Gender Issues

Okay, confluence of articles in the paper, one about the new Harry Potter movie and another about the decline of the popularity of princess movies, got me thinking about the differences in boys' and girls' reading habits. I started wondering if the Harry Potter series would have been as successful with a female main character.

I’m sure this isn’t an original observation, but I’m curious to know what you, my cyber friends, think. I would say "Of course it would be as popular!" because face it, they’re amazing books. But part of me wonders if sales wouldn’t be just a little lower or if maybe the movies wouldn’t be as popular because males couldn’t connect to a female main character.

I’ve read (damn, I can’t remember where!) that girls have no trouble reading books with male main characters but boys usually shy away from books with female leads. Granted, some of that comes from the romance angles often associated with female characters (I don’t think a lot of teenage boys read Twilight), but would a fantasy adventure starring a girl attract male readers?

This I don’t know. So writer friends, are you writing a male or female MC? Do you think this affects your story or, more importantly, how your story is perceived?