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The Gendered Context of Reading
Author(s): Judith A. Howard and Carolyn Allen

Source: Gender and Society, Vol. 4, No. 4 (Dec., 1990), pp. 534-552
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc.
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THE GENDERED
CONTEXT OF READING
JUDITH A. HOWARD
CAROL YN ALLEN
University of Washington
Reading, a micro-level and subjective activity, is a mechanism through which gender is

constructed and reinforced. Drawing on insights from cultural studies and feminist literary
critics, and applying sociological perspectives and methodologies, we explored how 53 women
and men read and interpreted two short stories, William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" an
JayneAnne Phillips's "Home." We found that the gender of the readers had relatively few effects
on their interpretations, but that indicators of life experience were influential. In general, mor
substantial life experience as reflected in greater age, being married, and having children wa
associated with more sympathetic, empathic reactions to the major characters. Ideologic
positions also influenced readers' interpretations, when those positions were relevant to th
themes of the text; these individual values and attitudes were associated with more particularistic
patterns of empathy. Rather than dismissing gender as an influence on reading, however, we
suggest that gender influences reading and interpretation partially through the pervasiv
gender-markings of social context.
THE PRODUCTION OF MEANING
Cultural studies assert the importance of ideology and the re

ideology to cultural practice and to social change (Johnson 1987
(1985) defines ideology as a generic term for the processes by whi
is produced, challenged, reproduced, and transformed. Although
have posed ideology as central to the oppression of women (and o
groups), Barrett (1985) suggests that this centrality is treated ge
AUTHORS' NOTE: This research was made possible by a grant from the Gr
Research Fund, University of Washington. We would like to thank Lisa Cubbins fo
work in conducting the interviews, Beverly Henderson for tape transcription
Maguire for her assistance in transcript coding.
REPRINT REQUESTS: Judith A. Howard, Department of Sociology DK-40, U

Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
GENDER & SOCIETY, Vol. 4 No. 4, December 1990 534-552

? 1990 Sociologists for Women in Society
534
Howard, Allen / GENDERED CONTEXT OF READING 535
self-evident, citing the inadequacy of feminist attempts to explore the w

in which material conditions have structured mental aspects of oppressi
One of the most significant of those social practices through which ideo
works is the activity of reading. Johnson (1987) argues that the best st
of lived culture are necessarily studies of reading, defined broadly.
As Johnson notes, moving from readers implied in texts to readers
society is to move from the abstract analysis of forms to the concrete anal
of actual readers as they are constituted socially, historically, and cultur
Such a shift necessitates consideration of the social context, which tend
be subordinated to themes of personality and identity in the few empir
approaches to reader response (e.g., Holland 1975). Contemporary litera
critical thinking does recognize the role of the reader in the constructio
literary meaning. Most theorists grouped under the rubric "reader respo
posit an interaction between textual structures and a reader projected by
text. They differ, however, in their thinking about the precise nature o
interaction between reader and text. Some, like Iser (1978), stress
constraints of the text on interpretation while acknowledging the rea
role in filling textual gaps. Others, such as Bleich (1978), emphasize
response of the reader; the response itself becomes a text subject to cri
scrutiny. In either case, systematic attention to real readers and to the s
context in which they read remains uncommon (Rosenblatt 1978). One re
sociological study explicitly considers the interaction between texts an
cultural characteristics of actual readers; in this study the readers are rev
ers, and the readings, published reviews (Griswold 1987). In relyin
published reviews, Griswold's study falls in a tradition of the sociolog
criticism rather than reader response. In our study we focus more on
processes through which readers discover meaning, consistent with Ise
(1978) view of interpretation as "the experiencing of the work as this pr
[between reader and text] unfolds" (Holub 1984, p. 156). We do not attem
to locate precisely the parameters of the text-reader interaction; rather
attempt to gauge the dynamics of making meaning through reading and
the gender and other social characteristics of the reader might influe
interpretation.
GENDER AND READING
There are at least three distinct approaches to the influence of ge

reading, including theoretical and broad analyses of gender issues i
general process of reading and interpretation, textual analyses, and a
536 GENDER & SOCIETY / December 1990
of the effects of the reader's gender. In developing a feminist

