[[{{Genshiken}} http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Ogiue.jpg]]
[[caption-width:320:Where do you think all of that Naruto doujin comes from?]]

MostFanficWritersAreGirls (and many are [[YaoiFangirl yaoi fangirls]] at that).

Various theories abound as to why without real consensus. The cause is likely related to the fact that most visual porn is male-oriented (see {{hentai}}) while most written porn is female-oriented (see {{yaoi}}) and FanFiction, like porn, trades heavily in AuthorAppeal.

Because MostFanficWritersAreGirls, and because most girls are more interested in who's sleeping with who than who could take who in a fight, this means most FanFiction is primarily focused on relationships (romantic or [[GenFic otherwise]]) and {{shipping}}. Other side effects include a proliferation of [[MarySue Mary Sues]] compared with [[MartyStu Marty Stus]] and the heavy favoritism of yaoi fanfic over {{yuri}}.

This trope is extremely common, even in fandoms that presumably lean heavily male, such as StarTrek, {{Naruto}}, and {{Transformers}}.

See also {{Shipping}}, SlashFic, EveryoneIsGay, EstrogenBrigade. Compare MostWritersAreMale and MostTropersAreYoungNerds.

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'''A totally ubiquitous trope. Nonetheless, some examples stand out more than most. Note: if you plan to add an example that can be summarized as [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike Complaining About Fanfic Tropes You Don't Like]], please leave it out.'''

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
*''OnePiece'': A [[{{Shonen}} boys' comic]] about adventures on the high seas. Features [[NoHuggingNoKissing not even the most chaste of affectionate physical contact]], but even that does not save it from this trope.
**Or it could be ''because'' the show is strictly NoHuggingNoKissing that {{Shipping}} is so common.
*''DeathNote'': A densely plotted supernatural melodrama where JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope is inevitable and the nature of being is explored. (And [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome potato chips are epic.]]) Fanfics rarely feature anything but romance between either the two {{Bishonen}} antagonists/protagonists/whatever, or between the loose cannon and a minor character that some readers didn't even ''notice'' in their fixation on things like the plot.
** To the shippers' defense, they probably lack imagination to conceive a XanatosRoulette even half as complex as Light pulls off every day before breakfast. Don't be too harsh on them.
*** And there aren't many het pairings that would reasonably work whilst providing the chance to add to the already ballooning number of over-angsty/badly-convoluted fics out there.
** This editor has had to explain "No, it's not really a yaoi anime" more than once while trying to get someone to watch it. Just to mix things up, someone once suggested it to him ''because'' of the yaoiness. You just can't win.
*** While it has an innocent logic to it, the implications of Light and L being handcuffed for a long period of time don't help matters much.
***Nor does the foot massage scene. ''What Do You Mean It's Not Symbolic'', anyone?
*''GundamWing'': The futility of war and mankind's endless desire for battle do not seem to interest writers nearly as much as the homosexual relationships between the five protagonists.
*''NeonGenesisEvangelion'': Any fanfiction not taking the {{Wangst}} route often reads [[LighterAndSofter like that of a cheerful, fluffy]] [[UnwantedHarem harem anime]]. Wow, Shinji has all these gorgeous ladies (and [[YaoiGuys one guy]]) to choose from! No [[MindRape mental anguish]], mutilation, CosmicHorror or death here! No sir!
** There's a lot of shipping fanfic for ''NGE'' that doesn't completely ignore the MindScrew horror elements, but rather pushes them aside for a bit and tells a short story set in the interim of an episode or the area between two episodes. Plus, ''NGE'' is more conducive to shipping, as it's a combination of AllLoveIsUnrequited and LoveDodecahedron in that regard to begin with.
** Hell, Gainax itself made a series of computer games under that premise. Yes, ''[[DatingSim that]]'' kind of computer game.
** Not only that, but of the three alternate universe Evangelion manga that have been written in the last few years, only ONE of them ISN'T a romantic comedy. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_Genesis_Evangelion:_Angelic_Days Angelic Days]]'' is based on a dream sequence from episode 26, and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_Genesis_Evangelion:_Shinji_Ikari_Raising_Project#Manga Shinji Ikari Raising Project]]'' is based on a videogame based on that dream sequence from episode 26 -- coincidentally, both are written by [[MostFanFicWritersAreGirls women]].
* Rabid fans of the two main ''{{Bleach}}'' het pairings duke it out with other characters dragged into it as ShipMates. ''{{Bleach}}'' is one of the very few fandoms where the yaoi fans generate ''less'' {{Fanwank}} than het fans.
