Well, abusive male leads apparently works in terms of attracting readers. I can see why. Thoroughly decent leads who won't even look at other women make for pretty boring reads. You basically removed one half of the problem (problems always being assets for the author) from the romance.
That leaves you with female leads sporting concrete for brains in order to be fearful of every potential rival the author introduces in the story.
Can it be done? Well, yeah, that's pretty much standard fare in Japanese shoujo romance manga. Decent guy -- block headaded girl.