Why do male harems dominate the genre while yuri harems are so rare?

L1aei

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Do you think the genre is underrated, or simply too niche?
Both.

Women in emotionally rich and even romantic-messy ways are great and I can refer to the Kiyoshi novels by F.C. Yee as one I enjoyed. But what I have encountered were stories marketed as yuri, but most relationships are one-sided or played for comedy only. Then there are the "harems" where the protagonist doesn’t reciprocate anything... or worse, is powerless, subjugated (not to be confused with submissive), or expresses zero interest. And don't get me started with the fetishization; a pair of crabs shaking hands is not my kink.
 

Lysander_Works

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Probably just a bunch of people trying to copy what they believe to be 'trendy.'
 

Anonjohn20

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Bro the biggest consumer of yuri has always been dudes. It's only recently that girls are being more into yuri. Same with yaoi fans mostly being girls.
This only applies to videos, comics, and photos. In literature, both M/M and F/F have been more heavily consumed by women.
 

Gray_Mann

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This only applies to videos, comics, and photos. In literature, both M/M and F/F have been more heavily consumed by women.
I wanted to say this same thing seeing as I felt BigBadBoi was not entirely correct on this, but I wasn't reasonably sure because I can't be bothered to research it. I just don't care. Personally, I'm not gay and therefore have zero interest in what gays or anything else non-hetero likes or dislikes.

I figured someone else would know more about this and speak up in my place.
 

Sabruness

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some stories focus way too much on it and can read like the character in question is a guy with boobs, when they are only using these parts and nothing else.
This is my whole issue with futa. futa is basically pointless as it only really exists for smut and people who want to write het but dont want to have an MMC so they have an FMC who is basically a guy with boobs. smut is smut but non-smut futa is heresy
 

Anonjohn20

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futa is basically pointless as it only really exists for smut and people who want to write het but dont want to have an MMC so they have an FMC who is basically a guy with boobs.
Stories like...
Monster Breeder
Lilith: Origin of Succubi
Laundry Divers
‘Claire’ An AI Awakening
Prove your first claim wrong. The characters are very in touch with their feminine side, often thinking and acting in ways men just don't.

non-smut futa is heresy
Stories like...
My Sudden Monster Convergence
Life of Change
The Reincarnation of Alysara
Prove this point wrong, not all the stories are about sex. Some, like the first I mentioned, are coming-of-age stories and focus on self-exploration. While other stories like the second and third I mentioned cover many other themes besides sex but still have futas as a way to worldbuild.

Earlier in this thread I mentioned how M/M and F/F literature is mostly read by women, and I can admit that futa stories are mostly read by men, but to accuse all of the stories in the genre of being so shallow leads me to believe you just can't find an interesting story for the life of you.
 

CharlesEBrown

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Books written around sexuality are crap, and are always crap. Then again, lots of people enjoy crap. Wishing you success.
I have to half-heartedly disagree. Books like The Beginning Place (Ursula K. LeGuin) and several classic "coming of age" stories are, to one degree or another, written around sexuality and are far from crap.
Now I will admit that a majority, perhaps around 75-80%, of such books ARE crap, solely to allow an author to work out a fetish or just because "sex sells" but far from all are.
 
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DireBadger

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I have to half-heartedly disagree. Books like The Beginning Place (Ursula K. LeGuin) and several classic "coming of age" stories are, to one degree or another, written around sexuality and are far from crap.
Now I will admit that a majority, perhaps around 75-80%, of such books ARE crap, solely to allow an author to work out a fetish or just because "sex sells" but far from all are.
I respectfully disagree. Kushiel's tear is the best example of 'almost not crap' I have read that focuses on sexuality, but alternatively. there's... pretty much everything piers anthony or Robert Heinlein have written, and generally, even well-regarded crap is still crap.

And recent authors? Oh, don't even get me started :)
 

Juia_Darkcrest

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Back to the original posts question,

The same could be said for many different 'Kinks', it is not for everyone. If the audience is small, the pool of authours willing and able to write within that genre would be even smaller, mainly since many want to monetize their works.

I can't say I wouldn't like reading about a female lead getting her own harem of girls, but it isn't something I am actually interested in or would go looking for. Nor do I think I could write a good romance/relationship at all between women, though I am working on the poly side a bit now.

I'll say it is similar to why I am writing my isekai harem novels. 95% of them it seems the authours give the MC fertility control, so there is no risk of pregnancy. I hate that about the genre, so I decided to write my books to include pregnancy and how the MCs end up dealing with that on top of the story. It is niche, and not for everyone, so I am filling the gap so to speak. =P

TLDR; In the end, the lack of Yuri authours is just that it is a niche market, a small audience, and potential difficulty level of writing a good FMC.
 
