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{{trope}}
{{trope}}
[[File:real-women-dont-wear-dresses silent-hill 5621.png|link=Silent Hill (film)|frame| Guess which of these women is the tough, competent one.]]
[[File:real-women-dont-wear-dresses silent-hill 5621.png|link=Silent Hill (film)|frame|<small>Guess which of these women is the tough, competent one.</small>]]


A woman is shown as weak, incompetent, and ineffectual in this trope unless she dresses and behaves like a man. A common variation on this is to present a woman as superior because she's "not like other women." Another variation is a [[Tomboy and Girly Girl]] scenario, where the tomboy is presented as superior.
A woman is shown as weak, incompetent, and ineffectual in this trope unless she dresses and behaves like a man. A common variation on this is to present a woman as superior because she's "not like other women." Another variation is a [[Tomboy and Girly Girl]] scenario, where the tomboy is presented as superior.


We're just recording the trope, here. It happens. Between a woman in trousers and one in a dress, the odds are the trouser lady is going to be the [[Action Girl]] of the pair and the one in the dress is going to end up being a [[Damsel in Distress]]. Subversions exist, of course, especially in more recent works since third wave "Girl Power" feminism. Many of the straight examples are from [[Fair for Its Day|older works]] when having proactive female characters ''at all'' was fairly edgy.
We're just recording the trope here. It happens. Between a woman in trousers and one in a dress, the odds are the trouser lady is going to be the [[Action Girl]] of the pair and the one in the dress is going to end up being a [[Damsel in Distress]]. Subversions exist, of course, especially in more recent works since third wave "Girl Power" feminism. Many of the straight examples are from [[Fair for Its Day|older works]] when having proactive female characters ''at all'' was fairly edgy.


See also [[Pink Means Feminine]], [[Acceptable Feminine Goals]].
See also [[Pink Means Feminine]], [[Acceptable Feminine Goals]].
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Contrast [[Kicking Ass in All Her Finery]].
Contrast [[Kicking Ass in All Her Finery]].


{{examples}}
{{examples on subpages}}

== [[Anime and Manga]] ==
Subpages:
* ''[[Real Women Don't Wear Dresses/Axis Powers Hetalia|Axis Powers Hetalia]]''
* ''[[Real Women Don't Wear Dresses/Gundam|Gundam]]''
* ''[[Real Women Don't Wear Dresses/Hellsing|Hellsing]]''
* ''[[Real Women Don't Wear Dresses/Pokémon|Pokémon]]''
* ''[[Real Women Don't Wear Dresses/Sailor Moon|Sailor Moon]]''

Other Examples:
*Aoi Sakuraba of ''[[Ai Yori Aoshi]]'', natch. She's a slut, she's an [[Extreme Doormat]], she's a stupid bitch, she is less worthy of Kaoru's love than "super strong girl" Tina... any kind of sexist insult, Aoi has had it thrown at her, [[Values Dissonance|all for being a]] [[Yamato Nadeshiko]].
*Subverted ''and'' averted with Roberta from ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' This woman is practically the embodiment of [[Badass]] and wears her hair in braids as well a maid dress 95% of the time. Ah, and her motherly/sisterly love for [[Morality Pet|Garcia]], the child she takes care of, is one of her defining traits...[[Mama Bear|and one of the reasons]] ''[[Dark Action Girl|why]]'' [[Implacable Man|she is]] [[Made of Iron|so badass]].
**Balalaika, too. The most powerful and badass woman in [[The Mafiya]] is a long-haired [[Lady of War]] who is seen more often than not [[Hot Chick in a Badass Suit|in a business suit with a long skirt]], and her feminine attire doesn't disminish her badassery either. Maybe [[Good Scars, Evil Scars|the scars have something to do with it]]...or maybe the [[Slasher Smile]]...
*''[[Bleach]]'': Orihime Inoue, Momo Hinamori and Rangiku Matsumoto are the biggest victims of this, to unbelievable levels. The paragraphs below describe the reasons why they get bashed, [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment|but let's be careful when citing them]]:
**Orihime: Being more of a healer and [[Barrier Warrior]], as well as a busty girly girl with a deep crush on Ichigo, apparently makes her "a piece of shit", "an offensive whore" and "infinitely inferior to Rukia". Many of these phrases come from [[Die for Our Ship|shipping wars that pit Orihime against Rukia]], yes, but misogyny keeps seeping in when you consider how Rukia is often held up as "The Most Feminist Bleach Character Ever" while Orihime gets slamed and slutshamed by the same Rukia fans that [[Mary Sue|Mary Sue-ize]] her. But Rukia is a girly tomboy who wears dresses, looking girly at times. And the straight tomboy is Tatsuki, who would be more feminist than Rukia.
**Momo: Momo was a kind [[Yamato Nadeshiko]] who experienced the heavy downfalls of her character type, especially after [[Break the Cutie|being horribly broken by the plot]] and showing ''realistic'' reactions to things like the betrayal of her mentor, Aizen, who even came to get her almost killed twice. The fangirls' reaction? "WHORE! BITCH! SLUT!, COCKSUCKER! WEAK! KILL HER!" Specially [[Double Standard|Double Standard-ish]] when we consider that her old friend Kira, who ''also'' was betrayed (this time by Aizen's [[The Dragon|Dragon]] [[Dragon with an Agenda|Gin]]) is adored and coddled by the same fans that bash Momo.
**Rangiku: She's far more popular than Orihime and Momo due to her [[Action Girl]] skills and her [[Ms. Fanservice]] looks, but she's often demeaned and slutshamed by fans due to having ''[[Gag Boobs|huge]]'' [[Boobs of Steel]], which makes fans refuse to see beyond her "big, nasty titties" and treat her as a total [[Flat Character]] despite the surprisingly complex characterization that she was given. Fans tend to label her as "The Sluttiest Character in Bleach" due to her outgoing, bold personality. And let's not forget how refusing to grieve and hold up a torch for Gin after the reveal of his true motivations has marked Rangiku a "total [[Ungrateful Bastard|Ungrateful Bitch]]" who should be ''punished'' for [[Hypocritical Fandom|not bowing to the cock]] of the guy who ''may'' have wanted to protect her in his own way but still made her suffer.
*Sanae Nakazawa of ''[[Captain Tsubasa]]''. Her pluckiness and cheerful disposition is often ignored or handwaved by "feminist" fangirls/fanboys, who bash her by falsely accusing her of being "weak", "a stalker", "a whore" and "a bad example for girls" because she's less tomboyish as time passes. Blame the [[Values Dissonance]] of the 80's shonen manga, [[Skewed Priorities|not her]]!
