Reading or Dating? Here's Why Women Actually Attend Book Clubs

Interestingly, many American women use a book club membership in dating field, revealed a new study. Christy Craig of the University of Kansas said, "American women utilized their status as readers and book club members to increase their popularity in the dating field and explained that they would never date or marry a non-reader." For the study, Craig attended 36 book club meeting and interviewed 53 women from ages 19 to 80 years. Both American and Irish women utilized reading to develop a sense of self, to foster social and cultural capital and to construct their own sexual identities.

Craig said, "None of the women read 'Fifty Shades' in their book clubs, but it was regularly discussed in that context. Women felt the opportunity for them to access literature about sex in a more public way was indicative of great forward progress for women. Women saw possibility for empowerment as they felt more comfortable openly reading about sex and sexuality. Many felt it was not truly as empowering as they wanted it to be, or as they hoped women's erotic fiction would be."

Source-ANI