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

It varies, for me. Although I tend to not like brutalized violence in books, and male authors do it more so I might think twice before delving into fantasy written by men.

Paul wrote: "It makes no difference to me if the author is male or female, a good book is just that."

Agreed.

I don't have a preference on male or female authors, but I've found that if the MC is a male, I prefer a male author simply because he has a better understanding of how they think. And even if the MC is a female, I've found that some male authors don't write them to be as girly (the types of books I've read, they've been a bit more tomboy) so I've enjoyed that more than a girly girl. I guess it just depends on the characters in general, and how well the author writes and depicts his/her character's thoughts.

Its funny, I would have said that my numbers were pretty equal but this year I in fact read 49 books by women and only 23 by men. I am currently reading The Goldfinch so in the next couple of days the women will have an even 50, and next up is Lila, the new Marilynne Robinson. That said, I read liberally, bouncing from literary fiction, to non-fiction, to romance and erotica, to memoir, and if romance is taken out of the mix my numbers are much more even.

I read books not matter if the author is a man or a woman, that's not a factor to me to decide to read it but about what it's the story. And I read all kind of genres, even the ones that are typically stereotyped to be read only by women. I think that books shouldn't be classified (and even written) with the intention of being read only by one of the two sexual genres. And that thought is the same about books oriented to be read by a selected age. Books shouldn't have sexual genre or age and being appreciated by anyone who wants to open them.

In the end of course, the quality of the writing is what matters, not the gender of the author.  However, my personal stats seem to indicate that I have a slight preference for  my own gender.  Of the 56 books I have thus far read this year, 29 are women.  Which is, actually, not a surprise, since I tend to read a lot of genre fiction.  

:( Size matters? Meh...

Interesting!

I intentionally read more books by women because I know how underrepresented and reviewed they are in the literary community. Saying that you don't choose a book based on the gender of the author may *seem* like a good thing, but even the description of the study points out how differently these books are often packaged. You may be making a decision based on gender without even realizing it.

Val wrote: "I find it very difficult to read while having sex
(and don't say none of you were thinking that when you saw the heading."

Clearly you are having the wrong kind of sex if it impedes reading.

Given differences in reading, I wonder when @Amazon will have multiple covers & market directly based on gender?

I can see them using their gender data on me to serve me photos of specific book covers which may increase my chances of buying particular products. Wouldn't it be cool if I could loan a book with one cover to a female friend and it "magically" has a different cover which may appeal to her more than the one I had?

Eventually, they may also change authors' names to sell directly to men/women. Why not build different "brands" in drastically different markets?

Well, while I do like amazing cover art, I usually care more about a book's substance, rather than it's style--and whether or not the reviews are good. Also, why should the gender of the author even matter?

Sorting books by the author's gender is quite useless, talent is not bound to gender and will not determine a work's quality. But if I must divide, as I look at my readings I state that it's rather the protagonist's gender that matters (in my case at least). I mean, and I'm sorry to say but in my humble opinion the most horrible books I've read are about a female protagonist written by a woman - despite I'm a woman as well.

A good book is a good book. The sex of the author hardly matters to me. What encourages me to read a book is firstly the synopsis and then the reviews and recommendations.

No difference, It's all about the subject & its contents.

I personally read more books by men then women, I think. But that is because I can't find many good books by women that are long enough to occupy me for a decent amount of time. The longer the book, the better, for me anyway.

The author's gender never enters into my book selection criteria.

I have no idea what the male/female ratio is in books I have read and want to read.

As others have said, I have both male and female authors I like and those I don't.

It's interesting. I tend to only read female authors and books about women. I also tend to read books written in the last couple of years. Not sure it says anything about me other than books written by men tend to have a harder edge which I don't much like.

I actually wonder if cover art plays a part in men not picking up books written for women. I mean, what guy wants to sit on a bus reading a book with the torso of a male model on the cover?

I think Erin has hit on the point of this survey. It's intuitive (probably unfairly) that women write a certain kind or style of book, and men write another. Are women more likely to read urban fantasy's or romance novels then are men? Are female writers more likely to produce those kinds of books? Although I'm sure there are many exceptions, that's probably the case.

