On the story side of things, we have an entertainment industry that can't seem to write a story about a strong female character without running into the same, tired old retreads and gendered chiches. Either we get women who are always weak, or women like Princess Leia, who starts out strong but becomes weak when the story needs her to fall in love.
As for stories, nearly everything involving a male/female relationship that is marketed to women is about women being submissive. From the "50 Shades" phenomenon, to terrible BBW romance stories that glamorize abuse, to modern day iterations of "The Taming of the Shrew" like The Feminist and the Cowboy, it's all about the rough man and the reluctant, weak woman.
As for stuff marketed to men, there is the "Femdom," genre, but many entries in it are more focused on male humiliation and suffering than they are on strong female characters. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but it's not what I'm usually interested in, and it doesn't address the stunning lack of alternatives for gender roles.
My point is that as a culture, we get nods towards equality as an abstract concept, but when it comes to relationship advice, mainstream portrayals of romance, and most erotica, we get the same male dominant paradigm endlessly.
I recently had a conversation with someone who is a Bhuddist mentor. She told me a story where she gave some relationship advice to her student. Let the man make the first move. Do not pursue him. Be submissive. When I questioned her as to why, she mentioned the concept of Yin and Yang, that men and women are different, that those differences compliment each other, ect. Pretty much the same stuff I would hear from any Western person. It was disheartening to realize it's the same everywhere.
Or should I say almost everywhere! Many transformation stories break this mold. Female Muscle Growth is the genre which breaks the mold most often, but it's not alone. Many stories from many genres are unafraid to play gender-bender and create unorthodox couples.
The fact that some of my forays into this genre have been well-received makes me happy beyond words. Because although it sometimes seems like the entire world looks at gender different than I do, all I need to go is go online to find people who see things my way. "From Zero to Xena," is my most explicit gender role switchup, and many of you have let me know how much you've enjoyed it. Perhaps, slowly but surely, the world is changing.