Discussion Post: Why Do Less Boys Than Girls Read?

Hey guys!! Guess who’s finally doing a discussion post?? I hadn’t really planned on doing this but I saw this great post on why there are more female protagonists than male protagonists from Beth @ Reading Every Night and then a lovely discussion post on why there such little male book bloggers from Lu @ It’s Lu Again and that got me thinking- why do less boys than girls read? I researched a bit on that, and I saw all these scientific sites giving me stats on what percent of girls read more than boys etc, etc, but I didn’t think I any of those sited gave me valid reasons on the topic- boy’s make up like at least 50% – if not more, of the world’s population- why do such less boys read then? THAT DOESN’T ADD UP TO MY CALCULATIONS.

I came up with some reasons for that:

1. There are a LOT more female protagonists than male protagonists

This is a fact that no one can deny. I can whip out a list of amazing female protagonists who kick butt and I wouldn’t break a sweat. But if you told me to name many good male protagonists, I’d have to start thinking for a bit once I say Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. And the even bigger problem is that even when there ARE male protagonists, they need to share the limelight with a female one, and the females usually get a bit more attention. Because of this, guys don’t really connect or relate to a book, because if you don’t see yourself in a book, you don’t usually enjoy it. When they don’t have any great male characters to relate to, a role model to look up to or be inspired by, how can we expect them to love a book? Really, where ARE the male protagonists???

2. Male characters are SO sexualised

This is something I touched on in my review for Turtles All The Way Down, but I want to talk about it in some depth here. Let’s all admit it. We love it when the males in our books are described as hot AF boys with sharp jawlines, defined six packs, deep blue eyes, tousled black hair, snarky grins and dimples, and god knows what else. I won’t deny it, even I love it when my male characters are attractive. But what we don’t realise when we’re reading the book and lost in the image of our dream characters- this creates such unrealistic pressure on boys. NO ONE in real life looks this perfect (except the Dolan Twins but thats not the point) but by writing about ONLY these kind of males, boys feel really insecure, because not many of them look like that, and it makes them think the only way they’re gonna get a girl is by being inhumanly attractive. And it probably makes the more average looking boys think that they aren’t good enough in any way and makes them feel uncomfortable in their own skin. And so instead of reading about sexy and attractive guys who bring their self-esteem down, guys just don’t read at all. I don’t blame them- when none of the guys in books represent average looking guys, or guys who they see themselves in, what’s the point of picking the book up then?

3. Reading is generally considered a more girly thing?

I don’t understand why this is still a thing. We live in the 21st century. It’s gonna be 2018 in a month for god’s sake. We aren’t friggin cavemen anymore. WHY IS READING STILL CONSIDERED GIRLY??? WHY ARE GUYS WHO READ CONSIDERED SHY/QUIET/GAY?? WHY IS BEING GAY AN INSULT??? WHAT IS WRONG WITH SHY AND QUIET??? WHY CAN’T A GUY WHO LIKES TO PARTY ALSO LIKE TO READ??? WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?? I’m friends with lots of guys, both in Singapore and in India. And out of what might be the 50 guys I talk to, only 5-8 of them read on a regular basis, and most of them avoid books like the Shadowhunter chronicles, and other popular books, because those books are too “feminine” for them. THESE BOOKS HAVE VAMPIRES AND WEREWOLVES AND HAVE GUYS AND GIRLS WHO GO AROUND WITH SWORDS KILLING DEMONS AND PEOPLE THINK THESE BOOKS ARE FEMININE??? They’re not! THEY’RE FOR E.V.E.R.Y.O.N.E. IF YOU BOTHERED PICKING UP THE BOOK AND READING IT, MAYBE YOU’D UNDERSTAND THAT, YOU IGNORANT IDIOT. But I also can’t blame them, because society has literally forced them into thinking this y’know?

So let’s discuss this in the comments!! Tell me if you agree with my thoughts, and if you have more things to add on to! Or maybe you don’t agree- tell me why! And btw, if anyone has any links to male book bloggers who read YA, please put them down below?? I’d love to chat with some boy bloggers!! Do you have any ideas on how we can get more guys into the reading? Comment it all down below and chat with me!

Thanks for reading!!

-Rhea