Well here’s an unexpected theme for a book cover blog: erotica authors Mathilde Madden and Kristina Lloyd are dismayed by the contradictory double-standard of erotic books written for (straight) women being wrapped with depictions of nude and semiclothed women.
(pictured: a rare instance of a male on a cover. Or possibly a chicken wing. In case you haven’t guessed, most of the rest of the site is not at all safe for work.)
We think their mission misses the mark, though; equal representation of men and women on book covers simply leads to equally bad book covers. Metaphor! Symbolism! Design! Forever!
via Slog
notes:
Not often you hear complaints of men being under-represented.
Widely publicized research from the world of evolutionary biology indicates that women of all persuasion are equally affected by visual stimulus of any sort (males+females, males+males, females+females, even bonobos+bonobos). Not that it means a great deal to principles of fairness, but this possibly defends the effectiveness of the current cover dynamic to sales.
I think that it is a very interesting and amusing article. Practically all its main points are true.