Do many men read Harry Potter?

[Matilda]

My husband definitely thinks I'm a little odd (well, he knows that
anyway), but if I discuss Harry Potter he looks at me with something
between pity and despair. I have told him he should be open and give
just one book a try, but no way. Is this just him, or are men
generally less likely to read HP (or any fantasy fiction)?

[NewJeffCT]

1. that's odd

I thought most fantasy readers were men - Conan & Lord of the Rings are not exactly female-oriented.

I know plenty of grown men that have read Harry Potter & enjoyed it, including me, though I've yet to get to Book 5.

[Chovexani]

13. It depends.

There have always been a lot of female fantasy readers. Until very recently though we were not very well represented in traditional forums such as book clubs, Usenet, etc. I don't think it was until the rash of TV fantasy shows (Xena & Buffy) and the nearly simultaneous mainstreaming of the WWW that our visibility began to rise. I also think our numbers skyrocketed because, for a lot (but not ALL) of women, TV fantasy was the gateway to fantasy novels. I began reading sword-and-sorcery novels as a child, but I know a lot of women/girls whose introduction to the literary genre was Xena, Buffy and much later Harry Potter and the LotR movies.

I maintain that the LotR movies and the Livejournal phenomenon have done more to raise the visibility of female SF/Fantasy fans than almost anything I can think of, besides Xena/Buffy/X-Files (many women were attracted to SF through the X-Files because of Scully's strong characterization). In the case of the LotR movie fandom that may not necessarily be a good thing (LotR & HP are running neck and neck for the craziest fandoms in Geekdom, surpassing even Trek; I should know, I'm a member of all three). :P I find it very interesting that there is a huge schism in LotR fandom between the obsessive Tolkien scholar type of LotR fan and the squeely fangirl type of fan. The former almost always came to LotR through the novel, and the latter exclusively came to LotR through the films. That's not making a judgment on either camp, btw; I'm a squeely fangirl whose intro to LotR was through the book. ;) It's just that if you compare the different discussion groups etc. there's a marked difference.

Also, don't discount society's influence. Growing up I was brutally ostracized, both by peers and adults, for taking an interest in fantasy fiction. My female peers just couldn't understand why I was interested in anything besides painting my toes and cruising Tiger Beat for pictures of the latest teen heartthrob, and my male peers just thought I was boring. Everyone derided me as a nerd. (One of the reasons I claim the word as a badge of honor) Then you have the fact that many, many people came to the genre through Dungeons & Dragons and RPGs in general, which up until about the mid '90s was damn near dominated by males (I was the only gamer chick I knew until I was 16), and it's little wonder people think women aren't interested in fantasy. The LotR movies, and to a lesser extent the Harry Potter books/movies got a LOT of women interested in the genre, simply because for many it was the first time they'd ever been exposed to it.

[semillama]

2. I've read the first one.

I'll probably get around to reading the rest, but it's not a priority for me. now my girlfriend is like your husband, and just doesn't see the attraction for adults.

But then, as she's about halfway through a PhD, she doesn't have a lot of time for literature like Harry Potter!

[Longgrain]

3. I'm a man, I've never read Harry Potter

I'm not really a fan of Fantasy fiction so I can't really tell you. But my brother used to date a young woman who was a huge HP fan. For two years she begged him to at least give one of the books a try. He never did, and often teased her for liking HP.

Maybe there's a gender issue with a lot of guys because J.K.Rawlings is a woman. I don't know, but it could be an interesting topic of conversation. :shrug:

[Mojambo]

4. I read the 1st three

before I realized that she's telling the same damn story with more words each book.

I gave it up after book 3.

[DrWeird]

5. I started reading the first one...

put it down because I thought it was pretty boring and highly derivative.

[Walt Starr]

6. I'm a man and I've read the series

twice.

[MrSlayer]

7. I always thought it was the other way around.

I'm huge on Harry Potter, Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance and Tolkien. I prefer the AD&D based books to all fantasy but Harry Potter is brilliant. I know lots of men who read fantasy but no women. I always thought it was a guy thing.