reading, Schweickart (1985, 1986) notes the parallelism of fem
reader- response criticisms; both call attention to the role of subje
in reading and writing, and, in general, affirm the value of human
However, she also rejects strongly the view of those who minimi
of the text (e.g., Bleich 1978). In contrast, Schweickart (1985) o
tenets of feminist criticism: (1) texts have power to shape the ex
readers, and thus androcentric texts have the power to bolster th
prevalent predisposition to androcentricity; and (2) readers can
the force of textual schemas through subjective action (e.g., criti
Analyses of themes of gender in texts also have flourished w
increasing influence of feminist voices in literary criticism. F
Fetterley (1978) characterizes "A Rose for Emily," one of the tw
used in this research, as demonstrating the "massive differentiatio
thing according to sex," leading to the recognition that this cultur
in which masculinity and femininity are a "divinely ordained co
but is instead a sexist culture in which men and women are "m
incompatible" (p. 45). This interpretation is in striking contrast
(1975) reading of this story as a symbolic re-creation of "the c
conservatism in the South" (p. 20).
A third method of exploring the importance of gender for readi
one we use in this study, is to examine responses to a text by fema
readers. Radway (1984) is one of the few feminist critics to ex
sponses of real readers in her work on the romance. She analyzes
preference for romances in terms of their own life circumstanc
ties, and lack thereof. As necessitated by the nature of her proje
Radway does not contrast readings by female and male readers
project is ethnographic; she describes in some detail the circums
particular type of reader, the female reader of romances. Althou
Radway's analytic strategy, our project is different in that we atte
about general patterns rather than to explore in depth one partic
reader. In the study we present below, we explore the influence of
of the reader on readings and interpretations of two short stor
consider the influence of other indicators of the social positions
ences of these female and male readers on their interpretation
stories, replicating Radway's emphasis on the social experie
readers. In explicitly assessing variations in readings of these sto
also to avoid Holub's (1984, 156) characterization of reader-resp
rists as "admitting that the text is multiple while simultaneously d
plurality of readers."
METHOD
Texts
The two stories used in this study were chosen on the basis o
criteria. We limited the choice to stories brief enough to allow
reader to read and respond within one hour. Short stories have th
of being discrete entities, considered complete by their authors
incorporated variation in writing style. We chose texts that woul
the possibility of gendered reading, that is, texts that focus on issue
women and men might be expected to have different responses,
focusing so strongly on this dimension as to force readers to interpr
in terms of gender. One of these texts is written by a man, the
woman. Finally, we chose one text that might be known by the re
one relatively unknown text.
The texts used were Faulkner's ([1946] 1981) "A Rose for Emily
story by Jayne Anne Phillips (1979), "Home." The Faulkner story
will refer to as "Emily," is well known; it is included in a n
twentieth-century short story collections. Indeed, Holland (1975,
scribes it as "the single most popular short story in America." Thi
been the subject of numerous literary analyses and has been given
attention by reader-response critics (Holland 1975). Furthermore,
has been viewed by some critics as containing gender-related th
example, the eccentricity of a woman who chooses not to marry
social behavior violates norms of "feminine gentility" (Fetter
Briefly, "Emily" is about an older Southern woman who has out
generation. The story, told by an unnamed narrator who seems t
the voice of the town, begins with her death and in a series of
describes her youth, her close but tightly circumscribed life with
her unexpected involvement with a Yankee named Homer, an
disappearance. The story ends with the revelation that Homer's
been in Emily's bed for many years, with the strong suggestion th
have lain with his body all those years. The details are not fully
however.
"Home" is not a particularly well-known story; Phillips has not received

a great deal of critical attention. Issues of gender are central to "Home." The
story focuses on a relationship between a mother and daughter and on
stereotypically gender-related details of the everyday lives of the two women
(e.g., knitting, nursing sick people). The tensions of the story involve issues
of both female and male sexuality and of female and male bodies: in parallel
scenes the mother appears naked before the narrator, revealing her
tomy scar; an old lover appears with his Vietnam shrapnel scars.
"Home" is a contemporary fiction, told by a member of the V
generation. The narrator, a woman presumably in her twenties,
home to live with her mother while going through difficult financ
The story follows the ambivalent relationship between mother and
The daughter is disturbed by what she sees as her mother's settlin
unhappy life. The mother has supported her daughter almost single-h
even before the death of the mother's alcoholic husband. From the mother's
perspective, the daughter leads an irresponsible and unstable life. Through a
series of flashbacks, the reader learns of the daughter's high-school relation-
ship with a man named Jason and her more recent relationship with Daniel,
a Vietnam veteran. Daniel comes to visit, posing problems for mother and
daughter. When the mother is at church, Daniel and the daughter make love;
they continue even when the mother returns, and she hears them. She reacts
by engaging in a ritualistic washing of clean dishes. Sobbing, she later
rebukes her daughter. The story ends with this difficult emotional scene be-
tween the mother and daughter.2
Readers
The readers in this study were 36 female and 17 male students recruited
in summer school classes. Their average age was 27.5 years; 36 were college
students, and 17 of them had attained a college degree. The sample included
41 white and 10 Asian students; 2 students were Hispanic.
Procedures
We noted above that we do not attempt to identify the precise paramete

of the text-reader interaction. Methodological limitations impede such
project. Although it is possible to ask readers to note at any point why
have a particular reaction and what features of a story produce this reac
there is reason to assume that responses to such questions may not refl
accurately the formation of meaning (Wilson and Nisbett 1978). Percep
of a particular character as selfish, for example, may become conscious
a reader only when the character commits a sixth instance of potenti
selfish behavior. Moreover, there is likely to be far too much variation in
specific parts of texts individuals respond to, to effectively assess empiric
Posing questions about specific words or sentences introduces the diffe
but equally serious problem of eliciting otherwise unformed reactions.
we have chosen to focus on the dynamics of making meaning thro
reading, asking readers to present a narrative of their responses with