I'm a fan of Michael Ondaatje, who probably appeals to many of both genders, and an exception to my point. But I also love the work of Jim Harrison, who I suspect is mostly only read by men.

Saurabh wrote: "You could have used the title as "Gender and Reading" instead of "Sex and Reading"
Or are you in hunt of eyeballs?"

My sentiments exactly!!!

I read both men and women... and I like both of there writing styles. As long as the book can hold my interest and interested. I don't have a problem with reading both genders.

Interesting. I would love to know the total number of readers on GR broken down by gender -- in other words, is this sample of 20,000 from each sex representative of the total reader market or skewed to keep each sample equal?

And I can't wait to see the niche reports!

I will read anything that catches my eye, regardless of the author's gender!

Kneka: "To be honest, I've never thought about who the author of a book I'm reading was until after I read the book. Because if the book is good, I'll seek out more books they have written, if its bad, I might not make the same effort. I've never even thought about gender playing a part in which books I've read. I mean, my favorite authors are tied between J.K Rowling and Tolkien, a guy and girl. But I've never seen it that way so I'm surprised by this."

If the bad book in question is part of a series and is late in the series, I give the author of the series at least one more chance, as you should be able to see if you look at how many of Jim Butcher's DRESDEN FILES books are on my 2014 Reader's Challenge list. The only one of his DRESDEN books that was bad was GHOST STORY and in my opinion that was only because it had really awful pacing compared to the books that both preceded AND followed it.

I no longer read Rowling because she just doesn't appeal to me anymore, now that I've read the DRESDEN FILES by Jim Butcher. I find it much easier to understand the problems Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden has compared to the problems Harry Potter has. And NOTHING written by the Bronte's, Jane Austen, Joseph Conrad, the Twatlight author, Dickens, Hemingway or Fitzgerald appeals to me whatsoever...never has, never will.

As a reader no difference to me. As an author, my Historical Fiction The Gardener of Baghdad has been read more by women. Ratings showed that, Maybe 4:1.

I definitely enjoy books by women more than books by men. The things that women write about, like family and relationships, are generally more interesting to me than the things that men tend to write about.

I never really paid attention to the author's gender of a book I'm reading. Interesting info though!

One thing that I would like to see is what are they reading? Do men or women read more non-fiction? Who reads more self-help books, which sex enjoys romance novels more? I know personally I tend to read more by Males. Is that because I am a male or is it because i find it easier to read because we have the same line of thought process.

GENDER and reading. The word "Sex" is to get you to click. And I DID!

Author's sex nor cover bother me (altho I did feel self conscious of what people thought if I read a bodice ripper on public transport); storyline & themes are very important to me.

I just did a quick tally & note I have read 60/40 women to men authors this year. The newest published book was last year; overall most are mid to early 20th century or 19th C. I much prefer the writing style of this period over more current writers.

Dillwynia wrote: "Author's sex nor cover bother me (altho I did feel self conscious of what people thought if I read a bodice ripper on public transport); storyline & themes are very important to me.

I just did a q..."

You're crazy, IMO. 19th century writing was overblown and too frikking "flowery."

Misleading title

Amber wrote: "I will read anything that catches my eye, regardless of the author's gender!

Kneka: "To be honest, I've never thought about who the author of a book I'm reading was until after I read the book. Be..."

I do the same. If I like a series, I'll read it through and give the author a chance if one of the books are bad, like um....the final Warrior series in Omen of the Stars: The Last Hope. That was bloody awful, but for example, some of the books that came out after, like the super editions, which coincide with the series itself, are pretty good and made me not give up entirely on the series (though really I was wary reading that final series with all the 'power' talk that was in it cause I found it ridiculous but I digress)


There are certainly some authors that I don't read anymore, but I quite literally grew up with reading Harry Potter. I got my first book at 11 and my final at 17 so even if I don't read the books anymore, J.K Rowling and that series still holds a place in my heart cause it was such a huge, influential part of my childhood. Its probably why she's still on my list of my favorite authors.

