Why Are There So Few Boy (YA)Book Bloggers? // I Braved The Discussion Post. . .

Posted on by It’s Lu Again

I’m actually so scared of writing discussion posts. . .

B when reading a post from Beth @ Reading Every Night about why there are more female protagonists than male protagonists in YA and while commenting I mentioned how I find that like there are few male protagonists, there are also very few male / boy YA book bloggers. And I want to talk about this.

Is it literally just ME that doesn’t know any book bloggers?I seriously cannot remember the last time that I came across a boy book blogger.

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There are definitely boys out there that read YA, there are popular YA Booktubers to prove this, but I feel that YA is such a stereotyped book genre, like boys have to read sci-fi and girls have to read fluffy contemporary books about lurrrveee. LIKE. NO. We’re not living in 1450. 

So, why aren’t there BOY bloggers? (IDK) Does it matter that there are very little? (I THINK SO) Where are they? (WHO KNOWS) Is there something that’s stopping BOYS from blogging? (IDK LET’S DEBATE)

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Is it because BLOGGING IN GENERAL is stereotyped for GIRLS? I get that there are male / boy YouTubers, but —like blogging—there is a hugeeeee amount of WHAT you can YouTube about (what is his even called???).

I don’t even see that many BOY BLOGGERS. What is stopping boys from blogging?

Right now I’m literally thinking that “OMG WHAT IF ALL THE BOY BLOGGERS ARE IN ONE COMMUNITY AND ALL THE GIRLS ARE IN ANOTHER” because I really DO NOT SEE BOY BLOGGERS. ( I know TWO)

It cannot be that BOYS DO NOT LIKE BLOGGING as there are BOY BLOGGERS.

Book blogging is FOR ANYONE.

Blogging is FOR ANYONE.

Again. . . is it the stereotype that GIRLS blog and BOYS DON’T?

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IS IT THAT YA IS STEREOTYPED FOR JUST GIRLS?

No where in the title “Young Adult Books” does it say “young-adult-female books” or am I missing something that everyone already knows?

I think that there are so little BOY readers that I know. In school there was TWO boys THAT LIKED READING in my year. One, read YA books and this was fabulous. But he moved away. . . . and the other boy??? HE ONLY LIKES GAME OF THRONES // ASOIAF. 

I would respect this opinion, if he actually read other books. But he doesn’t. And he refuses to even try other books.

I’ve spoken to this person (let’s call him Z), and Z talk me that he thought that other books were too “wishy-washy” and that the Song Of Ice And Fire Series were for boys. . . NOW EXCUSE ME AS I FUME IN ANGER. Whenever I read a contemporary book he said that it looked “trashy” and whenever I read fantasy that wasn’t in the ASOIAF series, he said that it looked “cheap” and “shitty” when Z KNEW NOTHING ABOUT THEM.

Now. . . I think that HIS opinion has been INFLUENCED by the stereotype that YA is for girls and is “trashy” WHEN IT IS NOT. URG.

WHY. ALL. THE. STEREOTYPES?

GO AWAY, STEREOTYPES!

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So. . .  I did some more research. . . (i.e. I typed “book blogger” into the reader Search thingy) and. . . ALL* THE BLOGS THAT CAME UP WERE FEMALE BLOGGERS.

How is this??

*like the first 50 and then I gave up in sadness.

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Do you think that there should be more boy book bloggers? Do you know of any book bloggers? Is it just ME that knows literally NO boy book bloggers? Do YOU think that it matters that there are very little BOY bloggers? LET ME KNOW! 

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Published by It’s Lu Again

65 thoughts on “Why Are There So Few Boy (YA)Book Bloggers? // I Braved The Discussion Post. . .”