*In the ''[[Code Geass]]'' fandom, Shirley gets bashed to the point of being a [[Ron the Death Eater]], which some people claim is just because she's "weak and stupid" for loving Lelouch and not being more badass and stoic about her situations, even when she's ''genuinely scarred'' by something terrible that happens to her! Her girliness may or may not be cited as a reason, but it's a likely part of it.
**There's also people who bash fearless [[Action Girl]] Kallen for having feelings for Lelouch, saying it makes her seem "weaker".
*Similar complaints have been directed towards Françoise Arnoul aka [[You Are Number Six|003]] from ''[[Cyborg 009]]'', ''also'' from a franchise that started in the 1970s. It doesn't help that Françoise lost the [[Superpower Lottery]] by only having [[Super Senses]], which puts her in a disadvantage in regards to her partners, and she ''knows that'' quite painfully. The 2001 series makes her a [[Team Mom]] [[Plucky Girl]] with [[Action Girl]] moments, but a good part of the fandom still bashes her solely for her girliness, ignoring that Fran is still ''very'' progressive for her age.
*Despite her [[Action Girl]] qualities, Lenalee Lee of ''[[D Gray Man]]'' is abhorred by some fans, who just love to fling accusations of her being either a [[Purity Sue]] or a [[Flat Character]] because she's girlish, pretty and sweet outside of battle. Ah, and because [[Ms. Fanservice|she dares to]] [[She's Got Legs|have nice legs]].
**And she gets accused of being a [[Faux Action Girl]] just because she was temporarily [[Brought Down to Normal]] because of a [[Game-Breaking Injury]], even though [[Double Standard|the same thing happened to Allen and nobody hates him for it]].
**Mostly averted with Miranda, fortunately. [[Barrier Warrior|Non-action role?]] Check. [[Shrinking Violet|Shy, gentle nature?]] Check. [[Silk Hiding Steel|Wears dresses sometimes?]] Check. Yet she's liked by a good portion of the fanbase, even by some of the most rabid Lenalee-haters.
*''[[Death Note]]'' doesn't portray ladies that well, yeah. But fandom makes it even worse by bashing Takada and Misa for being "whores" because of their behavior towards Light, even when their devotion to him makes it very likely that their only sexual partner was him... meaning they're the opposite. Then there's the Halle hate and how her [[Shower Scene]] makes her a cheap hooker, and how dare Sayu not be an [[Action Girl]] and free herself from Mello singlehandedly, despite being just an [[Ordinary High School Student]].
**Naomi Misora, despite being arguably the strongest, smartest and most well-developed female character in Death Note, tends to get bashed a lot and have her badassery negated by those who focus on her positive reaction to her boyfriend's reluctance to let her become involved and risk herself, even worse in that he mentioned a possible future of motherhood as part of the reason. These same fans also blame her for Light managing to trick her name out of her, even though it was an incredibly intelligent ploy that played on her vulnerability, her knowledge that the police had a leak to Kira so it wasn't safe to contact them through normal channels, and the sheer unliklihood that she would run into Kira by pure chance.
*To many fans, Digimon Adventure 02's [[Grand Finale]] was [[Anticlimax|disappointing]], [[They Just Didn't Care|poorly written]], and that some of the kids' destinies were, well, [[Strangled by the Red String|ill-fitting]]. But that does ''not'' excuse the screaming hatred of Miyako Inoue's share of the finale. So, according to the fans' logic, being the mother of Ken Ichijouji's children and raising them with the help of her Digimon (and mind you, one of the kids is a baby, possibly a newborn) ''completely'' invalidates her ''numerous'' in-series feats (which include [[Indy Ploy]]ing her way through the Digital World many times, [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|slapping people out of their depressions]], ''and'' facing a [[Dark Action Girl]] Digimon [[The Worf Effect|who had already overwhelmed her Digimon]] ''[[Badass Normal|with only a skateboard as her weapon]]''), and gives fans "permission" to not only [[Die for Our Ship|scream at her for being her husband's]] [[Victorious Childhood Friend]], but to also give her flak for "being reduced to a housewife", "ending up as the less cool of the girls" and "[[Fridge Logic|betraying feminism]]"? [[Fan Dumb|What in the ''FUCK'', ''Digimon'' fandom?!]]
**Poor, poor Sora. In ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'', she wore jeans for most of the series (what with getting sucked into the Digital World while at summer camp.) She is known to have been on Taichi's soccer team. Come ''Adventure 02'', she's playing tennis and is wearing a skirt while doing so. This apparently qualifies as epic [[Chickification]] and the utter destruction of her character.
***Let's not forget that one time when Sora caught the [[Distress Ball]] by panicking ''when she was about to get crushed by debris'', and her boyfriend Yamato had to bail her out while the others ran away. Somehow that's [[Chickification]] too, even when Sora [[Win Back the Crowd|made a comeback]] by [[Lovely Angels|teaming up]] with the also [[White Knighting|"feminist"-maligned]] Miyako in Moscow. ''Noooooo'', having a [[Shorttank]] get scared ''once'' in a ''single scene'' [[Never Live It Down|apparently means she's an horrible weakling for the rest of her life]].
***And then there's how Sora both needed and gave help to others in both series, and a big theme in her [[Character Development]] was how she had horrible self-esteem and thought she didn't deserve love and support, and had to get over it ''with the help of others'' (Taichi, Piyomon, Yamato and Jou). But that doesn't matter, let's just remark how she fails forever and chalk it ALL on mere, pure [[Chickification]]...oh wait. (And how many times has she been added to that trope ''despite'' how it's been discussed more than once that ''it's not that freaking simple''?!)
*In [[Dragon Ball|''DragonBall'']]: Bulma is sometimes deemed as "useless" and "annoying" since she doesn't fight or "just whines about her looks", but fans forgot she's a [[Wrench Wench]] who is significant to the plot as well. Also, Chi-Chi, a [[Housewife]], is seen as useless and overbearing, despite her being the strongest human woman. In ''GT,'' Bulla is hated because of her feminity and preference to shop rather than fight. But she is very assertive and confident despite her girlishness, with great strength when possessed by Baby.
*Lucy from ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' gets this quite a lot. Never mind that she's a strong person who stood up to her [[Jerkass]] of a father, apparently she's no good just because she [[Can't Catch Up]] (how dare she, even though she's been in the guild for nowhere near as long as the others and is slowly but surely improving) and uses [[Summon Magic]] rather than brute strength. [[Sarcasm Mode|Ugh, heresy!]]
**Averted with Erza, who likes to dress up, but is one of the most [[Badass]] characters in the series, and gets little to no flak for it. Then there's [[Beware the Nice Ones|Mirajane]].
*''[[Fate Stay Night]]'' [[Deconstructed Trope|deconstructs this trope]] with [[Lady of War]] Saber. She pretended to be a man and fought on the front lines of battle for all of her human life. At some level she never really wanted to do these things, but she accepted them because they were her duty as [[King Arthur]]. As a result, though, she has no sense of self-worth, and can only feel fulfilled by serving other people. The main character Shirou realizes that even though she is a supremely skilled warrior, she would be happier if she didn't ''force'' herself to fight.
