“Villainess”, what are your opinions on this trope?

I'm honestly tired of villain protagonists in manhwa, not because the concept is bad, but because so many stories handle it poorly. A lot of these "villains" aren't actually written as villains they're given tragic backstories that function less as characterization and more as a shield against criticism. The narrative bends over backwards to justify everything they do, and readers often treat any critique of the character as an attack on the story itself just because they're the mc.

Also, a lot of these stories also have misogynistic undertones and I'm tired of people pretending they don't. The FL is constantly put through the worst things imaginable for drama while the ML gets endless sympathy and excuses. His trauma explains everything, but hers is just there to make readers feel bad for her. The FL spends the entire story suffering while the ML spends the story being forgiven.

they're almost never written with any actual depth. Half the time their entire personality is just their trauma. Every decision they make gets reduced as an action due to a sob story, and we're expected to treat that as complex characterization. And what annoys me even more is that people will defend literally anything they do because they're the MC. The character can commit mass murder and if you even whisper a critique you'll get bashed. Apparently being traumatized means they're above criticism. A tragic backstory can explain someone's behavior, but it shouldn't replace their personality. I don't find it deep when a character is reduced to "they do this because they're traumatized” It feels emotionally immature. people are more than the worst thing that ever happened to them, but these stories act like trauma is the only thing that exists about a character.

That's why so many of these stories feel like misery porn to me. The FL can never catch a break because her suffering is essentially the plot. And somehow after all that, I'm supposed to root for a couple that has zero chemistry beyond trauma and obsession. ╥﹏╥