I have been participating in fandom for a very long time. If I consider One Direction as the first fandom I was actively a part of, then I've been around it for about a decade. I spent some of my most impressionable years being involved with all aspects of fandom— the good and the bad. It's easy to say that I've noticed a glaringly obvious trend surrounding male characters/people. And I think it's about time I've talked about it.
When it comes to male characters, the audience tends to reach an ultimate high of craze about them. Most of the focus will go to the men, even in a female-driven piece of media. This isn't inherently bad by itself, but it does lead to some behaviors that can be worrisome.
I have a few things I want to discuss in this rant, so I'll try to section it off and talk about each thing individually.
THE MALE CHARACTER AS AN ANTAGONIST
Now I know most of us like a good villain, including myself. It's interesting to see the darker side of whatever thing you're consuming and it's fun to have someone to hate and root against. However, I've noticed most times when a villain is a man (mostly a man who's considered attractive) suddenly they're a lot more likable versus a female villain.
Most of you know that I used to be in the Maze Runner fandom. I cannot tell you how many comments I've gotten over the years of people who despise Teresa, root for her death, call her a bitch, ask her to be written out of the story, etc. But I can guarantee that, had she been a guy, she would have been treated very differently by the fandom. She may have even been a fan favorite. This is even more obvious in the books because both Teresa and Aris (a male character for those of you who aren't into TMR) participated in a "betrayal" and yet, the main character, Thomas, forgave Aris but never gave Teresa a chance to explain herself for like... no reason.
Normally, a male antagonist would have to be even semi-attractive to be liked. An example is Gollum/Smeagol from Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit. Nobody is simping over a creature who looks like this
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But imagine a hot dude who lived in the depths of a cave and was obsessed with a ring??? People may have even rooted for him. But since he looks like... that... you probably won't hear anyone saying "Yeah, my favorite character is Gollum😌"
THE ROMANTICIZATION OF MALE ANTAGONISTS
When you have a character who is attractive and male, most of the time, their horrible actions are romanticized/excused, and this is where the problem arises. The majority of the time, the fandom creates an idea of this character or person in their heads that is different from who they actually are or what they actually do.
A very good example of this is Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter. Personally, I do like Draco, but I can't deny that he was a pompous, pretentious, narcissistic, closed-minded asshole. We can come up with theories and headcanons all we want, but the truth is that he did call Hermione a mudblood in almost every single book, bullied people due to their blood status/economic status/looks/interests, believed in blood supremacy, and did more horrible things. Not to mention that he seemed proud that his father was a Death Eater (even when he was in Azkaban for it) and became one himself.
