More on the literary gender wars, with this article for The Guardian by author Brian Schofield (link via Bookslut):
“Giant new genres demand to be filled by predominantly female talent – misery memoirs, life-affirming "Richard and Judy" fiction, narcisso-journalism, plus the ever-resilient chick-lit - while the male-dominated opportunities to follow the market – blood-axes and bodices, copying Danny Wallace or being a former member of the SAS/Chelsea Headhunters/Cosa Nostra/all of the above – fill much less of the bookshop. It also feels to me that publishers are more willing to tell (and often kid) themselves that they've just uncovered the next Norman Mailer, a young man primed to burst into the literary top rank with a single almighty debut, than when faced with a fresh female face (upon whose features they will, of course, linger with unseemly interest).”
More here.