« Four out of five men said the last novel they read was by a man, whereas women were almost as likely to have read a book by a male author as a female. When asked what novel by a woman they had read most recently, a majority of men found it hard to recall or could not answer. Women, however, often gave several titles. The report said: « Men who read fiction tend to read fiction by men, while women read fiction by both women and men ».
Consequently, fiction by women remains « special interest », while fiction by men still sets the standard for quality, narrative and style.
Although no one would admit that the gender of the author had any influence on their choice of fictional reading-matter, men were still far less likely to have read a novel by a woman than by a man, whereas women read titles by either.
Pressed for a preference, many men also found it much more difficult to « like » or « admire » a novel authored by a woman – for them « great » writing was male writing (oh – apart from Jane Austen, of course),’ the report said.
The research was carried out by academics Lisa Jardine and Annie Watkins of Queen Mary College, London, to mark the 10th year of the Orange Prize for Fiction. »
From an article in The Guardian.
Found via Bookslut.