A female protagonist who dislikes men

I have a female main character who doesn't like men in general all that much. She's neither a lesbian nor a total misandrist who hates everyone male, but she finds all the male attention she attracts irritating and has no interest whatsoever in any kind of relationship. Her reason is that, since she's a rich, powerful, and beautiful woman, most would-be suitors are only interested in bedding and mooching off her. Now I have no intention of getting this heroine into a romantic subplot, as I'm tired of those, but I wonder how readers would feel about a female protagonist who disliked and rejected men throughout the entire story. Would people want her to overcome this dislike of men by falling in love with one?

Let me just clarify, so she dislikes (but not the the point of misandry) all men due to the fact she belives they all want to take advantage of her? I personally wouldn't want a Break the Haughty situation where she goes into a relationship, but her slowly starting to trust a man and have a close platonic relationship would be interesting. Please let me know if I misinterpreted this.

Actually the most important detail is her disinterest in relationships. I'm not really married to the idea of her having a generalized anti-male attitude.

Though come to think of it, she might be socially aloof with people in general, women as well as men, because everyone only wants to associate her because of her social prestige. She occupies a very special place in her society that makes it hard for everyone else to relate to her.

A lot of people would expect a turn around from a character like that where she became more social in general. Not necessarily fell in love with somebody, but definitely opened up to people she previous considered beyond her notice.

Well if you have some sort Beta Couple or romance subplot featuring minor characters, it should keep people from being dissatisfied. In my opinion, the concept you have so far sounds quite good and a situation with Defrosting Ice Queen where the defrosting isn't caused by a romantic relationship could be a an interetsing read.

I think it can work nicely if you focus on the social aspect through out the story and just ignore the romantic aspect. We can see that she's changed by the time she makes a good friend. If that friend is a guy in a relationship and she's happy for him that can make it clear that their relationship is platonic.

depends on the genre and the audience. if the audience is around 13-20 years old or simply likes Shipping then they WILL have any character get into a relationship with anything regardless of canon.

on genre , can't really tell much from your description. but shipping tends to crop up on series where one gender outnumbers the other or the characters interact with various other "potential partners". really, just write what you want.

if she's written well enough (or just that damn interesting/weird within the verse) people will love her for what she is. just look up "Potato Girl Sasha Braus/Blouse/Blaus/whatever" who became some sort of Ensemble Dark Horse because of her Establishing Character Moment and being a badass Action Girl on her own right, though her reputation precedes her skill.


LATE EDIT: I'm aware the OP isn't referring exactly to shipping. but rather, the opinion of the audience on an asexual female protagonist avoiding romance. but hey, same thing as long as it involes relationships.

edited 20th Jul '13 1:21:11 PM by ShanghaiSlave