structure as possible. All participants were asked to read one of th
randomly assigned short stories and to provide their reactions to th
through a tape-recorded interview and completion of a written questi
The readers were asked to comment on a story while reading it, w
instructions to "tell as much as you can about what you're thinkin
feeling" while reading the story. Only when participants complete
reading sessions were they asked a series of structured interview qu
The participants were asked then to complete a written questionna
included questions about the story and about themselves.
Questions
Reading session and interview. Codes were constructed for the p

nent responses to each of the structured questions. Readers of "Emil
asked: Why did Emily kill Homer? Why did Emily sleep with Hom
killing him? What is Emily like? What is the narrator like? The maj
for each of these questions were as follows: (killing Homer) Emily is
she wants to keep Homer, for revenge, because of factors related to her
(sleep with Homer) she felt close to him, she is crazy, she has not ad
Homer is dead, a pretense at marriage, she is desperate; (characteri
Emily) crazy, lonely, sad, socially unskilled, solitary, proud, indepe
odd growing up, masculine; (characteristics of narrator) speaks for th
male, white, racist, respondent dislikes.
Readers of "Home" were asked: Why did the daughter sleep with D
Why did the mother react as she did? What is the narrator like? Wh
mother like? The major codes for these questions were as follows: (sle
Daniel) for the sex itself, lonely, loved Daniel, spite toward mother
from life, social expectations; (mother's reaction) felt betrayed, not
house, disapproves, jealous, wants daughter to be different; (characte
of daughter) thought was a man at first, desperate for love, lonely, a
focuses on the past, insecure, independent, unemotional, insensitiv
mother, guilty, had a bad childhood; (characteristics of mother) ty
mother, narrow-minded, a victim of her marriage, preoccupied with
and death, a product of her age, good, pessimistic, preoccupied wit
hard worker, sick, lonely.
Comments provided during the reading also often included answ
the structured questions; these responses were incorporated in the
scheme. Based on analyses of the transcripts of the interview tapes,
developed codes for general comments on each of the stories (like or
it, realistic or not, degree of action), mentions of the townspeople in "E

(judgmental, curious, having a class bias), and descriptions of the relat
between the mother and daughter (uneasy, caring feelings, differe
attitudes, daughter repeating mother's patterns), and between either o
characters and the father or Daniel in "Home" and for comments about
themselves as well as any gender-related comments.3
Structured questionnaire. The structured questionnaire included four

sections. First, respondents were asked how closely they thought the events
in the story resemble those that occur in real life, and how closely the
narrator's and either Emily's or the mother's and Daniel's "reactions and
feelings toward people and events resemble their own." All but the first of
these questions were answered on 5-point scales (1 = not at all, 5 = a great
deal). Then they were asked to rate each of the main characters on two 7-point
scales assessing gender, labeled respectively "masculine/not masculine" and
"feminine/not feminine." A third set of questions assessed background infor-
mation about the readers, including demographic details (sex, age, race)4
and family background (current marital status, whether the respondent has
children). The fourth set included indicators of ideology, both behavioral
(whether they attend church) and cognitive (political orientations and beliefs
and attitudes about gender). To assess gender attitudes, we used the Attitudes
Toward Women Scale (ATW), which assesses beliefs about gender-related
roles (Spence, Helmreich, and Stapp 1973).5 To assess political orientation,
we asked respondents whether they consider themselves to be conservative
or liberal in their political beliefs. We also asked whether they consider
themselves to be feminists.
Predictions
Because this is an exploratory study, we make only general predictions

about the responses to the interview questions. Our predictions about the
effects of gender were derived from the emphasis of reader-response theorists
on themes of personality and identity and from Schweickart's (1985) thesis
that texts can bolster culturally prevalent beliefs. Our hypothesis was that
readers would identify with characters or experiences in the texts. We
predicted that female readers would be more likely than male readers to
sympathize with both of the female protagonists in "Home," while male
readers would be more likely to sympathize with Daniel. Following the same
logic, we predicted that a reader who was older, and perhaps more liberal,
would be more likely to identify and sympathize with Emily. For "Home,"
we predicted that a reader who was older, a parent, married, a churchgoer,

and politically conservative would be more likely to identify with the mother
and share her perspective on her relationship with her daughter, while readers
who were younger, daughters, single, not active churchgoers, and politically
liberal would be more likely to identify with the daughter and take her
perspective on this relationship. Following from the emphasis of cultural
studies on ideology, and from Schweickart's observation that readers can
work against textual schemas, we predicted that those readers who identified
themselves as feminists would develop a feminist analysis of the actions both
of Emily and of the mother and daughter in "Home."
RESULTS
We present the results separately for each story, beginning with

and then turning to "Home." For both stories, we present first the pa
responses to the structured questions by gender of the reader. Th
consider the patterns of interview response frequencies with resp
gender, other indicators of life experience, and indicators of ideo
cause the sample size is small and the content codes dichotomous, w
patterns for which chi-square analyses are significant at p s .10. A
gender, age, and the indicators of ideology are relevant to both sto
expected marital status and parental status to have more relev
"Home," given the main theme of the story. We evaluated pat
response frequencies with respect to the full set of variables for bot
however, to allow comparisons across the two stories.
"Emily"
Scale responses. There were no significant differences between the 20

