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And here we bring you a surprising story about chicklit, or, in other words, a thoughtful essay about the impact of fiction aimed at young women around the world. While the American media focused on the frothy layer of chicklit, the writers were actually exploring topics of importance to today’s women.

What’s being exported to women around the world is the realization that they can explore issues and restrictions of their cultures in a way that is accessible to their peers. We have long believed in the subversive nature of fiction — what better way to send messages than through stories?

In countries “where feminism hasn’t fully taken root, chick lit might be offering the feminist joys of freedom and the post-feminist joys of consumerism simultaneously,” said Mallory Young, a co-editor of “Chick Lit,” a collection of academic essays on the genre. Take India, for example. In Swati Kaushal’s breezy “Piece of Cake,” the 29-year-old heroine juggles her marketing job at International Foods and the suitors who appear after her pushy mother lists her in the matrimonials section of The Hindustan Times — under “miscellaneous.”

• The Chick-Lit Pandemic