Back to the OP 's question.

Why are male figures less popular?

All depends on what you wanna do with them.
All depends in what corner you build.
All depends on the end customer.

From my free stuff :
Example 1; The Forestrunner was a requested item for Roxie

Roxie The Forestrunner 253 downloads
Rex The Forestrunner   119 downloads

Here Roxie has the lead.

Example 2 :  The Romans

Roxie The Roman has 224 downloads
Rex The Roman has    192 downloads

Here the difference is far less.
Roxie still wins, but the difference is small.

SuzyQ2 The Roman has 55 downloads in her first day out (The initial rush is over)

But? SuzyQ2 is lesser known, and it is a toon figure.

Conclusion?
It depends on WHAT you build and WHO you build it for.

Rex The Roman is historically corect, Roxie The Roman is not, while SuzyQ2 is fantasy. :-)

Told ya guys and gals before; There is a lesson in everything I release. LOL.
Technical and otherwise.

Happy Posering
Tony

Poser 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, P8 and PPro2010, P9 and PP2012, P10 and PP2014 Game Dev
"Do not drive faster then your angel can fly"!