131 lesbian novels are genderbender/trans, and there's 15 gay novels that are genderbender/trans
So you're right if just looking at lesbian, really off if looking at gay, and your suspicion is wrong overall
That makes complete and total sense to me. I don’t read any yaoi/BL so I had no idea.... but that is *such* a difference it boggles the mind!
Ah, it's within expectations actually. The BL community is a lot stronger than the GL community.
Like, there are 277 BL and 244 GL in scribbly while including Gender Bender, but... Including Gender Bender in this statistic paints an inaccurate portrait, because in the majority of those Gender Bender + Homosexual Romance stories, the gender bent character still considers themselves as someone of their previous gender...
So, those Gender Bender + Homosexual Roamance stories are
usually stories in which the couple feels a lot like an heterosexual couple... So uhn... I think it makes more sense to look at the number while excluding Gender Bender, which leads to...
262 BL and 113 GL novels. Making BL a much more popular group... Which is again, as expected.
The Gender Bender + GL novels are sadly usually filled with the guy that was genderbent being filled with dirty thoughts and trying to make use of their new gender to enjoy being near girls while they're changing or bathing while they don't have their guards up against the MC... It's a really annoying trope and one that usually never touches on gender identity or dissonance between mind and body, or the MC being uncomfortable with their own body... T.T
Of course not all are like that, but the majority sadly is.
I'm sure authors have various reasons, so this is just one theory.
I think many of the gay stories are written by women who want to be in a relationship with multiple men, but it's still taboo and the authors are not willing to fully admit their desires yet, so writing about gay men is the next best thing. It's still edgy but much more socially acceptable.
By contrast, the male authors get to write their harem stories without shame. Most of us know of examples of polygyny in history and in other cultures.
For the ladies out there who are not aware of this yet, polyandry is actually practiced in some cultures:
Tbh, I think this theory is pretty far off.
AFAIK most BL lovers are just shoujo lovers that got tired of some super bland male interests and some often times really annoying MCs, so they switched to BL which is very similar to Shoujo, but without the usual tropes that parts of the Shoujo Audience got sick of.
It also has a disconnect with the audience in a way, due to being no lead Females, so they can enjoy it to their heart's content without feeling like the MC is behaving in an unnatural way or in a way that would be shameful, or in a way they'd be uncomfortable with... At the same time, the MC often times still have some characteristics usually associated with girls in order to make them more easily likable by the girls that love BL.
So uhn... From everything I read about BL and talked to other BL readers, your theory is really far off! >.<
What else could explain why most people write lesbian couples as having ‘the butch’ and ‘the femme’?
It's actually kinda interesting to me that you say that, because I honestly don't remember reading a single story with a butch and a femme.
Like, Uke/Seme are super common in BL, but Butch/Femme are actually very uncommon as far as I'm aware.
Rather, the butch/femme thing is a real turn off for me, so I'd shy away from those like plague. I remember
@Moonpearl once recommending a classic GL with this dynamic (I think it was Utena, but I may be misrembering) before, but I just couldn't ever get into even trying it out exactly because it had a Butch/Femme dynamic in it.
But uhn... I start reading new GL manga all the time and I genuinely don't remember seeing it even once... It's a lot rarer than the Uke/Seme dynamic AFAIK.
And well, to me one of the biggest appeals of GL is having 2 Female Leads that I can relate to a lot and care a lot for, while both get a lot of spotlight and focus on themselves. With neither being the clear MC of the story... Having a butch and a femme would totally ruin this for me because I wouldn't be able to relate to the more masculine girl at all! It would ruin the whole point to me! >.<