I'll Be The First to Admit It! Yes I Am Prejudiced!!!

[Stacy-Deanne]

Hi All,

(Oooh boy, I hope the guys don't get mad at me).

I was recently discussing different books with some more ladies. They all explained how they do not like to read male authors. They said they are prejudiced against them and as I looked at myself. I had to admit, I am too.

I mainly read women authors. I feel bad for admitting that, but I do. The only male authors I read are the classic writers. Hitchcock is my idol and I love Poe, Twain and Wilde. See how long ago that is? I have not been able to complete ONE book from a male author I've read that's been in this century except for a couple of King's books and I sweated through those. Hey I think King's a genius but his writing style isn't my cup of tea. Oh I take that back. I loved Alex Gardner's The Beach! I loved Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. But that was written over forty years ago!

One of my main problems with male writers is how they write their romance and sex scenes. I'm not trying to lump them all together, but when a man writer writes a sex scene, you can tell. It seems to be more of the physical and not enough of the attraction, seduction, heart and romance. That is one of my biggest turn-offs with some male writers. Other than that, I just can't get into a man's book. It's so hard for me to get into a man's voice. I also have a problem with a lot of male authors and their unnecessary cursing. It's fine to have cursing in the books when it fits a character, but a lot of male authors have cursing in the narrative and it gets excessive.

Do any of you feel the same way? Most of the women I know rarely read male authors unless it's nonfiction, but fiction, nope. They only read them when it's a big book with buzz like say, Dan Brown. A friend of mine recently read a romance by a man. She said it was horrible. She said it was 300 pages of "a stupid, big-busted woman who couldn't live without her man". In all fairness though, a lot of women write these types of "set women back 1000 years-romances too". We can't blame that on men but she said the main thing was the voice. The voice was rigid and unemotional. When I read a man's book I can tell immediately that a man wrote it. I've read some books where male authors wrote under a female pen and I still could tell. You go, "This seems like it's written by a man".

If I caught onto a male author's voice that I truly enjoyed, I'd continue reading his work. But so far, it's the women that are writing the books I love right now. And I love mysteries and suspense. I'm not a romance reader either. So, even though mystery's got a lot of male writers in the genre, I still rather read the females. There's just something about how a woman writes that makes me feel closer to the story and the characters. When I read a male author, I always feel like I'm being held back at arms length. I can't get in deep.

It's not like I haven't given men a fair chance. I've tried to read many, mostly new authors and unknowns. But I've also struggled with the biggies. Koontz, can't finish him. I tried two Grisham books and gave up in the middle due to the voice and style of it. Patterson, hmm. Now I never read a Patterson book. Might give him a try. Ken Follett, love his plots but I can't get into his writing. I only read The Third Twin because I saw the TV movie. But believe me, I've tried to read many male books but...just can't connect with them.

Sorry, men didn't mean to offend, LOL.

[Laura]

Interesting about people assuming who's what gender. I posted once on a forum where everyone assumed I was a man. I'm still not sure whether it was because it was a political forum, because I said I have an interest in medieval history, or what.

As to authors, I never thought about it, but like someone else here said, I'm not much of a romance reader. I do like plenty of male novelists, such as Nicholas Sparks, Dick Francis, Robin Cook, and Ted Dekker.

And I couldn't help but notice that when I went to hear Diana Gabladon talk a few nights ago, the audience was 99+% female. The few men I saw looked like their wives had brought them along.

I go weekly to a writers' group, and one of our male members does constantly ask us if he's getting the human/emotional aspects right in the scene. He constantly worries about the sorts of things you're asking about.

[Derek]

I'm a guy and I'm not offended at all, Stacy-Deanne. You read what you like to read. I just did a survey of the books on my own blog and they're about 80% male authors and 20% female authors.

[M. J. Macie]

I would love a few suggestions on the male authors you enjoy. I love mysteries and suspense, but am open to all genre's, including fantasy. Lord of the Rings was one of the first books I ever read and I loved it. I don't care for a lot of cussing (sometimes a little can be appropriate to the character) and avoid explicit sex scenes in all fiction. I truly believe the tension, dialogue and actions of the characters should reveal their intentions without any fluff. Looking forward to hearing from you.