**Let's not forget Rin Tohsaka, who wears her hair in [[Girlish Pigtails]] and uses skirt-based [[Zettai Ryouiki]], yet she manages to both be pretty ''and'' badass regardless.
**Sakura Matou tends to receive this, as she's [[Tomboy and Girly Girl|more homely and girlier]] than Rin, even though she has [[Rape as Backstory|a very good]] [[Training from Hell|reason]] [[Freudian Excuse|for being like this]]. Her actions in ''Heaven's Feel'' tend not to help either (even though it's rather debatable if she's to blame for ''any'' of them, and she's certainly not to blame for the most serious ones).
***Also inverted in that Shirou, the main hero of the story, has so many features of [[The Chick]], especially in contrast to the female characters. Moreso in the visual novel, where he's shown to be on top of all things domestic, [[Supreme Chef|and the one Sakura learned to cook from]].
***Ironically, he often takes a [[Stay in the Kitchen]] attitude towards girls, especially Saber and (more justifiably, since she's very ill and actually ''does'' need his help) Sakura, although this is seemingly less about them being weak and more because he doesn't want them to get hurt since [[Martyr Without a Cause|he's got such low self worth]] that he can't believe others would sacrifice themselves for him.
**A recurring element in the [[Nasuverse]] is extremely powerful females (often most powerful in the series), both physically and mentally, with big responsibilities. Nonetheless, every single one of them wear either a dress, a skirt, a kimono, or some kind of dressy attire. The only exceptions are the Aozaki sisters and Rider in her casual clothing (though Aoko does wear a skirt as part of her school uniform in her younger days). The dresses do nothing that diminishes their strength as a character, though, and most have better things to worry about than what it is they're wearing and petty gender wars on dress codes; with the exception of Saber, since her battle dress manages to provide her with protection.
*In ''[[Freezing]]'', it's interesting to try to apply this trope to the main character, Sattelizer L. Bridgette. As a child, she was [[Rape as Backstory|sexually abused by her half-brother]], resulting in her having [[Hates Being Touched|a paralyzing fear of being touched]]. At her mother's deathbed, she was told to never give up and not take shit from anyone any longer, and a little later on she became a [[Super Soldier]] [[Action Girl]]. However, rather that this solving all her problems as per this trope, this in fact did not help at all, as this did nothing for her fear and resulting in her savagely beating the crap out of anyone who came close to her, causing her to be feared and hated by all. It's only when she falls in love with a ''male'', [[Non Action Guy|Aoi Kazuya]], [[Because You Were Nice to Me|the first guy to be nice to her]], that she slowly starts to get over her problems and work on them.
*In ''[[Fruits Basket]]'', Akito Sohma was introduced as a violent [[Manipulative Bastard]] and a huge asshole to Tohru Honda and the whole Sohma clan. Many fangirls squealed and made him a [[Draco in Leather Pants]], cheering at almost all of his evil actions and especially at his hospitalization of [[Broken Bird|his cousin Isuzu, aka Rin]], [[The Scrappy|the most hated female back then]]. When Akito was revealed to have been a ''woman'' all along in the manga, lots of fangirls ''immediately'' started ''bashing'' her, saying (among other things) that she was too hot to be female and wasn't interesting anymore ''[[Fan Dumb|because of her gender]]''. The end of the series showed Akito come to terms with herself and act rather more conventionally feminine (like wearing a frilly tank top, and later a dress), which some fans seemed to consider as the ultimate insult.
**Also, Tohru Honda is a prime target among the Furuba [[Hatedom]], despite being the protagonist who ultimately breaks the Sohma family curse with her [[The Power of Love|Power of Love]]. While Tohru ''is'' an insecure [[Yamato Nadeshiko]] who often describes herself as "weak", "stupid", and "a burden", and she only really feels confident or "useful" when able to help the Sohmas, she's ''never'' helpless; in a pinch or stressful situation, she always acts or at least tries to, and usually to her own detriment. Two huge example are her trying to calm down a Kyo who's been reverted to his monster form and an [[Ax Crazy]] Akito in her [[Villainous Breakdown]], standing up to both of them and telling them "[[You Are Not Alone]]" - ''even when one is a foul and desperate monster and the other was swinging a knife around''. But "feminist fangirls" only see Tohru's gentleness and [[Heroic Self-Deprecation]], thus they refuse to see her stronger and helpful side - unless they can use it to accuse her of being a [[Purity Sue]].
**Also worth pointing out is the fact that Akito's hidden identity as a man is basically one of the reasons her life is hell - it was just a reminder of how jealous her [[Evil Matriarch]] mother was over her loving (but dead) father. Not to mention the fact that Akito's wearing of traditionally feminine clothing is also symbolic of the fact that she finally found the strength to take back her own life and live the way she wants to.
*[[Childhood Friend Romance|Winry]] [[Wrench Wench|Rockbell]] from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' gets a ton of this. Despite the fact that she is a genuinely good person and helps Ed in her own way (indeed, he'd be useless without the automail limbs she makes for him), she'd constantly hated on because she's never on the battlefield like counterparts [[The Gunslinger|Riza Hawkeye]] and [[Ninja|Ranfan]], and that it somehow makes her weaker. Protip: it doesn't. Of every single character in the series, Winry is arguably the strongest in the emotional department, and she's an excellent example of feminism in her own right— she works in mechanics, a traditionally male-dominated profession, is a child prodigy in her chosen field (she surpasses her grandmother by the age of sixteen and grew up reading medical books), works hard to the point of staying up two days straight, and has the courage to leave home for an apprenticeship in a place far, far away. And all of this is before her backstory figures in. Plus, as flashbacks reveal, she is much stronger and more determined than [[Shrinking Violet|Hawkeye was at her age]]. ([[Abusive Parents|Though it's not]] [[Broken Bird|like Hawkeye]] [[Break the Cutie|doesn't have her reasons]])
**Don't forget about Rose from the first ''Fullmetal Alchemist'' anime, who ''[[Sarcasm Mode|dared]]'' to have a ''baby''! Despite that there wasn't much she could do about her situation even if she didn't want it, [[Iron Woobie|and she was just trying to make the best out of her situation]]. Disregarding as well the fact that Rose, who had no alchemist powers or military training to fight back, [[Moment of Awesome (Sugar Wiki)|shielded a bunch of children with her body from soldiers attacking the town]]. With no help from anyone else, she took it upon herself to be the [[Mama Bear]] to them. Fans also [[Never Live It Down|blame her for being fooled by Cornello with the hope she had that her boyfriend would come back from death]], despite the fact that he was a skilled con artist who tricked everyone in the town using alchemy and feeding them false promises. Instead of seeing that Rose grew from this experience and became stronger and more independent from it, fans continue to attack her for being [[Neutral Female|useless]]. This of course probably has ''nothing'' to do with the fact that [[Die for Our Ship|Ed and Rose have a fair amount of ship tease in the anime]]. [[Blatant Lies|Certainly not]].
