#In a gl f!mc story

[masked-alien-lesbian]

This might be a hard pill for some wlw to swallow but you do realize male readers read gl f!mc books and romance the female versions of goc LIs, right? And in their AU, they romance the LIs as themselves. And UNLESS the writers or the characters themselves confirm their sexuality, the female versions of the goc LIs (Ina Kingsley, Samantha Dalton, Jacqueline Monroe etc) can be bisexual or pansexual. They're not automatically a lesbian and it's not lesbophobic for a guy to romance a goc LI.

Now if they try and romance a canon lesbian character like Annabelle Parsons, Eiko from MOTY, or Aisha from BP, THAT is lesbophobic.

[astrowaffles]

So ever since I found mlm and wlw stories (especially fanfics and BL & GL manga/manhwa), my interest in m/f romance decrese a lot, and what I search for is just the dynamic between mc (male) and male lead or mc (female) and female lead. I don't want to read any mc (female) and male lead or mc (male) and female lead...And what I want to read mostly are just mlm or wlw stories for romance....

(Like, I love Maomao and okay with Jinshi but dislike JinMao a lot! I know they're going to be canon but I wish Maomao can have happy life doing what she wants/love without romance in them)

What do you think is happening to me?

There's absolutely nothing wrong with having preferences for what you read! Plenty of people only read/watch het romance, and you wouldn't think that was odd, would you? In the same way, if you only enjoy queer romance, that's perfectly okay (and normal).

While I can't agree with you about JinMao, I understand where you're coming from. It doesn't matter which ships you like/dislike as long as you stay respectful of people who have different opinions and understand that the canon material is canon.

Basically, there's nothing "happening" to you, you're just forming preferences and opinions! This is a good thing that allows you to make sure you only consume media that brings you joy. Keep it up and come back if you need to talk more!

[cadybear420]

"Gender Coding" in Choices.

This is not about actual gender coding problems, ie. stuff that does not match the MC/LI's chosen gender (like pronoun errors, smut scene errors, or clothing description errors) or makes zero sense with the chosen gender of MC/LI (like Paolo saying women aren't fit for the working world while basically marrying off his daughter to a female CEO in the f!Sam route).

I'm talking SPECIFICALLY about the numerous takes such as when a m!MC is called "female coded" because he takes on more feminine personality/roles just as the f!MC does. And why it's honestly kinda problematic to call them "gender coding".

Sure, PB may have written them with f!MC in mind, and sure, it may not be typical for most guys to act more feminine or take on feminine roles (which is because most behavior differences in men and women are due to gender-based socialization rather than actual innate biological traits btw). But coding is more than just something being "obviously" written with wlm in mind. There's a huge difference between something that was written with wlm in mind but isn't nonsensical with non-wlm routes, and something that is not only clearly written with wlm in mind and makes absolutely no sense or has absolutely zero match with non-wlm routes.

Like please, tell me how small things like male MCs getting heroically saved by his female LIs, female Trystan holding an umbrella for COP male MC, TCH male MC running away from an older man who is (tw) sexually assaulting him, and ID male MC sitting in female Gabe's lap are in ANY WAY as ridiculous and unrealistic as shit like the lube-free default-bottom mlm smut scenes, the magic penis wlw smut scenes, Cas referencing "the bad girls in all the old high school movies", AME male MC getting told he can show off his "hot bod" in an outfit that looks like an off-brand Doctor Who cosplay, or Paolo basically saying "Now that Sofia is marrying a female CEO she can fulfill her purpose as a wife and mother because women are ticking bombs who are unstable in the workplace".

And this is the point where you may say "Well I just want more variety in how the books are written and options for how MC can behave because it kills my immersion when my male MC behaves like a womanized man all the time". Well, if you just want MCs that are more "masculine" or have more "masculine" traits, just say that you want more masculine traits in MCs. Cause I have some harsh news for you: wanting more variety and options in the stories and MCs isn't a non-wlm-exclusive issue.

Here's the truth: PB isn't just "writing for male LI/female MC and not caring about the non-wlm players". They're writing with incredibly gender-stereotyped dynamics of wlm in mind. To suggest that PB is actually caring about the wlm players with this writing is very laughable; the lack of variation in the writing can be just as harmful and immersion-killing for wlm players as it is for the non-wlm players.