  1. Hey, reading this super late but I like the post, so HERE I AM!!

    One book blogger I met that’s a guy is actually Jared @ dabook.club. He is super sweet and he commented on my blog once. That’s how I discovered him and that was cool because I haven’t met any other boy bloggers.

    here’s the link: http://dabook.club/

    Liked by 1 person

  4. I do think there should be more male book bloggers and more YA books for a male audience, but I’m not sure how to resolve it. I’m going to link to the male book blogger I know of and follow: yalitreader runs Young Adult Lit Reviews. I’ve had more success finding male BookTubers than male book bloggers.

    Liked by 2 people

  9. I think it’ probably a little of both, but it probably starts with the fact that YA is dominated by women, from the authors to the agents to the editors to the readers to the characters. When people say that publishing is male dominated, the are NOT talking about children’s publishing (picture books, middle grade, and YA). And while I”m all for not stereotyping books and labeling them girl books or boy books, I think we do need to do more to make the YA category more welcoming for guys, especially because fewer boy read than girls, according to surveys I’ve seen.

    So I think that then leads fewer guys to open YA book blogs, plus it’s possible some would feel unwelcome in the community in some sense because 98% of existing blogs seem to be run by women.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. yes!! Exactly. I think that something really needs to be done in order to make ya more appealing to guys and have more books that they like and can appreciate and relate to. YES. And I think that the fact that most blogs are run by women can be more than a little off-putting!

      Liked by 1 person

  11. So far, I’ve come across maybe two or three male bloggers. I wish I had some epiphany to give about the lack of male bloggers but all I can think of is that it comes to stereotypes. Either that or maybe they have a separate dimension where all the male bloggers gather in.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. I noticed the same thing when I find one I’m so happy HAHA it’s like an endangered species!! I think it’s because most male bloggers are focused in movies reviews or comics that’s how I know they come to my posts when I review comics or movies yknow LOL but YA? It’s VERY RARE. Maybe the story is too girly for them and it’s not focused on what guys like vs what we like

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yeah, I think that there are too many stereotypes that comics and movies are what boys “should” be talking about and then there’s the stereotype that YA is “girly” and that really puts them off, I think.

      Like

  13. You know I’ve never actually thought about this and now my mind is blown….I’ve actually never found any boy book bloggers! It’s kinda sad😔 I do think YA is read by girls more though. I mean 90% of the time a female is the main protagonist, the guys are always the second. Or maybe that’s becuase girls have the tendency to read more? I don’t know, it seems like it became a stereotype on its own😭
    This is such an interesting point though I can’t believe I’ve never thought about it before!!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I think that YA books have grown to appeal to the new stereotypical audience: girls. Female writers now dominate and they want to appeal and relate to their audience in the best way possible. I think that more male PoVs would really help with this and make the book seem more “boyish” and attract more boy readers???? Like??? IDK I’ll just start lobbing books at them all ahaha!

      JRHH IK SO MANY STEREOTYPES.

      Thanks so much!! ❤

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Exactly that!!
        My brother used to read a lot, we’re only a year a part ( two years for 5 months tho 😂 ) and reading was something we both really really loved. However as we got older he ran out of the books he enjoyed but the amount of books enjoyed only grew and grew. Eventually he stopped reading because of that and it sucks😔 We definitely need more more YA books that’ll attrack male readers, I’d hate to think there was others like my brother that stopped reading because of it!

        Liked by 2 people

  14. It’s a shame but we do live in a world that it’s still plagued by stereotypes, when it comes to sex, age, and what we should or shouldn’t do….I follow a few “boy” book tubers but I don’t have any Boy Book Bloggers….which is funny because if you look to gamer blogs the amount of guys there is staggering and it’s like the total opposite of this case there aren’t many girl gamer bloggers… Great post.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you!! Yes!! Exactly, it’s these genres that are totally stereotyped and if a girl were to have a game blog she would be called “gay” or “butch” or a “tomboy” and she would receive so much judgement WHICH IS SO RUDE AND UNNECESSARY.

