# Single women and The DaVinci Code: what gives? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 10, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516 "2004-10-10T21:17:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/1 "2004-10-10T21:17:14Z")
As I’m searching through [match.com](http://match.com), looking for women to write to who will probably never respond back, I found a common thread: Interests last read: I just finished The DaVinci Code. An incredible book! The last book I read was the DaVinci Code and I loved it. Great book. Very suspenseful and very interesting, really makes you think! My favortie books within the past few months were both by Dan Brown - The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons. The last thing I read was the DaVinci Code - talk about challenging history…good thing it was fiction. The last book(s) I read was Angels and Demons and The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown… Leap of Faith by Queen Noor of Jordan. The DaVinci Code. What a great read…entertaining and thought provoking! Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons, the predecessor to The DaVinci Code. Fantastic read – lots of twists and turns. Brown weaved in lots of folklore about the famed “Illuminati,” ancient intelligencia and the Catholic Church. I give it two thumbs up. I love the John Adams book and just finished reading the DaVinci Code. Currently reading Al Franken’s new book and “The DaVinci Code.” Now I’m reading ‘The DaVinci Code’. the last book i read was “the DaVinci Code” pretty intense Lets see, Just finished the DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons The last book I read was The Davinci Code & Angels and Demons by Dan Brown; highly recommend it! Recently read The DaVinci Code. Will start DaVinci Code soon. Soon I will be starting Angels & Demons before moving on to The DaVinci Code. ``` I am currently in the middle of reading 'The Davinci Code'. All of my friends have read it so far so we can't talk about it until i'm done! The last book I read was the DaVinci Code by Dan Brown. Though fiction, it kind of made you think, plus it was a quick beach read! ``` Right now, I’m reading the DaVinci Code. The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown – I love the debate that his ideas stimulate between people. Currently reading the Davinci Code… The “Davinci Code”… still reading it - it’s Great! I am reading The DaVinci Code. About HALF of the women in my area claim to have read The DaVinci Code. What gives? Why is this book so appeaking to single women on dating sites? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/2 "2004-10-10T21:21:23Z")
It’s the same out here, though it finally seems to be fading away. It’s just the latest hot book, that’s all. I’m much more interested in the ones who say they read stuff that is not the current trend. Not that it helps. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/3 "2004-10-10T22:40:20Z")
On top of that, you have a thread through _The DaVinci Code_ that explores an idea long excluded by mainstream Christianity: that women are just as important as men in the divine equation. The conspiracy theory mentioned in the book is that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene. After he died during the Crucifixion, Mary Magdalene, pregnant with their child, fled to France and bore a daughter. That bloodline, Mary Magdalene herself, and the idea of the sacred marriage, are all symbolized by the Holy Grail. For any woman who’s grown up in a religion where a woman is responsible for Original Sin, part of the Savior’s divinity was the fact that He never had sex with a woman, fell in love with a woman, or married a woman, and a woman’s place in the church is at best somewhat controversial . . . well, the ideas in _The DaVinci Code_ are very empowering. I’m not saying they’re believable, well researched, or even remotely accurate, only that they resonate with many women. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/4 "2004-10-10T22:51:25Z")
Woman on dating site: “Well, I don’t want a man who only watches football on television. I’d like someone who reads. Yeah! So, I’ll mention that I read. I’ll just put down the last book I read… hmm… I wonder what that was. Oh, _The Sensual Pilgrimage_, the one with Thor Hawkesflyte and Rowena Ravenhurst, when he abducted her as she was on a journey to the nunnery to escape from Baron von Darke! Um, maybe I don’t want to put that one down. Oh, I know. _The DaVinci Code_! Everyone’s heard of that one, and it doesn’t have anyone named Thor in it.” It seems likely that people are picking it because it’s famous, popular, and they actually have read it. I’d say it probably isn’t indicative of the actual reading habits of more than half of American women. ---
**Author:** ![presidebt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c37758/32.png) [@presidebt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/presidebt)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/5 "2004-10-10T23:10:46Z")
Ohio, eh? Indiana checkin’ in. Never read the DC. How YOU doin’? 😉 Little known on this board: I am, in fact, a reasonably attractive single female. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/6 "2004-10-10T23:24:16Z")
As a female who has read a fair number of ads by males – same deal. It’s just the latest hot bestseller. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/7 "2004-10-10T23:36:14Z")
Yep, the latest hot thing. A frightening number of people don’t read much, and when they do, they only read the latest hot thing. Therefore there are probably plenty of people who really did read _The DaVinci Code_ last, because it was the last thing to seem like The Hot Book To Read. Besides, you have to put down something people have heard of… And also that bit about the Thor books. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/8 "2004-10-10T23:47:47Z")
So my mention of reading Neal Stephensons’ \*The Baroque Cycle \* is just going to get a HUH? from the ladies? Damn, better go say I’m reading DC 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/9 "2004-10-11T00:11:25Z")
