "I never have sex while reading."
Why is that any of are business?LOL! That's nasty!

Jack wrote: "Igor wrote: "I never have sex while reading."

I know right? My glasses keep falling off."

TMI

I notice that most of the books I read are by female authors but I don't do that on purpose. I read a lot of contemporary Christian romance and I guess that's more of a female dominated genre so I'm not going to find a lot of male authors there.

I never pay attention to authors when I pick out books. So I am amazed when I look at the books I have read this past year. Out of the 38 books I read, 34 books were written by women and only 4 written by men!! I had no idea! I guess I am just attracted to a females point of view. Very interesting.

I read more women than men books but that is just me and my opinion.

Of the 18 books that i have read this year 3 were by women (2 of which were were Robert Galbraith).

The only thing i find a bit odd is a woman writing a sex scene and describing it from the male perspective!

Igor wrote: "I never have sex while reading."

If you have sex while your reading, the book will probably be in shreds after you get done.

Jack wrote: "Igor wrote: "I never have sex while reading."

I know right? My glasses keep falling off."

LOL!!!!!!!! TMI!!!!!!!!!!!Your funny!!!!!!!

Georgia wrote: "Books don't have sex. Sex have those who reads them."

My grandma said that back in the old days ,that if a child read about someone having sex in a book, and then if the child showed an adult, that the book would be burned!

Jack wrote: "Georgia wrote: "Books don't have sex. Sex have those who reads them."

Yes they do, where do you think pamphlets come from?"
Yes they do! What the heck were you thinking about , when you said books don't have sex written in them? LOL!!!!!!! You're crazy!!!! You probably are one of the authors that have written a book with sex in it!!!!!!

I just noticed yet another misleading statistic here: "women like new stuff".

Actually, the average book rating for women and men was stated as 3.94 in the first paragraph. Later, when looking only at ratings for books published in 2014, women rated them 3.85 and men 3.7.

Both of those numbers are lower than women and men's ratings in general, so in general women and men like the old stuff better, which is definitely not what the infographic is claiming! A better interpretation would be, "Women prefer old stuff, but not as strongly as men prefer it."

I know you can always lie with statistics, but it's sad that I have found so many misleading statements without even looking at the underlying data. It makes me wonder how reliable this graphic actually is...

Michael wrote: "I just noticed yet another misleading statistic here: "women like new stuff".

Actually, the average book rating for women and men was stated as 3.94 in the first paragraph. Later, when looking on..."

Yep, another good one to point out is the people rating womens books higher one. I have noticed a very sharp difference in what a rating number means in different genres. In the ones I follow a 4.0 or higher in hard sci-fi is REALLY REALLY good and means about as much as a 4.5+ in epic fantasy. Like you would have to compare average ratings for the subgenre a book is written in because I can basically guarentee the average Scifi rating for books is NOT 3.94 it will be a good deal lower. I'm positive other genre's and subgenre's all have their own little idiosyncracies in this genre gets rated high/low consistently.

Lesley wrote: "Now I want to check the sex of fiction authors vs non-fiction. I never consider the sex of the writer but I think it is greatly determined by the subject matter of what we like to read."

As a history student, I'd say it's even more complicated than that. Women who write non-fiction are gender-ghettoed, too. Just look at this discussion about the treatment of Karen Abbott's new book by the press. Here's another "pop-culture" type history by a man about man stuff (the New Deal).

Oh, and here's a peer-reviewed history book from an academic press that happens to be about culture.
Edit: I feel like I can't just throw this one out there without a comparison, so here's one by a man. Also a cultural historian.

Aaron wrote: "Michael wrote: "I just noticed yet another misleading statistic here: "women like new stuff".

Actually, the average book rating for women and men was stated as 3.94 in the first paragraph. Later,..."

Interesting, and makes sense if true. The genre thing has come up a lot on this thread, I'm hoping they will shed some light when they start breaking down by genre. But, it could just raise more questions...

Of my 52 five star books 27 are by women and 50 are by men so pretty darn even.

xenu01 wrote: "Just look at this discussion about the treatment of Karen Abbot's new book by the press."

Thanks for the link! Interesting discussion and looks like an interesting book...

Aaron wrote: "Michael wrote: "I just noticed yet another misleading statistic here: "women like new stuff".

Actually, the average book rating for women and men was stated as 3.94 in the first paragraph. Later,..."

What are you talking about???????LOL!!!!!!!!Your Crazy!!!

Megan wrote: "Aaron wrote: "Michael wrote: "I just noticed yet another misleading statistic here: "women like new stuff".

Actually, the average book rating for women and men was stated as 3.94 in the first para..."

The highest average rating for any sci-fi book on my shelf with 1000+ ratings is 4.41Memory the second highest is 4.31For Honor We Stand compare this to fantasy. Which has a 4.76Words of Radiance(and the first book in the series at 4.6), a 4.56 The Name of the Wind, two 4.53s Blood Song Changes.