***Aaaaand there's also how it's ''Rose's'' fault that she and her baby were kidnapped by Dante, and Rose herself almost ended up as [[Grand Theft Me|Dante's next host]]. Yeah, try being a young woman without fighting/alchemist abilities and with a little baby on tow... how on Amestris would you singlehandedly get free from ''that''?!
**Believe it or not, even Riza is sometimes a victim of this. The "[[Chickification]]! Stupid weak bitch! How dare you cry, STOP WHINING!" cries that were spit at her when she ''dared'' to show despair and almost give up after believing that her commander and [[Love Interest]] [[Colonel Badass|Roy]] was dead were a sight to behold.
*Miaka from ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'' gets hit with this a lot. Okay, so ''can'' she can be quite [[The Ditz]], she isn't the best in her class, [[Distress Ball|she ''does'' have to be rescued by others occasionally]], and she is a [[Big Eater]]; but according to her haters, she is "extremely stupid", "very weak", "always has to be rescued" and "has every guy in love with her", despite the fact that only four or five guys at ''most'' feel that way about her, and certainly not the entirety of the Suzaku Seven. Meanwhile, her [[Plucky Girl]] qualities get completely ignored for the sake of the aforementioned bashing. There's a reason why she is used as the icon for the "Hated Characters" group from [[LiveJournal]], you know.
**It gets worse. Fans of the prequel series ''[[Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden]]'' love to crow on about how Takiko is superior to Miaka in every way for being a "strong" and "mature" [[Action Girl]] who can take care of herself. This would be annoying enough by itself (for starters, the fans forget that Takiko is both older than Miaka ''and'' [[The Roaring Twenties|from an earlier]] [[Imperial Japan|time period]], so she'll naturally be more mature because of the culture she grew up in) but a few people have gone as far as to say they'd be ''personally offended'' if Takiko dies at the end of ''Genbu Kaiden'' while Miaka got to live and be with Tamahome... even though that's a [[Foregone Conclusion]] ''as indicated in the original manga''! That's right, there are fans who want to see a [[Retcon]] ''solely'' because they hate Miaka and love Takiko so much. [[Fan Dumb|Make of that what you will.]]
*There's an infamous article in which a Japanese mother bashes ''[[Futari wa Pretty Cure]]'' left, right and center for having cute heroines, putting them in skirts, and advertising dolls for them. She also claims that her daughter is already tainted by the patriarchy because she likes the color pink...
*Mikan from ''[[Gakuen Alice]]'' gets shit for similar reasons to the previously-mentioned Lucy from ''[[Fairy Tail]]''. So instead of beating up Natsume, Hotaru and others for their treatment of her, she decided to apparently take it, while resolving to start strenghtening herself so they would stop calling her weak? [[Sarcasm Mode|Urgh, what a stupid]] [[Extreme Doormat]] [[Sarcasm Mode|bitch and ''bad'' role model for little girls she is,]] ''[http://caithyra.insanejournal.com/31553.html indeed]''.
*The ''[[Inuyasha]]'' fandom was literally up in arms with RAEG when the [[Grand Finale]] revealed that Sango was [[Happily Married]] to Miroku ''and'' was the mother of their three kids. Nevermind that she had ''just given birth'' to their youngest, that Sango actually ''lost'' her whole family ''very'' early in the story (except for Kohaku, but the deal with the poor boy was ''[[Brainwashed and Crazy|a whole other bag of cats]]'') ''and'' that she had willingly agreed to marry Miroku (AKA Mr. "Please Bear My Child") quite a while ago, already knowing ''exactly'' what she was getting into and what to expect from her soon-to-be [[Handsome Lech]] husband, the [[Fan Dumb|Fan Dumb's]] cries of "SANGO GOT TURNED INTO A STUPID BABY POPPER" and "TAKAHASHI IS SEXIIIIIIIST!" were heard from miles away.
**And before ''that'', there were fans who called Kagome "weak" and "useless" because she didn't ''immediately'' begin kicking ass when she first dropped into [[Jidai Geki|Feudal Japan]] like Sango did in her first appearance, and - le gasp! - [[Neutral Female|needed to be rescued from some monsters]] by [[The Hero|Inuyasha]]. Never mind that Kagome was an [[Ordinary High School Student]] who most likely wouldn't have prior monster-slaying experience, unlike Sango, who was ''specifically trained'' for it, or that Inuyasha [[Sealed Badass in a Can|wouldn't even have been released from the tree]] were it not for her, or that she ''did'' develop into a true [[Action Girl]] over the course of the series; she's not the [[Action Girl]] paragon that Sango (who, incidentally, is constantly seen [[Silk Hiding Steel|wearing very feminine kimonos outside of combat]] ''and'' [[Hime Cut|has extremely long and femininely-worn hair]]) is! She's also been derided as "emo" and "whiny" by fans who take offense to her actually being ''affected'' by the fact that her past self Kikyo has been resurrected and has proven herself to be better than Kagome in many things, even though she pretty much stopped angsting after the volume where Inuyasha told her that he didn't think of her as Kikyo's replacement; or even as a "slut/whore" by those who accuse her of flirting with every guy that crosses her path, even though she never showed anything more than friendly respect to any guy who wasn't Inuyasha.
***What makes it worse is that Kagome was actually the one who dealt the final blow to [[Big Bad|Naraku]] with her arrow.
*Heck, this subset of [[Fan Dumb]] is so ''incredibly'' prominent in anime fandom it's actually been noted as a weird thing and an uncommon [[Averted Trope|aversion]] that the ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' fandom has (almost wholly) taken Nanoha [[Retired Badass|going on leave from her military career]] for a long while to become a mother to Vivio incredibly well, as well as the fact that extremely few fans demean Fate Testarossa [[Yamato Nadeshiko|for being a softspoken, motherly, pacifistic, and caring (to the point of being addressed as "Girly Worrywart" in-story) woman]]. Of course, this might be because [[Badass Adorable]] is like half the point of the show, so the intended demographic is by definition perfectly aware one can be cute or feminine and ''still carry a damn big stick''...
*Fans of ''[[My-HiME]]'' have accused Akira Okuzaki of [[Chickification]] for wearing girlier clothes towards the end of the story. Not only it ignores that several of the HiMe are actually rather feminine girls or use their feminine wiles for their purposes (Shizuru is a [[Lady of War]], Natsuki is a [[The Gunslinger|Gunslinger]] who wears her hair very long and loves collecting lingerie, Mai herself is very motherly and a [[Supreme Chef]], Nao is a [[Fille Fatale]] who uses [[Zettai Ryouiki]], etc.), but also "forget" that the main reason Akira dressed up as a guy is that she was trying to hide the fact that she was a HiMe in the first place, thus she started wearing skirts only when her mission was over and had no real reason to hide her gender, therefore it was okay to indulge herself a little in girlier stuff if she wanted to. [[Girliness Upgrade]], yeah. [[Chickification]]? ''God, no''.
