Female vs. male writers

Bookslut, who I hope you've seen on my blogroll, points to a discussion about female vs. male authors.  Best line from one of the comments:  "I'm not interested in turning my reading habits into the equivalent of pity sex."  

One person says she now associates all female authors with Oprah's books, which someone else calls "women's books" about women's midlife crisis.  Personally, that's why I dislike Anne Tyler, but I don't see how you can lump all books written by women into that category.  Isn't that like associating all female singers with Celine Dion? 

Another commentator doesn't like "romantic type books with women as the protagonist if it is written by a man."  Really?  Like Anna Karenina?  (Not that I've read it, but just thought I'd throw it out there for the sake of argument.)  Some people dislike or distrust writers who use the voice of the opposite gender, and I don't understand why.  It's called imagination.  I also think this argument does not take into consideration the way stories are written.  I don't believe a writer thinks, "I want to write a story.  Since I'm a female, I should write about a female.  Now let me think of a story for a female character."  Characters and plots often just come to writers.  I'm having trouble expressing what I mean.  Haven't you ever read an interview where the writer says a character appeared in her head and all the writer did is write down his story? 

Off the top of my head, here are novels written in the opposite gender voice (1st person or 3rd person POV) from their author:

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
How to Be Good by Nick Hornby 
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
and, just to confuse us all, a male author in the voice of a hermaphrodite:
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides