Speaking of gendered toys

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maureen-johnson/gender-coverup_b_3231484.html

And the simple fact of the matter is, if you are a female author, you are much more likely to get the package that suggests the book is of a lower perceived quality. Because it's "girly," which is somehow inherently different and easier on the palate. A man and a woman can write books about the same subject matter, at the same level of quality, and that woman is simple more likely to get the soft-sell cover with the warm glow and the feeling of smooth jazz blowing off of it. If we sell more -- and we often don't -- it is simply because we produce candy, and who doesn't like candy? We're the high fructose corn syrup of literature, even when our products are the same. It's okay to sell the girls as long as we have some men to provide protein.

Maybe this idea that there are "girl books" and "boy books" and "chick lit" and "whatever is the guy equivalent of chick lit"* gives credit to absolutely no one, especially not the boys who will happily read stories by women, about women. As a lover of books and someone who supports readers and writers of both sexes, I would love a world in which books are freed from some of these constraints. Maybe we should do boys the favor we girls received -- a reading diet featuring books by and about the opposite sex. Clearly, it must work.

One way we can do that quite easily is by looking at the covers. We're told not to judge books by them, but... EVERYBODY DOES. That is what they are for. They are the packages that get your attention, that give you messages about what to expect.

Which is why yesterday, I proposed a little experiment on Twitter. I asked people to take a well-known book, then to imagine the author of that book was of the opposite gender, or was genderqueer, and imagine what that cover might look like. Because we have these expectations in our heads already. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/07/coverflip-maureen-johnson_n_3231935.html?1367956789

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

That is pretty interesting.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Isn't it?

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

Wow, the comments are full of race issues and YA vs adult fic and all sorts of fun craziness. I think Ms. Johnson makes a good point, I've often been tempted to write two novels roughly the same only genderflipped and market them to publishers under different names just to see what happens.

Gender bias seems to saturate pretty much every god damn thing we do or don't do.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

That's one thing that hasn't changed since the Bronte sisters used guys' names. 

There's shitty dumbass paperbacks marketed to men, too, but you don't see anybody talking about "dood lit".

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

That's one thing that hasn't changed since the Bronte sisters used guys' names. 

There's shitty dumbass paperbacks marketed to men, too, but you don't see anybody talking about "dood lit".

I've heard it called 'cowboy lit' though. Hmm. Only once. In a doctor's office.