A cliche of characters

I've been surfing online for books, since my local stores are lacking in anything resembling what I'd like to read. When I've read the blurbs, I'm appalled at the cliches describing books.

To use the romance genre as an example:

Regency: Heroes are dashing, rakes, arrogant; heroines are ravishing, virginal, haughty, respectable, or spoiled.
Paranormal: Heroes are brooding, dangerous, dark; heroines are determined, passionate, feisty.
Medieval: Heroes are ruthless, arrogant, reckless; heroines are passionate, proud, pampered, feisty.

You get the idea, but with one caveat: all the men are alphas, as are the women, one way or another. The behaviour of these characters leave a lot to be desired and are in no way a reflection of current day people. I know, I know, that's not the point; when it comes to romance, it's the ideal, the fantasy that attracts readers. The more the merrier, it seems, an echo of when men were men and women knew what they wanted. But...

Dream Mountain puzzled me because the hero is such a prick. The Carpathian series pisses me off because they're about domination and taking choices away. Anita Blake is, so far, about moral decline. The historicals and futuristics where control over a woman is paramount. I could go on. But I won't. The point is, these books are popular. Do modern day women want to dominated in such a manner? How can this be called love? Where is the equality? How can women give up so much and the man so little? Am I wrong in thinking that love, and yes, marriage, should also be about partnership? I'm not talking about wanky 'metro-sexuals' - what kind of a word is that, anyway? - I'm talking about the fantasy ideal that women want to be controlled via sex. They don't. Or, I should qualify, I don't.

I'm aware that it is fiction. I'm aware that people love these books. I'm aware that writers, good ones, write from the heart. I'm also aware that reading material can influence people. For example, the court case that involved best-selling author Patricia Cornwell.

Good, bad or indifferent, writers have a responsibility when creating characters that they be true. Readers have a responsibility to understand that it is fiction.

Regencies, Scottish, Viking - historicals, have little basis in fact. Most marriages then were for convenience, not love. The paranormals? Hmm... I don't think vampires or werewolves are nice creatures, but some women like the edge of danger, you certainly know you're alive if your lover can rip your throat or heart out in the throes of passion. Futuristic ones, or the ones I've read, are basically regencies of the future. I won't be reading them anymore.

The books I write, the dark fantasy, the sci fi, the science fantasy, now that I think about them, all have an equality in them. None discriminate between the sexes. Each hero and heroine is as capable as the other, each rely on the other to survive. Partnership. A happy medium, I think, and I'd like to see more of it.