women and 9 men who read this story in the extent to which they thought
the narrator's reactions and feelings resembled their own. Both women and
men responded that Emily's reactions and feelings were not like their own,
with men more likely than women to feel this way (t = 1.75, p < .10).
Similarly, men were less likely than women to think the events in the story
resemble those that occur in real life (t = 2.16, p < .05). There were no
significant differences between women and men in their ratings either of
Emily's masculinity or of her femininity. Both groups of readers rated her as
essentially gender-neutral.
Interview responses and patterns by reader's gender. Ther

several differences in the responses of women and men. Men wer
more likely than women to attribute Emily's murder of Homer to h
crazy (63 percent versus 5 percent): "Maybe she got crazy or somethi
at the end. Paranoid." Consistent with their explanation of the murd
also were more likely than women to suggest that Emily was
explanation for why she slept with Homer's body after killing him (50
versus 20 percent), and again consistent with their attributions abo
behaviors, men were more likely than women to characterize E
general as crazy (88 percent versus 60 percent): "as she was growing
just kind of lost it, a little bit insane."
Patterns by indicators of life experience. Patterns of interpretat

age, marital status, and parental status were strikingly similar. The 9
who were 30 or older were more likely than the 19 readers under 3
that they understood Emily (34 percent versus 5 percent). Similarly,
cent of the 5 readers with children remarked that they understood
while just 9 percent of the readers without children made this comm
older readers were more likely to relate the story to their own exp
(22 percent), while none of the younger readers did. One 39-year-old
offered the following analysis: "As far as her father turning away s
think I focused on that because ... of a struggle I have, which is betw
mother and myself.... I'm seeing a power struggle in this story like
power struggle in my own life." Those with children were more l
relate the story to their own life (40 percent versus 9 percent). In ex
why Emily slept with Homer, older readers were more likely than
readers to suggest that Emily was desperate (44 percent versus 5 per
were the 8 married readers (38 percent versus 7 percent of the 19 un
readers). Older readers also were more likely to explain this action b
that Emily felt close to Homer (67 percent versus 32 percent). All of th
readers characterized Emily as solitary compared to 58 percen
younger readers. Older readers were more likely to note that she ha
parental background (78 percent versus 42 percent). All the parents d
Emily as independent and strong; 61 percent of the nonparents did
readers were more likely to observe that the townspeople were judg
(67 percent versus 32 percent) and showed a class bias (56 percent
11 percent). The married readers also were more likely to note a c
(50 percent versus 11 percent). Responding to several interactions b
Emily and her black "manservant," married readers were also more
describe the story as racist (38 percent versus 7 percent). Older read
more likely to make gender-related comments (67 percent versus 32 per

One, for example, observed: "There's a lot of bigotry in this story ev
between men and women. Men can do this; women can do that."
Patterns by feminist ideology. Women had significantly more liber

attitudes than men on the ATW (t = -2.63, p < .01). Subsamples of the
most and 11 least feminist readers were constructed on the basis of their ATW
scores. All who labeled themselves as feminists were included within the 11
feminist readers based on the ATW scores; all of these were women. Six of
the nonfeminists (3 men and 3 women) and 4 of the feminists were readers
of "Emily." The nonfeminists were more likely to say Emily killed Homer
for revenge (83 percent versus 25 percent): "Maybe she felt that she'd been
jilted. And there was a bit of the Black Widow in her too. Like she may have
lured him back and stung him." Half of the nonfeminists said Emily killed
Homer and slept with him because she was crazy; none of the feminists
attributed Emily's actions to insanity. Nonfeminists were also more likely to
characterize Emily as crazy in general (83 percent versus 25 percent). All the
feminists identified the narrator as a man and characterized the townspeople
as judgmental; only 17 percent of the nonfeminists had either response.
The feminists also were more likely to make specific gender-related
comments (50 percent versus 16 percent). For example, one of these readers
noted that "the women were sort of sexist to the men. They wonder if they
could keep a kitchen properly." Another commented: "I find that very
interesting, that description of Emily as having 'hair that is a vigorous iron
gray, like the hair of an active man.' I take offense to it, because ... I don't
hear older women described as active." The one nonfeminist reference to
aspects of gender in the story suggested an essentialist rather than construc-
tionist approach to gender: "I think it referred in the text somewhere to her
[Emily's] womanly life ... that connotes meaning emotional, sexual, family
things, but it also goes beyond that in the nature of the soul."
Patterns by religion and politics. The 20 readers who were not regular
churchgoers were more likely than the 8 regular churchgoers to explain
the murder by saying that Emily wanted to keep Homer (75 percent versus
13 percent). Similarly, the 13 readers who described themselves as liberal
were more likely (77 percent) than the 12 readers who described themselves
as conservative (42 percent) to explain this action by saying Emily wanted
to keep Homer. More nonchurchgoers (55 percent) than churchgoers (13 per-
cent) and more liberals (62 percent) than conservatives (25 percent) charac-
544 (;ENDER & SOCIETY / December 1990
terized the townspeople as judgmental. Nonchurchgoers were mor

characterize Emily as lonely and isolated (75 percent versus 40 per
the liberals, 23 percent said they understood Emily; none of the cons
said they did.
"Home"
Scale responses. There were no differences between the 16 women

