Some writers on Wattpad have hit a new low.
I understand that a writer has full freedom and creative rights over their story and plot, and certain themes when handled carefully conclude beautifully.
Unfortunately, some writers really are not capable of handling such themes. I came across a book today, dealing with an age gap between the leads.
The male lead was in his thirties, and the female lead had turned eighteen (legal) just a week ago. This story could be handled carefully to get whatever the writer wanted to achieve, but they chose to make the female lead a damsel in distress— infantilized her— and gave her a memory loss.
She forgot everything except how to cook (weird, I would say) and acts like a child, despite her age. She even calls men of the male lead's age as uncle.
This is a very weird trope being popularized. How would the female lead understand anything happening to and around her with that mental age? Intimacy is a no-go in such cases.
When called out for this problematic behavior, the author chose to give out slurs, citing it to be just fiction and not reality.
Another story deals with child marriage, where the female lead is 10, yes 10! a child, and the male lead is 18.
What is the purpose of such stories? Why are they being popularized in the name of fiction? You can't write just anything in the name of fiction and when called out, start being defensive and calling people slurs.