If you play a "wlm coded" routes as the supposedly "intended" wlm route, it's usually very gender-stereotyped. And as a gender-nonconforming cis wlm myself, it makes a lot of wlm routes VERY frustrating and immersion-killing. A lot of wlm routes are like this, whether it's GOC MC/GL male LI, GL MC/GOC LI, GL MC/GL male LI, or GOC MC/GOC LI. Male LI is always protective of the female MC, male LI is always the boss/CEO/professor/higher-up/etc. while female MC is always the newbie, male LI is always saving the damsel-in-distress female MC, female MC is always sitting in male LI's lap, male LI is always carrying female MC, female MC is always doing a sexy dance to impress male LI.

There are only 2 books where a male or "male coded" LI wears sexy underwear for MC, compared to 10 books where a female or "female coded" MC wears sexy underwear for LI (doesn't help that the male sexy underwear always looks like bland crap whether it's for MC or for LI)*. There are only 2 books I know of where a female or "female coded" MC is allowed to lift up/carry her male LI, compared to... the countless books where the male or "male coded" LI lifts up/carries the MC (and just to be clear, yes, some people can have a lot of physical strength even if they don't have a lot of muscle build).

*I know that the MC lingerie options aren't really considered female-coded, probably because they occur almost exclusively in genderlocked books, but I'm still including it as an example of PB stereotyping the romances.

Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with players who do enjoy these dynamics in wlm routes. But when these patterns occur this frequently in the wlm routes, that's when it's a problem. And it really doesn't help that these are the same dynamics by which many female-audience-targeted wlm romances in YA novels– heck just mainstream wlm and mlw romances in general– have been written as for YEARS. (This very reason is why I actually consider it usually better when certain stories like TCH, SW, and ID are played as mlw versus as wlm).

And as I've said before, non-wlm aren't the only ones who can be negatively affected by this. Just because we wlm are the primary target audience of PB's game doesn't mean they truly care about us or that they're representing us well. Not all wlm/straight women like being carried by a man, dressing in lingerie for a man, doing a sexy hip-shaking dance for a man, sitting in a man's lap, etc.

So when I see people call this stuff "female coded" or "wlm coded" in non-wlm routes, it feels like it's implying that it's only a problem when it carries over to non-wlm routes. As if it's okay to write very feminine female MCs but not very feminine male MCs.

And it's honestly disheartening, because it feels like many people just don't really care about the lack of variety in options for wlm. To illustrate my point? People only ever complain about AME MC always walking down the aisle in the wedding by default regardless of gender, but no one ever complains about ROE MC always walking down the aisle in her wedding by default. People only ever complain about MC being lifted up/carried by LI all the time in books with GOC options, but never in genderlocked routes. The GOC MCs that are occasionally said to "feel more male coded" or "actually feel like they play well as a male MC" are ALWAYS the more competent and experienced ones like TH:M MC, TPA MC, and COP MC. I once saw a take that a Shipwrecked scene "actually felt like GOC" because it had options for who spoons who. Basically, any form of "feminine" traits/roles are only criticized as "unrealistic" or "killed my immersion" when it's a male/GOC MC, and any form of "masculine" traits/roles are only criticized as "unrealistic" or "killed my immersion" when it's a GOC female LI.

TLDR: Look, I'm all for more variety and options in how PB writes their MCs, LIs, and romance dynamics. But a lot of the problems that people call "gender coded" are problems that affect wlm too because of how grossly gender-stereotyped a lot of wlm routes are.

[theroundbartable]

So, I grew up in anti LGBTQ country and my family saw LGBTQ as something sinful. As I grew up and enjoy more media (especially anime/manga), I enjoy shipping non canon couples more than the canon. Then, ever since I found mlm and wlw stories (especially fanfics) and BL & GL manga/manhwa, my interest in het romance decrese a lot, and what I search for is just the dynamic between mc (male) and male lead or mc (female) and female lead.

And what I want to read mostly are just mlm or wlw stories for romance (especially for my favorite non canon couples from any media).

What do you think is happening to me? Is it weird?

Hello anon :) Let me begin by saying that I didn't quite know how to answer your question. I am spiraling with memories of how I came to read queer media, but I can hardly assume that you sought it out for the same reasons as I did, nor do I know you enough to say accurately what may be going on. But I do want to give you my two cents, if you want them. First things first, whatever I am about to assume, or say, whichever feels true, your feelings are valid and nothing weird is happening to you. You are just a person who is figuring out what they like, what they don't like, maybe even who they are. That is normal. There is nothing wrong with you. And there is nothing weird happening to you.

