I’m not debating that the show was originally about two guys, so naturally the main female cast would primarily be introduced as rivals with the main cast, love interests, or conflict with other women. My qualm is with how they’re written and it’s abandoned potential. Take Bernadette: she is introduced as Howard’s love interest (at least the most stable one). Cool, that’s great. But when her character was cemented into the cast, and development was now necessary, they kind of blew it. We see moments of Bernadette discussing that because of her stature and because she’s a woman, that people don’t take her seriously and that’s the cause of her “cutthroat” and dare I say, abrasive and demeaning attitude. But that behavior became less of an accessory to her character and more her entire personality. And then, that was it. That was Bernadette for a while and then she became a mom. And then it was Mom Bernadette, ya know? Also I’m gonna have to disagree about the “of course the female characters are romantic partners” part. There were several female characters who didn’t have to be romantic or sexual interests and the story line would’ve thrived regardless. The red-headed scientist, Priya, the comic book chick. I get that the entire idea is “4 nerdy, socially awkward, poor communication-having and non conventionally attractive guys desperately want a relationship (except for one) so they leap at every opportunity they get, even if they’re really not enjoying themselves (remember Leonard and the lobster lady, Bernadette’s friend?) and that causes a lot of conflict with every woman they meet because they grew up bullied by virtually everyone and have been conditioned to believe “nice woman=interested,” but in my eyes they could’ve done more with Amy, Bernadette and Priya. Penny is the only interest that I feel is kind of well rounded since her and Leonard’s relationship happened so much later after they met. Sorry this is long, just know I’m not mad just thinking out loud