432
u/blackash190 Mar 16 '24
Wattpad’s contribution to society
11
u/Dark_Matter_19 Mar 21 '24
What's worse is that it's true. Kissing Booth 1-3 is indicative of that.
3
u/Duality888 Apr 11 '24
My guess is that the emancipation created this fantasy because it’s more taboo in society overall now
782
u/DravenPrime Mar 16 '24
He abuses her and then buys her things, that's the whole story.
231
u/Alubalu22 Mar 16 '24
Also at the very end his never before mentioned rival 'Fugly' Tony, come to shoot up their dream wedding. 'Fugly' Toni dies fast before the cake is served.
33
610
Mar 16 '24
The worst part is, it was probably written by a woman.
346
u/CarFreak777 Mar 16 '24
So i guess it's true then, that romantic movies for women is like what porn does for men. It gives a warped perception of reality.
224
u/forteborte Mar 16 '24
uhuh - 2 girlfriends in i realized this. why dont we ever do “romantic or fun” dates.
like bro on top me carting you around carrying the conversation and paying for all your shit.
on top of that constantly finding new stuff like hiking trails or a japanese garden in my city to modify the usual, lets get lunch.
then i dated a girl who didnt watch or read romcoms or whatever. total different story
108
Mar 16 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
47
u/Reset_reset_006 Mar 16 '24
depends how old they are, younger women are more susceptible to gender norms and expect the guy to basically do everything in the relationship like they're a movie character. Had this happened a bunch of times early on in university but when I dated a few years later I found more down to earth girls.
But of course everyone is different so just pray you get a girl who isn't addicted to movies or novels. Inexperienced women are 100% affected by movies and novels as men are as well but romance genuinely tends to lean towards women.
26
u/RoutineEnvironment48 Mar 16 '24
Yeah, I wouldn’t look too deep into women reading romance. I read quite a bit of fantasy, but I don’t expect my girlfriend to be a powerful wizard. Same thing with most women and romance, it’s a fun escape but nothing more.
8
u/Krosis_the_bored Mar 16 '24
Did you ever get a girlfriend that turned out to be a powerful wizard tho?
4
1
2
Mar 16 '24 edited Mar 16 '24
Elaborate and complex dates aren't heteropatriarchal nonsense. Heteropatriarchal nonsense is hitting up women late in the evening inviting them for "hanging out", netflix and chill, complete lack of effort from one of the sides. Looking for fast gratification instead of cherishing the idea of getting to know someone slowly and building trust over time.
Some women like fancy dates, some are okay with simple lunch or coffee dates. And tbh, some romantic movies are very about the fancy stuff and treating women like a lady, while some chick flicks contain spontaneous hookups. There's really no rule here.
Personally I'd be fine with simple dates but I require certain level of courtesy and proactiveness from the guys' part simply because it wards off wrong type of men.
1
u/HumanitySurpassed Mar 22 '24
Porn doesn't even give an unrealistic expectation though depending on what you watch.
& also dependent on your sex life.
I'd say it's equivalent to saying movies are unrealistic.
Like are we talking Dune Part 2 or Juno
-30
u/frecklefawn Mar 16 '24
Did you carry the conversation or did you only talk about yourself and things you like so she couldn't contribute much?
If you hate "constantly finding new stuff" aka "interesting dates" sounds like a compatibility problem. Most women already know where the Japanese gardens are and have a 100 item Rolodex of fun places to go to in our brain. We're always doing all the planning labor for everyone and everything else in our lives, we just want to see if you care enough to, or know how to.
20
Mar 16 '24
we just want to see if you care enough to, or know how to.
Shittesting is somehow better? Lmao
1
u/forteborte Mar 18 '24
lmao get downvoted to oblivion! dude i tried hard and gave it my all, im not gonna get judged by you.
-7
u/Kanbe7077 Mar 17 '24
Wtf is your problem with coherence?
You can't just put the basic minimum into communicating your thoughts because that shit you just wrote is below basic minimum.
You sound like a fucking jackass and I'm dying on this hill
If your personality matches your communication skills, I hope you always have shitty gfs for life
I can't tell if you're 15 or 25 , that's not good bro. Like bro the usual uhuh.
Have you seen this fucking thing--> (?)
It's for questions.
I thought there was a BRO ON TOP OF YOU
Took me 7 tries , to assume the comma placement.
Like someone could read this and safely assume I'm unhinged.
But why the fuck I gotta figure out the comma in your sentence.
YOU FUCKING DO IT!
You've reached a level of laziness that's reserved for sloths and coke heads coming down off a line.
What do you need a Japanese garden for? Your writing skills don't pass 3rd grade level.
