I would bet that they were thinking about not wanting YA in their SFF list (because by SFF they probably meant something like "serious" SFF that tackles adult themes, or hard sci-fi and heavily-worldbuilt gritty fantasy, or something similar), but didn't really care if their YA list took a broad definition of the genre. (That is, they probably thought that YA fiction set in a speculative universe is YA, and not SFF, instead of being simultaneously YA and SFF, because, perhaps, the YA version isn't "real" to them. That doesn't explain LotR and Dune's presence on the list at all, though; how are either of those YA?)

I do know about J.K. Rowling. When I brought her up, I was thinking about the fact that the content of the stories is appealing to boys, and that she is an example of a woman whose work is not unappealing, showing that there's nothing about female writers that makes them inherently incapable of writing things boys would read. If you were actually trying to discuss the way boys are socialized to think women's writing is unappealing, then I may have missed the point. That everyone seems to know she's a woman now is probably a good thing, in that case.

I have thoughts about how to attack the deeper issues. Some parts of what feminism is doing may also prove useful as a second, simultaneous attempt to fix things. If I had to choose, I'd rather stop inculcating the anti-intellectual sentiments and constructing masculinity as a fragile thing opposed to femininity and based in not having certain feelings (instead of in responding to them constructively, and being an adult who takes responsibility for xyr own actions), but I'm far from certain that this should be thought of as a dichotomous choice.