But I do understand that you may feel confused. As you said, you've been taught to be Anti-LGBT+ for- perhaps reasons (that under closer inspection likely don't make any sense. I'm speaking from experience). So, the reason you're feeling weird, is because you're going against what you've internalized as right and wrong.

I know that feeling. When I first ventured out to learn about queerness, I did to understand why my friends thought a gay boy in our parallel class was called "disgusting". Later I wanted to know how to react when one of those previously homophobic friends was about to come out as lesbian (my brother gave me a hint). But I did feel weird when I did. Even when I started shipping. But I always felt weird, regardless if the ship was queer or not. I didn't know WHY I felt weird, but I knew that me feeling weird about it WAS the weird thing. (It was repressed trauma.) So, I approached gay media because shipping m/m felt safer. I am afab, so reading f/m or f/f media felt to me like reading Y/N or first person fanfics. It was too immersive, too... real for me.

But I have to assume that this is different for you. Perhaps the very opposite. And perhaps there is a reason why you're reaching out to me. Maybe it's not 'just' going against what you've been taught. Maybe you ARE what they've demonized your whole life. Maybe it is easier for you to relate to those characters and you're sensing that there is more behind it. Maybe you are seeking for something to relate to because they are MORE immersive. If it is, that is not strange, that is totally normal. Even if you're not queer, many non queer people enjoy queer media. Heck, it's even a joke that girls read 'far too much yaoi'. It's fine. It's your preference, why would that be weird? Many people love riddles, that doesn't make them a detective and it doesn't make being a detective weird.

The point is, none of that matters. Whoever you are, whatever you prefer, you are worthy of love and of feeling safe. You don't need to label yourself if you don't want to. Take your time to get to know yourself. Experiment, research, find a label if you need it, change it, try it on, throw it out. That is what they are for. But remember, always, that you're a worthy person. Even if you end up being straight, you will be stronger for questioning it.

There is a strength in knowing who you are. And you are strong for questioning yourself. That is very sensible. And if you're going against what you've been taught, this speaks for your inner sense of justice and empathy. Being queer may mean weird, but we mean that in the best way. Being weird is normal too. Don't be afraid of what who-you-are says about you. (Be wary of what that says about them.)

[seikatsu-ga-tsuzuku]

Do you mind if I ask you some random thing? I used to love shounen and shoujo manga equally....

But ever since I found BL & GL manga 3 years ago, my interest in shoujosei (especially het romance) decrese a lot, and what I search for is just the dynamic between mc (male) and male lead...I don't want to read mc (female) and male lead or mc (male) and female lead...And what I want to read mostly are just mlm or wlw stories....

What do you think is happening to me? Is it really weird?

I don't think that's weird. I think there's a reasonable explanation for it, because it happened to me as well. It's just that the majority of media since we were young kids is het romance because of heteronormativity, so now that you've found different types of stories you like, you're obviously going to gravitate more towards the newer things you've only started consuming for 3 years as opposed to the e.g. 20 or so years of consuming the same het stuff. Although I started consuming queer stories over a decade ago, I get what you mean. I still have interest in shoujousei and het stuff as long as the relationships are written well, healthy, and makes sense. Because a lot of m/f love stories are just heteronormative nonsense. And since I'm queer myself I probably relate to/enjoy queer stories more. But yeah, idc the gender of the characters as long as the love story is good because I just love love in general.

[nyoomzz]

Hi.....Do you mind if I ask you some random thing? I used to love shounen and shoujo manga equally....But ever since I found BL manga 3 years ago, my interest in shoujosei (especially het romance) decrese a lot, and what I search for is just the dynamic between mc (male) and male lead...I don't want to read mc (female) and male lead or mc (male) and female lead...And what I want to read mostly are just mlm or wlw stories....