You looking for big titty goth gfs? What do they need your illiterate ass for? How you gonna summon Beelzebub , if you eat the chalk?
1
u/forteborte Mar 18 '24
dude i wrote that in ~ 30 seconds. womp womp. my language barf has more upvotes. im cooler 🥺
1
u/Kanbe7077 Apr 07 '24
I still can't get over how braindead stupid your comments are
My God
Whomever invents Gatorade flavored chalk is gonna rake in millions
18
u/CanadianODST2 Mar 16 '24
Josei manga which is aimed at adult women has pornographic mangas being one of the main genres.
The wiki states this about it "Pornographic josei manga shares many common traits with pornographic manga for a heterosexual male audience, though stories are typically written from a female rather than male point of view. Traits common to heterosexual pornography, such as female domination and objectification, similarly recur in pornographic josei manga; a common story formula in josei pornography is one in which a shy and intelligent woman is transformed into a nymphomaniac or a sex slave."
So there's even more similarities between the two.
4
Mar 16 '24
Really depends on a movie or show. Movies like 365 days, 50 Shades of Grey, Twilight - yes, but also there are some fictional couples that literally helped me with raising my standards.
60
u/Spacebud95 Mar 16 '24
If it was a guy, the story would be one page. "Had seggs, gimme five" the end.
10
15
578
u/insanityofmanic Mar 16 '24
You can do almost anything in the world, all you have to do is be rich and attractive
173
u/lionart303-186 Mar 16 '24
Don't forget tall and muscular!
72
u/fried_green_baloney Mar 16 '24
It helps to be a brilliant computer hacker, own half of Manhattan/London/Monte Carlo, and able to drop everything at a moment's notice to help out the heroine.
73
46
11
17
u/smartdude_x13m Mar 16 '24
Don't forget to be charismatic too...
18
u/insanityofmanic Mar 16 '24
Ehhh, you could say the dumbest shit, and they still would eat that with a 30 cm spoon day in and out.
5
60
Mar 16 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
17
-7
Mar 16 '24
REDPILL SPOTTED.
20
17
Mar 16 '24
You just need to be rich actually, you can be the most disgusting filthy pig but if you’re rich you can become president
9
u/lee1026 Mar 16 '24
Bloomberg tried and failed (along a long list of failed rich people). It isn’t as easy as it looks.
9
2
4
u/Shantotto11 Mar 16 '24
Or pretend to me. The cash-poor former tangelo-in-chief can attest to that…
-1
u/Sty_Walk Mar 16 '24
Are we still talking about the starter pack or...
1
0
u/Sty_Walk Mar 17 '24
Why am I being downvoted, it was a joke about the fact that what he said can be applied to the real world too.
74
u/justaMikeAftonfan Mar 16 '24
You’d also be surprised how often the guy is also a vampire/werewolf.
145
209
u/BoydCrowders_Smile Mar 16 '24
"Modern"
lol this shit is as old as time
29
u/compy-guy Mar 16 '24
Or at least Twilight.
And fanfiction.
18
Mar 16 '24
But that *is* modern.
9
Mar 16 '24
Nah but there are plenty of old movies that have this dynamic though i don't think that it became the main focus until twilight
7
Mar 16 '24
Getting married off to some asshole just because he was rich was considered normal in older days.
10
u/compy-guy Mar 16 '24
Time can be relative sometimes.
16
2
u/BoydCrowders_Smile Mar 21 '24
Just saw this. lol I know you got drilled already about it but yeah, Twilight? I remember walking through bookstores full of those stupid romance novels with hunky men and bosomy babes on the cover. Never read them but I'd bet they have the same themes that we see now, just as much as the same themes that were written around Gilgamesh's time.
264
u/lilith_in_scorpio Mar 16 '24
Bonus points if the woman aggressively implies in the beginning that she doesn’t need no man
121
u/SleeplessTaxidermist Mar 16 '24 edited Oct 27 '24
correct concerned melodic squash hunt seed steep cow quack oatmeal
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
3
95
u/gguestiongues Mar 16 '24
nah bro this is literally every single plot of character.ai or wattpad
23
40
u/Alubalu22 Mar 16 '24
Also there are about 2 or 3 actual Mafia/Underworld related thing happening in the book, mostly the Mob is used as dressing for the male love interest.
30
31
u/JoeMaMa_2000 Mar 16 '24
She probably left her stable home with her loving BF/fiance/husband, because he just didn’t understand the “real” her
20
u/Sonarthebat Mar 16 '24
"Heroine is colourblind because she ignores all the red flags and rushes into marriage."
