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Do people (and by people I mean men) who shit on girls/women for liking u201cbad boyu201d narratives ever stop to actually read those stories? 99% of them are about a boy/man who behaves badly *except* with the heroine and/or changes *for* the heroine.
The most frequent bad boy narrative isnu2019t about women liking bad boys (not that thereu2019s anything wrong with that if itu2019s fiction) -
--itu2019s about women finding comfort in a story where a male love interest whou2019s threatening/dangerous (you know, like they so often are to women *in real life*) turns out to be understanding and protective of the heroine.
Readers often seek comfort in fiction to compensate for and heal from something they go through in real life. Itu2019s not a mystery if women like when a fictional jerk has/grows a soft spot for the heroine, and it shouldnu2019t be shameful either.
It just means many women have to deal with assholes who dismiss, belittle and threaten them on a daily basis and that itu2019s comforting for them to read a story where those assholes change/arenu2019t truly who they appear to be.
In a world where so many u201cnice guysu201d turns out to be incels, women like to read about a male love interest that has an opposite arc. What a shocker.
Women and girls facing abuse from men is so common that theyu2019ve consistently been starving for bad boy narratives for fucking ever.
Women and girls facing abuse from men is so common that theyu2019ve consistently been starving for bad boy narratives for fucking ever.
The day we see a decline in the popularity of that trope is a day weu2019ll be able to say that thereu2019s been a dramatic decline IRL of controlling behaviors from straight men in relationships, as well as a decline in domestic violence and sexual assaults in general.
As long as those issues are a reality, women and girls will need fictions that provide an escape, one that is tailored to the very real need they have to feel and be safe in the street, at work, at home. Quit ridiculing them for it.