*''[[Monster]]'' is a series that brutally deconstructs many, many shonen/seinen tropes. Nina Fortner/Anna Liebert is a [[Deconstruction]] of [[Action Girl]], showing that just because a woman has ass-kicking physical abilities does NOT mean she's automatically immune to [[Break the Cutie|the horrifying trauma]] that Johan (himself a [[Deconstruction]] of the [[Complete Monster]] and [[Magnificent Bastard]] tropes) puts her through. The fandom, however? They refuse to stop think of it and immediately start the wails of [[Chickification]] on sight. One thing is not being satisfied with Nina's [[Character Development]] and thinking it could've handled and/or Deconstructed her trope better, but another is simply pegging her as weak and idiotic for not killing Johan in cold blood when she has the chance.
*Nanako Misonoo from ''[[Oniisama E]]'' gets this from viewers of the anime (''especially'' on [[YouTube]]) for not fighting back against her bullies.
*In ''[[Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z]]'', Buttercup is shown to be reluctant to join the group because it would require her to wear a skirt. Later she breaks her own code by wearing one in order to get the attention of a boy she has a crush on, but realizes that she prefers her boyfriend to like her as she is and not for what she pretends to be.
**Simultaneously averted by the other girls who, despite being more feminine, are not shown to be any weaker or less determined, just having different personalities.
**Despite the fact that she isn't complaining about the skirt anymore, [[Berserk Button|don't mention it to Buttercup]]. [[Never Live It Down|Just don't.]]
*Madoka Kaname from ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' is accused of being "weak" and "a bad role model for girls" because she is more hesitant at being a [[Magical Girl]] than the others because of the emotional damage she's gone through ''and'' because she reacted in a realistic way when she and Sayaka witnessed her [[Big Brother Mentor|Big Sister Mentor]] Mami getting horribly eaten alive. And what's worse, fans of Kyouko Sakura used this platform to bash Madoka on how she's an "ultra-cool-and-strong" girl instead of a "weak, angsty" girl like Madoka. (Not to mention, in their quest for a "feminist role model" in the series, the [[Fan Dumb]] also [[Flanderization|Flanderizes]] Kyouko into an [[Ax Crazy]] [[Draco in Leather Pants]], instead of [[Broken Bird|the very]] [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|complex character]] [[Character Development|she truly turned out to be]]). [[Completely Missing the Point|Geez...]]
**Mind you, this only applies to the current time-line that Madoka is in. In the other time-lines that get shown, she is ''a lot more'' headstrong that her current portrayal. In a odd sense of irony, the same traits used to vilify Madoka can be used against [[Tall, Dark and Bishoujo|Homura Akemi]], since it turns out that when she first started, [[Not So Different|Homura then and the current Madoka were surprisingly alike]]. [[Adrenaline Makeover|Still, this being]] ''[[Deconstructor Fleet|Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'', Homura being all [[Moe|cute, weepy, shy and]] [[Adorkable|adorable]] [[Break the Cutie|simply doesn't last]] [[Broken Bird|nearly as long]].
**And while a part of the Hitomi Shizuki [[Hatedom]] comes from her [[Die for Our Ship|being more assertive in romance than Sayaka]], at least enough to tell Sayaka straightforwardly that she will confess her feelings for Kamijou if Sayaka doesn't take the initiative-''and doing it''-a part of it comes right back to this trope. Apparently being both a girly girl and more honest/outspoken with her thoughts and feelings than a tomboy is forbidden, and if a said girly girl dares "break" that unspoken rule, she's a whore and a bad person.
***And the "feminist fandom" also conveniently "forgets" that Magical Madoka is likely to be the most powerful [[Magical Girl]]...and then become almost instantly ''the most powerful Witch'' as well as the destructor of the Earth. [[Took a Level in Badass|Taking Levels In Badass]] [[Deconstructor Fleet|brings]] ''[[Crapsack World|huge]]'' [[Deconstructed Trope|consequences in this series]], but that particular [[Fan Dumb]] group doesn't seem to give a shit and ''demands'' for Madoka to ignore them so she can "become a strong female character" that fits their inhumanly huge standards of what a "worthy woman" should be. ''Urgh''.
***[[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|And for that matter, girls young enough to need role models ''probably'' shouldn't be watching]] ''[[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?|Madoka Magica]]'' [[Captain Obvious|in the first place]].
*What's that, you say? [[Revolutionary Girl Utena|Utena]] is having an identity crisis over whether or not her desire to be a prince is part of her real personality, and what path she should take in life as part of this [[Coming of Age Story]]? Nonsense! [[Double Standard|She's a dumb slut for daring to be attracted to]] [[White-Haired Pretty Boy|Akio]] and lose her virginity to him! Who cares if she's [[Plucky Girl|strong-willed, determined, and does her best to overcome any character faults that would stop her from making the world a better place?]] Because she challenged Saionjii [[Love Letter Lunacy|over her friend's rejected love letter]], but then was affected by Touga's mind games to the point of an [[Heroic BSOD]], [[Fan Dumb|she's just a girly, airheaded]] [[Attention Whore]]! She should soak her uniform in the blood of anyone who dares look at her funny! And yes, there ''are'' Utena fans who follow this line of reasoning, and it's ''exactly'' as depressing as it sounds.
**This trope is also behind some of the Anthy-bashing that goes on in the fandom; apparently, it's peachy-keen that Akio manipulates and regularly forces himself on his younger sister, but because she's the recipient of it, she's a horrible role model and a disgrace to the female sex. Nevermind that pretty much all of the [[Character Development]] is based on pointing out that these kinds of attitudes are wrong and actively stop people from changing. [[Fan Dumb|Le Sigh.]]
***Ironically, this was actually [[Deconstruction|Deconstructed]] in-series. Some people hate Anthy because they think she's a weak, outwardly emotionless doll who claims to have no opinions outside of the Victor's whims; others hate Anthy because they think she's too powerful and manipulative and evil. And some just hate her because ''she'' gets to sleep with Akio, [[Green-Eyed Monster|and they don't]]. Interestingly, ''the entire spectrum of the fanbase's Anthy-haters are present in the story one way or another:'' Saionji hates her because he thinks she's not obedient enough. (Well, he loves her too, [[Bastard Boyfriend|but beats her often enough to make anyone wonder]]); Juri and Kanae feel threatened both by her [[Emotionless Girl]] persona and [[Devil in Plain Sight|the fear that she might be more sinister]]; several of the Black Rose Duelists (specially Kozue and Wakaba) envy her for "being loved" and "stealing their love interests". Then there's Akio himself, who needs to keep "his woman" under his control in order to keep playing the [[Big Bad]] of the show...Ikuhara really seems to know how society views feminine archetypes, and those views are reflected even in the Utena fandom.
