is there an ereader market for straight men?

[GoSharks]

Originally Posted by sabredog

As long as books are being released and purchased, does it truly matter what sexual preference the reader is?

Only to the one who fell asleep waiting for the reader to finish!

[jshzh]

I would say 99% guys who can't help admiring themselves in the mirror in the gym are straight and 99% guys who spend time shopping clothes for themselves are straight too. Straight men also like gossiping just as women if not more. And, of course, bitch about girls and wives over lunch. Most gay men are probably size-queens not bookworms.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

Actually, it's a handbag.

I beg
to differ.

[astra]

Originally Posted by nguirado

Yes. It's not that men don't think about sex. We do, often. It's just that our thoughts aren't complicated enough to need a prose explanation.

Complicated thoughts

[Ea]

Originally Posted by sabredog

MY wife will tell you I am lesbian, I like women

Truly though, I find these sort of statistical surveys to be of intellectual value only. As long as books are being released and purchased, does it truly matter what sexual preference the reader is?

They matter a lot to advertisers and the sales department of the publisher. But maybe not so much to you and I

[nguirado]

Originally Posted by jshzh

I would say 99% guys who can't help admiring themselves in the mirror in the gym are straight and 99% guys who spend time shopping clothes for themselves are straight too. Straight men also like gossiping just as women if not more. And, of course, bitch about girls and wives over lunch. Most gay men are probably size-queens not bookworms.

My wife...errr...receives and relates information about mutual friends and family to family and friends. You should see her light up when she gets this opportunity. With my friends, we mostly discuss issues, movies, computers, etc. We'll mention friends, but we sense that there's something unmasculine about talking behind a friend's back. A friend of mine once told me that women don't like when men gossip about their friends either.

I think you're closer about concern for one's appearance. I think both do. Maybe women actually enjoy makeup and dressing up while men are more pragmatic about it, which is actually not as effective since women tend to be less into looks than men.

Women enjoy romance more than men. This, I get from book sales, TV habits, movie preferences, etc. I watched the Oxygen channel for 20 minutes in preparation for this post and, man,...it was pretty unpleasant. Women also enjoy home things. I've never shopped for napkin holders. I wouldn't even have thought I needed them.

Men like stereo. Women can listen to cheap speakers.

I just wanted to share my experience, not insist that I'm right.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

I beg
to differ.

Hermes scarves always make me smile because I remember the part in Joanne Harris' Chocolat when Caro gets a Hermes scarf and is finally happy for a few precious minutes.

Sorry, but I love that this is a reading forum and asides like that are tolerated.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by nguirado

I just wanted to share my experience, not insist that I'm right.

Nice save there at the end.

As for gossip being unmasculine, I really wish someone had told that to the guys I used to work with. Ugh.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

I think that this pretty much sums it up.

Seconded

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by jshzh

Most gay men are probably size-queens

I think probably the same portion of gay men are size-queens as are women. Size, in this case, probably provides the same benefits and disadvantages to both sexes.

That's my pseudo-thoughtful and off-topic gem for today.

[wyndslash]

aren't most straight men size queens/kings too? (of course the size of what is different as opposed to gay men and women) xP

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Hermes scarves always make me smile because I remember the part in Joanne Harris' Chocolat when Caro gets a Hermes scarf and is finally happy for a few precious minutes.

Unfortunately, those who are made happy by Hermes scarves tend to be in the minority. Like most people's, my next $890 isn't likely to go toward a netbook-screen-sized square of silk. A comparatively reasonable and chiseled bottle of Serge Lutens is the more likely wrapped object I'll next hand my ladypal.

Still think the scarves look fun, however.

Sorry, but I love that this is a reading forum and asides like that are tolerated.

How dare you.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

Unfortunately, those who are made happy by Hermes scarves tend to be in the minority. Like most people's, my next $890 isn't likely to go toward a netbook-screen-sized square of silk. A comparatively reasonable and chiseled bottle of Serge Lutens is the more likely wrapped object I'll next hand my ladypal.

Still think the scarves look fun, however.

How dare you.

Haha. Well, in Chocolat, that's sort of the point -- Caro is incredibly self-centered, spoiled, and selfish, so the fact that it takes an Hermes scarf to buy a moment of happiness is sort of a Crowning Moment of Characterization.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by nguirado

Men this, women that.

As you inferred at the end of your post, I'm not sure our personal experiences and inductive reasoning alone are the best indicators of gender distinctions.

I'm always amazed at the changes in culture-defined gender from generation to generation. I have a friend whose gaydar is completely inoperable when the object is under twenty-eight. She hasn't grasped that interests, modes of dress and behavior she'd grown up associating with gay people are now mainstreamed and straight as well.

However, I've never really cared what it meant about me, personally. I'm defined as a straight person for the simple reason I'm stuck with the endless fascination and desirability of women (who can be pains in the gluteus oh-please like anyone else, don't get me wrong).

But all of the common signifiers of gender seem gratuitous to me.

In the first place, I love my friends who are gay and would march for their rights in any parade you like. In the second, biology makes any man's need to prove his manhood redundant. If we're comfortable with ourselves, we shouldn't have to beat people to death with a preference that's obvious to anyone who bothers to look.

Anamardoll: Understood.

[corona]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

Actually, it's a handbag.

Ah, but what a handbag!