"Chick lit" is a type of popular fiction written for women. It was widely used in the 1990s and 2000s, but publishers no longer use it as much today. Many writers and critics say the term is unfair because it can be seen as sexist. Books labeled as chick lit often focus on romantic relationships, friendships between women, and challenges at work. These stories are usually told in a funny and light-hearted way. The main characters are often women in their late 20s or early 30s who live in cities and are heterosexual. The heroines from the 1990s chick lit books were more confident, had their own money, and enjoyed buying expensive items.
The genre began in the early 1990s in the United States and the United Kingdom. Books like Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan (1992, US) and The Old Girl Network by Catherine Alliott (1994, UK) helped start the trend. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding (1996, UK) is considered the most important example of chick lit. Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell (1997, US), which became a famous television show, also had a major influence on culture.
By the late 1990s, chick lit books were often the top-selling books. Many publishing companies created special sections for these books. However, by the mid-2000s, the market became too crowded with similar books. By the early 2010s, publishers mostly stopped using the term "chick lit." Even so, the term is still used online by readers and writers who create stories for the internet.
Although "chick lit" is no longer common in English-language books in developed countries, the term and similar words are still used in other languages and regions to describe and study popular books written for women.
Origins and derivations of the term
In 1992, Los Angeles Times critic Carolyn See noticed that a new style of popular women's fiction was starting to appear. Though she did not use the term "chick lit," in a review of Terry McMillan's book Waiting to Exhale, she wrote that McMillan's work was not "lofty" or "luminous" but might become very successful. Carolyn See explained that McMillan's book belonged to a different kind of writing, one that had not yet been given a name. She described this type of writing as focusing on women, their struggles, their triumphs, and their friendships.
The term "chick lit" became widely used to describe this style of writing in the second half of the 1990s. "Chick" is American slang for a young woman, and "lit" is a short form of the word "literature." No single source created the term. In 1988, students at Princeton University used "chick lit" as slang for a course about the Female Literary Tradition. In the UK, Oxford Reference reports that the term "chick lit" was used as a playful opposite to "lad lit," which refers to a similar style of writing for men. The term "chick flick" for movies appeared slightly earlier. One of the first major uses of "chick lit" was in 1995, when an anthology titled Chick Lit: Postfeminist Fiction was published. This collection included 22 short stories written in response to a call for "postfeminist writing."
In the early years, different names were sometimes used for this style of writing. For example, in 2000, the Sydney Morning Herald referred to it as "chick fiction."
At its peak, many subgenres were created with similar names, such as "chick lit jr" (for young readers), "mommy lit," and "chick lit in corsets" (a type of historical fiction mentioned in one academic paper). The term "lad lit" developed separately in the UK, possibly before "chick lit." Later, "lad lit" was used in the US to describe a male-focused subgenre of "chick lit." Among these related terms, "mommy lit" and "lad lit" were used more often than others, though far less frequently than "chick lit."
Other versions of the term "chick lit" have been used in different regions or for specific communities. In the US, "Sistah lit" refers to books for Black readers, and "Chica lit" refers to books for Latina readers. In India, the term "Ladki Lit" has been used. In Turkey, "çıtır literature" describes a category of writing. The word "çıtır" means "crispy" but is used colloquially to refer to attractive young women.
Writers and critics
Controversy about chick lit books first centered on whether these books had value as literature. Over time, the debate shifted to whether the term "chick lit" itself was unfair or sexist.
In 1998, a reviewer named Alex Kuczynski wrote in The New York Times that Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary was not good, calling the main character "a sorry spectacle" who acted foolishly. In 2001, writer Doris Lessing said chick lit books were "instantly forgettable," and Beryl Bainbridge called the genre "a froth sort of thing." Jenny Colgan, a writer, disagreed, explaining that chick lit was important for many young women.
Two years later, Colgan changed her mind about the term "chick lit." She became one of the first writers to say the term was disrespectful, even though she still believed her work had value. She said, "Chick-lit is a deliberately condescending term they use to rubbish us all. If they called it slut-lit, it couldn’t be any more insulting." At this time, older and younger female writers often disagreed. For example, Maureen Dowd said younger writers’ books had "all chick and no lit," while Colgan called older critics "hairy-leggers." Many felt there was a lack of unity among women writers.
In 2005, editor Elizabeth Merrick published an anthology called This Is Not Chick Lit, arguing that chick lit books used a simple formula that "numbs our senses." In response, author Lauren Baratz-Logsted published This Is Chick Lit, saying the genre was not just about fashion and relationships but also about important themes like friendship, love, and life.
In 2007, Diane Shipley defended chick lit, saying the books often covered serious topics and that reading enjoyable books was not wrong. She said, "I just don’t see what’s morally or intellectually wrong with reading a book you enjoy and relate to."