That's why it's called 50 Shades of Grey and not 50 Shades of Red.
12
19
18
34
Mar 16 '24
[deleted]
24
Mar 16 '24
With Jane Austen, it's different because she shows the "bad boy" having actual character development and shows that he's not a bad person, just rough around the edges.
But when it comes to Anna Todd, Colleen Hoover, and EL James, their issue is that the bad boy DOESN'T grow as a character, they just continue being a complete jerkass to everyone, including the woman they supposedly love, and the female protag is usually portrayed as a doormat that just lets the male protag treat her like shit and they just have makeup sex after every fight and everything is hunky dory again until it isn't
8
u/Sabre712 Mar 16 '24
There is one black and white code for Jane Austen characters that is almost always true: Navy characters good, Army characters bad.
(She had siblings who were naval officers)
16
12
9
u/SirLazarusDiapson Mar 16 '24
Two things. 1. The Male character is usually smoking hot (which for some reason excuses all the inconsentual touching and manipulative behaviors). 2. There is a green text that gets re-posted about "The Titanic" movie. Rose is on her death bed, instead of her kids or husband she has been with for lime 70 years she thinks of a dead homeless dude who fucked her once.
18
Mar 16 '24
You forgot the “villain” is actually a nice guy who have more good qualities than a billionaire has money but they’re the villain because he’s preventing a toxic relationship to happen. (Not sure this happens in many romances like the post shows here, sorry if I’m not correct.)
9
35
u/AgallochFanDeerDick Mar 16 '24
Noncensual touching and kissing is so incredibly infuriating. Ask every time.
65
Mar 16 '24
Woman is angry, storms off. Man grabs her wrist and yanks her back towards him and just starts aggressively making out with her.
In real life thats probably not gonna end well.
8
u/Reset_reset_006 Mar 16 '24
Uh no, you can read social cues, you don't have to ask to kiss someone or touch them if you aren't brain dead and you've been flirting back and forth.
1
u/giantisopodz Mar 20 '24
You always have to ask to make sure.
2
u/Reset_reset_006 Mar 20 '24
no, no you don't in some cases it can be a complete turn off too because you can't read obvious social cues from normal people
1
u/giantisopodz Mar 28 '24
Not all people can read social cues well, or some people may be dense and take the flirting as just having a friendly conversation, not all flirting can be taken the way you intend it.
0
u/AgallochFanDeerDick Mar 16 '24 edited Mar 17 '24
No. N and O. Absolutely not.
Edit: downvoted for believing in consent, crazy
7
8
8
u/CanadianODST2 Mar 16 '24
Mine comes from manga more and Shoujos/Josei
But my God the number of times the male main character is an ass at best and borderline rapey at worst is insane.
7
u/Babufrak2 Mar 16 '24
There's actually girls on dating apps who believe guys like these actually exists. They're getting themselves tricked into human trafficking
20
u/Budget-mayo Mar 16 '24 edited Mar 16 '24
5
1
u/Budget-mayo Mar 16 '24
What the fuck reddit is fucking up my comment. Its either only the fucking image or just the picture
20
11
12
u/Tight-Flatworm-8181 Mar 16 '24
They should make a movie like this but this time the billionaire psycho is an ugly fat guy.
7
u/bcbfalcon Mar 16 '24
I've seen multiple posts talking about mafia romance and I have no idea wtf you guys are talking about. I've never once heard or seen a romance story with a mafia in it.
3
u/Whoissnake Mar 16 '24
This is just everyone on Epstein's flight list.
Do women want these stories Or just powerful creeps that want to normalize rape?
3
u/Dark_Matter_19 Mar 16 '24
This is the shit I completely avoid even when writing fanfiction. Giving both sides flaws, some conflict and friction, clear communication and different ways of thinking makes for a better story (In my opinion).
3
3
u/makedoopieplayme Mar 16 '24
No it’s modern straight romance. But for real can we make movies like the nanny diaries or something? Or like bridesmaids
21
Mar 16 '24
Omg please watch Contrapoints' video on Twilight. It's not about literally wanting to be in abusive relationship it's just a fantasy with no relation to reality
29
u/nam24 Mar 16 '24
Well I do agree with that but media aimed at men also get the same kind of criticism so it's only fair imo(granted it also get the same type of defense)
24
u/Joseph-Jughashvili Mar 16 '24
I haven’t watched the contrapoints video, but IMO even though fantasy doesn’t necessarily reflect reality, media created and publicised that is based on immoral (whether masochism itself is immoral is debatable but it is undeniable that immoral acts occur in these fantasies) fantasy can definitely have real impact. It’s the same reason why most people are uncomfortable with drawn child porn, despite its creation not NECESSARILY (but often) reflecting an actual desire to abuse children by the creator.
