I'm so over this lie, man
Male characters in female romance are way more of an unrealistic fantasy than women in male romance ever were. The main guy in these romances is someone who drops absolutely every interest, hobby or goal to make kissing the floor she walks by his main personality trait (and that's if they even had any of those to begin with).
The average female romance is an absolute nightmare if watched from the perspective of a man. It's mostly toxic relationships in which the guy is practically a brainwashed slave with no life of his own outside the female protagonist, usually not even having friends or even be allowed to, dedicating 100% of his time to please a protagonist who's usually completely insufferable and toxic but none of her toxic traits will ever make the guy stop kissing her feet.
Of course, the guy is also rich, powerful, charismatic, handsome and way beyond the average male height.
But we have to constantly hear this dumbfuckery that "they're just guys who treat women kindly". Which isn't even true because half of the time those characters are also borderline abusive and rapist.
Do you know what male characters fit the description of what women say they want in a partner?
Male protagonists of male romance.
Because the male romance fantasy is finding a woman who would love them despite being a normal person without money or being super handsome. The protagonists of these romances are normal average guys who simply treat women kindly. Of course, this is equally as unrealistic because just because you're a good person you aren't gonna score a 10/10. And it's fine that romance is unrealistic. And it's fine to not like the mcs for romance (male and female) because of how unrealistic or lame they sometimes are.
But the fact that the reason women hate these male protagonists is because they are literally what they say they want in a man is just fucking hillarious. It goes to prove what i always say about how data obtained by asking people a public opinion is completely unreliable, people will always say some fake shit to look good and pretend they're superior, then they'll salivate for the 6.4 rich werewolf who has no personality beyond trying to rape them sometimes.
I'm never getting over the fact that romance as a genre, as the HIGHEST selling genre, exists largely because straight women fantasize about being loved and treated kindly by men and men constantly make fun of this because they think it's just that unrealistic that they could cherish women and that women are stupid in the first place for wanting such an impossible thing.