[ashmanonar]

8. historically fantasy has been a guy thing.

especially looking at tolkien, and the real birth of "fantasy" literature. it's clearly written with a bias to the masculine (although there are a very few powerful female characters, eowyn and galadriel; something tolkien was a bit ahead of his time for)...

but i think it's fairly balanced now; guys and ladies equally like fantasy (and most people don't/try not to bc they think it's something that nerds like.)

[Matilda]

9. Thanks for your interesting replies.

When my son read Harry Potter at the age of about 13, he didn't
want his friends to find out, because he thought it was uncool,
and my husband refusing to even open a book, I figured perhaps this
particular kind of fantasy (unlike many others, it was written for
children) was not a male kind of thing, that perhaps women are just
more into this line of fantasy.

I'm very glad to find it's not - I shall try again with my husband.

[StrongbadTehAwesome]

10. my husband likes them

even more than I do (and that's a lot). my brother and several guys I work with read them as well.

[scarlet_owl]

11. My husband has read all of the books and loves them.

[Caution]

12. male. love the books.

Introduced my roommate (also male) and my fiancee (female) to the books as well. My fiancee's nephews (all four of them) love harry potter.

[Chovexani]

14. It's an equal split.

The thing is, it's hard to see that a lot of the times because online HP fandom is absolutely dominated by women, largely because a big chunk of it revolves around fanfic and the resultant 'shipper talk (much of which is slashy), which are themselves dominated by women regardless of the fandom.

I don't find the online fandom necessarily representive of HP fandom as a whole; when I waited on line outside B&N for Order of the Phoenix I saw just as many men as I did women on the line (I myself was there with a girl and two guys). Also not every person who reads the books is necessarily part of capital-F "Fandom" per se. My male cousin is a fan of the books but knows nothing about online fandom and would probably be squicked out by most of it. :P

I think online fandoms, particularly as represented by LJ communities and fanfic archives, tend to skew the demographics a bit. For instance I know a cubic shit ton of male Final Fantasy fans irl but visit your average LJ community and damn near every one of the fans is female. I don't really know why that is. :shrug:

[Orsino]

15. I like 'em a lot.

Not deep literature, but ripping good yarns.

Someone (not me) spoiled the most recent installment (re: Sirius Black) for my wife, so she has not brought herself to read it yet--but the forthcoming release has her about ready.

[malmapus]

16. I've read them

Kinda funny cause my mom bought me the first 3 for Christmas back in like 2001. I thought it was a gag gift till I started reading. Literally couldn't put them down and eagerly looking forward to the next installment :)

[architect359]

17. I've read them all n/t

[XemaSab]

18. and?

n/t

[Ilsa]

19. My husband has read them all

several times. He is rereading 5 right now before he gets started on 6.

[dhinojosa]

20. I have read them all and the bartender who was serving me...

yesterday read em all too.

[Greyskye]

21. Both I and my wife have read the series

And I've read a lot more fantasy than she has - she prefers historical fiction.

[WhollyHeretic]

22. I've read all the books. I'd say it's about 50-50 male-female of the

people I know who read the series. I do think there are a lot of guys who don't want to read a book by a woman, I don't quite understand that idea myself but I've seen it around. Does anyone know if that's why she uses her initials?

[architect359]

23. I do, I do! n/t

[opiate69]

24. I'm a man, and I'm on my 3rd reading of the series..

Now, when the series first became really popular, I had no desire whatsoever to read them or watch the movies.. then, a (female) friend found herself with 2 copies of the first movie, and gave me one of them for my kids.. I watched, and was sucked in.. by this point my wife and her sister had all 4 of the books (this was a couple years ago obviously), so I went ahead and read them.. and now I'm turning into a 36 year old HP geek...

[hobbit709]

25. I own and have read them all

several times. My wife hasn't, but she reads all my Discworld books.

[melissinha]

26. Most of the Star Wars Crew have..

so, yes I know of a number of guys who have read Harry Potter including my boyfriend.

I think its a matter of being into fantasy or science fiction vs one's gender.

[Broken_Hero]

27. I have read them all

and yes I am a man...I read them within 10 days. My wife and I basically trade off on book series...she got me on the Dark Tower, I got her on the Drizzt Line...and I had to read the Harry Potter line, I pushed the Black Company series...I read them(hp) this past march, and I did enjoy them, they were a lot better than I thought there were going to be....:)