Roxane Gay, in her collection "Bad Feminist: Essays," explores the disparity in how gender shapes the perception of characters in literature. She observes that while unlikable male characters are often celebrated as antiheroes, female characters are not afforded the same leniency. This reflects a broader societal tendency where the rules of likability and acceptance differ significantly based on gender.

Gay highlights the double standards prevalent in storytelling, noting that women face harsher scrutiny for their flaws and deviations from traditional roles. This critique calls attention to the ways in which literature mirrors real-life gender biases, questioning the cultural narratives that dictate how characters and people are judged based on their gender.