Both Genders Prefer Male Protagonists?

I just came across a blog post about a study (link is to the abstract) that concludes both male and female readers prefer reading about male main characters. I find this counterintuitive (as did the researchers).

I also suspect there may have been some flaws with the study, but I am a big believer in reading original source material. So, I am going to hold off until I have read the entire study before I speculate.

I will say this, by way of example only: I loved Chris Cleave's LITTLE BEE (literary fiction, female main character) and enjoy Jamie Freveletti's thrillers featuring Emma Calridge (female). But, I also am a huge fan of Lee Child (protagonist is Jack Reacher, male) and Michael Connelly (particularly the Mickey Haller books, male).

In fact, I would venture to guess my bookshelf is about evenly split between books with male and female protagonists.

What do you think?