> [@MikeG](#): > > So my mention of reading Neal Stephensons’ \*The Baroque Cycle \* is just going to get a HUH? from the ladies? Damn, better go say I’m reading DC 🙂 At the risk of betraying that I’ve fallen for a whoosh – Not necessarily. I didn’t say I _answer_ the ads of men who cite that book as last read – just that I see it a lot. I’d almost rather have someone who says “too busy to read books.” BTW, here’s an actual answer I’ve got posted for “Last great book I read”: > [@](#): > > Great book? That’s too effusive. Really, really good books: English Passengers (Matthew Kneale), Straight Man (Richard Russo), Guns, Germs, and Steel (Jared Diamond), Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials trilogy, The Years of Salt and Rice (Kim Stanley Robinson). Keep in mind that my ads are designed to self-select men who will answer them – I attempt to present myself as smart, verbal, somewhat intellectual, so as not to mislead anyone who would be freaked out by a rather scarily intelligent woman. Alas, some men are… ---
**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/10 "2004-10-11T00:11:28Z")
> [@MikeG](#): > > So my mention of reading Neal Stephensons’ \*The Baroque Cycle \* is just going to get a HUH? from the ladies? Damn, better go say I’m reading DC 🙂 Not this lady. Although I must admit I’m only halfway through Quicksilver, even though I bought it the day it was released. I need to get back to it! ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/11 "2004-10-11T00:15:16Z")
Damn, that should be “Rice and Salt,” not “Salt and Rice.” :smack: Smart, occasionally a little careless. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zjestika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/12 "2004-10-11T00:19:31Z")
> [@MikeG](#): > > So my mention of reading Neal Stephensons’ \*The Baroque Cycle \* is just going to get a HUH? from the ladies? Damn, better go say I’m reading DC 🙂 Well, you’d get a flirty wink from _me_, for whatever that’s worth. ZJ ---
**Author:** ![beergeek279](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@beergeek279](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beergeek279)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/13 "2004-10-11T03:43:55Z")
Well, DaVinci Code seems like it’d be a lot more interesting to most women than my current reading “Introduction to Assembly Language for 8086 and Pentium Processors” and “The Art of Prolog”. ---
**Author:** ![Atticus\_Finch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Atticus\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atticus_Finch)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/14 "2004-10-11T04:31:34Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Great book? That’s too effusive. Really, really good books: English Passengers (Matthew Kneale), Straight Man (Richard Russo), Guns, Germs, and Steel (Jared Diamond), Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials trilogy, The Years of Salt and Rice (Kim Stanley Robinson). Well, that reading list at least gets you a “How you doin’?” from me. I’m not single, nor am I American, but that’s a good list nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/15 "2004-10-11T05:23:48Z")
I don’t want to get into castigating anyone for reading a book that everyone else has read for having a herd mentality. I just finished re-reading my 30-year old copy of _1984_ from high school to see if it was still as good (it’s doubleplus better good!). Hell, everybody’s read _1984_. But bestsellers seem to have single women as their target group. This was demonstrated to me in 1979 with _The World According to Garp_. All the women at college carried a copy, and were compelled to check with eachother as to at which passage they’d started crying. This theory was confirmed the following year with the arrival of _Sophie’s Choice_. William Styron, calculating pusher of cultural hot-buttons with the _Confessions of Nat Turner_, cast his main characters with the male archetypes of the 20-year old woman’s universe: the domineering, dismissive father, the boyfriend from Hell, and poor, well-intentioned but useless Stingo with his adorable need to jack off all the time. Don’t get me started on _Bridges of Madison County_. But my point is that it’s not just the Barbara Cartland, bodice -ripper stuff in the romance section. These are always among the “big idea” books of their season. Women are the prime demographic for literature every bit as much as teenagers are the prime demographic for movies. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/16 "2004-10-11T10:28:56Z")
Secret of the DaVinci Code- Famous woman was given bad rep by oppressive male system to cover up her being the Squeeze of the Perfect Man. What’s for single women NOT to like in that set up? _L_ They have a heroine, a villianous system to blame everything on, & that Dashing Galilean chap! ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/17 "2004-10-11T10:59:05Z")
> [@presidebt](#): > > Little known on this board: I am, in fact, a reasonably attractive single female. And your picture is… where, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![Waccoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Waccoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waccoe)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/18 "2004-10-11T11:49:50Z")
I guess it proves single women are satisfied by an intriguing beginning, a soggy middle and a weak ending, including a complete absence of climax. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/19 "2004-10-11T12:41:57Z")
> [@Waccoe](#): > > I guess it proves single women are satisfied by an intriguing beginning, a soggy middle and a weak ending, including a complete absence of climax. Honey, is that you? ::: walks off wondering how her ex got on the Dope ::: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mariemarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58f4c7/32.png) [@Mariemarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mariemarie)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516/20 "2004-10-11T15:06:02Z")
> [@MikeG](#): > > So my mention of reading Neal Stephensons’ The Baroque Cycle is just going to get a HUH? from the ladies? > [@XJETGIRLX](#): > > Not this lady. Although I must admit I’m only halfway through Quicksilver, even though I bought it the day it was released. I need to get back to it! ::elbows her way in between **MikeG** and **XJETGIRLX** :: Oooh! You’ve read the _whole_ _Baroque Cycle_? Wow! ::bats eyes:: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-women-and-the-davinci-code-what-gives/268516.md?page=2)