[pussreboots]

I don't read much romance. The breakdown of books by gender is probably 60/40 male / female. It might even be as skewed as 70/30.

[Gary Phethean]

Hello everybody, surprisingly I've never realised how prejudice I was until reading this post. I checked my book shelf and it's 90% male authors and the only female authors are of non-fiction. I haven't done this consciously, I don't buy a book just because it's a male author, well at least I thought so. I'm shocked at my ignorance to this fact. I bought a few books by the author Robin Hobb and read several books before I realised he was a she. However, when I found out that Robin Hobb was a woman this didn't put me off or anything foolish.

I really think it swings both ways (though not always, I'm generalising), men tend to read male authors and women read female authors. Maybe this is because we feel our interests are best met by people who are most like us, or that we look up to as role models. I don't believe that people are sexist or prejudice deliberately (well most people aren't) when it comes to reading, I feel it's more out of habit and circumstance.

My sister reads scores of romance novels and doubt she would enjoy any of my book choices and I can't stand romance novels, regardless of the authors' sex. However, I'll always give any book a try if it appeals to me, but as a fantasy/sci-fi reader it is mostly male authors. As far as I can tell there are as many successful female authors as male, maybe more. So there seems to be a working balance.

Oh, and no offence taken at all, just keep enjoying books.

The musing hour

[John C. Bieber]

Do not waste a moment of your life on James Patterson's ...stuff. It is manufactured on an assembly line. Pick up one of his hardcovers some day and you will see it filled with empty space. No words. 190 page book with 115 chapters??? What! His recent book about King Tut is the size of a modest magazine article... in hard cover. It is insulting to book buyers. Patterson is the luckiest writer in the world and his fans are tunnel visioned sheep.

[Lexie]

I don't avoid male authors, but at the same time I don't read them as widely as female authors.

though conversely, a lot of the manga-ka that I read are male ::shrugs::

I don't think its so much how they write, but what they write. The male authors I do enjoy (Anton Strout, S.M. Stirling, T.A. Pratt) all write in a way that easily relate to. Snarky (Strout), Pessimistic (Stirling), Dark humor (Pratt)...though I enjoy more short stories by men then I do by women. Anthologies tend to hit the divide for me, but its usually whether I enjoyed most of the male contributors work or not to decide if I keep it or not.

[M. J. Macie]

Hi,

I have to agree, partially. I LOVE Nicholas Sparks. That man can write! Give him a try and see if you don't agree (Let me know, please). Other than him, although I like Steve Martini, I don't think I read male authors. To me, something is missing. I love Steven King's characterization. They are so real and lifelike to me, however, he tends to go on, and on, and on...There is just something special about a woman's voice. It's like God gave this to us. His gift to women because we have always struggled in this world to make our mark. I don't know if you read Elizabeth George's Thomas Lindley series but she has created the most wonderful, true to life male character. He's moody and broody, but always says the most tender and thoughtful thing and acts so appropriately you can't help but overlook his moods. Even if you watch the series on PBS, the movies can't compare to the books. Believe me!

[Philip Nork]

I'm a man...not a romance writer...and not offended! I do think, as do many reviewers, that my book "Sensitivity 101 for the Heterosexual Male, Lessons Learned from th... is one you may want to read. Many of my reviews state that "the stories are ripe with feeling and diversity." and that "it's not just for males, or even just heterosexual individuals."
Check it out on my profile and see if you may change your mind, at least on one male author!

[melydia]

Interesting thought. I don't think I'm prejudiced either way - I read what I like to read without giving much thought to the gender of the author. The majority of the authors I've enjoyed have been male, but I also read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, which is a heavily male-dominated genre.

You might be interested in a series of blog posts a friend of mine is writing called Why Men Don't Enjoy Romance Novels. The first installment is here: http://edstasheff.livejournal.com/10516.html