**It's not just the haters; it's her fans too. Some fans, like the characters Miki or at first, Utena, see her as a classic [[Damsel in Distress]] archetype for them to rescue/defend on the forums, in order to boost their own egos. However, it should be noted that people who view Anthy as such are much rarer than the [[Ron the Death Eater|Anthy-Is-Satan variety]], because the series does eventually make clear that Anthy is most definitely not an emotionless doll, but that she is an extremely screwed up [[Broken Bird]] due to how she deconstructs the [[Damsel in Distress]] archetype.
*Kaoru Kamiya of ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'', full stop. [[Faux Action Girl|Sure, she's not the top fighter in the ''RK'' world]], but the utter crap she gets for being emotional and not having nerves of steel...eugh. And for worse, those who bash Kaoru the most often call themselves "feminists who protest for how anime/manga craps on women!" [[Fan Dumb|Ah, fans...]]
**The Jin-E incident has to be seen to be believed. As far as her bashers are concerned, all Kaoru did was end up fainting. Not only that, they assume that she only recovered because Jin-E killed himself....which is made doubly ridiculous because: a) until she was put in the [[And I Must Scream]] situation, Kaoru was remarkably calm about being kidnapped by the local [[Knight of Cerebus]], something that would ''very understandably'' send others in absolute BSOD's; b) Kaoru broke off said [[And I Must Scream]] situation ''by herself'', which Jin-E himself acknowledged; c) Kaoru breaking free and thus outgambitting him ''was one of the reasons why Jin-E killed himself in the first place.'' (aside of having Kenshin-as-Battousai cripple him before almost giving him the fatal hit that Kaoru ultimately stopped.)
*Beautifully averted in ''[[Saiunkoku Monogatari]]''. Female lead Shuurei is able to be successful in a male-dominated society through brains and hard work, and she's allowed to be as feminine as she wants while she's doing it, dammit.
*In the show ''[[Samurai Champloo]]'', Fuu is a [[Plucky Girl]] who occasionally cries when she has good reason to, [[Bodyguard Crush|crushes on her]] [[Estrogen Brigade Bait|bodyguards]], and is usually the nicest and most level-headed character on the show, despite being a bit bossy sometimes. According to her personal [[Hatedom]], not only is she weak and useless for not being an [[Action Girl]], but she's also a ditzy, whiny, overbearing bitch that [[Blood Knight|Mugen]] and [[The Stoic|Jin]] would be much better off without. Never mind that she was the only thing that kept them from killing each other, or that an [[Action Girl]] [[Fridge Logic|wouldn't need two bodyguards to begin with]].
*Jun the Swan in ''[[Science Ninja Team Gatchaman]]'' is well-liked among the fans, but every now and then is the subject of complaints that her character is "too stereotypically feminine" for having a crush on the hero, being afraid of bugs and liking pretty things. Now to be fair to the dissenters she ''did'' (sadly) fall victim to the era's sexism quite often, but considering this was ''a Japanese series made in the 1970s'', Jun was actually pretty progressive: not only did she get to fight with the guys and is more than capable at knocking goons around, but she was also [[Stuff Blowing Up|an explosives expert]] [[Biker Babe]] ''and'' ran a snack bar at the age of 16. Plus, looking after [[Mouthy Kid|Jinpei]] and his [[Pet Baby Wild Animal]] tendencies [[Captain Obvious|ain't exactly Easy Street]].
**Ironically, she can't cook. Jinpei does that for her, and most of the cleaning, so it is implied that her stereotypically female domestic skills aren't that great.
*In-universe: Kanae, AKA Moko, on ''[[Skip Beat!]]'' deliberately calls out Kyouko when they meet, only because she perceives Kyouko as a [[Yamato Nadeshiko|"housewife" type of woman]] who [[Stay in the Kitchen|shouldn't stay near the show business]]. Even later in the manga, when both have a kind-of-friendship and Kyouko has shown [[Plucky Girl|how scarily competent she can be when acting]], Kanae still feels uncomfortable with Kyouko due her own perceived contradiction between being able of do any domestic chores and being an reputed actress and entertainer. There is a twist though, Kanae also acts as a housewife for her own very large family, as her parents are always traveling and her older brothers are no help, [[Not So Different|seeing Kyoko reminded her of herself]]. Kanae's type of housewifing is more like an extreme sport, and it's kind of easy to understand why is she is so annoyed by it.
*Maka Albarn from ''[[Soul Eater]]'' went through rather emotionally-hard experiences in the Envy and Sloth chapters of the Book of Eibon, needing Soul's help (''[[Justified Trope|as any person in her position would]]'') to both pull through it and also to defeat an ultra [[Ax Crazy]] Giriko in full [[Yandere|Yandere-for-Arachne]] mode. According to fandom, though? Aknowledging that bravery isn't the only thing needed to overcome difficulties and that punching evils with the Fist Of Courage isn't the magical key to victory is "''[[Fan Dumb|OMFG SEXIST!!!!]]''". Bet that [[Double Standard|if Soul had been though exactly the same thing]], these "feminists" would cream themselves and call him the biggest [[Woobie]] ever, instead.
**Not to mention, Death the Kid was a [[Dude in Distress]] and even had a brief [[Face Heel Turn]] ''in that same arc'', but Maka is a weak and stupid bitch because of what happened to ''her'' while they don't say anything about ''him''. [[Double Standard]], indeed...
*[[Moe|Cute girl]] Princess Nia Teppelin from ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' has received more than her fair share of flak for being charming and girlish, and for being unlike gun-toting [[Action Girl]] [[Cool Big Sis|Yoko Littner]]...who then gets her [[Character Development]] hand-waved and is accused of being nothing but a [[Ms. Fanservice]].
**Any notions of [[Moe]] that Nia has going for her are far outweighed by her ''[[Plucky Girl|massive balls]]''. Sure, she relies on her [[Love Interest]] (as plenty of people in a relationship tend to do) and the leader of her group (as groups also tend to do), while being generally confused about the world [[Justified Trope|she didn't grow up in]], not unlike two other characters who happened to have come up from the ground into a similar situation, but that doesn't stop her from talking down to, in order: [[Giant Enemy Crab|A giant enemy robot]] [[Moment of Awesome (Sugar Wiki)|that had her in its claws at the moment]], an enemy general who had a gun in her face, and a god who was killing her mid smack talk.
