Hmm... Interesting.

So during a debate in English this morning about feminism (we watched way more gLee than we probably needed to and Katy Perry's stupid Calfornia Girls video), me and Karlene got into a debate over whether we've read more books by females or by males, wondering if we're living up to our feminist nature. So we started a list. Sadly, it's terribly difficult to do this from memory, other than the main writers we watch, so on my spare I rambled through my Goodreads "read" list to see the authors I've read and how many books by them I've read. And what I found kinda shocked me. Here's the results:

Males (11)
Douglas Adams
Eoin Colfer
Garth Nix
Kenneth Oppel
Christopher Paolini
James Patterson
Rick Riordan
W. Shakespeare
Geoffrey Trease
Homer
Isaac Asimov

Females (17)
Kelley Armstrong

Flavia Bujor
Meg Cabot
P.C. Cast
Cassandra Clare
Cornelia Funke
S.E. Hinton
Sue Monk Kidd
Harper Lee
Lesley Livingston
Stephenie Meyer
Jenny Nimmo
Tamora Pierce
Anne Rice
J.K. Rowling
Mary Shelly
Patricia C. Wrede

As you can see, there are clearly more female writer's that I've read than male ones. But the other thing I counted was how many books by them I've read. The results were:

Males: 58 books                      Females: 46 books

So even though I've read more female authors, I've still read more books my males. My brain starting to sink into Philosophy mode for next period, I started to wonder why. Then I noticed some patterns.

The males, for the most part, have all written lengthy series, with some still not completed. The average amount of books in a series with a male author is around 6-8 books, and that's with some unfinished series remember. Then I looked at the girls side. With the exception of Rowling and Nimmo, who broke the barrier at the begninning of my childhood for female fantasy writers, most of the females that tossed us, threw us, and took us on wild adventures wrote only 3 or 4 books for their series. On average, girls get a lot more done with less paper.

Also noticed, on close analysis, that most of the female authors I've read I've picked up relitively recently, other than the old classics you read in school.

It appears females are a minority in the sci-fi/fantasy world, but they're starting to make their mark. Which gives me hope that I might be on that list someday.

Girl Power!!!
Amanda Out.