Ikr! Cold and stoic type can be cool to have a crush on. But as a life partner.... a big NO! I don't want to spend my life with someone I can't have a conversation with
i think it depends on the genre and gender of the target audience, mixed with sexist undertones that are in every culture. though it also might be a cultural thing given that many asian countries are more traditional/stereotyped when it comes to gender.
if the cold male protag is from a romance story or part of a genre that has a targeted female audience, usually it's because then the Fl becomes "special" or "different from other girls" based off of male validation. the author thinks that it'll make the FL unique if she has different treatment from a usually cold/cruel ML. it's like "pick me girl" you know :/
if it's a male protag of some action/shounen genre where the target audience is largely male, then it's because then the character is perceived as 'cool.' authors think boys will like male protagonists who aren't affected by girls, but still have every girl crushing on them (like,,, harem vibes you know). also, in these genres, the authors typically write really badly developed female characters, so if the character is stoic/cold towards girls, it establishes that a romantic relationship probably won't happen, which readers usually like (though, readers usually like no-romance *because* every girl character of a straight-male-protag manga is awfully written, so it's like. a circle-effect).
why some mangas have this perception of male protagonist that they're cold and stoic and sometimes even mean toward women? is it a cultural thing or smth?