8 men who read the story in the extent to which they thought the daug
or mother's reactions and feelings resembled their own. Men were m
likely than women to rate Daniel's reactions and feelings as similar to
own (t = -2.08, p < .05). Both women and men reported that the eve
the story strongly resemble those that occur in real life. There wer
significant differences between the female and male readers in their
of either the daughter's or the mother's masculinity or femininity, para
the pattern reported for ratings of Emily's gender.
Patterns by reader gender. Women were more likely than m

attribute to the mother's moral disapproval her reaction to the dau
decision to sleep with Daniel (56 percent versus 13 percent). One of
readers commented: "The mother doesn't think that sex is somethin
unmarried people should do or enjoy." Men were more likely to descr
daughter as insecure (75 percent versus 19 percent). One unexpected
intriguing marker of gender in characterizations of the daughter w
observation by 63 percent of the women and 38 percent of the men that
had mistaken the daughter for a man until well into the story. One o
who made this mistake said: "At first I thought she was a guy. When it
with Jason and a homosexual relationship, it just didn't sound right, I
reorganize everything in my mind that happened."
Of the women, 38 percent characterized the mother as lonely; none
men did. The men were more likely to describe the mother as the vic
a bad marriage (75 percent versus 38 percent). One male reader obse
"Then we learn that her marriage ended in divorce after twenty ye
That sounds like this was kind of an ongoing disaster, you know, that sh
finally able perhaps to get up the courage to end." Men also were more
to mention the relationship between Daniel and the mother (50 percent v
19 percent). One male reader provided both perspectives on this relati
Describing Daniel's perspective: "It seems like the girl is not what D
really looking at, it's her mother. .. . Daniel sees more of what he's lo
for or more of what he wants in the girl's mother." Of the mother's per
tive, this man said: "Maybe her mother did have feelings for Daniel ... [
was coming around to maybe somebody would really want her and that
her chance."
Patterns by indicators of life experience. The 7 older readers were more

likely than the 17 younger readers to comment on the believability of the
story (86 percent versus 35 percent), but in some cases, also the unrealistic
nature of the story (57 percent versus 6 percent). The 5 readers with children
were also more likely than the 19 who were childless to comment on the lack
of realism in parts of the story (57 percent versus 6 percent). Older readers
were more likely to attribute the mother's reaction to her moral disapproval
of her daughter's behavior (71 percent versus 30 percent). About half of the
older readers attributed the daughter's behavior to her need for an escape;
none of the younger readers did so. The 13 unmarried readers were more
likely than the 10 married readers to mention the daughter's need to escape
from her life (54 percent versus 10 percent). The readers with children were
more likely than the readers without children to attribute the mother's reac-
tion to her desire for the daughter to be different (60 percent versus 16 percent).
Older readers were more likely to describe the daughter as sensitive
(43 percent versus 6 percent), and those who were parents were more likely
to characterize the daughter as having had a difficult childhood (60 percent
versus 21 percent). The older readers tended to like the mother (43 percent
versus 12 percent), to describe her as typical (71 percent versus 30 percent),
and to note her preoccupation with death (57 percent versus 24 percent): "Her
mother is ... watching the news waiting for people to die." Diverging from
the patterns of the older readers, these parents were also more likely to
describe the mother as narrow-minded (60 percent versus 21 percent) and as
pessimistic (40 percent versus 5 percent). As one said of the mother: "It
[a comment by the mother] characterizes her really fast as the kind of
pessimist that she was ... the stereotypical real pessimistic mother." The
married readers were more likely to characterize the relationship between
mother and daughter as uneasy (60 percent versus 15 percent), as were the
readers with children (80 percent versus 21 percent). The parents also were
more likely to observe that the daughter is following the same life patterns
as the mother (60 percent versus 11 percent): "The mother is where the
daughter is heading, if she doesn't change." Another commented: "You feel
the tension between perpetuating the life style that [the] mother has done for
her mother [the daughter's grandmother] and that she [the daughter] seemed
doomed to do for her mother." Older readers were much more likely to make
gender-related comments (86 percent versus 24 percent), as were married
546 (ENDER & SOCIETY / December 1990
readers (60 percent versus 23 percent), and parents (80 percent ve

percent). Many of these remarks referred in some way to the conf
the readers about the gender of the narrator. One older reader note
I'm a female I presume that the author is a female." Another com
"Visualizing the words . . . 'Photographers painted her lashes too
her deep red nose was correct.' It sounded like something that a so
notice more than a daughter." One of the parents observed: "Ther
something about her tone that sounded very masculine." A married
commented on a particular phrase in the text: " 'Before her hysterecto
periods often came on the same day.' I don't think it would ever occ
male writer to include anything like that."
Patterns by feminist ideology. Four of the 11 nonfeminists (all