      Liked by 1 person

  15. I’ve been wondering about the exact same thing. Like, I know a couple, or more like, came across a couple of them but.. That’s it? And then they don’t necessarily read YA either.. :’)

    Erik @ Breakeven Books is the first one that pops in mind. He’s still “new” to the blogosphere but.. still counts!
    And using the search-thingie, I just came across The Bookish King – which I know have to check out. Doh.

    I thought there was one more I already knew of but I just can’t think of the naaame..
    *Brain is mush in the morning*

    Liked by 1 person

    1. omg yes!! That’s exactly what I mean. I think that boys also get really discouraged on here to blog, when they join because ALL THEY SEE ARE SCREAMING GIRLS and think that it’s then silly and full of really immature people. ( ME?? IMMATURE?? NOOO!!)

      OMG I’ll have to check out his blog!!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Haha, could be. Pretty sure this blogosphere oozes estrogen and their testosterone simply can’t handle that! [In that case, they’re just not man enough. THERE. I SAID IT.]
        Okay no. It’s a pity they let themselves be chased off by that. On the other hand.. That would mean their love for books isn’t great enough?!

        Hahah, you’re welcome!
        Maybe we should create a male book bloggers list somewhere.. You know, in case we want some actual male bookworms to drool over.. or something..

        Liked by 1 person

              1. YUUUUP.
                Honestly, I’m known in our friend group – ONLY MALES BTW – for not getting along with a woman EVER. Okay, I can get along with women, but.. don’t force me to be around them for 24 hours straight or I’ll lose my head. They claim it’s because I’m “way too straight-forward and actual women can’t handle that; so you’re a tomboy that doesn’t have one two-faced bone in her body” or something along those lines. :’)

                Liked by 1 person

                1. sometimes women can be so catty, and jealous and cause WAYY TOO MUCH DRAMA, where as with guys there’s just LESS OF ALL THAT. I RELATE SM. after a while I get so SICK of hanging around with all the girls and just end up having to retreat back to my other friends (guys) so that I actually keep my sanity in check!! AHAHA.

                  Liked by 1 person

                  1. A GUY just replied to one of my comments somewhere. A GUY WITH A BLOG. Immediately had to think of you sooo:
                    https://inkishkingdoms.wordpress.com/
                    MORE GUYS!

                    Catty, jealous, backstabbing freaks. Yuppp.
                    At least guys are more straight-forward and honest when it comes to things that bother them. Most of the time, that is. At least there’s a lot less chance of getting a knife in your back a hundred times over. :’)
                    Apparently I have the tendency of simply ignoring all things women when it comes to our friends, haha. My brain’s programmed to ignore the women, focus on the guys and then get the “Why does she keep hanging around the guys”-comment. :’) The moment one of my guy-friends prove they’re in a decent relationship, I will try my hardest to get along with the girl but.. Until then, I just don’t think it’s really worth it since some of the guys have a tendency on/off-relationships. [That’s the annoying thing about them; they grow up a bit.. slow.. :’)]

                    Okaaaay. Another one of Kathy’s way too early in the day ramblings. My god, I’m on a roll. xD

                    Liked by 1 person

                    1. omg thank you for thinking of me!!!!!! I I will check out his blog nowwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                      omg yes they are! girls are so dfihbgr. But TBH some guys at my age are still really annoying and cause so much drama but that’s like 3%.
                      UST IGNORE THE “why does she keep hating around the guys?” comments!!

                      Liked by 1 person

                    2. Haha you’re welcome!!

                      Yuuup.
                      Ugh, I’d rather have a childish guy around me all day than one of those girls / women, tbh.. :’) My brain is way better at handling the guy. I’d murder the girl by the end of the day, probably.. pretty sure..
                      I’m so used to ignoring them, haha! Or when they WANT me to hear them say it, I just react with a “guess you should be more fun for me to hang out with you” and walk off. :’)
                      [Also I think they can’t handle the fact that I can go huggish with the guys without it meaning anything more than friendship, but to those girls it’s ALWAYS more than friendship whenever I do something like that.. :’)]

