This is a good example of a systemic issue. I also read a lot of sci fi, and yeah, it’s almost entirely white dudes. However, what the libs want you to believe is that you are choosing to read books by white guys instead of anyone else because of your inherent bias. That might be true, but the fact is that most of the published authors are white guys. If you look at any list of the best sci fi, it’s going to be 80% white, male authors.

The reason for that is that white men are more likely to get published. Are white men better authors? Inherently not, but there are more of them with the opportunity to become authors, so it’s likely that a lot of the best stuff is going to be written by them. It has little to do with consumer choice and much more to do with all of the social and economic structures in place that give white men an advantage.

This is analogous to the FBI crime statistics argument. Black men commit most of the crimes because a) the system puts them in a position where their material conditions lead to criminal behavior, and b) the laws and justice system unfairly target them.

Making a conscious choice as an individual to read more books by marginalized authors is fine, and it’s true that you’re more likely to get more and different perspectives in your literary diet, but it won’t make much of a difference to the problem of white dude authors taking up most of the bookstore shelves. That problem is upstream from retail book sales.

Basically, this is standard identity politics/representation in media blah blah. Individual consumer choices aren’t going to solve racism, or any other social problem. For your own sake it would be helpful to try and branch out from the white guy authorsphere, but that’s not going to change the fact that a lot of the books out there, and therefore a lot of the good books, are still going to be published by white guys. There’s no point in not reading them just to make some statement about diversity.