Baby Got Books

Gender Gaps

BGB’s West Coast correspondent, Weezie, forwarded me a link to an NPR story that looks at the question, “Why do women read more than men?” The article notes:

Book groups consist almost entirely of women, and the spate of new literary blogs are also populated mainly by women. The Associated Press study stirred a small buzz among some of those bloggers.

Really? I see quite a few men on the lit blogging scene. I guess their presence doesn’t make for good sweeping generalizations. The basis of the article is an Associated Press survey that found that women read more than men, and women read more fiction than men. Do not confuse this with Science. With no data that would be considered “scientific” or any reality-based explanations offered, the article is free to speculate that the “fiction gap” begins in childhood.

“Girls have an easier time with reading or written work, and it’s not a stretch to extrapolate [that] to adult life,” Brizendine says. Indeed, adult women talk more in social settings and use more words than men, she says.

It’s not a stretch to extrapolate that to adult life? What is a stretch then?

Well, men may get the last laugh. According to two new studies, which were actually “studies,” men are happier than women. The “happiness gap” may be attributable to the “hottie theory.” Women – apparently – can’t just excel, they have to worry about being hot. Men, on the other hand, are free to look like schlubs, just be awesome, and give each other high fives.

Books | Tim | September 26, 2007 12:57 pm

11 Comments

By Dr J, September 26, 2007 @ 1:51 pm

Men also get to eat as many chili-slaw dogs and onion rings as they want at the Varsity. Don’t forget that part.
High five!
By Tim, September 26, 2007 @ 1:53 pm

Dude. That is so awesome!
By shortbus, September 26, 2007 @ 8:20 pm

You guys smell.
By flavawheel, September 26, 2007 @ 8:29 pm

Interestingly, I read a study that said it’s not that men smell, it’s that women preceive that we do. Although I actually do smell. Bad.
By flavawheel, September 26, 2007 @ 8:31 pm

Preceive? Nice. I suppose women are also better at spelling.
By Dr J, September 26, 2007 @ 11:04 pm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20836711/site/newsweek/
This photo has to win Louie Psihoyos a pulitzer. HAS TO.
By Herman Glimscher, September 27, 2007 @ 8:19 am

Re: The photo. I have to quote Peter Cook’s comment about about “Intestinal Modeling.” “Not a good job, that.”

I’ve actually seen a study that cast doubt on the notion that women talk much more than men. In fact, I was just reading (Go put on a skirt, Mary!) last week in a book called The Social Atom that there is good reason to doubt these studies in general because of a lack of scientific rigor.

We should also try to keep in mind the scientific fact that girls are made of sugar and spice and, quite often, a jot of tobasco.
By Beth (The Toronto One), September 27, 2007 @ 8:20 am

Worry about being a hottie? I’d rather read.
By Tim, September 28, 2007 @ 8:49 am

The hottie theory, as I understand it, was developed to explain the unhappiness of teenage girls. Good luck with that.
By Ms. Journo-friend, September 28, 2007 @ 12:10 pm

Thank God I got a son… that’s all I have to say.
By Tim, September 28, 2007 @ 1:37 pm

I give that guy a high five every time I see him.