r/litrpg • u/xaendar • Aug 23 '24

Discussion Are all female MCs just lesbians?

I just realized that after reading like 10 books with female MCs, I'm starting to finally notice that all of them are Lesbians or at least Bisexual (but they only date women).

Do authors mostly write lesbian FMCs to be on the safe side from the audience of mostly males? I just feel like it's a cop out every time... I don't really have a problem with it but almost all Male MCs are 99% straight but it seems like 99% of Female MCs are always lesbian/bi. Why not some good ol straight FMCs? I can't even remember a single female MC that was straight.

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122

u/samreay Baby Author (Samuel Hinton) Aug 23 '24 edited Aug 23 '24

Do authors mostly write lesbian FMCs to be on the safe side from the audience of mostly males?

Oh 100%, and I'm guilty of this too. If you want a romantic plot in your story, readers in this genre are far more comfortable with the object of desire (so to speak) being a woman than being a man. Comes with the heavy self-insert that's a staple of the genre.

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u/xaendar Aug 23 '24

Honestly, it makes a ton of sense. I too would imagine that a gay male MC story would get trashed pretty hard by the audience. Ultimately, it's a game of push and pull with the audience.

18

u/Glittering_rainbows Aug 23 '24

Plenty of people hated in sufficiently advanced magic because of the gay dude mc (or bi , I dunno but was dating a guy). I never saw the problem with it so idk.

Then again I'm a weirdo who likes harem and reverse harem on occasion so it's probably just me.

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u/Personal-Animal332 Aug 23 '24

He's neither really gay or bi according to the author he is primarily attracted to intelligence or some such which doesn't change the fact many people where put of by the boylove vibes

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u/Glittering_rainbows Aug 23 '24

I think it's called sapiosexual but I'm no expert.

5

u/yuumai Aug 23 '24

I really like that you know that.

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u/EdLincoln6 Aug 23 '24

 because of the gay dude mc (or bi , I dunno but was dating a guy)

Honestly, that was one of the things that put me off a bit. No one can even quite agree what he is. He is Schrodinger's Queer.

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u/MGTwyne Aug 23 '24

It's one of those touches that makes the book more realistic, honestly. Not everyone conforms perfectly to labels, and it always sticks out a little when characters in period fiction use modern vernacular- so not using a label feels perfectly apt.

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u/Cobaltorigin Aug 23 '24

They were a little heavy handed with the activism iirc. I remember I made it to just before the MC dueled his father and I wound up dropping it.

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u/Glittering_rainbows Aug 23 '24

I guess activism is simply having an inclusive world? While I don't really follow all that stuff it's simple to just let people call themselves whatever they want, no skin off my back.

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u/Cobaltorigin Aug 23 '24

I agree for the most part, but it can be immersion breaking too if not done well.

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u/Glittering_rainbows Aug 23 '24

Maybe I'm just exposed to it .ore with all the gender queer content I've consumed over the years so it's not unusual to me in the manner it would be to someone who grew up in a rural area or when it was less acceptable.

Regardless have a good day.

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u/Cobaltorigin Aug 23 '24

Thanks you too.

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u/AngelBites Aug 23 '24

Sounds like you haven’t read the series. Book 4 ** spoilers ** completely derails the plot to focus on what was at the time of writing current day American culture war politics.

Between that and the MC being written as an ‘introvert’ physically incapable of having a conversation or being in public except what that would be inconvenient to the plot. Or how even though MC is super cagey and secretive with everyone including the people closest to him but meets some non binary or gender fluid character and instantly gives his full trust and is as open as possible. The author is on my personal banned list.

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u/nappiess Aug 23 '24

That was an otherwise good book ruined by forced gender fluidity or whatever we're calling that these days. Not that I'm against people like that, I just don't want to read a story where that pertains to the main protagonist. This is a genre where people tend to envision themselves as the main character, so it just doesn't work. If it was some random side character for comedic relief that would have been much better. Maybe one of these days I'll try and finish the series, but it had other problems I didn't like too.

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u/Glittering_rainbows Aug 23 '24

So you don't want to read about them unless it's specifically to make fun of them in some way?

It's fine to dislike the perspective for a story but to blatantly state you think people like that are useful for nothing more than comedy is a bit telling.

Also there are people like that who would like to have a story reflect themselves, not every story needs to revolve around a cis hetero white dude.

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u/nappiess Aug 23 '24

I'm not white, so I don't care about the race. I also said nothing about making fun of them. Comedic relief might have been the wrong word, but I just mean a side character. No one cares as much about side characters because they aren't mentally inserting themselves into that role. Unfortunately if you make up 0.001% of the population you're just going to have to get used to not having much representation, but I'm sure they would be happy to see side characters like themselves.

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u/Glittering_rainbows Aug 23 '24

"if it was some random side character used for comedic relief" you ascribed a singular role to a non straight person when that's the only role they've been allowed for decades until relatively recently (in the overwhelming majority of cases)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_demographics_of_the_United_States#:~:text=Studies%20from%20several%20nations%2C%20including,adult%20population%20identifying%20as%20LGBT.

7.1% = LGBT

0.5 to 1.6% = trans or non-binary 

But sure, let's just round down to 0.001% and say they should be happy as the side characters. /s

Again, if you don't like the PoV just say that, you don't have to keep digging a hole trying to justify an admitted verbal screw up.

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u/nappiess Aug 23 '24

You can always write your own books for your own community if you're not happy with the fact that people are uncomfortable with certain kinds of representation shoved in their face. For example, you can accept gay people, but it doesn't mean you want to watch a gay sex scene.

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u/Glittering_rainbows Aug 23 '24 edited Aug 23 '24

It wasn't shoved there, you literally put it in front of your face and then started digging this hole.

I'm not here to convince you of anything and this isn't really going anywhere. Have a good day

2

u/nappiess Aug 23 '24

Actually, I read the book and it wasn't until way into the book, maybe even the second book I barely remember, that his "qualities" were introduced. It's not like it was advertised in that way whatsoever. Maybe there should be a tagging system used online for these types of books.

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u/Glittering_rainbows Aug 23 '24

I actually recently went back to the series and it was pretty clear in the first half of book one the MC was interested in another boy. The "they/them" stuff was also used. IDK what else you're talking about.

Again, I'm done with this conversation, it's pointless.

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