                      Liked by 1 person

  16. EXACTLY. Lu I think we’re twins cuz I’d been literally thinking this EXACT thought yesterday morning. I’d been talking to some guys at my school about reading and books and stuff, and most of them don’t read, and because they don’t read, they don’t blog either. I feel like in a major part that’s because of the less male protagonists in books, because boys can’t connect to or see themselves in the book, and so they usually don’t end up reading it. And there are a few guys I know who DO read, but none of them blog. And it’s so weird that I don’t know a SINGLE BOY BOOK BLOGGER. I’ve NEVER seen one. It’s so weird. Like boys make up 50% of the world population- where you all at?? UFH STUPID STEROTYPES GO AWAY STEREOTYPES NOBODY LIKES YOU STEREOTYPES. Great post!!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. YESS!! That’s exactly what I think it is: a lack of male PoV / MCs, the STEREOTYPES OF YA, and the STEREOTYPES OF BLOGGING all combines into one that shouts “NO BOYS WELCOME” even through, as you said, THEY ARE 50% OF THE HUMANS.

      Liked by 1 person

  17. CAN I SAY I FREAKING LOVE THE NEW DESIGN? #appreciation. IT LOOKS SO MUCH CLEANER AND FRESHER and aghhh beautiful Lu.

    I have no idea where all the YA boy bloggers are? Hmmm, I know TWO too but I don’t properly interact with them. I think it’s a lot to do with stereotypes of girls blogging and women ruling the YA genre (such little male authors) AND YAS KEEP THOSE DISCUSSION POSTS COMING. I love ’em!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. AWW THANK YOU!!!! That’s SO nice!!!

      Like I know 3 BOY bloggers… none of which really post tbh! But I’ve found one from this post and I was like YASS. I think the whole thing is so stereotyped for girls AND THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE.

      Ahhahehdnidbgwndur. I WILL TRYYY! Thank you!!

      Like

  18. HELLO I HAVE NOTICED THIS SAME THING. I know of like, TWO book bloggers who are boys?? I don’t know why there are so little boys in book blogging.

    Also, it’s definitely more common for there to be more female writers in YA fiction than male. But I feel like this is an actually GOOD thing, because in so many other categories and jobs males are the majority.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. YASSSS JUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!! Literally. I know ONE???!! this is a sadness to me : ((((((((((( CAN YOU LINK THEM TO ME PLSSSS OR SOMETHING???!?!

      Omg yes I agree, there are way more female writers now, and the gender gap in writers has started to be opposite to what it used to be!!

      Like

  19. I AM ACTUALLY SO PASSIONATE ABOUT THIS TOPIC LET ME TELL YA. Girls are used to reading books from a boy’s perspective and yet boys aren’t used to reading from a girl’s perspective!! WHICH ACTUALLY ANNOYS ME SO SO MUCH!! It’s seen as “shameful” and they are “embarrassed”. I just cannot even when boys in my class say the books I read are too girly for them just because it has a female protagonist. ALSO i think because most of the readers as female they grow up to be more female authors and the cycle just repeats itself.
    If we tought boys that feeling things isn’t wrong and let them read anything without it affecting their so called “image” they wouldn’t miss out on important reads about rape and sexual harassment. Also they would be free to express their feelings openly on a blog. It isn’t called a “fanGIRL” for nothing you know. It’s the stereotype that girls are way more openly emotional.
    BAH STEREOTYPES SHOULD JUST DISAPPEAR FOREVER KTHX.
    Just my opinion though. BUT I AM SO GLAD YOU MADE THIS POST we need to talk about this more.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. OMG YES. AUTHORS NOW INSPIRE THEIR READERS (IE MAINLY GIRLS) who then go on to mainly write FEMALE PERSPECTIVES.

      OMG yes. If I flung THUG at some of the guys in my school, got them TO READ IT AND ACTUALLY THINK ABOUT IT, they wouldn’t do 1/2 the shit that they do now.

