I’ve been
thinking a lot about the double standard in book sales lately. Does it matter whether the protagonist is male or female to you?
There’s nothing
strange about a woman reading a novel from the perspective of a boy or man, but
suggest a guy read a novel about a girl and expect to receive an insincere
promise to “check it out” when he gets the chance. And don’t hold your breath. He probably won't.
A close friend
tried to explain it to me, saying “men have different roles then women; they
can’t get anything out of a novel by a woman, because it’s not shaped to fit
their specific purpose as men.” Well said, I thought, but I had a few
questions.
Like isn’t every
man’s purpose in life different? And then, could a book be tailored to every
man’s different purpose simply because it’s told by a man? And don’t women have specific purposes in life, too? And
how, then, are they able to enjoy or learn from any novels about males?
The most
respected works of all time (respected by both
sexes) are invariably tales of men. You might disagree, thinking “What about
Austen? What about AUSTEN??” But, honestly, how many men have you caught nose deep in Sense and Sensibility or Emma? Very few.
But why should
men be interested in the escapades of strong women? I guess, it’s only fair to
ask then, why should women care about the battles of brave men?
For a novel to
have a shot at reaching the minds of men and women of all ages, does a protagonist
need facial hair, or the promise of it?
No comments:
Post a Comment