Men vs. women reading novels

[MsAmerica]

I just ran across this, and although the statistics are for America, I suspect that it's more broadly applicable.

A 2022 study conducted by the National Endowment for the Arts indicated a large gender gap when it comes to reading fiction, finding that 46.9 percent of women read fiction, compared to 27.7 percent of men.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/books/could-a-river-runs-through-it-have-been-a-hit-today.html

Three questions occur to me:

1.Do men avoid novels because they feel reading should be utilitarian?

2.Do men avoid novels because they have no interest in solitary exclusively mental amusement, and prefer their amusements to involve physicality, like sports?

3.Do men avoid novels because they have little capacity for, or interest in, other people and their concerns, as in novel characterizations? And does this connect in some way to men's willingness to be violent or go to war, that they may have difficult in seeing others are comparably fully human?

I hope some of you enjoy batting this around!

Well, especially as, as you say, there’s no equivalent dismissal of equally disposable popular fiction aimed exclusively at a male readership.

My DH is a big reader but, yes, only books by male authors.

Is that a conscious choice that he makes? Does he have a few favourite familiar authors, who happen to all be male, whose books he seeks out; or does he actively reject any title with a woman's name on the cover?

The ONS says men do 35.3 hours of paid work and 16 hours of unpaid housework and childcare per week (total 51.3h) and women do 27.8 hours of paid work and 26 hours of unpaid housework and childcare (total 53.8h). So while men have an average higher paid hours per year worked, they have a lower average hours worked overall.

My dad is a big fiction reader (mostly thriller/crime type things or whatever you’d call Lee Child etc) and Stephen King. He also loves authors like Mark Twain, James Herriot, Jack London. He will read books written by women if they fall into the genre he likes, but I don’t see as many of them around.

DH reads a lot and it’s probably split 50/50 between novels and other stuff. He does read a lot of poetry too. I think he does read some women authors, especially older sci fi or classic novels, but probably mostly men.

DS1 (19) used to read quite a lot as a child but doesn’t anymore, which I hate. The last book I remember him talking excitedly about was written by a woman, though. I can’t remember what it was, something he had to read for school last year.

DS2 (11) reads all the time and doesn’t seem to notice or care who writes the books. He really likes the How to Train Your Dragon series, written by a woman.

It’s interesting to look at the data!

Hmmm. My son (23), prefers autobiographies or books about history. He does read fiction but prefers factual (if an autobiography can be factual)! I’m just glad he reads. My DD reads a lot. She has a ton of reading for uni but also likes reading the classics and any other book - history, politics, art whatever. She doesn’t like thrillers though. Her uni was repurposing an old library which still had a ton of books mouldering away and said anyone could take them - she had to borrow a wheelie cart to get them to her house, all scholarly books.
I read fiction, the occasional autobiography. My DH read more history based novels. What I don’t like are those sickly love story ‘girlie’ books - girl breaks up with fiance, moves to small village, some elderly woman takes her in and guides her and the local hunk who owns the café/bar/flower shop falls for her. Your basic Hallmark crap.

We both read a lot. Unfortunately we both also tend to raid second hand book shops and charity shops buying books so we have lots. One of the tings I noticed on my first visit to his flat was the piles of books.

We have similar tastes in fiction sci fi in both our cases but I also read historical romance.

When he was working he read a lot of non fiction, mainly science related to his work. I do think he tends to read non fiction related to his and his friends hobbies. Is it a male thing, don't know. There's one of his mates downloads lots of Mills&Boon type fiction onto his kindle when he goes away. Says he's spent his life studying, now he's just going to relax and read light stuff. Last time we went around he was watching some Hallmark type film.

Dick lit?

I suppose the traditional explanation would be that men are more practical and grounded and women are more emotional and empathetic. It’s far too crude and simplistic though.

Most generalisations quickly break down. I was going to say that female novelists tend to be less intellectual and less interested in ideas, but then look at Iris Murdoch - fiercely intellectual (read Proust in French and Plato in Greek etc) and often playing with ideas in her novels. Whereas Dickens is highly emotional and empathetic and far more interested in people. It would also be too simplistic to say that female novelists are more concerned with beauty. After all, the great aesthetes (Oscar Wilde, Walter Pater, John Ruskin etc) were all male. Virginia Woolf is the only female aesthete who comes to mind.

beautifully done

I've been with my husband for 43 years and have never known him not have a novel on the go.

I'm so pleased to see you mention that your male acquaintances gravitate to s.f.! A while ago, someone here was asking for s.f. recommendations for her father, and when I suggested that she might do better asking men, rather than in a women's forum, everyone leaped on me to scold!

Sadly, the opinion that women shouldn't be writing, or perhaps even reading, was a common one.

Yes, but I still like the term, and find it cute and expressive!

Sorry.

Will this thread motivate you to ask him why?

Have you tried giving DS1 books for Christmas?

Most generalizations may break down, in the sense of people finding individual exceptions. But I tend to find, in life, that most generalization are fairly valid overall.

I had a friend who had been a heavy smoker and every so often we'd have a big argument where she said that she didn't believe that cigarettes caused cancer because, after all, she was fine. I kept having to explain that it's a matter of odds.

Well, @DorsetKnobBiscuit, undoubtedly that makes him a more interesting person!
:)