What do you think is happening to me? Is it really weird?

hello!! oh man i may be just saying this because i went through the same thing but i honestly don't think it's weird at all. when i realized there's an unexpected amount of bl and gl and other lgbt stories out there it really became my main interest and i end up prioritizing it above f/m stories.

i don't know about your own experience, but in my case, it's probably due to the joy of having so much queer romance stories to choose from (maybe more applicable to bl since we still have a gl shortage although it's getting better); the overall dynamic being more "even" between wlw and mlm couples; specific to manga but since bl and gl is generally shorter i find that easily more digestible too; and unfortunately het romances still easily fall under the same tropes sometimes (even though bl and gl is not immune to the cliches, sometimes it's just more believable when the characters are queer i guess). if you resonate with this, then maybe we have similar experiences.

this is a generalization of course not every mlw and wlw and mlm is like that but it's a pattern i've gotten from my own experience with them. so i think it's not a weird train of thought to have at all! when i thought i was weird too, i ran into "i want to be the wall" and even though this 'bl fan' discussion is a side plot, it comforted me immensely. if you haven't, please give it a read! it's just also really good in general :D

but you know eventually i start picking up more shoujosei "het" romances and even found some that became my absolute faves!! a lot of newer series are moving past the old tropes and emphasized on relationship dynamic and healthy communication etc and it's really nice to see. some older classics are also a must read. a lot of non romance shoujosei is also really wonderful!! definitely worth the try.

when it comes down to it whatever the genre is it really goes back to how it is written, just that queer themes has the advantage of generally being more relatable but that doesn't mean anything outside it is automatically inferior. it's nice to spread your net and try new things and figure out what you really like!

[anulithots]

Do you mind if I ask you some random thing? I used to love shounen and shoujo manga equally....But ever since I found BL & GL manga/manhwa and mlm & wlw fanfics 3 years ago, my interest in het romance decrese a lot, and what I search for is just the dynamic between mc (male) and male lead or mc (female) and female lead...I don't want to read mc (female) and male lead or mc (male) and female lead...And what I want to read mostly are just mlm or wlw stories....

What do you think is happening to me? Is it really weird?

OHmigosh I'm so sorry for letting this sit in my ask box for so long.. I'm still trying to think of a good answer/ way to phrase this.

I think it's because there aren't many societal expectations with GL and BL.

With m/f relationships, that's expected from society. So sometimes the writing plays into those sorts of expectations. And there's something wonderous about love without the expectations.

(One reason why I love QPRs in fiction, there's absolutely NO expectations whatsoever, no 'you must get romantically married with these specific steps and there's all these dos and don'ts' )

And perhaps there's more of a focus of the character dynamic versus just 'oh they're in a romantic relationship' with wlw and mlm ships? But honestly cannon ships can be like that in general. (I'm biased toward queer platonic/character dynamics with romance as a side though.)

So while I don't think there's anything wrong with this whatsoever, there's lots of good m/f ships as well! The great thing about diversity is that it doesn't mean that we should love m/f ships less, it means we should love all types of relationships (or no relationships) more!

Amy and Oliver from Space Boy, Xu Shanshan and Dong Yi, (all the cannon m/f couples from link click tbh) Hunter and Willow from the Owl House, Sokka and Suki from Avatar the last airbender, Kaz Brekker and Inej Ghafa from Six of Crows, Mattias and Nina from Six of Crows, and honestly Yuta and Maki from JJK are not a bad ship (they silly I like them.) Katniss and Peeta from the Hunger Games those are all good m/f ships in my opinion!

So yea basically, like what you like, diversity is amazing, there shouldn't be expectations wowow, all sorts of dynamics are fun and all the sorts of people are wonderous and should get to look at the stars.

[princeofvelvet]

Hi.....Do you mind if I ask you some random thing? I used to love shounen and shoujo manga equally....But ever since I found BL manga 3 years ago, my interest in shoujosei (especially het romance) decrese a lot, and what I search for is just the dynamic between mc (male) and male lead...I don't want to read mc (female) and male lead or mc (male) and female lead...And what I want to read mostly are just mlm or wlw stories....

What do you think is happening to me? Is it really weird?

Hi! I don't mind random asks at all! First I wanna say it's not weird, and you're certainly not alone! I cant know for sure the reason, but I can tell you how it was for me.

m/f oversaturates mainstream art. It's easy to become tired of it. I know at a very young age i was already bored with the age old tale of boy meets girl. Once i learned about the gender/sexual diversity in the real world, my interest in the romance between boy and girl took a nosedive because it was just so.. expected? boring? (and frankly a lot of the time not done in a way that gets me invested in the relationship), while my interest in m/m especially grew. There can be great joy in seeing something you dont normally see in mainstream media, especially if it resonates somehow with your identity, although this is not necessary in order to find joy in queer media.