* ''FullMetalAlchemist''
** This explains the lack of Winry/Sheska fic...
*The large majority of ''MahouSenseiNegima'' fanfiction seems to revolve around [[BodyguardCrush Konoka and Setsuna]], whose relationship, though [[strike:more or less]] canonical, was a central matter in only one volume out of (so far) more than twenty.
*''{{Naruto}}'', a show about members of {{Highly Visible Ninja}} armies which kill each other, falls into this ''hard''. Considering [[HoYay the presentation]] of Naruto and Sasuke's rivalry, though..
**[[RuleThirtyFour Nothing is sacred]] when it comes to Naruto shipping. The amount of pairings with characters who want to ''fucking kill each other'' in the series can still clearly be in love and WHY DON'T YOU NOTICE ITS SO OBVIOUS THAT THEY DON'T REALLY HATE EACH OTHER! And that's not including the rampant amounts of incest...
*''PrinceOfTennis''. We have the yaoi fics, the het fics, the Dream Novels, the {{Tsundere Sue}}s, the DieForOurShip based hate of Sakuno or how she becomes a PossessionSue, the rabid Atobe worship...
* ''YuYuHakusho''. A good 95% of fanfiction that isn't the MarySue type is about Kurama and Hiei hooking up and having hot demon-sex. Ironically, most fanwriters either ignore or bash the canonical relationship between [[MadLove Sensui and Itsuki]] (it's WordOfGod, BTW, as Sensui isn't all that emotional) because they're ''too'' realistically gay.
**I would expect a lot of the "ignoring" is actually ignorance. Both because it's never explicitly stated in the films or anime and because a lot Yu Yu Hakusho fanfics display complete ignorance of relevant facts.
** Also, almost every crossover with InuYasha features a Kagome who has miraculously gained incredible power and beauty and falls instantly in love with Kurama/Hiei/Yuusuke, who feel exactly the same way about her. Considering she has a long-term semi-relationship already, generally attacks demons on sight and acts much younger than the Yu Yu Hakusho characters despite being the same age as the main characters, it's a striking, if somewhat obscure, example.
* ''SorcererHunters''. Even though it's practically the patron saint of {{Stripperiffic}} costumes, more than half of the fanfic written is based on the HoYay that was also thrown in the series - especially the hot hot Carrot/Marron incest {{subtext}}.
*Around the time it was created, the ''Beyblade'' category on fanfiction.net consisted ''entirely'' of ShotaCon HoYay fics.
* Never mind the robots; ''CodeGeass'' has all the right ingredients to be a fangirl's dream come true - two {{Bishonen}} childhood friends turned rivals, pretty character designs by {{Clamp}}, and shipping options both het and slash galore.
** Though considering what has been going on in R2... Many ships have sailed, specially after [[spoiler: Shirley's tragic death]].
*** Of course, with the end of the series, TheShipYard is looking more like [[ShipSinking Pearl Harbor...]]
*You'll be lucky to find ''{{Digimon}}'' fanfiction that actually ''includes'' any digimon.
** ''DigimonTamers''' Renamon is an exception, but that's because [[InterspeciesRomance she gets paired up]] with Ruki/Rika by fans of GirlsLove.
*** Flamedramon.
*''{{Pokemon}}''
* At least 80% of all ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh}}'' fics are about pairing two male characters together, the majority of these pairings including characters who ''[[SharingABody share the same body.]]'' Giving these characters separate bodies as if they ''always'' had them is established {{fanon}}, and many of the fics who don't focus on them instead have a Draco-esque unhealthy infatuation with [[EnsembleDarkhorse Seto Kaiba]] and his [[RelationshipSue Destined True Love]]. Need I point out that ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' revolves around a ''card game?''
** A ''[[YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries children's]]'' [[YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries card game.]]
**Which is more interesting: A card game or paedophiliac, slightly necrophiliac identical-twincest between murdering, dark magic-using psychopaths and their better halves?
***Bearing in mind, two of the "better" halves condoned what amounted to murdering their darker halves, so every possible twosome of the six except Ryou/Yuugi has had one try to kill the other.
** [[YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries No wonder Marik's confused]].
* Leaving aside the gallons of FetishFuel in ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'', you still have the uber macho [[GenderBender gender shifting]] JerkWithAHeartOfGold and his moody yet surprisingly sensitive [[TheRival Rival]] Ryouga. You can pretty much guess the most popular pairing, never mind that Ranma is really rather homophobic and Ryouga is obsessed with Akane almost to the point of being a StalkerWithACrush throughout the majority of the series, [[spoiler: and that he actually acquires a girlfriend, Akari Unryuu, at the end of the manga]]. In fact, there is a sizable portion of fanfic devoted to curing Ranma's gender curse just so he and Ryouga can get together as guys...
