More Deadly Than the Male: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Oh, look, a [[Proper Lady]]. She is calm, always ready with a [[Stepford Smiler|genuine smile]], and [[Sacred Hospitality|the perfect hostess]]. Oh no! The audience is wincing; here come the bad guys, [[Stuffed in The Fridge|she doesn't stand a...]]

 

 

This is when men are physically strong and quite capable of violence, but females are characterized as having a [[Beware the Nice Ones|hidden, but apparently bottomless capacity for lethal mayhem]].

 

 

To help this trope along, expect the bad guys to totally ignore the female, [[Genre Blindness|dismissing her as a threat]]. She may even appear to [[Double Agent|capitulate or collude]] with the enemy, suffering indignities no one would expect her to tolerate, all in order to get a better [[Best Served Cold|shot at revenge]].

 

This is the precursor to the modern [[Action Girl]]. If every woman is like this, it may be a [[World of Action Girls]]. She may [[Beware the Nice Ones|seem smaller and meeker]], but should she attack, [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown|she will show no mercy]]. Should you be foolish enough to want to trigger such behavior in a female, try [[Mama Bear|threatening her offspring]], [[Woman Scorned|crossing her in love]], or [[Violently Protective Girlfriend|crossing her love]]. This is the polar opposite of [[The Chick]]. Bread and butter to its sister trope [[Silk Hiding Steel]].

 

* In ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', Ikari Gendo is a [[Magnificent Bastard]] and the [[Trope Namer]] for [[Clasp Your Hands If You Deceive]] who commands a force of [[Humongous Mecha]]. His son Shinji pilots one of these mecha. Gendo's wife and Shinji's mom, the [[Yamato Nadeshiko]] Yui? She is {{spoiler|the soul of said mecha that Shinji pilots, prone to [[Unstoppable Rage]] [[Mama Bear|in order to protect her son]] [[Beware the Nice Ones|and RIPPING HER OPPONENTS LIMB FROM LIMB BEFORE DEVOURING THEIR ORGANS! It's also quite likely that she is the actual mastermind behind the whole Instrumentality project and the Evas. Gendo really only takes over command because she is no longer able to.]]}} By the way, Ikari is ''her'' birth name, not Gendo's.

* In a flashback in the first episode of ''[[Moshidora]]'', Minami, at bat in the bottom of the ninth with the scores tied in a junior baseball game, makes a wild swing at the first pitch that convinces everyone she is a hopeless batter. It turns out that her wild swing was done ''intentionally'' to lull the pitcher into a false sense of security, and on his next pitch she is able to get a hit and score the winning run.

* In ''[[Species]]'', the decision was made to make the alien hybrid female "so she'd be more docile and controllable". A female scientist observes that "[[Genre Savvy|You don't get out much, do you?]]"

** The sequel subverts this, however; it turns out that a male hybrid is much more dangerous (and can turn tame female hybrids to its side pretty much just by existing).

 

== Literature ==

* ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Barrayar]]'' by [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]:

** Princess Kareen realizes her son is alive and that she's been lied to. Without hesitation, she draws a nerve disrupter in a room full of soldiers and fires at the usurper who told her that her son was dead, the self-proclaimed Emperor.

* [[Macbeth|Lady Macbeth]]. In the beginning of the play, she manipulates her husband into murdering their king and guest, something he would not have done without her prompting. {{spoiler|Then either [[Deconstructed Trope|deconstructed]] or [[Unbuilt Trope|unbuilt]], she descends into madness,}} because this was her only way to get power {{spoiler|but she still wasn't prepared for her husband to be quite so on-board with it}}.

* ''[[Discworld]]'': Sybil has hints of this. She was raised properly, but that basically means that she almost ''never'' has a chance to let off steam, and is occasionally very interested in violence...

** Also, compare the male wizards and the female witches (ESPECIALLY Granny Weatherwax).

* ''[[Blood and Chocolate]]'': The male fights for alpha are planned meticulously and widely announced. The fights for the alpha's ''mate'', on the other hand, begin with no ceremony and are expected to be lethal.

* Madame DeFarge and Miss Pross in ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]].''

** The trope may be epitomized by Molly Carpenter, formerly [[The Chick]], who decided to protect Chicago in Harry's absence {{spoiler|by becoming [[The Dreaded]].}} And it works.

* Ellana in Pierre Bottero's Ellana, in the second part, where Rhous Ingan says that little girls (Ellana is 15) can't fight (or use bows). Later that day she shoots to death 10 Rais.

* This is pretty explicitly part of the worldbuilding in the [[Black Jewels]] series by Anne Bishop: the culture is matriarchal, with males serving females as guardians and protectors; but females generally have more powerful (or at least more deadly) magic, and one character even says outright, albeit half joking, that the reason males serve is because "you're deadlier when you're angry" and at least if they go down first the males won't have to deal with them when their tempers are roused.

* One of the Marines in ''[[Generation Kill]]'' unconsciously echos Kipling when the women of an Afghan town emerge from their huts, unarmed, to verbally berate the heavily armed Marines, while the men stayed hidden.

* In ''[[The Book of the New Sun]]'' by [[Gene Wolfe]], women are forbidden from joing the Torturer's Guild because they are considered too viscious.

* ''[[In Death]]'' series: ''Rapture In Death'' has {{spoiler|Reanna}} brag about this trope to Eve. Eve refutes it, however, saying that she thinks ruthlessness and viciousness have no gender.

* In [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s ''[[Heralds of Valdemar|Owlsight]]'', the local lord and his son head out into the field to assist in commanding the defense against a possible barbarian invasion, leaving the lady of the keep behind to oversee the village evacuees. This is for two reasons: she can keep the refugees busy helping plan her son's wedding, and she's as good or better at castle defense than her husband, "and that's why I married her." Their son is rather surprised to hear that one.

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* The first two adult companions of [[Doctor Who|the Doctor]] were Ian Chesterton and Barbra Wright. That said, while Ian had his awesome moments, Barbra was such a [[Badass]] it's a common fan joke that the show could have been renamed "Why Barbra is Awesome", and no one would have noticed.

* A running theme in ''Chinese Paladin 3'' is women being willing to strike first, fight dirty, and take no prisoners if they or their loved ones are threatened. A prime example is Zixuan's ''setting a monastery on fire'' as a distraction when her lover is arrested.

* One of the Marines in ''[[Generation Kill]]'' says this when he observes the women of a town doing backbreaking labor to clear the streets and their yards of debris, while the men lounged on the lawns smoking.

 

== [[Toys]] ==

* In [[Ocarina of Time|Ocarina of Time,]] Gerudo guards (who are all women) are the only enemies Link will surrender to.

** Considering they're the only enemies that will accept surrender rather than just killing him, wouldn't that make them ''less'' deadly?

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* Demise, the super-assassin from the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' is the deadliest fighter on the planet not because she's superhumanly strong or because she's superhumanly fast, but rather because she knows how to turn anything... anything at all... into a deadly weapon, and can figure out ways around your defenses in seconds.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

* Wendi Deng Murdoch protecting her husband from a dangerous pie-thrower, and going for his throat.

* In military basic training, female drill sergeants seem far meaner than male drill sergeants. And if they're also short, ''[[Oh Crap|well...]]''

* Common among any wild animal with [[Mama Bear]] tendencies.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Always Female]]

[[Category:Gender and Sexuality Tropes]]

[[Category:Badass]]