Through the late 2000s and 2010s, many writers avoided the term "chick lit," arguing that criticism of their work was based on sexism. For example, in 2010, writer DJ Connell changed her name from Diane to avoid the label. Authors like Sophie Kinsella and Marian Keyes, who became famous through chick lit, now reject the term. Kinsella calls her work "romantic comedy," and Keyes said in 2014 that the term was no longer useful.
Publishers
In 2000, the Sydney Morning Herald described a popular trend called "chicfic," which included books with bright and colorful covers, often featuring pink and fluorescent colors. The titles of these books suggested they were easy to read and likely to be enjoyable. These books combined elements of magazines, fiction, and television, and were designed to be read comfortably in one night at home.
Throughout the 2000s, publishers continued to support this subgenre because sales remained strong. In 2003, Publishers Weekly reported that many new chick lit imprints were being created, such as Kensington's Strapless, which began in April 2003 and planned to release one book each month until the end of 2004. John Scognamiglio, an editor at Kensington, explained that the imprint was created based on requests from salespeople for a brand focused on chick lit. However, the same article also noted that sales of Bridget Jones's Diary in 1998 had been very high, and publishers faced challenges in a market that had become very crowded with similar books. The article suggested that chick lit was either declining or reaching an important turning point.
By 2008, editor Sara Nelson noted that the definition of chick lit had become more refined and "grown up."
By 2012, news sources reported that chick lit was no longer as popular. Salon.com stated that chick lit had caused many discussions about different opinions regarding women's and men's tastes, high and lowbrow culture, and comedy versus drama. However, the article also explained that the decline was likely due to natural changes in fashion and preferences within genre fiction.
Chick lit online
The rise and fall of chick lit as a publishing trend happened at the same time as the rapid increase in internet use in developed countries. Academic Sandra Folie explains that fans, websites, blogs, and online platforms like Wikipedia helped define and shape the chick lit genre. Folie mentions the British website chicklit.co.uk, which was active from 2002 to 2014. This site provided information about books, authors, and lifestyle topics for young women. The American site Chicklitbooks.com, online from 2003 to 2013, described itself as a place for "Hip, bright literature for today's modern woman." As chick lit became less popular in publishing, fans created online groups to support the genre. In 2012, the website chicklitisnotdead.com had 25,000 users. In 2022, a chick lit community group on goodreads.com had 4,756 members.
Chick lit globally
Chick lit began in the United Kingdom and the United States but quickly became a worldwide publishing trend. It may have been one of the first publishing trends to spread globally.
In a book published in 2011 and an article in Le Monde Diplomatique, academic Madawi Al-Rasheed wrote about the development of Saudi chick lit over the previous ten years. She discussed books by Saudi women authors, such as Raja Alsanea (Girls of Riyadh) and Samar al-Muqrin. These books, first published in Lebanon, were described by Al-Rasheed as "novels that show women as active sexual agents rather than submissive victims of patriarchal society."
Girls of Riyadh has been translated into English and is still available in print as of 2023. Publishers Weekly summarizes the book as a story about four upper-class Saudi women who deal with the conflict between traditional values and the influence of Western culture in this debut novel by 25-year-old Saudi author Alsanea. While it is more modest in style compared to American chick lit, the book was banned in Saudi Arabia for its portrayal of secular life. It is widely sold in stores across the United States and Europe. In a reader’s guide to the novel, Alsanea explains that she hopes Western readers will connect with Saudi culture, as the characters in the book share "the same dreams, emotions, and goals" as them.
In India, Trust Me by Rajashree was the best-selling chick lit novel. The popularity of books like Trust Me and Piece of Cake by Swati Kaushal can be understood in the context of the rise of regional chick lit. Helen Fielding, author of Bridget Jones’s Diary, told The New York Times, "I think it had far more to do with the times than imitation." If the chick lit movement has "led to great new female writers emerging from Eastern Europe and India, then it's worth any number of feeble bandwagon jumpers." Sunaina Kumar wrote in The Indian Express, "Ten years after the publication of Bridget Jones’s Diary, the genre of fiction most recognizable for its pink cover art featuring stilettos, martini glasses, and lipsticks is now being infused with bindis, saris, and bangles." Indian chick lit is sometimes called "ladki-lit."
In Brazil, chick lit in translation is categorized as "Literatura de mulherzinha." The suffix "-inha" in Portuguese means "little," so this term literally translates to "little-women's literature." A Brazilian commentator noted, "The use of the diminutive is not by accident. Just as it is not by accident that the covers of books by women writers are usually, stereotypically feminine. With covers that suggest a light and romantic, commercial plot. … books by female authors arrive to the reader with a series of biases which ensure that these authors remain on the cultural bottom rung."