Looking at it more detailed 4.5 was probably a bit much but certainly a 4.3 at least. Fantasy across the board gets rated higher then sci-fi why I have no clue. So I guess my point was readers of differen genre's rate books on a different scale, genre's in which women are more likely to write might be genre's with higher average ratings. Is there even a sci-fi out there with over a 4.5 rating with over 1000 ratings?

xenu01 wrote: "Lesley wrote: "Now I want to check the sex of fiction authors vs non-fiction. I never consider the sex of the writer but I think it is greatly determined by the subject matter of what we like to re..."

I meant of the books I read this year, not books as a whole. Also, I have a special shelf for books I could not finish and most of my one and two star books land there.

This made me curious as to what my reading list for this year looked like, and I went through and figured out ... of the 60 books I've read this year (technically 59, I'm still working on the 60th but it's by a woman) - 29 are by men, and 31 are by women. There are some overlaps - I read 3 Cheryl Strayed books, 2 Lev Grossman books, 3 Douglas Adams books, 2 Tracy Chevalier books ... so I'd say I was pretty much even! I guess I never notice what gender the author is!

Aura wrote: "The Silkworm is not fairly placed in the male authors list; we all know Robert Galbraith is JK Rowling! And she rocks!"
That's why the asterisk is there :)
And as far as I know, NO ONE read it until it was discovered that RG is a pen-name...

Gender is not the issue. All that matters is substance and yes one's liking for a particular subject, in other words taste.

Honestly as long as it's good I don't care who wrote it :) I like a good story the gender of the author is not on my mind when I pick a book to read.

I will read just about anything by just about anyone, except romance titles. Have never been interested in the "Heaving Bosoms" genre, as we used to call it at the library at which I worked. I have been an avid reader since age 4, and if I didn't have a book to read, I read the newspaper, the cereal boxes, the soup can labels, whatever I could lay my eyes upon.

Now that I am retired, one would think I would be reading 16 of 24 hours, but my hubby is retired too, and alas, he is not a reader so I am not able to read as much as I would like. So many books, so little time...I feel like the guys with the really thick glasses who could never read until he got locked in the vault at the bank and the world was demolished. When he came out, everyone was gone, but the library was there. Unfortunately, he broke his reading glasses in his dash to collect all the books! I think this was an episode of "The Twilight Zone".

My reading habits are not what would seem typical for a woman. I read historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy (not the unicorn kind), YA, non-fiction science( ie geography, physics, history, math, etc). I don't care if it is written by a man or a woman, and in fact only know it is because I usually have to order the book from the library.

all th ebooks written in this year of our lord 2014 are insanely bad, and everybody who read one is also insanely stupid by extenstion. hahah

Interesting statistics... :) Personally, the sex of the outhor is not a relevant factor when it comes to buy a book, BUT somehow and for some reason, I've read way more books by men than by women... hahah

Why can't we just say that books by women published in 2014 are simply better because they got a higher average rating by both men and women?

Rahma wrote: "Why can't we just say that books by women published in 2014 are simply better because they got a higher average rating by both men and women?"

Good point. But wait, how can men rate 2014 books by women 3.9, 2014 books by men 3.8, and have an average rating for all 2014 books as 3.7??? That's mathematically impossible! Unless they read and rated anthologies 2.0?? (Since you couldn't say anthologies were written by a man or a woman if they included authors of both sexes).

Michael wrote: "Rahma wrote: "Why can't we just say that books by women published in 2014 are simply better because they got a higher average rating by both men and women?"

Good point. But wait, how can men rate..."

I believe it's all books they read that year.

Rahma wrote: "Why can't we just say that books by women published in 2014 are simply better because they got a higher average rating by both men and women?"

Because there are too many variables and details are too weird.

Yes, truly it's very interesting to see this data and the idea behind all the statistics.

Keep it on....!!!

Aaron wrote: "I believe it's all books they read that year."

What I mean is, if you take two averages and average them, your answer has to be between the two averages.

For 2014 books, "men rated books by women 3.9, books by men 3.8".

So the average for all books has to be between those. It could be 3.81, or 3.85, or 3.89, but it can't be 3.7! (Which is what they claimed earlier with "Men give 2014 books an average rating of 3.7").

Unless there is a third category not mentioned (books by authors of multiple sexes or unknown sexes). Which seems hard to believe, since the ratings in that third group would have to be very low to counteract the other averages.

Something doesn't add up here.

Aaron wrote: "Rahma wrote: "Why can't we just say that books by women published in 2014 are simply better because they got a higher average rating by both men and women?"

Because there are too many variables and details are too weird. "

I think that was supposed to be a joke. Or a plug for women writers.

Maybe women writers are better, I'm not going to weigh in on that one, but certainly we can't determine it based on people's book ratings. Some people give low ratings just because the author spammed them. Or they don't like the cover.

Echoing everyone else's comments, I don't care if a man or woman writes the book so long as it's good! Although the genres I read most (Fantasy and SciFi) tend to be written by more male authors than female, so my bookshelf probably fits these statistics!