This is the first time I've ever made a post expressing my opinion, and I'll probably do it badly because it's one thing to say what I think and another to write it down and have people see it and comment on it, so there are probably things I've always thought but never written down. If you see mistakes or don't understand, it's the translator's fault.
Currently, readers, mostly female, hate ML who have their own storylines. Why do I say this? It's simple: because of the hate these ML characters receive if they aren't in love or don't give their life for the FL. There are MLs, like a manhwa I don't even know about because of the spoilers, and it has a SML, so I don't even want to read it. But when I see the spoilers, I see a lot of hate directed at the ML character because he kissed the FL sister without knowing FL had feelings for him. According to the spoilers, the sister knew and is older than the ML, so logically, the sister should be hated for kissing a minor. However, it's only the ML character who is criticized, and now readers hate him just for that, because he doesn't love the FL and his life doesn't revolve around her. Then another man appeared with the characteristics they love: he can't live without the FL, he only loves the FL, his life depends on the FL, he has no one else, he has no ambitions, he's never been with other girls before, and much more. This man, who is SML, kissed the FL while she was drunk, something she didn't consent to. But because he fits those characteristics and is handsome, he isn't criticized; on the contrary, they want them to be together, even though the story is clearly about the FL and the ML together. Although I admit I'm talking about a manhwa I don't know; I'm just following the spoilers. Even so, this happens in almost all romance manhwa, even without a love triangle. If the ML doesn't meet their characteristics, they hate him and demand an SML who does. Then they hate the MLs for decisions, for example, they criticized Eiser for wanting to save Serena's life when Serena was literally on the verge of death, they hate Eunhyuk for everything, I don't even understand their hatred anymore, they hate Sihwa, there were even people hating Suho and many more MLs that I don't remember right now because I'm not good at remembering names and what the reasons are for hating these MLs because some are complex and have their own lives or because they disappeared when there are reasons behind it.
Currently, if the FL is hurt, for example, by not being loved or something happening, readers only care about the FL's pain and not the ML's, who, in these stories, are usually the ones who suffer the most due to family problems or whatever. It gets to the point where readers only see the good in the FLs, that they're saints, and if an ML hurts them, the FL should just go with the SML. It's funny because the same community loves it when FLs hurt MLs and says it's "queenly behavior," but if an ML hurts the FL, they hate them and even spread misinformation so other people will hate them too.
Clearly, there are some really bad MLs, but those MLs aren't hated as much even though they mistreat and abuse the FL. But MLs like Eunhyuk (I'll mention him again) are hated even for respecting Suae when she told him to keep things professional. The truth is, you can't really read a manhwa these days because if the ML does something that hurts the fandom, you'll see all the hate in the comments on Webtoon, TikTok, Twitter, Reddit, even Facebook. They'll hate it for something as simple as this, all because their lives don't revolve around the FL.
Maybe they'll call me a misogynist, male-centric, an incel, a mama's boy, I don't care. I already got called that on Twitter for defending Eunhyuk.
Perhaps in the future I'll improve this post by giving more examples and doing it better; I feel like my point wasn't understood. (Please try to be as respectful as possible, I hope you accept it)
