Causal Effect of Character Gender on Readers’ Preferences

Stakeholders in the publishing industry observe strong gender homophily between authors and readers, but it is unclear what causes this alignment. One possible mechanism involves reader preferences for gendered characters – specifically, the largely untested hypothesis that men are less inclined to read books with women protagonists, while women are more willing to read stories featuring protagonists of any gender. This mechanism may affect not only the publication but also the promotion and adaptation of books with women characters. However, there is little causal evidence about the underlying claim: for a given book, would men be more likely to read it if it featured a man character? Would women be more likely to read it if it featured a woman character? Our study provides new causal evidence on these questions in a well-powered study. Using a randomized survey experiment involving 3,000 participants, we isolate the causal effect of protagonist gender on reader preferences. Our findings reveal that the effect of character gender is close to zero. Contrary to popular belief, men’s reading preferences were unaffected by the gender of the protagonist. Women, on the other hand, displayed a slight preference for stories featuring women protagonists. These results challenge a subset of industry assumptions and reassure publishers and authors that books about women characters will not necessarily alienate readers.