      IM GONNA LITERALLY START CALLING IT “fanhuman” BC EQUALITY. AND I’m SO SICK of all these stereotypes!!!!!

      I KNOW HEGERBGRG CAN WE BANISH THEM TOGETHER PLEASE???

      OMG YES WE—EVERYONE—NEEDS TO ADDRESS THIS KIND OF THING.

      So great ranting/venting with you!!

      Like

  21. One of the comments that people made on my discussion post was that the whole lack of male protagonists in YA was something they never noticed that much, and I feel exactly the same way about this post Lu! 😀 It’s like part of me knew that the majority of the people I spoke to on WordPress and the majority of the bloggers I follow are female but I just never made that connection until I saw your post.
    It would be great to see more male bloggers but I guess if there aren’t books they’re interested in in the YA genre they’re likely to be blogging about other genres. In the case of Z yes YA has been stereotyped to be considered nothing more than Twilight-ish books when really there is so much more to the genre than that. It always makes me angry that people discount the books I read because they’re YA and I’m no longer YA so I completely understand your frustration. Stereotypes suck!
    Great discussion Lu, and if you have more discussions like this saved away I wouldn’t be worried about posting them at all, I’d love to read them. 🙂 ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you so much Beth!! That’s so nice of you.

      I never really thought about it either, and then one day I was like, OH! Because I met some guy bloggers, (not book bloggers) and I’ve even met them IRL and now they’re like actually my friends?? and then I made the connection that I have no book blogger friends that are guys and I thought “why?? OH RIGHT YEAH STEREOTYPES. well these stereotypes suck!”

      YES, I totally agree, and I really think that there should be a way to get more boys interested in reading because ITS BRILLIANT, perhaps BY INCLUDING SOME MORE MALE POV???????? PERHAPS?????????

      Liked by 1 person

      1. That’s all right! 🙂
        There are just some topics that come to you out of nowhere. It was like that for me, and it really does take someone pointing it out sometimes before we realise because it’s just something we’ve accepted as normal and we see no need to question it (though in this case there’s obviously a need to question it.)
        Ha, yeah if we had more male POV books in YA we’d definitely see more male readers. A sure fire way to get people interested in reading is have characters they can relate to, and there’s a lack of that for boys in YA.

        Liked by 1 person

  22. Honestlythis has been something I’ve been thinking about for a while. I can only think of 3 bloggers who are guys off the top of my head and none of them are book bloggers. Also, the stereotype that YA is for girls?????? 😦 I hate that – YA can be for anyone regardless of gender or ANYTHING LIKE THAT. YOU FOR INSTANCE DON’t Like FLUFFY CONTEMPORARIES AND I Love SCI-FI so YA shouldn’t fit the stereotypes. I really, really want o find more YA male bloggers – that’d be awesome.

    Liked by 1 person

  23. Not sure what your definitions are, but I am a male blogger. Boy is slightly off, as I haven’t been considered a “boy” for 30+ years. I do enjoy all types of books, if it’s the right book. I write YA books, and read them as well. I review them on my blog as often as I can.
    So, yes, I think us “Boy Bloggers” are out there, just not as many, I guess.

    Like

    1. No no no, I know that there ARE male book bloggers out there, it’s just compared to the number of female book bloggers out there, you cannot deny that there’s a significant difference in number. And this considers reading too, I think that a lot of boys are discouraged for reading now by the media, as the don’t see it as “cool” and that there are stereotypes that ya isn’t for boys, perhaps mainly because of the lack of male PoVs in YA, who knows.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. On that point, I agree. Boys aren’t as strongly pushed to read. Sports first. I love sports, but I won’t always be in good enough shape for it. Books, however, will last me a lifetime.
        I cannot get my son to read, no matter what the subject.
        Men need to step it up and show it’s okay to be a bookworm too.

        Liked by 1 person

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