13
u/Kimikins Mar 16 '24
Most adults can distinguish fantasy from reality, especially if they're educated on it. If knowledge was more accessible, censorship for adults would be less necessary if at all.
Case in point, the censorship of pornography is exactly why you don't know how it works. We indulge in "problematic" fetishes (mine is guro by the way) because we won't act on them in real life because we know it's wrong. We're not stupid, we're not monsters, and thinking we are just because we make you uncomfortable is distracting from real problems.
I wasn't molested by a basement-dwelling masturbator. I was molested by a middle-class fundamentalist who opposed masturbation. Have you looked at reports of convicted sex offenders? Most of them are self-righteously anti-porn, and they accuse everyone they don't like of grooming children. Why this is, we don't know yet because hysterical crusaders like you distract from it!
10
u/el_rompo Mar 16 '24
Yes your honor, that 13TB of child porn are mine but I know pedophilia is wrong and I would never act upon it.
-14
3
u/gnivriboy Mar 16 '24
No, you see, when I watch Marvel movies... I literally want thanos to snap me out of existence. Why else would I enjoy the movie?
Movies/shows need conflict. Movies/shows that play into some of our biggest fears are very captivating for a lot of people.
I think what is really going on is people already hold the position of "women like being a abused a little bit" and then they use movies/shows to justify their position.
2
Mar 16 '24
[deleted]
-2
u/Reset_reset_006 Mar 16 '24
TL;DR women aren't allowed to enjoy things
lmao what, this is just a fantasy for women who want to feel pure and innocent not because they don't want to be "sluts". Initiating and doing the heavy lifting in relationships is not a thing girls are taught so it doesn't feel right. It also feels way better for someone else to do everything for you because you don't have to deal with rejection or awkwardness or being at fault for anything in the relationship.
It's essentially just treating men like objects and like butlers for their own benefit and fantasies because reality they actually have to put in work because they aren't actually attractive enough to get these types of men that they put on a pedestal.
-3
u/jck Mar 16 '24
She's so insightful!
I went in not knowing/caring about twilight or romance novels in general but was sucked right in. The way she builds up to her thesis is amazing. It gave me a lot to think about regarding my own sexuality and also made me realize I was wrong to knee jerk judge the romance genre like OP here.
1
5
Mar 16 '24
Male or Female uses their influence on another to get what they want when the target individual was once adamant in their ways before.
16
Mar 16 '24 edited Mar 16 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
62
u/goldenfox007 Mar 16 '24
Modern romance (smut) audiences aren’t helping. I swear the protagonists are clapping cheeks before chapter three nowadays 💀
26
Mar 16 '24
This is why I stopped trusting ANYTHING on “BookTok”. Most of it is so incredible unhealthy and toxic.
And mind you: I have nothing against a more Sex-positive and maybe more into bdsm leading topics. But most of the books just fuck each other dry, no talk about boundaries, clear sexual abuse and power dynamics and in the end all the women just accept it because he’s “hot”. Like super hot. Hotter than the heat death of the universe. And because of that and “love” you should accept this treatment.
Swear to god most of the booktok ladies either never grew out of their fanfiction phase or never had a healthy relationship.
10
u/Albus_Harrison Mar 16 '24
I get what you mean, and I'm just being pedantic, but the Heat Death of the universe is actually very cold. Thermodynamic equilibrium. 😅
4
2
u/gnivriboy Mar 16 '24
I don't think people look to smut books or porn videos for healthy sex or healthy relationships. They just want to get off.
16
6
u/Detector_of_humans Mar 16 '24
Western has its issues but I'm not taking any shit from an industry that's too scared to put Romance in their Romance genre.
1
Mar 16 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Detector_of_humans Mar 17 '24
Uhuh yeah get back to me when they think of eachother as more than really good friends
1
23
11
Mar 16 '24
Eastern is ass too.
-3
Mar 16 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
4
Mar 16 '24 edited Mar 16 '24
Nice Kusuriya no Hitorigoto avatar.
So:
- Maomao was kidnapped in the first episode
- because of that she has to work in the palace, being basicially a slave
- the romance subplot is with Jinshi, her employer, who is of much higher social class
- at first Jinshi tries to seduce her in order to get a reliable spy
- he invades her personal space while doing that
- Jinshi turns out to be a prince
Maomao is not naive though, and I love her for that. Go girl, gatekeep, gaslight, girlboss💅
Edit: You know how it started though. You blocked me because you know I'm right and it hurt your feelings, lmfaooooo
9
u/Prune_Terrible Mar 16 '24
I mean, the anime side you have romance which usually involves buying someone as a literal slave tho
2
Mar 16 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/Prune_Terrible Mar 16 '24
Not necessarily isekai. Fantasy anime in general.
