>>86276387Because when you have a white, male protagonist, he's a blank slate.
He carries no baggage except what the writer wants to give him. Any flaws he has, as minor or crippling they may be, are his and his alone.
If you make him a minority or female, that protagonist carries with them the baggage of their race or gender in the eyes of the market.
Any flaws this protagonist has are a reflection of the author's views of that particular race or gender.
A white guy is an alcoholic? That's his fault for not manning up and owning up to whatever burden pushed him there. A woman is an alcoholoc? That's misogyny that's claiming women can't be as emotionally strong as men and have to resort to drinking to drown their own failures as a gender.
No, it's not fair, but it's the sort of sensationalist extrapolation people love to make for the sake of stirring up controversy.
So that in the end, the safest protagonist to have is the blankest of slates.
