1. La Ficción como Territorio "Femenino".
Una idea central en la discusión es que la lectura de ficción se ha codificado culturalmente como una actividad "femenina". Esta percepción social disuade a muchos hombres de participar, asociando las novelas con una falta de "utilidad" o seriedad en comparación con actividades consideradas tradicionalmente masculinas.
- Despite the sexism that still exists in the literary world, i think this is because reading fiction is more broadly viewed as culturally “feminine.” most american men don’t engage with culture produced by women, or activities coded as feminine.
- The other stereotype is that women are more likely to be readers and enjoy fiction, and that somehow makes reading a “lesser” pursuit. It’s completely bogus, but it’s taken root.
- If some men don’t read fiction it’s because they’re taught that reading is a waste of time, that it has no useful function—unlike, say, mowing the lawn or betting on mma matches. Or, you know, reading is somehow a “feminine” endeavor to be avoided.
- Part of this is because fiction readers are increasingly women, so in the minds of conservatives reading is now intrinsically feminine.
2. El Rechazo al Sexismo en la Literatura Masculina.
Muchos lectores, especialmente mujeres, expresan su frustración con el sexismo y la misoginia presentes en la ficción escrita por hombres. Este factor ha llevado a una decisión consciente de dejar de leer a autores masculinos para evitar representaciones ofensivas o estereotipadas de las mujeres en su tiempo de ocio.
- Yup, this. I read for the characters. And i've by and large stopped reading fiction by men because i'm sick of getting slapped in the face with sexism and misogyny in my leisure time.
- I stopped reading fiction written by men for about 15 years when i was raising kids, getting treated badly at work, and getting divorced. I mean, i really didn’t have a lot of interest in hearing what (more) men had to say about women….
- When cis dudes write books that treat women like women, and not objects or stereotypes, i'm there. I don't like most literary fiction because i think it's exceedingly dull and/or dreary. If i enjoy a guy's writing, i keep reading him. If i feel like he doesn't like women, i don't. \_(ツ)_/.
- My only contribution to the (fiction) book discourse is that until men can reliably describe a woman's body without talking about how boobs somehow yearn, i'm going to continue to focus on fiction written by non-men.
3. La Distinción: Ficción Literaria vs. Ficción de Género.
Se argumenta que la "crisis" no afecta a toda la ficción por igual. Mientras que el consumo de ficción literaria por parte de los hombres ha disminuido, muchos siguen leyendo activamente ficción de género como ciencia ficción, fantasía, crimen y épicas históricas, géneros que a menudo no se consideran en estos debates.
- Bizarre that they barely mention the pretty pertinent fact that few men read middle-to-upper brow ‘literary fiction’ any more - and that’s really what they’re talking about, albeit it’s not spelled out. Genre fiction which men do read (crime, historical epics) still has plenty of male authors.
- They're looking at the problem from the wrong end. The decline is in male readers of literary fiction. Women now make up most of the litfic audience, and while men tend to only read books by men, women read books by authors of all genders.
- Look, the fact is men still read. They just read far less literary fiction than they used to, like nearly everybody. (i do think this is a troubling trend, but it's not limited to men.) they still read genre fiction.
- I know a lot of guys who read fiction, but a lot of them read books like dungeon crawler carl that the new york times would self-immolate before acknowledging.
4. El Mercado Editorial y el Círculo Vicioso.
La industria editorial juega un papel crucial. Sabiendo que las mujeres constituyen la mayoría de los compradores de ficción, las editoriales tienden a publicar obras dirigidas a este mercado. Esto crea un ciclo en el que se producen menos libros que podrían atraer a lectores masculinos, lo que a su vez refuerza la tendencia de que los hombres no lean.
- My gut feeling as to why men don't engage in fiction reading is there exists a feedback loop. Publishers know that the vast majority of fiction readers are women, and publishing is a business, so they make books for their biggest market segment, leading to a lack of works.
- Good piece. Also, the vast majority of readers of literary fiction are women, so that naturally affects which books get published.
- I have heard the argument that as men typically tend towards reading male authors and as there's been a decline in men reading fiction, the demand has dropped for male-written fiction. Publishers aren't shunning men, they're going where the money is.
- Reading stuff other than literary fiction does not make you "sub literate". Quite the opposite in fact. It would help if publishers and booksellers actually thought about writing fiction that appeals to men! can't blame men when the book industry actively ignores the male market.
5. La Ficción como Herramienta de Empatía.
Un punto recurrente es el valor de la ficción para desarrollar la empatía. La preocupación por la disminución de lectores masculinos se vincula a las implicaciones sociales de una menor exposición a diferentes perspectivas, lo que podría contribuir a una falta de comprensión y conexión emocional en la sociedad.
- Added to that, there's a discussion that keeps on popping up about the gendered split between fiction readers and non-fiction readers. Apparently, young men especially don't read fiction anymore, if they read at all. Given that fiction is known to help develop empathy for others, that's concerning.
- “susan sontag once said novels can “enlarge your sympathies,” preventing you from “shriveling and becoming narrower.” yet, 80% of fiction readers are now women. No wonder the brutish masculinity that trump and his cronies model is in vogue.
- Spread the word. Men need to read more fiction. It builds empathy and we need a bit more of that today.
- Men need to read fiction. Put the nonfiction down, it’s not working for you. You need to gain empathy. Put yourself in another person’s shoes to close the empathy gap while reading fiction! preferably books written by women! thank you for coming to ted talk.