I know a lot of men who read Austen—one of them considers himself an expert on her books, he has read them so many times. Interestingly, it seems to be that it is in the US where there is the largest overlap between SFF readers and fans of Jane Austen. I can remember that when I was younger most SFF conventions that I attended held Regency dancing in the evenings. It was interesting to see a favorite male science fiction writer dressed like a Regency dandy dancing a country dance with a woman in a Star Fleet officer's uniform, or a Regency lady dancing with a lizard from the original "V." When the books were first published, some prominent men, like the Prince of Wales, were among her greatest admirers. This has remained true in all the time between then and now. It is true that some men don't like her books; some women don't either. People like what they like. But some shy away from Austen's books because they think of them as romance novels. Austen's books are not about romance. Romance does come into it, but they are just as much about money and what can happen to those who don't have enough of it. But what they are really about is the society of the time, which Austen portrays both sympathetically and with a biting wit. They are a window into the past, and from a perspective that most people don't know that much about.
The Brontës have practically nothing in common with Austen. The books are far more sensational, and even further from romance (though some of the major characters do fall in love, or in some cases obsession). When Jane Eyre was published many reviewers admired it greatly but others found the book coarse and shocking. They hated Jane and considered her immoral. (Modern readers often find her a little too moral.)
