However, sexism does play a central role in the phenomenon, because the performances towards which fans show loyalty are products of a sexist culture. The typical Mary Sue is female, because of the marginalisation of women in the texts and performances from which most fandom derives. The laws of canon are largely patriarchal, and female fen therefore find their position at odds with their loyalty to the fandom in a way that male fen do not.
The backlash against Mary Sues only exacerbates this underlying sexism, because the hatred felt against intruding female characters intersects with and reinforces, to a degree, the misogynist tropes that provoke it.