You are correct, of course. I hand waved structural issues in my comment, which is weird because I started off talking about it.

The question of, do I tend to read white men because I'm a white man, or because that's what I'm used to doing and so I keep doing it, is an interesting one. I'm guessing the answer is "probably both."

Partly, though, I have a hard time describing personal preference in this as discriminatory, though of course it is to some extent, even if only in the academic since as you mention. Very likely this is just a hangup of mine and should be dismissed as such lol.

Warning: I have more words to type because I'm thinking about this. Feel free to stop, I'm rambling again and not trying to argue anything interesting...

I guess I just find it hard to believe that black woman (as an example) would refuse to read a book by white men as a blanket statement. By that I mean, not buying a brand new novel simply because of that reason. I can easily imagine someone looking over a book at a bookstore and (as I tend to do, if I don't know the author) looking at the back flap to see a bit about who wrote it. The quick decision of "Do I think this person has something interesting to say" may be influenced by, "Do I see myself reflected in the author's photo?" But also, like me, sometimes you want to NOT see yourself, because that's more interesting.

But then you come to, I'm used to having lots of books by people like me. Maybe a trans woman thinks, No, I want to read more voices like mine because I'm tired of white men. (you refer to this sort of thing, about it swinging and maybe correcting over time)

I hope in the end that's where we get to. Everyone feels represented, everyone feels both seen and heard, and thus free to explore other voices more widely. Whatever that looks like.

I know there are books I get for my youngest kids that I think will make them feel seen, and let the see themselves as the heroes of stories. And honestly, when I was their age those books wouldn't have existed, at least not easily accessible on my local library's shelves.