What does “the reader” mean?

What is “the reader”? Why do they read? Does that change their definition? And why on earth do I have to write about them for my Research and Criticism course?

“The reader” rarely has a specified gender, unless it’s specified as the “female reader”, so why is it not “the male reader”, and why do many neglect the “non-binary reader” in a 2020 literature landscape? Judith Fetterley explains, in her essay “The Resisting Reader: A Feminist Approach to American Fiction”, that “American literature is male”, and proceeds to explain how “the reader” is male and so we must refer to “the female reader”. Of course, it was written in 1978, while not excusing the later of gender inclusivity, information on gender fluidity or gender non-conformity was not as widespread as it is now, and therefore it can be almost forgiven for basing an entire book in the male and female readers, perhaps unknowingly neglecting a whole demographic of readers. But that brings me to the point of, why does it have to be male and female, never just a reader? If anything, this last decade has shown us that there are extensive differences between men individually and women individually, and also similarities, blurring the lines between the such, identifying that there is no distinct “male reading” or “female reading” of literature, you read it how you read it.

This concept baffled me as I was taught through GCSE and through A levels, that you must write “the reader”, in order to remain objective. But if I’m simply using “the reader” to hide my thoughts about literature behind, does that not discredit the idea and destroy the point, since I'm only feigning objectivity. If you are subjective when you write “i”, but objective when you say “the reader”, how do you know you are being objective if you’re writing from your own perspective? or even your perceived perspective of others?