rather than the same stories that get told with males as main characters over and over again

Shit. Even within Males as main character's, shit can get fucking stale and I'd love to see some more diversity there.

I see it everywhere. From erotica to action games to what have you.

Shaved headed, stubbled, ripped, badass cowboy trope who kills bad guys and seduces the women with his muscles in a story that more or less reads like a Marine Todd copypasta.

At the most cynical level, it doesn't even have to be about gender identity or toxic masculinity or whatever the fuck you want to talk about. It's reaches a point where it's just shitty story-telling.

I mean. Let's look at the good old pre-SJW days. Take a good hard look at literature from that era.

"Big Jim, the baddest bad-ass in town who was super bad-ass and he killed lots of bad guys and had sex with hot ladies." isn't what we regard as "Classics."

Oh sure, the absolute best of that genre is, but that shit tends to have other saving graces. Amazing cinematography or high quality writing.

But go to your local library. Take a look at the paper back section. Keep track of how many shitty cowboy novels there are that follow that exact plot.

Honestly. When I work on my own writing (Are you happy, "Why not just make your own!?" types?) I tend to work with more complex male characters. I've worked with a shy, bookish scholar, a socially-awkward fisherman and an aging merchant internally conflicted between doing the "right thing" and a desire to provide for his children.

Shit. Even when I work with traditionally masculine characters, I try to give them a bit more complexity than the teenage masturbatory fantasies that run so rampant. One of my favorites is actually an (entirely sympathetic, as at it's core the story is a political conflict between himself and the protagonist over an issue of Freedom vs. Stability) aging, rugged king who relies on his cunning far more than his strength; and I like to think it makes him a far more interesting character. I've honestly decided to work from his point of view as he evolved from "Strong tough guy enemy who must be physically conquered" into "Philosophical and intelligent aging warrior who has his own schemes going throughout the story." By the end, I didn't even want him or the protagonist to have to directly fight. I more wanted a situation where one had thoroughly outmaneuvered the other, gradually revealed over a parley in which they discuss their differing ideologies of statehood.

But nah man, fuck that shit. What is he? A queer? He oughta cut off the protagonists head in a single stroke, whisper "That's for the boys in the fifty-first horseborn." go home, fuck his wife, and rule a golden age kingdom until his death.