{{quote|''"Are you aware of exactly it is to whom you are speaking?!"''}}
*Both averted and not-so-averted in ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'':
**There hasn't been ''much'' backlash against the scene in the [[Grand Finale]] during which Pao-Lin/Dragon Kid puts on a cute sundress before an outing with her parents. This is probably because it's easy to interpret it as her reaching a compromise with them about acting a little girlier instead of rebelling all the time, rather than as a sign of her relinquishing her determined boyishness.
**In contrast, many people complain about Karina/Blue Rose's role as a [[Smitten Teenage Girl]] where Kotetsu is concerned, under the notion that it has become "her only character trait", whining about how she "never gets any character development". Note that Karina is ''not'' a main character, and yet is the only member of the supporting cast to get anything resembling a proper backstory; her role as an [[Ordinary High School Student]] is intentionally played to provide grounds for her doubts about full-time superheroing and her eventual developement of confidence as a superhero — despite how her sponsors are specifically marketing her as HeroTV's [[Ms. Fanservice]] + [[Faux Action Girl]].
*When ''[[Tsubasa]]'' was released, one of the biggest complains was how Sakura was "reduced into a fucking [[Damsel in Distress]]" and "a weak piece of shit" because she wasn't a carbon copy of her [[Magical Girl Warrior]] original self. Nevermind that she had [[Hidden Depths]] like everyone in the series and she upgraded to [[Action Girl]] [[Girls with Guns|with guns]] in the Tokyo arc, since Sakura wasn't ultra physically active in the beginning she had to OMG DIE.
**The end of the Tokyo arc, involving Sakura going off by herself to retrieve a feather proved that Sakura to be one of the most badass characters in the series when she sets her mind to it. The fight against the monster and the trek leading up to it is one of the most brutal scenes in the series up to that point, along with the injuries she sustains, including [[Fingore|getting her fingernails ripped out]] trying to stop herself from sliding down a sheer cliff, [[Eye Scream|suffering eye injury]], and having a metal pipe ''[[To the Pain|skewered through her ankle.]]'' And despite all this, she still manages to get the feather and make it back. And keep in mind that Sakura had no combat experience up to this point, and that this was all in ''acid rain''. If that doesn't earn her some [[Plucky Girl]] points with the fanbrats, then ''what will''?
*A wedding motif automatically means that ''[[Wedding Peach]]'' ''must'' be a pile of misogynistic brainwashing destined to convince young girls that they should get married, married, ''married'', and not wish for anything else in their lives? ''Really!?''
*Many, ''many'' female characters from series by [[CLAMP]] have fallen prey to fangirl hate for their femininity, with the most blatant examples being Kotori and Kanoe from ''X/1999''. Kotori is bashed for being a soft-spoken and mentally-fragile [[Shrinking Violet]], Kanoe is hated for being a sexy [[Femme Fatale]]. Many rants against this [[Double Standard]] are stored in this...[http://clamp-rants.livejournal.com/tag/your%20vagina%20is%20not%20a%20dark%20abyss ''special'' tag from the CLAMP rants comm].
*In the original ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' dub, where the main focus is on [[The Power of Friendship]], no matter what shape those friends take, who is the one character that gets bashed for making speeches to this effect? [[The Heart|Tea]], who is accused of being stupid and useless because that's "all she does". One might ask what they were expecting from [[Ordinary High School Student|an entirely un-supernatural teenage girl]], and the answer would probably have been "learn to play Duel Monsters". [[Sarcasm Mode|Because obviously, having different interests than the male protagonists makes her worthless]]. Not to mention that for a relatively ordinary schoolgirl being thrown into a series where [[Serious Business|Card Games are Serious Business]], magic exists, and her friends' souls are regularly in danger, [[Plucky Girl|she deals with it pretty well]]. But instead of praising her for not freaking out or fleeing at any point, and instead helping out in whatever ways she can, much of the fandom hates her for not being a part of the action.
**Tea ''does'' know how to play Duel Monsters ([[New Rules as the Plot Demands|at least to the extent that anyone in this world does]]) and has once defeated professional duelist Mai Valentine in a duel. Even when Mai forfeited that duel (she had a copy of Harpie's Feather Duster face down, which would have single handedly reversed the tide back in her favor) in order for Tea to receive the star chips to pass on to Yugi, the fact that a [[Plucky Girl]] who knows the basics but has never been in a competition still wants to duel with a professional and is detemined to win still makes Tea pretty awesome.
**To show the extent of this irrational hatred, Tea does roughly as much as Tristan in any given situation and is about as good at Duel Monsters, yet Tristan has no hatedom.
***Really? Tristan is portrayed as a blithering idiot by the fandom. Is that any better?
**Also, to really hammer the nail in, [[The Hero|Yugi]] and [[The Lancer|Joey]] actually make a lot more friendship speeches than she does. Hell, a fair chunk of their dialogue is about friendship in some way or another. One of the complaints against her is how she's "a useless cheerleader", but reading the manga, guess who the main cheerleader is when Joey is duelling? ''Yami and Yugi''. [[Double Standard|Are they bashed for this? No.]] And it's ''really'' quite scary to see how badly she's bashed and gets called a whore due to the fact that she has both Yugi and Atem as love interests, despite the fact that she doesn't properly date either of them. Despite the fact that she's trying to deal with who she loves more, her close friend or the mysterious stranger, the fact that there's even a ''choice'' makes her a complete slag hoe.
*''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'': Poor Keiko Yukimura. Not only she is being assaulted by the [[Yaoi Fangirls]], she is also being accused by "anime feminists" for not being an [[Action Girl]].

== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Subverted in the [[Furry Fandom|furry]] comic, ''[[Albedo: Erma Felna EDF]] '', where the title character, a scrupulously professional female military officer who has had to deal with sexist opposition at work, is convinced by her [[Genki Girl|vivacious]] friend, Toki, to go shopping. In doing so, Erma finds that occasionally engaging such feminine activities like getting and wearing a sexy dress to attract the attentions of males is fun to do sometimes on her off time. However, she and Toki are no less [[Badass]]es for their fun considering the second they spot a potential terrorist, they instantly have him covered with their own guns.
* Parodied in Rick Veitch's ''Brat Pack'', with [[Straw Feminist]] superhero Moon Maiden. As she teaches her sidekick Lunar Lass, emotion and weakness are one and the same to warrior women. Attachments and relationships are for little girls and weaklings. When Lunar Lass gets pregnant, Moon Maiden freaks and speechifies about how a warrior woman needs no one, especially not a child. So she forces her to give herself an abortion with a wire hanger because she can't be a strong or respectable woman if she has a baby.
* In the case of the Argentinian comic strip ''[[Mafalda]]'', while Mafalda's ideas on women's rights were advanced by the standards of [[The Sixties]] and [[The Seventies]], they come as [[Straw Feminist|more rude and stuck-up than well-intentioned]] to modern readers. Specially when she constantly and very rudely tells her [[Housewife]] mother Raquel that she's "useless" and "mediocre" because she chose to raise Mafalda at home than juggle with work/college and motherhood.