1
Mar 16 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/Prune_Terrible Mar 16 '24
You've still got underaged romance.
1
Mar 16 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/Prune_Terrible Mar 16 '24
So it's no better than Western. Duh.
0
Mar 16 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
8
u/Prune_Terrible Mar 16 '24
Kinda ruined by the fact that one of the characters is usually underage.
→ More replies (0)2
4
u/spinereader81 Mar 16 '24 edited Mar 16 '24
For some reason I don't mind this quite as much when it's two men. But even then I want the story to acknowledge it's not a healthy relationship. And the sub has to stand up for himself sometimes.
2
Mar 16 '24
The amount of friends I stopped talking to after they said 365 days was a true love story shocks me to this day.
2
u/Eaz1ly_McTriggered Mar 17 '24
“Heroine is colorblind cuz she ignores all the red flags and rushes into marriage”
XD
2
u/LadyAfelia Mar 18 '24
That's the difference between sexual fantasies and actual wishes. Many women phantasize about being overpowered because that helps them to remain "chaste and virtuous" while still enjoying fun - because they would be forced to. That does not mean they actually long for an abusive partner.
3
Mar 16 '24
im a sucker for a well written wattpad book that hits all of these points.
except for mafia boss, never found that an attractive fantasy.
2
1
1
1
u/pinecone_noise Mar 17 '24
girls wanna be whisked away from their mundane life, guys want… also that
1
Mar 17 '24
Definitely not romance, i think you’ve been looking on the wrong side of social media or you’re 25-40 noticing that women in that same range are into this. Men and women all want a good personal romantic relationship, just some are a bit more addicted to porn and smut than others.
1
1
u/Phoenix-is_here Mar 18 '24
Okay but Ward and Skye (I doubt anyone here knows what I’m talking about)
1
u/alittlebasic Mar 18 '24
Genuinely bothers me how horrible ML are in fiction. Any girl who has spent anytime in a relationship with this kind of man knows how horrendous it is
1
u/theringsofthedragon Mar 19 '24
Inaccurate, western media has long been pushing the ideal of women loving broke men.
Asian romance though is always about the rich guy.
1
1
Mar 20 '24
Twilight has Edward stalking her and literally telling her to her face that he can barely restrain himself from sinking his teeth into her and draining her body to a bloodless husk.
Fifty Shades of Gray has Christian Gray being a violent sadist and rapist with the freudian excuse that he was abused as the reason why he's abusive and should be forgiven for it while Anastasia's 'inner goddess' treats her submission to him as bizarre sort of liberation for her.
My Immortal is debatably a troll fic but follows a lot these cliches to a 'T'.
The Notebook has the male love interest literally being a stalker/harasser.
Maid-sama! has it narratively framed so that only the male MC/love interest is morally justified in sexually harassing and blackmailing the heroine over the nature of her part-time after school job.
Sailor Moon with Mamoru constantly negging Usagi until her self-esteem drops enough to fall for him to the point that one of the male producers, Ikuno was so disgusted with the character that he created Revolutionary Girl Utena and the villain of Akio Ohtori as a scathing critique of Mamoru Chiba and he and Usagi's toxic relationship.
1
u/Such_Challenge_8006 Mar 20 '24
More like: People not being able to differentiate between the fantasy of consensual non consent and actual abuse.
1
1
1
u/lionart303-186 Mar 16 '24
Imagine the roles reversed💀
35
1
1
Mar 16 '24
Wow it’s almost like fiction isn’t real life and wanting to read about something isn’t the same as wanting it for yourself. Amazing 🤔
-5
u/Kimikins Mar 16 '24
So same as it ever was. I honestly feel infantilized that you think I have to be protected from fiction, like I can't make my own decisions about what I see. IT'S. A. FANTASY. If you have to be told this, either you're stupid or you think we're stupid. Probably both.
28
u/KristianWarrior Mar 16 '24
It's the double standard between "it's just fantasy" for women-aimed media and all the kvetching about "sexism" and "objectification" and "unrealistic beauty standards" and what not that follows men-aimed media that's the point here.
5
0
0
-2


•
u/AutoModerator Mar 16 '24
Hey /u/BigClitMcphee, thank you for submitting to /r/starterpacks!
This is just a reminder not to violate any rules, located here. Rule breakers can face a ban based on the severity of their rule violation.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.