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melchi

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This thread is too complicated for me.
 

DireBadger

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That's what happens when 'forum police' decide that a post has drifted off-topic, despite how relevant it might be; they complicate things by twisting their panties around it in hopes of choking off conversations they don't like.

It's a relatively simple question and an even simpler answer. In real life, certain guys can't get laid. In real life, pretty much EVERY girl can get laid if she's willing to lower her standards far enough. (unless you are planning on redefining terminology, which accomplishes nothing except inflating your sense of self-importance.)

Thus, the market for 'sexy books' is predominantly male, unless you are specifically marketing the 'romance' genre (which is generally straight and has a set audience), the answer to the question is "Your audience is incredibly small because of your genre choice". Everything else is just politics, and you can't increase your market unless you are willing to pay a lot of money for marketing... That won't increase your target audience, but it is a lot more likely to saturate it.

So a 'yuri harem' is simply never going to do as well, assuming the same level of marketing, as normal haremlit or traditional romance. neither will d*ckgirls, gay, lesbian, or other 'self-limiting' sexual genre choices. This is not a social decision, indictment, or judgment call; it is simply the reality and recognition of the market.
 

Arkus86

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Yuri harem is rare?
If you exclude gender bender, bisexual protags and futanari to get the "pure" yuri harems, then yes, it's rare.
To quote my previous findings from another thread on the exact same topic:
23 pages of GL harems. 4 pages once you exclude GB, bisexual protag and futanari, to get true GL harems.
34 pages of GL non-harem stories with the same filter
37 pages of Male protag harems without BL.
Roughly for every 10 straight male protag harems, there is one true GL harem, going by tags without considering the actual contents. And there are five times as many GL harems where the MC is a former guy, futa, and/or bi.

Honestly, it's more than I expected, but still a fairly low number.
 

Anonjohn20

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Thus, the market for 'sexy books' is predominantly male
This is statistically incorrect. Novels are predominately bought by females. Ask any bookstore employee, and they'll tell you that most of their sales are from women buying 50 Shades of Grey, The Handmaid's Tale, etc.

Even Amazon admitted most of their book sales are from women buying smut stories from authors like Suzanne Wright, Kresley Cole, Tiffany Roberts, and Shelly Laurenston (notice that these authors are all women too).

Most males prefer images, not words. Most females prefer words.
 

Gray_Mann

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Most males prefer images, not words. Most females prefer words.
Men are easier to please when it comes to sex. Ask any man that has ever had sex, all it takes for the guy to get a stiffy, is to see a woman who has whatever physical shape he is interested in. Hell, half the time, not even that is needed.

Now ask any woman the same question. They have a list. Any woman saying otherwise is either lying to you or conning you and trying to get something from you. VERY rarely can you just skip everything and get straight to intercourse. I dare ANYONE here to try that and see how it goes. I DARE you.

A man can just "hop in" so to speak within seconds.

A woman typically wants foreplay, cuddling, and all of this other sensual effort before the actual intercourse itself is done. Now, maybe that's just my experience and others found these rare girls that were ready to go and "wet" the moment they stripped, but that just hasn't been my experience. Perhaps it's because I don't look like an Adonis in the face, but I AM very fit and athletic, and I'm also slightly taller than average. I don't have the square jaw though so maybe that hurts me some?

Anyway, the only time I met a woman who was ready to go the moment we hit the sheets, it's because she was drunk and had already been grinding on my leg for 15-20 minutes at a party during my regretful college days because someone put an awful LL Cool J song on and she loved it because it apparently reminded her of her aunt or something.

Learned this during one of those occasionally weird morning after conversations.

Either way, my point is, men just need to see something appealing. Hence all we need is images. Women need a lot of sensual stimulus beyond just visual, hence why words are more psychologically appealing to them.
 
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DireBadger

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Now ask any woman the same question. They have a list. Any woman saying otherwise is either lying to you or conning you and trying to get something from you. VERY rarely can you just skip everything and get straight to intercourse. I dare ANYONE here to try that and see how it goes. I DARE you.
Heh, I was in the Navy, and in good shape. In Australia, I was boning a VERY hot girl 42 minutes after I met her. Of course, she was probably wanting something, but I am pretty sure what she wanted didn't involve me except as a willing participant. It went pretty well (3 days of liberty, room service, and 6-hour cunnilingus sessions, and 2 boxes of condoms meant by the time my liberty was up, she could barely walk), but I don't expect that to be a standard.

Maybe she liked Navy guys who didn't drink. Beats me, it was the 90s.

But in general, I agree with you.
 
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