and 7 of the 11 feminists (all women) were readers of "Home." Surp
57 percent of the feminists (and 25 percent of the nonfeminists) repo
they had mistaken the daughter for a man until well into the sto
nonfeminists were more likely than the feminists to describe the dau
insensitive to her mother (75 percent versus 14 percent), the mot
victimized by her unhappy marriage (100 percent versus 29 percen
a hard worker (75 percent versus none). The nonfeminists also we
likely to mention Daniel's relationship with both the mother (75
versus 14 percent) and the daughter (75 percent versus 14 percent).
feminists, 71 percent thought the mother's reaction to the daughter's
with Daniel was due to her moral disapproval. None of the nonfemin
Nonfeminists were more likely to attribute the daughter's behavio
loneliness (71 percent versus 25 percent). Over half of the femini
gender-related comments. None of the nonfeminists commented on
themes in the story.
Patterns by religion and politics. Of the 7 regular churchgo

percent attributed the daughter's behavior to her sense of expectat
she should sleep with Daniel; none of the 17 nonchurchgoers did s
conservatives were more likely than the 15 liberal readers to attrib
behavior to the daughter's love for Daniel (43 percent versus 7 perc
liberals were more likely to attribute the mother's reaction to he
disapproval of the daughter's behavior (60 percent versus 14 p
Regular churchgoers also were more likely to characterize the dau
feeling guilty (43 percent versus 12 percent), and conservatives we
likely to characterize the daughter as insecure (71 percent versus 20
and as insensitive (71 percent versus 20 percent). The regular chu
were more likely to describe the mother as a hard worker (57 percent versus
6 percent), as were the conservatives (57 percent versus 7 percent), and as
lonely (57 percent versus 12 percent). Conservatives also were more likely
to describe the mother as having had a bad marriage (86 percent versus 33
percent). The liberals were much more likely to make gender-related com-
ments (60 percent versus 14 percent). One, for example, who had mistaken
the daughter for a son, noted: "That's startling to me -I would assume that
a 23-year-old male does not walk around naked in front of his mother."
Another said: "When I read 'I had to come home to my mother,' that's when
I realized she was a woman. Because it seems like most men are a little too
proud to come running home to their mother."
DISCUSSION
Psychologically oriented reader-response theories (Holland

cultural approaches to textual interpretation (Griswold 1987; Joh
alike assume that the reading experience is shaped to some degree
of identification or similarity between the reader and the char
experiences in the text. The gender of the readers in this study had
few effects on their interpretations of the stories, suggesting that
was not a strong basis for identification. Those differences that
icant, however, did reveal how gender may shape reading in no
ways. In responding to "Emily," the men tended to provide mor
istic explanations and evaluations than the women, illustrated, f
in their tendency to characterize Emily and her actions as crazy.
were more sensitive to the influence of social context on the behav
characters, illustrated by their greater sensitivity to the influ
townspeople on Emily.
In readings of "Home," there was some explicitly gender-based
cation between readers and the texts. Men were more likely to id
Daniel, and women seemed more sympathetic to, and perhaps i
more with the daughter, in contrast to the mother. The men w
negative in their evaluations of the daughter and more sympat
mother. Since all of these readers were relatively young, it see
that the women would have identified with the daughter. Beca
gender prevented the men from a direct identification with the da
may have drawn on their experiences as children to identify with t
What these differences suggest is that gender works together
aspects of life experience, such as age and parental status, to in

identification and interpretation of written material.
Indeed, age accounted for more significant differences in interpr
than any of the other variables in both stories. In "Home," older read
not sympathize with the mother, as we had expected, but with both
characters. The older readers were also more sympathetic to Emily, e
ing her actions by her desperation, noting her loneliness, and also
judgmental the townspeople were toward her. They were also more l
note the class bias of the narrator, suggesting a great sensitivity to
differentiation. In both stories, marital status had many fewer effe
interpretations than age, and those effects that were significant were vi
identical to the effects of age, reflecting that the married readers tende
older. The effects of parental status were similar to those of age and
status in "Emily," but in "Home," having children reduced sympathy fo
characters, and seemed to make the story unrealistic.
Feminists and nonfeminists differed in crucial ways. In react
"Emily," the nonfeminists viewed Emily as crazy, and also felt tha
relationship with Homer marred her reputation. The feminists were
sensitive to the influence of the social context, noting the judgmenta
the townspeople, and to themes of gender, noting that the narrator
male and making explicit gender-related comments. These feminist r
seemed to endorse Fetterley's (1978) reading of Emily as an ass
proactive woman: "Emily does not simply acquiesce; she prefers to m
rather than to die" (p. 44).
Feminist readers also provided very different readings of "Home"
did their nonfeminist counterparts. Echoing the patterns of the fema
ers, feminist readers seemed more sympathetic to the daughter than
mother. Although feminists were more likely to make explicit gender-r
comments, demonstrating a predictable sensitivity to gendered conte
might have predicted that their feminist beliefs would have led th
sympathize with the mother as well as the daughter. Since they tende
young, however, age may have superseded feminist attitudes in sh
interpretation.
Churchgoing and political orientation had few effects on interpretations
of "Emily," but substantially more effects on interpretations of "Home." We
assumed that churchgoing readers and conservatives would take the towns-
people's perspective on the dramatic events in Emily; consistent with this
expectation, the more liberal readers and the nonchurchgoers were more
sensitive to the love and need for Homer that Emily felt, and to the judgments
of the townspeople. In "Home," as expected, liberal readers and nonchurch-
goers tended to take the daughter's perspective, whereas regular churchgoers

