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Interesting question ... I think male characters are less prone to being pigeonholed into archetypes, on average. Or, perhaps, that readers are less likely to be irritated by men being written as archetypes.
It seems that in modern media male characters can't be portrayed as having close, even loving friendships with other men, and when they do, too often fanfic writers insist on interpreting it as gay. The problem isn't in writing characters as gay, in fanfiction or otherwise. Fanfiction has done a lot to showcase a the diversity of male sexuality that has often gone ignored in media. It comes down to pigeonholing characters; ignoring the diversity of mankind, so to speak, in favour of stereotypes.
It seems that in modern media male characters can't be portrayed as having close, even loving friendships with other men, and when they do, too often fanfic writers insist on interpreting it as gay. The problem isn't in writing characters as gay, in fanfiction or otherwise. Fanfiction has done a lot to showcase a the diversity of male sexuality that has often gone ignored in media. It comes down to pigeonholing characters; ignoring the diversity of mankind, so to speak, in favour of stereotypes.