Monday, July 9, 2012
The Gender Games
In the past few years, (roughly since the release of The Hunger Games books) young adult novels have become a hot item in bookstores. The thing I find most interesting about this is that there seems to be a rather female slant to this trend. I'm no expert by any means, but I'm not sure I could even name more than a couple of male YA authours. Not only that, but it appears that these novels often focus on female main characters, or at the very least, these characters gain a large fanbase. This makes me curious as to why there appears to be this gender division in the genre. Is it that girls start reading at a younger age, or are they just more interested in the subject matter offered? Or perhaps the media has confused me entirely on the subject, and I'm all wrong. What do you think, readers?
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I would probably vote with the fact that girls usually read before boys. Stories like Twilight and The Hunger Games appeal to younger girls in several manners. Both feature love triangles, which teenage girls love, but also because Bella Swan is an emotionless Lego brick so every reader can imprint her own personality characteristics on Bella to form a perfect fantasy. They also look up to Katniss Everdeen because she is a strong female character and a role model.
ReplyDeleteHi there!
ReplyDeleteFirst off: just found you via 20sb. When I noticed you were from Ontario I had to come take a peek- Ontario is my home. I live in BC now, but hopefully not for too much longer.
Second, I think you're right about the YA genre being pretty girly these days. I think young girls gravitate to books that enable them to feel as if they're in a big, serious, dramatic relationship when they're still too young to really experience such a thing in real life. Teen girls want nothing more than to grow up, and those books help them feel like they are.
Third, just noticed on your sidebar that you're a fan of Lights of Endangered species. This is good news, that album is one of my favourites.
Looking forward to reading more.
Thanks for reading!
DeleteI dunno. I can think of a lot of male authors who write YA novels. Sherman Alexie, Rudolfo Anaya, TC Boyle--but then again they aren't only YA novelists. You might want to check out www.hollywoodjane.com. She's doing a series of podcasts where she talks about YA novels (she's a YA writer herself). If I recall the last few that she talked about were male.
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