[taosaur]

So, I just scanned the Sykes post, and unless he made some ninja edits, he doesn't appear to be characterizing literature as a woman at all. Based on the pictures, both parties are dudes. Yes, the b-word is inherently misogynistic to a degree that often goes ignored for purposes of using it ironically or in jest, but it is not being directed at a woman or used to imply feminine traits in this case. It's being used in a very general way, where any other expletive could be substituted with no effect whatsoever on the overall text.

The post is uninspired, misguided, unfunny and overlong, but not terribly misogynistic.

ETA: Additionally, and I hesitate to even bring it up, he invokes "Mainstream Literature"--the original letter was not addressing mainstream anything, but genre fiction and literary fiction. A little of both manages to be mainstream, but the majority of the mainstream is neither, consisting instead of General fiction with elements of both. Of the two parties imagined to be in conflict, genre certainly has a larger share of the mainstream.