**Takahashi inadvertently created ship herself, for only one volume and for gag value - Ryoga's magical gadget meant to make Akane fall in love with him misses and hits Ranma instead. Ryoga was absolutely ''horrified'' at the results (and even tried to kill Ranma, not because they're rivals, but because he was desperate to get rid of the attentions) and Ranma was [[{{Understatement}} not amused]] when he returned to his senses.
* The most prominent themes among ''FushigiYuugi'' fanfics are the following: 1) Replacing Miaka with [[strike:someone else]] an AuthorAvatar while keeping Tamahome/Hotohori/Tasuki/any other Seishi there (or vice versa); 2) a new Miko (usually Suzaku No Miko) is introduced, either acing out Miaka or repeating the quest; 3) [[strike:a new girl]] an AuthorAvatar shows up and befriends/antagonizes Miaka and the gang, falling in love with one of them in the process.
* ''{{Monster}}'', despite being {{seinen}}, has attracted a fanbase that prefers writing about how Nina wants to sleep with her [[{{Twincest}} twin brother]].
** To say nothing of the Johan/Tenma pairing.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* As far as the {{Comicbook/X-Men}} fandom goes, there are... ''some'' action fanfics. For all of those, there are 10 or 20 about one of three things: [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys Wolverine and Jean]], [[{{Lolicon}} Wolverine and Rogue]], or [[FoeYay Wolverine/male character he can't stand]] (usually Sabretooth, but sometimes Cyclops, Angel, or Gambit). [[TheMasochismTango Rogue and Gambit]] win second place for Most Shipped Within the Fandom, however.
** And now {{Deadpool}} gets tons of MarySue fics because he was played by [[EstrogenBrigadeBait Ryan Reynolds]] in ''[[Film/XMen X-Men Origins: Wolverine]]''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* At least 95% of all ''HarryPotter'' fanfiction falls into this one way or another, whether it's [[DracoInLeatherPants putting Draco (or Snape) in leather pants]], introducing MarySue as a NewTransferStudent, giving Hermione an UnnecessaryMakeover and [[PossessionSue changing her personality]] so that she [[FanficChopSuey likes what the author likes]], {{shipping}} seemingly random characters together or... we could just go on forever, really.
** {{My Immortal}}.
* NeilGaiman has expressed bewilderment at the existence of ''GoodOmens'' slash (though he seems to have later [[http://community.livejournal.com/lower_tadfield/378913.html caught on]]). Considering the [[HoYay close]] [[HeterosexualLifePartners relationship]] between Aziraphale and Crowley as well as them being MistakenForGay several times, it would be even ''more'' of a surprise if the vast majority of ''GO'' fics weren't focused on getting these two to "make an effort" with each other.
* The word "Legomance" was coined in response to the prevalence of [[TheLordOfTheRings LOTR]] fics pairing Legolas with a MarySue. (The writers of these must have largely been fangirls who had seen [[EstrogenBrigadeBait Orlando Bloom]] in the movies).
* {{Redwall}} fandom seems to [[AvertedTrope avert]] this and have a lot more male fans. The girls still write the usual OOC romances and MarySue characters, and the boys write MartyStu characters and {{Gorn}}.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
*Modern fanfiction was ''invented'' by ''StarTrek'' {{Fan Girl}}s in the late 1960s/early 1970s. The term "[[SlashFic slash]]" originally came from how the [[HoYay Kirk/Spock pairing]] was denoted. "MarySue" was coined by the 1974 fanfic "[[FanFic/ATrekkiesTale A Trekkie's Tale]]".
* ''{{Supernatural}}''. Almost every fic seems to be written by a girl who either wants to sleep with one of the Winchester brothers, have them [[IncestIsRelative sleep with each other]], or be their younger sister.
** Or, y'know, all three.
* ''{{House}}'': A series surrounded by medical mysteries? Let's just enjoy a nice fluffy House/Wilson fic instead!
* Despite having no characters between the ages of 10 and 40, if you only read the fanfiction you'd think at least one of ''{{LazyTown}}'''s main characters was a mopey teenage girl, though who the mopey teenage girl is depends on the ship written. Most frequently she's Stephanie, but quite a lot of the time "she's" Robbie Rotten. In a significant minority of these fics, the other one of the two is a rival for Sportacus's affections, and [[DieForOurShip therefore an evil, conniving bitch.]]
