(This post’s title quotes the final “credit” at the end of each episode of the TV series Bones. Dr. Temperance Brennan is frequently heard saying, “I don’t know what that means” in response to various colloquial expressions or pop culture references. She’s a brilliant forensic anthropologist who lives in a literal, isolated, and elevated IQ world with little use for spiritual insights or what she refers to as “mythological superstitions” when her partner FBI Agent Seeley Booth makes faith statements. Just a bit of background trivia for those who don’t recognize the title of this post.)
I’m asking the above question to anyone and everyone who might be game enough to answer or explain why it’s said—or why it is—that CBA women readers won’t and don’t read romance or women’s fiction with a male protagonist—at least according to all the powers that be in umpteen blog posts by professionals in the CBA publishing industry.
Chances are you don’t want to know my answer, but seeing as I’ve committed career suicide multiple times on this blog, I’m as dead as I can get.
Let’s paint with the broad stroke first. Who are these Christian Fiction buying women who will not tolerate a male protagonist in their romance and/or women’s fiction genres?
1. They’re Christians; probably from the mainline denominations such as Lutheran, Episcopalian, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian.
2. They probably “dress up” for church and sing more hymns than choruses in their services. Their church has a choir and an organ, and they might sing in the choir. They’re pastor’s wives, Women’s Ministry leaders and/or participants. They’re congregants over 50 or in their 30s who’ve grown up in the church and are well acquainted with the phrase submitting to their husbands. Some do it willingly, others resent it but do it anyway.
3. They dress without flair and probably don’t wear much makeup if any at all. They might work outside the home, but if they do, they still do the majority of homemaking chores. They very possibly homeschool if they don’t work outside the home.
4. They’re basically content with their lives but don’t want their version of Christianity challenged or disturbed. They give time, energy, and money to the church. They probably have prayer lists.
Granted this could be many women in the Christian faith. So what makes them intolerant of men in the protagonist role in their romances or their women’s fiction? They want something just for them. They don’t really care how a man feels about love or romance or his own little set of intangible problems. They have their own issues to deal with, and they’re tired of hearing about how they need to respect their husbands when their husbands don’t love them “like Christ loved the church”. They want order in their lives from the inside out and they can get it in formulaic fiction. They can see the rules in operation concluding in an acceptable, sometimes even happy, ending and wish it could be so in their lives. The bonnet book readers often long for a legalism that works, the simplicity of following rules and having those rules actually produce something that makes sense or brings contentment. They wish for less indulgence in their lives and strive to keep their desires for material wealth or anything that “spoils” their sacrificial mentality under control.
So. There’s my profile of those women who won’t read or buy novels with a male protagonist. My impression of them anyway. I’ve known a lot of them in the churches I’ve attended, and this is the consensus from my own experiences. There are always exceptions such as eclectic readers who’ll choose any genre if something about the book attracts them. Others love different “cultures” and find the bonnet crowd fascinating.
Hey, I have to reason this out because it makes no sense to me to make the blanket statement that male protagonists in romance/women’s fiction won’t get read and/or won’t sell in CBA. So this is my version of who occupies that audience and who gets the bulk of attention from CBA publishers. And just so you know, I’m not putting these readers down. However, this profile constitutes a lot of ladies with hidden hang-ups. Not that we all don’t have them . . .
Your thoughts?
Lord, you know me. You know how I puzzle over things that make no sense to me. Shine on me, Lord, and show me my faults and weaknesses. This “prophet-mentality” daughter of yours longs to understand. In the Name of Jesus, Amen
Into the Fire 
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