and conservatives were more likely to identify with the mother.
In summary, then, we found that the gender of readers, in and of itself, did
not exert a strong influence on interpretations of the texts we used to generate
reader response, but that other aspects of life experience did shape interpre-
tations. More substantial life experience, as reflected in greater age, being
married, and having children, was associated with more sympathetic, em-
pathic reactions to the major characters in these texts. Ideological positions
also influenced readers' interpretations, when those positions were relevant
to the themes of the text. These individual values and attitudes were associ-
ated with more particularistic patterns of empathy. In reading "Emily,"
feminists, political liberals, and nonchurchgoers tended to empathize with
Emily and to be critical of the townspeople, and in reading "Home," those
who endorsed these attitudes tended to empathize with the daughter and to
be critical of the mother.
Despite these findings, we do not conclude that gender should be dis-
missed as an influence on reading. Indeed, gender-related comments were
made by 45 percent of the readers of "Emily" and 63 percent of the readers
of "Home." We suggest instead that the effects of gender are diffuse and that
gender influences reading and interpretation partially through the pervasive
gender-markings of social context. In separating our discussion of the effects
of gender from our treatment of the effects of other indicators of social
context, we have created an artificial distinction, since most social statuses
and social roles are gender marked. Marriage and parenting, for example, are
not gender-neutral social experiences. Because there are highly persistent
gender asymmetries in the physical and emotional labor of parenting and in
the power dynamics of marriage, the effects of parental and marital status on
readings of these stories necessarily were strongly gendered. For example,
that married readers were more likely than single readers to say Emily killed
Homer because she was desperate reflects a gender-specific analysis of
marriage. To attribute desperation to a person in "danger" of remaining
unmarried is a highly gender-specific observation, especially perhaps to
those who have avoided the danger themselves. To take another example, a
number of readers described the mother as a victim, whether of a bad
marriage, an ungrateful daughter, or her illnesses. Because victimization is
perceived as a female and even feminizing experience (Howard 1984), this
characterization would have been much less likely had the parent in this story
been a man. In summary, the effects of multiple status variables and social
positions should be considered simultaneously.
Perhaps the most remarkable evidence of the diffuse and pervasiv

of gender emerged from an entirely unexpected direction-the sing
frequent theme in descriptions of the daughter in "Home," the assum
over half the readers, both male and female, was that the "I" narrat
story, the daughter, was a man.6 The most likely explanation of this e
in the assumption that narrators, those with authority to speak, are
one of the female readers who made this mistake explained: "At first
it was a he because we always refer to the person as a he rathe
her . . . everything in life . . . it's always got to be male, it's never
Responses in the ongoing commentary session indicated that for m
ers, the point of discovery of this error was a conversation in which th
and daughter note the timing of their menstrual cycles. For one re
even this evidence of physical sex was sufficient; the clue was Da
the daughter using contraception. Yet in advance of either of these
tions, the narrative describes in some detail the daughter's sexual r
ships with several men. These readers' convictions about the gender
narrator thus were strong enough to turn the main character into a ho
man. Deaux and Lewis (1984) similarly found that when people are
with role information inconsistent with a stimulus-person's gender
a sharp increase in their estimates that that person is homosexual. T
a man is described in terms of stereotypically female role informati
a source of emotional support, managing and decorating the hous
taking care of children), this estimate reaches almost 40 perce
unshakable certainty about this reading testifies to the strength of cu
held beliefs about gender.
CONCLUSION
Reading can be viewed as one activity in the process of i

production and transformation. The readings and interpretation
in this study reveal that readers do create different readings of te
on their own characteristics and experiences, and constrained par
structures and details of the texts themselves. Although the an
demonstrated that gender is one force that shapes how people re
demonstrate that gender is not the only influential social char
Gender ideologies, together with other social statuses and ideo
tions, combine to shape reading and interpretation. Moreover, b
der is such a pervasive and often subtle force in shaping social e
indirect effects of gender on reading and interpretation are strong
direct effects of gender. Thus we leave the readers of this text with the
observation that however private an experience reading may seem to be, no
engagement in interpretation is entirely separate from the social context of
texts, readers, and reading.
NOTES
1. Fetterley's (1978) feminist reading differs substantially from the readings

