Gender Bias And You

[Buckwheat]

WK, bbstark - thank you for that inspired OP.

and I'm just sitting here ,studying periods :lmao:

Do tell us more about that - do you, as a man, feel like you are missing something out on the descriptions of Cersei's and Sansa's periods in comparison to the female readers, due to the unfortunate fact that you cannot ever have the same experience by that particular bodily function yourself?

thanks for posting this WK,

the Author has stated that more than 50% of his readership are women.... so what gives?

We need to get to the bottom of this, are we asking the right questions regarding the gender of the readership? Is gender a significant factor? and WHY are we surprised to find out so many readers are women?

If we are serious for the moment:

1. Nope, because 2.= No.

2. No.

3. I am really not, but then most people in general I know are women. :P

[Queen‍‍‍‍‍‍ Alysanne‍‍™]

GRRM said he's a feminist in an interview I think.

[Benjen of the Kingsguard]

The series was written for women? Really? Huh. I've never met a single female reader in roughly two years.

Edit: Oh wait, OP isn't serious.

Always read before you post.

[N/A]

WK, bbstark - thank you for that inspired OP.

Do tell us more about that - do you, as a man, feel like you are missing something out on the descriptions of Cersei's and Sansa's periods in comparison to the female readers, due to the unfortunate fact that you cannot ever have the same experience by that particular bodily function yourself?

:P

do you really want me to get medical bucky ...a lot of big words :p

[Buckwheat]

do you really want me to get medical bucky ...a lot of big words :P

Aw shucks, you got me here. As a feeble-minded she-being, it is known that I am by default unable to understand big words about medicine and other progressive complicated sciences and will just shut up and ask questions that are beyond my comprehension now. I will go back to the kitchen where I belong and try to figure out how to set up a cooker - I might even call you for help because the instructions are clearly too complicated for my poor mind to grasp.

BTW, your reading comprehension is lacking - I was not asking about the medical details of periods, but about your own thoughts and feelings* on the specific themes inside the literary text we are discussing. ;)

*That is, if you, the manliest of men, are able of verbalising your internal feelings in a comprehensive written word at all, since it is known that men are beings of reason and bad at expressing feelings.

[E-Ro]

Damn I cant believe I missed the last one.(yes I saw it, all of it and I felt the love) Anyway I think its great that the series has so many fans of both genders. Fantasy is(with a few notable exceptions) Usually a niche market. Its fantastic that so many wonderful men and women love the series!

As for my favorite ship, its hard to say since im not really a shipper, but I ship shireen and happiness. I love her so much and just want her to be happy and continue the baratheon line with her true love whoever that may be.

I also saw reference to my gilded cage. Its a touchy subject, and im not supposed to discuss it. But the oppressive matriarchy has made me an intellectual hostage to their every whim. Its terrible(you know who you are, no names because I dont want any anger at this post) But my situation is pretty similar to sansas in clash and part of storm tbh. The only difference is that I have come to see and understand the point of view of my captors and it scares me. Slight case of Stockholm syndrome perhaps.

Anyhow moving on.

I think it is kind of surprising that grrm said that more then half the readers are female. Its really just a testament to how strong of a writer he is that he can do female povs just as good as male ones. What a great thread!

[Ser Hippie]

I read it for the detailed, deeply romantic, sex scenes and Ilyrio.

[N/A]

Aw shucks, you got me here. As a feeble-minded she-being, it is known that I am by default unable to understand big words about medicine and other progressive complicated sciences and will just shut up and ask questions that are beyond my comprehension now. I will go back to the kitchen where I belong and try to figure out how to set up a cooker - I might even call you for help because the instructions are clearly too complicated for my poor mind to grasp.

BTW, your reading comprehension is lacking - I was not asking about the medical details of periods, but about your own thoughts and feelings* on the specific themes inside the literary text we are discussing. ;)

*That is, if you, the manliest of men, are able of verbalising your internal feelings in a comprehensive written word at all, since it is known that men are beings of reason and bad at expressing feelings.

*pats bucky's head* that's a nice flower :p

i like how i never even mentioned any of this :lol: anyway i don't particularly like periods as a man but i do appreciate women :grouphug:

[TalalOfDorne]

I admit, I try to read "Period Scenes" extra hard to try and get the full image of what the female characters might go through :leaving:

I didnt find it difficult to relate to Cat. Strangely, I faced this problem with Sansa, who is still one of my favorites characters, and like Cat, the amount of hate she sometimes gets is just ridiculous.

I love characters like Tyrion, Oberyn, and Victarion, yet also love characters like Ellaria, Cersei, and Selyse (Yes, Selyse!)

Im also more into the politics of the story than the battle scenes.

I guess thats all Ive thought of.

Like, because I am so tired of the hate female characters get in other fandoms (hello Skyler!) and the relative rarity of complex female characters in general,

Yeah, its annoying. In BBs case, I knew the moment I watched her in the first episode that Skyler was gonna get that much hate.

[Fanless Mace]

Regardless of how serious this post was intended...

Okay, here's why one guy likes it: first, I read LOTR and Narnia books over and over as a kid, and I read all the Harry Potter books...I guess I like fantasy stories that have fantastic and well-developed worlds, a multitude of characters, and significant political/social upheaval. So when I read about ASOFAI a few years back in a New Yorker article, I said to myself, I gotta read that someday!

Second, I watched the TV show before reading. And the very first episode has a beheading in the first five minutes, and incestual porn at the end. Score! My wife and I were both hooked.

Once I got into the TV show, me and the wife started reading chapters to each other put of GOT. But she's no fantasy reader, and I wanted to read ahead...so it was me who got hooked, and she's only in it for the TV show now.

