Women in the fantasy space (readers and authors) are so disrespected, no matter the subgenre associated. You could remove the romance entirely from Fourth Wing and there is still a workable plot with deeper meanings. Ex: Government control, the dangers of erasing history, and female empowerment. I do also think publishers have marketed these books as ‘sex’ heavy so then the general perception is, oh it’s just ‘smut’ which leads to, ‘it's not well written, only smut’. But I digress.