reader-response critics (Holland 1975) in according primacy to themes of gender, po
the possibility that these readers' own theoretical biases shape their literary criticism
of the responses of our readers should bear light on the degree to which one set of
theoretical expectations lead them to see gender where it is not or the other set of
expectations cause them to fail to see gender where it is.
2. These summaries represent our readings of these stories. The results we re
demonstrate that other interpretations are both possible and plausible.
3. In a project such as this, in which we stress the social context of reading and interp
it is critical that we acknowledge to our own readers that this project involves a read
readings of others. That is, we constitute two intermediary readers.
4. Because race did not shape significantly interpretations of either story, we do n
this variable further.
5. Although 15 years old, the ATW scale continues to be one of the most frequen
instruments in this content domain, perhaps because as Beere (1979) notes, more is k
its psychometric properties than about other related instruments.
6. It may seem implausible that a substantial proportion of women and especially
made this error. We suggest that these women, particularly the feminists, were mor
mention explicitly having made this error because issues of gender are more salient
readers. Due to the greater salience of gender, these readers may have been mor
mention (rather than to make) this error.
REFERENCES
Barrett, Michele. 1985. Ideology and the cultural production of gender. In Fem
and social change, edited by Judith Newton and Deborah Rosenfelt. New Yo
Beere, Carole A. 1979. Women and women's issues: A handbook of tests an
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Bleich, David. 1978. Subjective criticism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Universi
Deaux, Kay, and Laurie L. Lewis. 1984. Structure of gender stereotypes: In
among components and gender label. Journal of Personality and SocialPsych
1004.
Faulkner, William. [1946] 1981. A rose for Emily. In Theportable Faulkner, edited by Malcolm
Cowley. New York: Viking.
Fetterley, Judith. 1978. The resisting reader: A feminist approach to American fiction. Bloo-
mington: Indiana University Press.
Griswold, Wendy. 1987. The fabrication of meaning: Literary interpretations

States, Great Britain, and the West Indies. American Journal of Sociology 92
Holland, Norman N. 1975. 5 readers reading. New Haven, CT: Yale University
Holub, Robert C. 1984. Reception theory: A critical introduction. New York: Me
Howard, Judith A. 1984. The "normal" victim: The effects of gender stereotypes
victims. Social Psychology Quarterly 47:270-81.
Iser, Wolfgang. 1978. The act of reading. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Johnson, Richard. 1987. What is cultural studies anyway? Social Text 16:38-80.
Phillips, Jayne Anne. 1979. Home. In Black tickets. New York: Dell.
Radway, Janice A. 1984. Reading the romance: Women, patriarchy, and popu
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Rosenblatt, Louise. 1978. The reader, the text, the poem. Carbondale: Southern I
sity Press.
Schweickart, Patrocinio P. 1985. Add gender and stir. Reader 13:1-9.
. 1986. Reading ourselves: Toward a feminist theory of reading. In Gender a
edited by Elizabeth A. Flynn and Patrocinio P. Schweickart. Baltimore: J
University Press.
Spence, Janet T., Robert Helmreich, and Joy Stapp. 1973. A short version of th
Women Scale (AWS). Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society 2:219-20.
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effects of stimuli on evaluations and behavior. Social Psychology Quarterly 4
Judith A. Howard is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Wa

Her research focuses on sociological approaches to the study of social cogn
attribution and the cognitive underpinnings of cultural interpretation. She is
coediting a collection of papers on sociological perspectives on self and identit
published by Cambridge University Press.
Carolyn Allen is Associate Professor of English at the University of Washing

recent work critiques intersections between feminist and poststructuralist the
is currently working on a book on theories of the subject in contemporary women

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The Gendered Context of Reading

Author(s): Judith A. Howard and Carolyn Allen

Reading, a micro-level and subjective activity, is a mechanism through which gender is

THE PRODUCTION OF MEANING

Cultural studies assert the importance of ideology and the re

REPRINT REQUESTS: Judith A. Howard, Department of Sociology DK-40, U

GENDER & SOCIETY, Vol. 4 No. 4, December 1990 534-552

self-evident, citing the inadequacy of feminist attempts to explore the w

GENDER AND READING

There are at least three distinct approaches to the influence of ge

of the effects of the reader's gender. In developing a feminist

"Home" is not a particularly well-known story; Phillips has not received

We noted above that we do not attempt to identify the precise paramete

reading, asking readers to present a narrative of their responses with

Reading session and interview. Codes were constructed for the p

it, realistic or not, degree of action), mentions of the townspeople in "E

Structured questionnaire. The structured questionnaire included four

Because this is an exploratory study, we make only general predictions

we predicted that a reader who was older, a parent, married, a churchgoer,

We present the results separately for each story, beginning with

Scale responses. There were no significant differences between the 20

Interview responses and patterns by reader's gender. Ther

Patterns by indicators of life experience. Patterns of interpretat

more likely to make gender-related comments (67 percent versus 32 per

Patterns by feminist ideology. Women had significantly more liber

terized the townspeople as judgmental. Nonchurchgoers were mor

Scale responses. There were no differences between the 16 women

Patterns by reader gender. Women were more likely than m

Patterns by indicators of life experience. The 7 older readers were more

readers (60 percent versus 23 percent), and parents (80 percent ve

Patterns by feminist ideology. Four of the 11 nonfeminists (all

Patterns by religion and politics. Of the 7 regular churchgo

Psychologically oriented reader-response theories (Holland

aspects of life experience, such as age and parental status, to in

goers tended to take the daughter's perspective, whereas regular churchgoers

Perhaps the most remarkable evidence of the diffuse and pervasiv

Reading can be viewed as one activity in the process of i

1. Fetterley's (1978) feminist reading differs substantially from the readings

Griswold, Wendy. 1987. The fabrication of meaning: Literary interpretations

Judith A. Howard is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Wa

Carolyn Allen is Associate Professor of English at the University of Washing

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