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First, I doubt the truth of "men don't read books by women". Too many exceptions to believe that it's true-but I will accept that people who self-generate fear believe that. And second, I suspect that it's more the publishers who fear lack of sales than the authors.
And if you're going to complain about initials why not complain about pseudonyms? They've been used for the same reason. (George Eliot, anyone?) Pseudonyms can (and probably do) conceal more than gender. How about race? Or politics? (The latter might be unlikely. I doubt if well-known politicians write books hoping to convert people who dislike them and if it's for the sales then using their own name would help. But it's possible. I know some authors, probably including politicians, have used aliases to post glowing reviews of their books.)
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