: The fact is that females are grossly under-represented across most fiction. There have been various studies to mathematically prove this (here's one: https://seejane.org/research-informs-empowers/data/).

@Caterina108

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The fact is that females are grossly under-represented across most fiction. There have been various studies to mathematically prove this (here's one: seejane.org/research-informs-empowers/data/). Studies like this show that often there are very few women at all, or there is only one named female character (and they are usually a love interest, or in some way their role is tied to being a woman in a way that doesn't happen for the male characters), or there are a few, but still vastly lower than 50%.

The skew in representation has a huge impact on what we consider normal and how we view the world.

This imbalance would definitely lean towards the opposite of what your friend stated - it would suggest that women would find it easier to identify with and empathise with a male character, because they have so much practise at it. They are expected to do it all the time.

Whereas, men would find it more difficult, because it's not something they are required to do very often.

That this is more likely to be the case is supported by the anecdotal stories that publishers don't believe that boys will read stories with a girl as a protagonist, but don't worry so much about girls refusing to read about male protagonists - such as Harry Potter.

The Hunger Games and Divergent are happy modern exceptions to this, and let's hope they are a sign of changing times, where people care more about the depth and charisma of a character than their gender.

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