I wish people wouldn't downvote to one star just because they don't like the categorisation lol. Can we not punish the novel for any management gaffes? It's 100% true that female readers are more likely to read it so it fits in the female lead category right now since there's too few LGBT novels to make its own category at the moment. Hopefully that will change in the future. Anyway speaking of the novel, my real rating is probably a bit lower, I just want to combat the unnecessary downvotes. If you liked the e-sports parts of National School Prince is a Girl then you'll definitely like this lol, it's pretty much the same character dynamics
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Oh my goodness I hate when people do that
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I agree that down voting just because of category is unfair to the author. However, the fact that female readers are more likely to read is irrelevant when categorizing, or should be. Categorisation is based on reader gender, or at least that hasn't been explicitly stated, so that should not be a consideration. I am appalled that webnovel thinks this is acceptable. The MC is male, everything else is irrelevant. This goes beyond discrimination. It's like saying that a male character who is homosexual isn't a man. I applaud the fact that LGBT novels are being included, but to then categorise like this is worse than committing them in the first place. This is saying that all those times when people are made to feel less than they are or "not a man" for being gay are acceptable in webnovels eyes.
I think this is down to a difference in opinion on how Webnovel thinks of its categories. To me it seems very obvious that the majority of female lead readers are female, so if I wanted to release a novel targeted for female readers I'd release it in that category. I'm pretty sure someone in the promo department of QI thinks similarly to me which is why this happened in the first place; it's not a representation of the entirety of Webnovel which definitely has people who share your opinion because a previous BL work was also categorised in the male lead section already some time ago (don't ask me which one, I don't remember lol). In the end it boils down to people taking the categorisation way too seriously, which is... idk... personally I'm much more interested in the tags of something than which of just two categories it's in
Many people may think this isn't a serious thing but it's a micro aggression to some people. When you're constantly dismissed and discriminated against, something like this is yet another example of people thinking that's okay, or it's not serious, so why get worked up about it. Yes, categorisation may not be as important as tags, and for me I discount them. However, the argument that it's not a big deal ignores the fact that it's insulting and dismissive and factually incorrect. If webnovel want to make categorisation about who the readership is, then change it. Otherwise something that is deeply hurtful to some people is being seen as not a big deal. Yes, there may have been an LGBT novel placed in male lead before, but what does that matter? This novel hasn't been. I didn't see that novel, so have come to this seeing that webnovel treat LGBT novels differently. Is every novel with a female lead more likely to have a female readership? If not, are those that appeal more to male readers put in ths Male lead category? I just wanted to get my point across. I accept you may think I'm blowing this out of proportion, but it sends a really bad message that this is okay or worse, not a big deal.
It's not that I don't understand your point of view. I get why it upsets you and I'm not saying your dissatisfaction is invalid. I just disagree with how much importance you place on the categorisation, which is something we'll have to agree to disagree about. For what it's worth, when I first started using the Webnovel app 3(?)-ish years ago, it was just male and female categories instead of male and female lead. Maybe that's why I immediately see it as readership instead of a comment on the gender of the MC. Either way, I appreciate your take on it and would suggest you bring it up in the Webnovel forums if you'd like the management team to take note of it!
Have a good day