But there are good authors other than her that are on my top list, like Tamora Pierce is a good author, and several others I could list if I wanted to.

☯☥Kɴɪᴇᴋᴀ ❝We read to know that we are not alone.❞☥☯ wrote: "Amber wrote: "I will read anything that catches my eye, regardless of the author's gender!

Kneka: "To be honest, I've never thought about who the author of a book I'm reading was until after I rea..."

Interesting. I didn't start reading HP until I was older than 18, actually so even when I WAS reading Harry Potter I didn't really relate to him.

I honestly don't care if the book is written by a man or a woman as long as it is written well. But I tend to "get stuck" with a genre if I just keep reading I noticed. So next year my goal is to spread my reading out more.

Amber wrote: "☯☥Kɴɪᴇᴋᴀ ❝We read to know that we are not alone.❞☥☯ wrote: "Amber wrote: "I will read anything that catches my eye, regardless of the author's gender!

Kneka: "To be honest, I've never thought abou..."

^_^ yeah, I've always been a bibliophile, so my gma bought me the series and sent it one book at a time til I was 17, it made it easier to relate I think.

I don't really care. As long as the story keeps me wanting more

I think most of the books I own are by women. Since I tend to read a lot of fantasy and historical fiction, I mostly read both genders pretty equally.

Nice survey! Size matters is my favourite point! :)

Fascinating. I never would have expected these particular results somehow. But then again, as a feminist I always thought that every second book I read would be by a woman. When I looked at my own numbers, I was shocked to see I read at least twice as many books by men as books by women this year. I'm reading nothing but women's books until the end of the year.

I thought this was going to be about what you read during sex.

For me, it's usually the Stoics.

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."

Yes.

Aura wrote: "The Silkworm is not fairly placed in the male authors list; we all know Robert Galbraith is JK Rowling! And she rocks!"

I was thinking the same thing!

It makes me wonder how many female writers use a male non de plume.

I read books by both genders. :)

I don't have my 2014 stats yet of course, but my 2013 stats were:

Books read: 135
Fiction: 74 books
Nonfiction: 61 books

Books by women: 38.5 or 28%.

Re-reads: 3

Yeah, Cool, Thanks Good Reads for bringing an excellent View of our reading.

I love Reading all books

I've got to be quite honest. For years I didn't read books written by women. I didn't go out of my way to avoid them, but simply fell into the habit of only picking up those books written by men. Not sure when this started, as I had read a number of books by female authors, generally fantasy or SF, through high school and college.

Back in the early '90s I began reading the 'Vampire Files' series by P.N. Elrod, not realizing that author was female. I loved the series and the main character. When I did discover that the "P" stood for Patricia I began to question my 'habit' and began purposely discovering the women writers that I had ignored for years. Glad I came to my senses.

I guess I'll be the only person to admit it--I totally do gravitate toward women authors more. I don't really set out to do so, but I suppose subconsciously I want to support female authors (but seeing that they are by no means the minority when it comes to popular fiction, I should probably branch out a bit) and I also feel like I'll personally be able to relate to the story, characters, and message more...
This is definitely great food for thought.
Thanks GoodReads for this interesting analysis!

I have quite a few male authors on my book shelf, and my husband reads female authors as well as male. The book I am currently writing, well, I hope it appeals to men as well as woman. It's not particularly 'girly' even if the main character is female. I will have to make a point of getting a male beta reader or two!

I don't consciously look at the author's names often, (unless i am looking for a specific author) but it just happens that most of the fiction I read is written by women. I do have some specific male authors I will always read just a I do female authors.
Funnily enough most of the poetry I read is by men, but again it's not a conscious decision. Just the way it works out.

In the end and long story short, I don't decide books based on gender/sex/etc. I decide based on how good it is. And that's it. If its good, I'll look for more books by the author to read, if its bad I probably won't. Its got nothing to do with what gender/sex/etc. they are. Its the quality of what they write that decides for me.