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- cross-posted to:
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Summary
Concerns about American men reading less fiction have sparked cultural debates linking the trend to toxic masculinity and political shifts, such as increased support for Donald Trump.
Men read fewer books and less fiction than women, but the gap is modest. 73% of men and 78% of women read books annually, with fiction readership differing by 10-17%.
The exaggerated 80/20 gender fiction market split lacks verified sources.
Critics argue the “crisis” reflects fears about male disengagement, yet male authors still dominate bestseller lists and literary awards, complicating the narrative.
I’m super suspicious of the 70%+ stats for annual readership, I know a lot of people that don’t read books at all.
Also, there’s a massive difference between someone who reads a single book they bought at the airport to pass the time on a flight and someone who actually reads.
Same. Especially in the US I suspect a good chunk of that is people who claim to read the bible and are counting that as “I read a book this year”.
There’s going to be a lot of bias when you try to go off of people you know
Personally, I’m pretty hard-pressed to think of anyone in my circles who doesn’t read at least a couple books a year.
And not everyone who reads necessarily does it when you’re around and may not talk about the reading they do for any number of reasons like they’re just not interested in talking about books, are embarrassed by the books they read, etc.
I don’t have time to read, these games are not going to play themselves
Same, I’m skeptical, but I fully believe that that many people say they read. Nobody wants to admit on the record that they don’t read.
Yeah I think it would be more telling to look at the average number per year and a monthly spread.