So...I don't know for sure why women may like this stuff more than men, but it may also have to do with some guys having aversions to damsel-in-distress Arthurian legends...which is how the series may sound to the uninitiated. Sounds like romantic claptrap to some.

But as for why men might like it? Well, first, it's complex, well-written, full of mysteries. Plus, it's got swords. It's got zombies. It's got naked chicks. It's got battle scenes. It's got intrigue and political and economic turmoil. Murder. Blood. History. Death destruction and doom. What's not to like?!

And finally, as a SNAG (sensitive new age guy), while I have no interest in Shades of Gray, I'm also not turned off by a book just because they mention the color of Varys's robes every now and then. It's hardly a fashion-focused book, and without the occasional meal description, it wouldn't be much different. The main story is one of warfare, politics, history, and the magic of a different world...subjects which, in my house, tend to be attractive to the only male, and to none of the females.

[E-Ro]

You know what I think is worth discussing in here, why on earth would a butterball find so fascinating about this series? I mean, it seems highly offensive to them. The only butterball in all the novels is a fool named "Butterbumps" so what exactly would they like about this? I just dont understand.

Thoughts?

[Buckwheat]

A literature professor on my faculty once did a research that showed that more women than men read, end o story. Not a particular genre or title, just women are more likely to have reading as their hobby than men. Is it possible that the difference GRRM mentions about the fanbase of his books only comes from there?

Obviously, the research only applied to this country, so I do not have an idea if the results are relevant in the USA or anywhere else in the world.

*pats bucky's head* that's a nice flower :P

i like how i never even mentioned any of this :lol: anyway i don't particularly like periods as a man but i do appreciate women :grouphug:

You know what I think? I think you do not. *pats x's head* (which I also post, but I mean it in the middle of joking, not when somebody is trying to have a serious discussion with me) is patronising in this context. And you obviously do not appreciate me enough to want to give a real answer to my questions about your perspective of a literary text we are trying to discuss here. :dunno:

[N/A]

A literature professor on my faculty once did a research that showed that more women than men read, end o story. Not a particular genre or title, just women are more likely to have reading as their hobby than men. Is it possible that the difference GRRM mentions about the fanbase of his books only comes from there?

Obviously, the research only applied to this country, so I do not have an idea if the results are relevant in the USA or anywhere else in the world.

You know what I think? I think you do not. *pats x's head* (which I also post, but I mean it in the middle of joking, not when somebody is trying to have a serious discussion with me) is patronising in this context. And you obviously do not appreciate me enough to want to give a real answer to my questions about your perspective of a literary text we are trying to discuss here. :dunno:

buck seriously ? what was that wall of text implying.

for the record , my studies indicate that Mr Martin's description of periods is rather excessive and while not completely inaccurate , it does neglect certain aspects and focus on other ones for what I'd suspect are due to Mr Martin's lack of medical knowledge .

buck ,I'm sorry if i offended you but i do appreciate you and enjoy our conversations :grouphug:

[Nite's King]

Boobs and incest!

[Osney Kettleblack]

CAN'T YOU SEE THIS FIGHTING IS TEARING US APART?!! :bawl:

[Jory Cassel]

A literature professor on my faculty once did a research that showed that more women than men read, end o story. Not a particular genre or title, just women are more likely to have reading as their hobby than men. Is it possible that the difference GRRM mentions about the fanbase of his books only comes from there?

Obviously, the research only applied to this country, so I do not have an idea if the results are relevant in the USA or anywhere else in the world.

Going by experience I can confirm this, would not be a big surprise if the gender-discrepancy in asoiaf-readership was owed to this phenomenon.

[juanml82]

Men aren't afraid of rape?

Just throw their ass in jail and see if they don't take extra precautions with their soap.

Well, yes, but how many men are afraid of getting send into jail to begin with?

[Hutch]

I'm weary of delving into this rather hostile environment, but what the hell.

In what is only my personal experience, I know more men then women that read this series. On the flip side I know more women then men that watch this series.

I'm not going to try to say that my experiences in this case point toward anything, and that's the point I'd like to make.

I for one think everyone drawing lines in the sand about gender, favorite characters, etc is rather silly. The fact remains that we are all extremely big fans of the story, regardless of gender, environment, employment etc and Martin has done a fantastic job of creating a story that manages to elicit such strong emotional reactions from a very diverse group of people.

Now that I've got that off my chest, can we all go back to arguing about secret Targs, and most importantly

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XRGd0gD0QNE

[Mark Antony]

Boobs and incest!

+ Fights to the death, Fuck yeah

[Winter's Knight]

The series was written for women? Really? Huh. I've never met a single female reader in roughly two years.

Edit: Oh wait, OP isn't serious.

Always read before you post.

Umm,, OP is serious-from the point where she says "In all seriousness...", she is serious.

I'm weary of delving into this rather hostile environment, but what the hell.

In what is only my personal experience, I know more men then women that read this series. On the flip side I know more women then men that watch this series.

I'm not going to try to say that my experiences in this case point toward anything, and that's the point I'd like to make.

I for one think everyone drawing lines in the sand about gender, favorite characters, etc is rather silly. The fact remains that we are all extremely big fans of the story, regardless of gender, environment, employment etc and Martin has done a fantastic job of creating a story that manages to elicit such strong emotional reactions from a very diverse group of people.

Now that I've got that off my chest, can we all go back to arguing about secret Targs, and most importantly

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XRGd0gD0QNE

I think you misunderstood.

I wanted to find out-not why men/women read the books-but how your gender affects your reading? The experiences that come with being a man or a woman, how do they affect you?

For example, I knew a poster who once told me that Dany's Daario phase irritated her because it reminded her of her own teenaged decisions.

Another example would be that I liked Sansa in the beginning because she reminded me of my own princess phase.