A few days ago I read a post which made me laugh. I’m not sure it was supposed to make me laugh. As a woman I should probably have whipped off my bra, stood up and waved my feminism around, outraged at an all-male book club which would only read male protagonists. But yes, I confess, it made me laugh, because I don’t think they’re going to have a shortage of books to read. Personally I don’t have an issue with guys getting together to discuss books with male protagonists (and more than likely written by men). My ex was a great reader and I miss discussing books with him, and I would be thrilled if my son read at all. There’s room for all readers; we have different perspectives, and clubs are one way to discuss books. Let’s face it, I’m not about to go to a book club where all the members are homophobes.

What did annoy me (PG version) was a tweet from a guy who insisted there was gender parity in the literary world because of J.K. Rowling. So a mega-successful author who used a neutral pseudonym to write about a boy makes up for all the other issues… I don’t think so. Books about women win less prizes. Women authors still get less reviews than men although this is improving in 2016 from 2015. Actually the only time I was really trolled was by a man who insisted this data was faked. Stereotypes exist in abundances on how the genders write. I have read article after article from men who only read books written by men which is why women disguise their gender with a neutral or male pseudonym. Of course now I can’t find the articles. And lets not get started on LGBT/POC authors/characters… because I could go on forever.

As I said, I have no issues with men only book clubs. There are women only book clubs for a reason. But let’s not even begin to think that a level playing field exists between men and women, let alone Straight/lgbt or white/POC. Not yet, anyway.