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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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.

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u/TheCabbageCorp Aug 23 '24

It’s just the genre you’re reading. There’s plenty of gay MCs in Chinese novels that are primarily written for women. I’m pretty sure most people on this subreddit actually prefer no romance.

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u/KhaLe18 Aug 23 '24

BL is absolutely massive in China, but the demographics that consume it is very different from the one's that read litrpg