This was just mentioned on my favorite show last night.

Can you believe that this extends to FICTIONAL characters? As a wannabe author, let me just say that it is MUCH harder to get readers to become emotionally attached to a female character than it is with a male char. Why, you ask? Well, take a romance novel, for example. Let's say the main character is "territorial" of their love interest. That one detail will mean COMPLETELY different things depending on that character's sex. A posssive boyfriend will be seen as merely protective and trying to watch out for "his girl" and, odds are, readers will like him. A girlfriend, however, is immediately "bitching", no questions asked.

You have no IDEA how hard it is to get readers to be emotionally attached to characters when you have to factor in gender roles. Author hell, oh my God.

^PLUS, in action adventure books, it's SO hard for people to like a main heroine, besides, of ALL the action books I have read, only one has a girl as a main character, and that was The Hunger Games, one of the best series ever.I've always hated that in literature

That one detail will mean COMPLETELY different things depending on that character's sex. A posssive boyfriend will be seen as merely protective and trying to watch out for "his girl" and, odds are, readers will like him. A girlfriend, however, is immediately "bitching", no questions asked.

I agree. I mean, look at Edward Cullen!

There's a huge double standard about feeling good about yourself when it comes to men and women. Men are allowed to feel good about THEMSELVES. But women should feel bad about themselves so that they can always improve and be more pleasing for OTHERS.