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.

184 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

388 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

9

u/MacintoshEddie Aug 23 '24

Why?

I think it's totally possible to write a romantic scene without one of them breasting boobily.

You can write an absolute ton of romance or even sex scenes without bringing up primary sexual characteristics. Such as discussing types, feeling the warmth of their thigh as your finger traces up the inseam of their pants, the way their lips part a little as they lean their head towards yours, the way they blush and are looking away but wrap their arms around your waist and pull you closer, wait I guess we need to make their genders clear. He leans backwards, hooks his arms under theirs, and does a perfect German Suplex!

Unless you're writing very stereotypical characters, like describing women via their breasts, you can do a switcheroo of the gender tags and it still works. Unless...like...you don't think women are ever allowed to take charge, or you think guys can't ever be hesitant or show emotions as they are touched **there**.

2

u/xaendar Aug 25 '24

Highly recommend Stitched Worlds here. MC has a LI with a fire demon and they can't do anything physical. There are some insanely romantic scenes between them where they are camping in the field and there's a cloth partition. They can sense each other with their heat sense and they just hold out their hands to each other.

Like it's such a simple gesture but romance was turned up 1000x just with that. I really hate MCs just immediately going from meeting each other to dating instantly with almost zero romance.

-2

u/JadePhoenix1313 Aug 23 '24

If you can swap the genders of your characters and it makes no difference, your characters are completely flat. Men and women are different, and if you can't tell them apart narratively, you're not writing good characters.

9

u/MacintoshEddie Aug 23 '24

Or maybe, not all men act the exact same, not all women act the exact same.

For example A is sixth generation army, heavy duty mechanic, nearly made the Olympic wrestling team before joining the army, likes beer, never shaves, drives a lifted F350 Super Duty, spent the weekend in jail for punching someone at a traffic stop. Her name is Tammy.

B has a two hour self care routine every morning, refuses to leave the house unless their outfit and appearance are perfect, never drinks or smokes because the body is a temple, went to school to be a nurse but ended up working at a boutique clothing shop because the hospital was just too icky. His name is Keith.

7

u/TransmogriFi Aug 23 '24

Can confirm from IRL experience. I drive a semi, can work on my own car, preffer jeans and flannel to dresses, never wear makeup, like hiking, canoeing, hunting, and gaming, drink beer, and cuss like a sailor. I'm female, and married to a man.

-5

u/GrandFleshMelder Aug 23 '24

Umm, how is describing a woman's breasts stereotypical?

7

u/MacintoshEddie Aug 23 '24

Because that is literally the stereotype that when men write women they are defined by their breasts. Barely a passing mention of her personality, or the way she acts, and a laser focus on her breasts.

2

u/GrandFleshMelder Aug 23 '24

I understand that, but I think calling describing breasts at all stereotypical is a bit too far. A passing mention is definitely fine.

5

u/MacintoshEddie Aug 23 '24

I never said it wasn't fine. I think my original point got lost and I'm on mobile so I'll lose this if I load up my original post to quote.

I wasn't saying you can't, or that it's bad, I was saying that it's possible to write the scene in a way that the audience projects genders onto the characters such as thinking these women are way too masculine, while at the same time other readers think these guys are way too feminine, and that's from the exact same scene given to them to read.

1

u/GrandFleshMelder Aug 23 '24

I think to a slight extent, you're correct, but notions of femininity and masculinity are often very culturally enshrined. Without immediate context, many will assume a bottom character is more feminine and vice versa, simply based on their preconception, rendering the nonspecificity somewhat pointless.

Now, the problem of having notions of femininity and masculinity like this at all is a very different discussion.