* Meet ''[[TheDailyShow Daily Show]]/[[TheColbertReport Colbert Report]]'' fandom. If you've never read a fanfic slashing a comedian with the President of the United States...
** Or his [[MemeticBadass Chief of Staff]]...
* ''PowerRangers'': For a show with a target audience of 6-10 year old boys, there are an awful lot of ship fics, but I suppose that's what happens with a [[TheVerse universe]] with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters.
**PR has experienced an interesting inversion of this trope. Back in the early days of the fandom, while MostFanficWritersAreGirls was still heavily in effect, the majority of stories at the time were more OriginalFlavour than romance, though there was often a suitable mix of the two. Fifteen years later, things have changed to a straight example of this trope, with a bit of HetIsEw sprinkled in here and there.
***Most of them are ether written by or for Tommy/Kimberly shippers, though ships with Trini have been growing increasingly popular in recent years, especially Billy/Trini ships.
* Similarly, ''KamenRider''. For a series geared towards young boys about kicking monsters in the face, male members of the fandom are all but extinct.
* ''MockTheWeek''. MOCK THE BLOODY WEEK. Yes, seriously. Frankie has hilariously mentioned, on the show, the existence of Frankie/Hugh fics...
* [[ProfessionalWrestling Pro Wrestling]] is supposedly the male answer to a soap opera. Judging by how many different people Jeff Hardy's been banged by in fic world, you could almost argue against it being the MALE answer to anything.
* {{Eureka}} has a pretty small fic community, but the [[HoYay Carter/Stark]] slash ship has triple the fanbase as every other ship on the show combined.
* ''{{Doctor Who}}'' ficers often pair the Doctor with his one of his Female (sometimes Male) Companions, past or current. Common ships include The 4th Doctor/Sarah Jane and the 10th Doctor/Rose Tyler (or 10th Doctor/Jack Harkness, if you swing that way).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''TheLegendOfZelda'': Sheik/Link, Dark Link/Link, anyone?
* ''KingdomHearts'': The main plot (and [[DisneyAnimatedCanon 70% of the cast]]) is usually ignored totally in favour of the speculated love lives of [[BlueBishonenGhetto Organization XIII]]. Or [[FoeYay rivalslash]] between Sora and Riku (often making Kairi the target of DieForOurShip.)
* The ''FinalFantasy'' series, especially the [[BlueBishonenGhetto more recent games]], are the target of ravenous shipping and slashing that has nothing to do with the airships and [[NotCompensatingForAnything big swords]] that the creators obviously ''intended'' to be the games' draw card, to the extent that the creators of ''[[FinalFantasyVII FFVII]]'' were stupefied by an interviewer asking them "Who was Sephiroth really in love with?" They've gotten [[FanService savvier now]], though...
* ''AceAttorney'' fandom is all about the Phoenix/Edgeworth rather than mysterious murders with quirky witnesses.
** Admittedly, the characters themselves have a lot of subtext going anyway, either of HeterosexualLifePartners or lingering homosexual attraction that is not to be. [[http://gaygamer.net/2006/10/phoenix_wright_gay_shocker.html Even the writers have commented on this...]]
** [[FanGirl Pearl]] must be disappointed.
* The game ''{{Psychonauts}}'' has a lot of potential to generate interesting stories about Raz's adventures or the psyches of the campers that we didn't get to see. But no, stories about [[ToyShip 10 year olds making out]] are much more interesting apparently.
** ''Just'' ten year olds? There are [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters so many characters in that game]], pretty much [[LittleBlackDress everything is a possiblity.]] Sasha x Milla (no, that's not a GirlsLove pairing; [[GenderBlenderName Sasha is in fact a dude]]) is fairly popular (and borderline canon, kinda), as is Fred Bonaparte/Crispin Whytehead/Dr. Loboto with any number of {{Relationship Sue}}s. Or, you know, [[YaoiFangirl each other.]]
*** I think Raz said it best himself
---> Raz: Is making out all anyone thinks about here?
* The ''SonicTheHedgehog'' fanbase has ''no'' shortage of romance fics and ''especially'' slash. Apart from the massive amount of fans with crushes on [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys Shadow]] (that is, the ones that don't [[TheScrappy hate him]]) and a RelationshipSue to match, if you look further down the rabbit hole you'll find every possible pairing no matter how improbable, [[CrackPairing ridiculous]] or [[NoJustNo just plain wrong]]. Apparently, [[{{Discworld}} The Hedgehog Can Be Buggered After All.]]
