I needed somewhere to rant about this specific thing - and so, I decided to make my own topic about it. After reading a multitude of stories, I am fully pissed off about the way some of these authors choose to portray their male characters!
Boys can really be awesome, but, it seems they’re never portrayed this way in Episode.
When something bad happens, they don’t cry. God forbid, they show human emotion. No, they temporarily show a sad face, then get angry, and start punching things.
The way men are portrayed when with friends is absolutely abysmal. In multiple stories, I have seen the main male LI punch their best friend in their face, causing a bloody nose, making even breaking it. Best friend waves it off - no! You don’t just punch your friend in the face and get away with it! Bullshit!
And again, the way they talk. Excuse me, not all boys talk with every other word being ‘bro.’ They don’t usually explicitly talk about girls and sex, and parties and guns. This is the male equivalent of woman talking about boys and going shopping all the time. The guys who do talk like that, are Chads, and fuckboys.
Their personalities! Terrible! They treat women like shit, talk like their the cock of the walk, act all ~mysterious~.
- “My name is Axel, I’m dangerous and hot and mysterious. All the boys want to be me and all the girls want to be with me.”
Sure, Chad, but I’m pansexual and even I wouldn’t even fuck you.
Back to personalities - most of them are hardcore ‘no homo bro’ (not in an ironic way) boys, who are just generally dull, pieces of garbage all around, who often think that women need him to protect her. I don’t know, Angelina over there looks like she could break your hand with a stare, so go mind your own business.
As for LGBT+ men… I don’t think I’ve ever seen a non-stereotypical gay man. They’re usually an accessory of diversity to the straight MC, just like the black best friend trope. Gay men are there to talk about boys with MC, go shopping, and give fashion advice. Just, all around, a shoe-horned in attempt at diversity.
Oh, bisexual men… where? Trans men? ¯\(ツ)/¯ I’ve seen two stories. TWO. STORIES. Where there is a bi man, and a trans man. (Fantastical : The Frontier, for bi. And Love, Dahlia, for the trans). Hell, I can’t even relate to the trans male character in the latter story because he’s a rich rock star! (But, anyways, this isn’t about diversity.)
Relationships with these types of men, in Episode, are even worse. They are controlling, and not physically abusive, but usually mentally, and quite usually very exhausting.
Apparently it’s normal, and romantic, for men to get possessive towards their girlfriends, when they get near other men (and you know, this can go the other way - girlfriends getting possessive when their boyfriend goes near other women).
Usually, nice guys come along in these stories. But even though they’re miles better than whoever this other guy is, the reader still ends up forced to go and be with the asshole.
Lastly, family life in Episode. I have rarely seen stories where the fathers aren’t the bad guy in some way. Maybe they’re cheating, abusive, lazy, or just not even there. Maybe a good father will get a mention if he’s dead.
I wish there were more positive portrayal of fathers in Episode stories, because they really are awesome! I know mine is.
This ended up WAY longer than I expected, but, I suppose that’s okay. I ended up ranting about bad boys more than anything, but, whatever, I guess.
Your thoughts? Maybe you’ve got something to say, too? Go for it! I’d love to see your thoughts!