Neutralizing the Stigma: Erasing the Covers of Boy Books and Girl Books

Last week, the Huffington Post discussed the genderizing of book covers, suggesting that covers should be more neutral to increase readership because boys would be more likely to pick up a book about a woman, by a woman, if it did not look "girly.

Author Maureen Johnson spurred the debate by tweeting: "I do wish I had a dime for every email I get that says 'Please put  a non-girly cover on your book so I can read it-- Signed, A Guy.'" Covers play a large role in decided whether to read a book (or not) and perhaps the stigma of "looking soft" distracts men from picking up an otherwise interesting thrilling ride. The treatment of male versus female writers (and readers) is a cultural problem that reflects a deeper problem in our society: the stereotypes of gender.

Many time a female author gets treated differently, suggests Johnson. Her work is perceived to be of lesser quality because it is "girly." "It is more likely to get the soft-sell cover with the warm glow and the feeling of smooth jazz blowing off of it," she writes. These books get labeled "trashy," "fluffy," "breezy," she suggests--downplaying the legitimate quality of these works. Never are books written by men classified this way. When is Stephen King ever considered trashy or Fitzgerald as fluffy? Take a look at some of these covers and tell me that "tough guys" would want to read this in public?

Johnson goes on to stress the dichotomy between male and female writers, boy books versus girl books, good versus bad books has its roots in English classrooms across the country. I had never considered this before, but Johnson is correct. Books by men and about men are lauded and celebrated for their eloquence, good writing, and overall excellence.

In my history and English classes throughout college, male writers frequented my assigned reading lists (until, that is, I enrolled in women's studies courses). I think, what Johnson may be suggesting, is that we remove the stigma from the very start, eliminating genderized books and the idea that good female writing is inherently light and insubstantial. Recently, female writers are breaking barriers a la Suzanne Collins and Veronica Roth. But even the cover of  Insurgent gets the warm, soft, feminine cover despite its subject material. This book is anything but light.

The reality is that we judge a book by its cover--literally--and it affects how we perceive it or its author. How many of us walk own the "teen fiction" aisle and see the "girly" books about vampire romance, etc., or discover all of the Nicholas Sparks' books display the same corny romantic covers? Let's initiate boys into reading so-called "female" lit with strong lead female characters, and entice them away from the soft stigma by making their covers more neutral. The last thing we need is another polarization between the sexes. This seems like a quick fix.

What do you all think?