I’ve repeatedly been seeing posts stating that the hate towards Mai is based on misogyny and that nobody would hate Mai if she were a man- and I have to say, I firmly believe it’s the opposite
Imagine if Zuko were a 16 years old girl who is having emotional and mental breakdowns because she’s been suffering from constant assassination attempts, and then male!Mai breaks up with her because she became closed off (while she’s been suffering from assassination attempts) and, in the following comic, male!Mai mocked female!Zuko by saying that she’s turning into her father (who is also her abuser)
The fandom would EXPLODE. Everybody and their mothers would say that male!Mai is an abusive boyfriend (or, at the very least, toxic) and female!Zuko deserves better
Let’s be honest, the only reason why certain parts of the fandom defend Mai’s shitty behavior in the comics is because they can hide behind the “she is only a teenage girl” excuse. And it’s a flimsy shield.
