>>18177224 (OP)
The issue is that western entertainment (wrestling is honestly a lesser offender) doesn't know what to do with female heroes, so people start liking them less after they turn face.
>people just find villainesses sexy
Men don't line up around the block for IRL murderers like women do, nor do they defend Amber Heard. The exceptions are generally lacking in testosterone. I'd argue that it's just that writers don't grasp that things that make men unlikeable often make women charming, and visa versa.
A man who flops around like a fish or crumples helplessly when he's punched is a joke. A woman isn't any less of a woman for that and actually gets sympathy compared to a more masculine woman who tanks it.
A man who runs from danger has just made every woman in the room go dry. A woman who runs from danger is triggering the protective instincts of every man in the room (human species survival strategy at work here).
A man who does cutesy shit is cringe. A woman who does cutesy shit is cute.
Explosive power is masculine. The normal babyface role doesn't evoke the same sense of fun when it's a woman. People were enjoying the female heel's slow, taunty, pose-filled offense more. So the stuff that's supposed to be fun with the face is actually annoying because it shut down the stuff that was supposed to be annoying but was actually fun. The heel has become the lovable face and the face has become the boring/obnoxious heel.
I think that when you put women in action environments, you should have "heel-ish" faces and "face-ish" heels. The former doesn't cheat, but she sells like a villain, flaunts like a villain, and is kinda timid like a villain who's being overpowered. And then when she wins, she flaunts like a villain some more. If only one of them is in a sexy outfit, it should be the face.