* Explains (partly) why, {{Knights of the Old Republic}} fanfic depicting a female Revan outnumbers that depicting a male Revan about five to one, despite Revan being "canonized" male. Female Exiles outnumber male ones only by a three-to-one margin.
* Despite the relative youth of the ''MassEffect'' fandom, the sheer number of Garrus/Female Shepard fics out there is rather impressive, especially considering a female Shepard is pretty much a ready-made self-insert, and Garrus is an avian alien with a naturally-occurring tribal warrior facemask and who is only vaguely humanoid.
*''{{Bully}}''. That ought to be enough, but do I have to elaborate? The game's damn fun to begin with, but something about the appealing combination of playing a 15-year-old redheaded badass in a practically all-male environment (moreso if you pretend all those strange leggy creatures in skirts and high socks are [[DroppedABridgetOnHim cleverly concealed transvestites]]) with a uniquely [[MindGameShip twisted]] bad boy villain leads to either oodles of SlashFic or oodles of self insert DracoInLeatherPants fic.
* Inverted for GearsOfWar, which has losts and lots of Dom/Marcus slashart. Except that most of it comes from 4chan, which is mostly ''male''...
** Slash-thread (and threads of a attractive males characters) are fairly common on 4chan indicating either posters allowing them [[RuleOfFunny because they think they're funny]], because EvenTheGuysWantHim, and/or there are really far more females on 4chan than most people will admit.
*** That's ''any'' girls, right?
*** Or the guys might be more into yaoi then they want to admit.
* Largely averted in ''{{Halo}}'' fanfiction, in spite of the tremendous potential for {{Ho Yay}}.
** Not so much with {{Machinima}} offshoot RedVsBlue, however.
* The female minority of TeamFortress2 fandom is not so much concerned with playing the game itself as creating gobs and gobs of slash fanart and fanfiction. The game's cast is essentially a BlueBishonenGhetto minus the "bishonen" part, which may or may not justify this.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Not even ''{{Transformers}}'' is safe. The most common pairing appears to be Megatron/Starscream. They're freaking robots, for crying out loud!
** That's what you get when your race is [[TheSmurfettePrinciple 90 percent male]]. They're not called the Deceptinuns, after all.
*** Unfortunately, when a new female love interest ''is'' introduced to compensate for the gap, its generally a spectacular MarySue. Who generally goes after Megatron ''or'' Starscream, for some reason. Anybody else either goes for one of the two known females, or pairs off with another male, regardless of machine-like disinterest in canon.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce_VOlRTT_8 Starscream Glomps Megatron]].
** Of particular note here is that, although transformer reproduction has been shown to consist of applying the local MacGuffin to a convenient empty shell, reproduction and [[MisterSeahorse mpreg]] abound anyway. Primus help us all
* Good luck finding a ''SouthPark'' fic that isn't slash, HighSchoolAU, or with a MarySue OC. You might get a oneshot or two.
* From the fanfic, you'd think the main theme of ''KimPossible'' was forbidden love between [[FoeYay Kim and Shego]]. You'd think that would mean that most are {{Yuri Fanboy}}s, but as far as this editor could tell from dipping a toe in the fandom, most of the "Kigo" shippers are indeed females.
** Can't say about the "Kigo" shippers, but ''KimPossible'' fanfic writers in general seem to range from kids to parents of kids, college students to, well, anyone else.
** Nope, definitely ''not'' all gay. Bicurious, on the other hand...
* The impressive thing about ''[[AvatarTheLastAirbender Avatar]]'' fanfiction is not the amount of shipping fics, but the sheer ''variety''. Every possible combination with every possible orientation in every possible genre with every single character, and not just the main characters either. It seems, though, the single most popular pairing remains the one hooking up TheHero's [[LoveAtFirstSight True Love]] and the guy who spent most of the series trying to drag TheHero in chains before the EvilOverlord. Why, fangirls? ''Why?''
* ''DannyPhantom'' fangirls will pair Danny with ''[[LittleBlackDress anything]]'', including Vlad, Dark Danny, Ghost Writer, Sam, even the [[CargoShip Fenton Thermos]].
* The largest fan forum in existence for SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperforceGo! is virtually all girls, and the rest of the internet fandom follows suit.
* The majority of {{Futurama}} fanfiction is Fry/Leela romances, often set exclusively in New New York. Who needs insane space adventures and satire when you can have Fry and Leela wangsting about their feelings like any twentysomethings? There is no shortage of Sues and Stus, either.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* RealPersonFic - A whole trope unto itself!
[[/folder]]
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