BL and GL tropes are sometimes a lot different from m/f media, and a lot of the times that too can influence why we like it. If you like the "but im not gay!.. or am i?" that's one that you wont find in m/f easily lol. same with like, say "we're in an all-girls' school and kiss 😳" those are interesting and unique and rarely explored!!

There can also be a feeling of... either seeing yourself or freeing yourself from comparisons, depending on what you like? for example, a girl who reads m/m might feel more at ease without feeling like she has to measure up to something, because she's not part of the story! but she might also like to read f/f because she likes girls and wants to read stories where the girl gets the girl! Again, these arent always the case and the kind of dynamics you like in your media can be completely unrelated to your irl sexual/romantic interests, but they are options

Allow yourself to like what you like, gravitate towards the stuff that interests you and makes you happy without worrying about fitting your likes into boxes! Sometimes you end up liking an m/f couple over the f/f or m/m one and that's okay!

tl:dr your likes are normal, you are normal! love what you love

[cinnamonest]

I lowkey feel like prt of the reason i like noncon is bc a lot of the yaoi I read growing up (bc yes i am like that) had so many tropes of the bottom being kinda forced into sex or at least when they are having sex they suddenly start going “no stop stop stop stop no im gonna cum noooo” and yet the story always shows them having a grand ol time and always accepting their top’s cuddles no matter how brutal they were (lol i remember one where the top just, ignored the bottom’s pleading not to overstimulate them and just allowed them to relax long enough before he suddenly grabbd both of their arms and YOINKED them back on their dick so hard the bottom came again and pissed himself) 👁👁 actually a lot of the hentai/smut i saw growing up had a lot of corruption kink and vague noncon/dubcon vibes now that i think about it like To Love Ru?? (Idk if you saw that) but by the gods it was one of the unnecessarily horniest (it was hentai but still lol) mangas ever like the MC got transformed into his younger sister’s panties at one chapter and felt her pussy juices all over his now-cotton body until he ended up transforming back... in public, butt naked, and his little sister’s bottoms now bare and visible to the entire world because her skirt got flipped up by the transformation and his face was juuuuust positioned at her pussy entrance lmao.

Ah yeah yaoi/BL tends to have a lot of that... honestly it’s kind of unfortunate there’s not more for GL/yuri and het stuff, imo. Usually if there’s noncon within het/yuri h*ntai it’s almost always very very very hetero-male-audience-targeted and just unappealing. It’s soooo rare to find good noncon het/yuri. Don’t get me wrong, I like BL, but sometimes I wish there was more of it’s tropes and themes in m/f and f/f stuff. What little crumbs of good female audience aimed het/yuri hen///tai is out there is always consensual/gentle, it seems.

[masked-alien-lesbian]

January 2024 Choices Insiders Tidbits

I had to select other because the way I found choices was through googling the most LGBT friendliest visual novel apps. Now that Lovestruck is gone, Choices is the best LGBT vn at the moment.

Early cover art for Hotshot:

Sneak peek of the new backgrounds:

We're really getting book 3 of blades this year?? Damn lol but I bet if it actually comes out in 2024, it'll come out for vip so late this year that it won't be wide released until 2025.

Hearts on Fire? Wonder what that will be about. And I had a feeling that The Deadliest Game was going to be goc up until literally this morning, when I heard there was going to be 3 m!LIs and only 1 f!LI, so I figured this book was more for heterosexual women. Glad to know this book will be a good book for all those who romance men. But maybe TDG will end up a lot like MAH, I was pleasantly surprised by MAH, it being 2 m!LI vs 1 f!LI and still the play through as a f!romancer wasn't quite so bad. Fingers crossed 🤞🏽

What is up with pb's fascination with rich ppl in a huge majority of their books?? (Looking at Filthy Rich).

I wonder if Hearts on Fire will be a firefighter romance story? Probably a gl f!mc (damsel in distress) with a goc single LI who is a firefighter.

And it looks like there wasn't a typo in December's insiders 😕. Wide release really isn't getting a book in January. Which is really disappointing, I was hoping and looking forward to UB.