The fact of the matter is few readers think about the gender of the authors who write the books they read. But the ways we learn about books, largely from the attention they get in the media, including through lists like [The New York Times notable books list] — shape not just our reading choices, but the very idea of what constitutes good literature. One message the elevation of books written by men communicates is that the male story is more important than the female one.

There’s a kind of feedback loop. Male authors are held in higher esteem, therefor more publishers give more chances to male authors, therefor more male authors get published, therefor more male authors get noticed, therefor more male authors are held in higher esteem. Repeat. Ditto for LGBT lit, POC lit, etc. 

It’s fine to love whatever books you like. This isn’t about what individuals like to read, but what stories our overall culture sees as valuable and notable. The books we study in grade school, the books that comprise the “If you haven’t read these 100 books then you’re an uncultured swine” lists that go around, the “classics”, the “instant classics”. They’re overwhelmingly male, overwhelmingly white. This isn’t about telling people what to enjoy, merely that what we’ve been led to see as valuable is very limited, and worth branching out.