cashew | ...tolerance levels decreasing...decreasing... (Reply)

I'm not sure if I should ditch my current reading material or not. On the one hand, the plot of government corruption is still engaging me, and the obstacles thrown in the way of justice feels realistic. Depressing, but realistic.

On the other hand, the sheer utter incompetence of half of this BL couple is driving me batty. What is it with romance and wanting the "girl" character (whether it's the bottom in a BL couple or the actual girl in a het couple) to be the most socially/emotionally/physically incompetent person to have ever existed? Like the only exceptional trait for the "girl" is looking pretty. That's it. There exists no other worthwhile trait. They can't even do something as simple as use a map.

I genuinely don't understand why these kinds of characters exist. As it has been told to me, these types of characters are meant as the reader/viewer self-insert vessel, where the average female reader can insert themselves into this highly desirable but simultaneously painfully average character. Because apparently if a character shows competence, then suddenly the average reader/viewer can't see themselves in this character and the fantasy of dating an exceptionally competent love interest (usually the top in a BL couple or the guy in the het couple) is destroyed.

But all I feel when seeing these types of characters is the intense desire to punch them out of the story because they never do anything and it feels like I'm just wasting my time having to read about them.

There seems to be no demand for a romance between two exceptional people who are independently awesome and even more awesome together. Why? Why is there so much demand for incompetence?