Weekly Geeks: Bring on the Ladies

This week's Weekly Geeks has four very intriguing questions:

• What are your feelings about literary prizes regarding WHO gets selected? Do you think literary judges tend to be biased more toward men? If yes, why do you think that is?
• Tell us about some of your favorite books written by women.
• Do you tend to read more books authored by men or by women?
• What are your thoughts about the label "chick lit?" Do you think it makes a difference what we call women's fiction? Are books written by women more likely to be labeled "light," or unimportant? 

I am clearly supposed to focus on one of the questions, but in the interests of overachieving....

Literary Prizes and Male Bias
I do not have enough background knowledge to answer this with any sort of authority; however, my gut reaction is that statistics are on the side of men winning because I think there are more male literary (in the definitions employed by awards) authors than female. I don't necessarily think that the results are due to bias, just odds. And I do have a problem when people freak out about women not winning, claiming sexism when it may be skill. I do not think, at all, that gender should come into play when deciding on the literary merit of a book (you know, since books don't have any reproductive parts). I do not think men should be excluded or awards should be "more inclusive" unless the work merits the attention. If a book written by a middle-aged male is "better" than the book written by a female, then the male's book wins. Now the definition of "better" does cause some serious issues, but that's for another discussion. And I realize that this opinion may not be a very popular one, but to be clear: if the book written by the female is "better" than the one by the male, then it should win (obviously). It would be perfect if the judges had no freaking clue who wrote the book they are judging (impossible, but hey, I can dream can't I?).

Male v. Female Authors
I, quite fortuitously, am at about 50% each for my male v. female author ratio, which I think is awesome. I like the idea that I read about equally. Last year, I read 58 books by males and 69 books by females (and quite a few authors who may freak out by the binary listed here : D )

Chick Lit
To me, this term describes a particular style of book, and it makes no difference whether a male or a female wrote it. For example, Nicholas Sparks is chick lit to me. I even think the term "women's fiction" is distinct from chick lit. And I don't think the gender of the author is any indication of the "heaviness" of the text.

Books by Women That I've Loved
This list could go on for an obscene quantity of time, so I'll try to keep it short:

"Literary" Favorites from the Last Few Years:

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
The Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet by Myrlin A. Hermes

Great Female Authors that Pop to Mind (not necessarily "literary"):

Virginia Woolf, Suzanne Collins (Underland Chronicles), Margaret Atwood, Daphne du Maurier, Isabel Allende, J.K. Rowling, Dorothy Allison, Zora Neale Hurston, Shirley Jackson, Toni Morrison, Ayn Rand, Alice Walker, and Edith Wharton

Overall, I think women have contributed tremendously to the wonder that is reading, and I just wish that gender could take a backseat to the books (what's really important). It's sad that we still live in a time where the gender of an author has such an impact on the perception and criticism of a book. Maybe one day we can break free from this strange gender binary, so wrapped up in difference, and focus on a more inclusionary gender where we realize that the continuum that is gender does not create or negate skill in writing.