* Averted with Mary Jane Watson, the wife of ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]''. A model/actress who is never seen out of tight formfitting clothing, and often repairs Peter's suit and tends to his injuries. She also once beat the Chameleon half to death with a baseball bat. And a rapist with a cue stick. And shot [[Green Goblin]]. And learnt how to fight from many different trainers, one of which was Captain America himself. In short, MJ is a very feminine and loving wife, but is also ''very'' [[Badass Normal|Badass]] for a model with a reputation for getting kidnapped.
* Parodied as early as the 1950s, with "perfect little lady" Janie Jackson being teased and compared unfavorably to the superheroine Tomboy ("That's what I call a real girl!") by her older brother, who [[Loves My Alter Ego|never realised that Janie and Tomboy were the same person.]]
* The creation of ''[[Wonder Woman]]'' was William Moulton Marston's attempt to address this in society:
{{quote|"Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman."}}

== Film ==
* Casey's mother from the Disney film ''[[Ice Princess]]'' says, "I know ice skating requires a great deal of athleticism and skill, but I just can't get past the twinky little outfits." Never mind that male ice skaters wear outfits that are almost as "twinky" and in some cases even "twinkier". Note that the mother is saying this about a sport that is dangerous on the level of gymnastics (with metal blades!). This being a Disney film, by the end of the movie the mother realizes she was wrong.
* ''[[Twister]]'' has the love triangle between Bill Harding's estranged wife, a down-to-earth country woman, and his stylish (for the 90s anyway) new fiance. Guess who handles the tornadoes better.


== Literature ==
* If you want to recognize this trope in romantic novels and/or novels set in other historical periods, look at the female protagonist carefully. Many, MANY authors fall in the trap of trying to make a heroine you can relate to... by having her look down on other women for "being so submissive and stupid" or "losing their time sewing and doing stupid feminine things".
* Rachel and Cassie are inversions of this trope in the ''[[Animorphs]]'' series. Easily the toughest, most blood-thirsty, aggressive warrior of the entire group, but between her and Cassie, Rachel is by far the more womanly. At the beginning of the series (until it stops mattering), Rachel is described as a leggy, well-dressed, beautiful blonde who loves to go shopping and cares a great deal about outward appearances and often insists on improving Cassie's wardrobe and goes shopping for the entire group when clothes are needed on the fly. Cassie on the other hand is the more feminine in nature, broken-hearted for everything that ''breathes'', is the most hesitant to do battle and yet is the one who can't dress.
* A common complaint stemming from ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'' is how Susan Pevensie becomes "no longer a friend of Narnia" and the only mention of why is a line saying she's only interested in "lipstick, nylons and invitations". Many readers take this as criticism of female sexuality though CS Lewis said of Susan "The books don't tell us what happened to Susan. She is left alive in this world at the end, having by then turned into a rather silly, conceited young woman. But there's plenty of time for her to mend and perhaps she will get to Aslan's country in the end... in her own way" which, coupled with things other characters say suggest her fault is trying too hard to grow up and forgetting her childhood. The other female characters Lucy, Jill and Polly aren't said to be any less feminine than Susan either.
** Played straight however in ''[[The Horse and His Boy]]'' with the contrast between Aravis and Lasaraleen. Aravis is a bit of a tomboy princess, being interested in weapons and hunting while Lasaraleen is vain and obsessed with parties and her dresses. Aravis is the one who undergoes [[Character Development]] while Lasaraleen is likely going to remain spoilt and silly.
* ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' has a few subversions of this. Local [[Badass Normal]] and [[Action Girl]] Karrin Murphy is revealed to have a home decorated with lace and doilies (albeit inherited from her grandmother). Harry's apprentice {{spoiler|Molly Carpenter}} is described by Harry himself to potentially be the most frightening wizard of her generation and she's a girly [[Perky Goth]] who carries her wizarding gear around in a pink backpack. But the ultimate subversion is probably White Court Vampire Lara Raith. She's described as the ultimate example of beauty and femininity but she will fuck up your shit and the shit of everyone you bring with you and she will do it while wearing a dress and come out looking hotter than when she started.
** Note, however, that the one time Murphy is shown wearing a dress, she is embarrassed to be seen in it (being a cop, she's worked very hard to be "one of the boys"). She even defends herself by saying she ''had'' to wear it, as she was at a family function and her mom had bought it for her.
** Charity Carpenter. A good catholic housewife who's popped out several kids by the start of the series, and is generally around to tend to the wounded when her husband brings his work home with him...until her daughter is kidnapped by faeries, and she puts on armor, grabs a sword and warhammer, and goes [[Mama Bear]] [[Storming the Castle|like you wouldn't believe]]. Also, she makes and keeps her husband's armor. And is his sparring partner.
* In-Universe example in ''[[House of Leaves]]'', at one point it summarizes interviews between Karen (who's claiming the events are fictional), and a number of celebrities. One such celebrity is a feminist who chastises Karen's 'character's' nyctophobia, dismissing it with "No self-respecting woman is afraid of the dark".
* [[Jane Eyre]]: The title character's more conventionally feminine and pretty classmate Helen dies early on. Whether Helen should be thought of as [[Too Good for This Sinful Earth]] or [[Too Dumb to Live|not strong-willed enough to survive]] depends on the critic.
* Played with in ''[[Mistborn]]''- heroine Vin, though she probably qualifies as a tomboy at heart, does have a definite girly side to her, in spite of her abusive half-brother's best attempts to beat it out. A good chunk of her character arc involves her coming to terms with the fact that yes, she can enjoy dancing and waring ballgowns and still be a [[Badass]].
** [[Brandon Sanderson]] likes to play with this trope, he has a number of female characters that can [[Action Girl|kick ass]], and are also generally perfectly comfortable with femininity.
* ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' is a mixed bag, but the two Stark girls draw an unflattering contrast between masculine and feminine behavior. Arya is a tomboy whose interest in swordplay helps her overcome many trials, while Sansa, who is better at traditional feminine pursuits, spends half the first book crying helplessly and the other half misreading people completely. Once she's gotten past her initial idealism, though, Sansa becomes much more competent, and her femininity and awareness of social customs is helping her as she {{spoiler|keeps house for and trains under the series' resident [[Magnificent Bastard]]}}. The girls' mother Catelyn is also a much better blend of confidence and femininity.
** Additional aversions include [[God Save Us From the Queen|Cersei]] and Dany (particularly Dany, who wears pants and dresses as she pleases, stereotypes be damned), while there are other completely straight examples such as [[Fiery Redhead|Ygritte]] and ''especially'' [[Hot Amazon|Asha Greyjoy]]. There's even a possible subversion, depending on your perspective, with Brienne. While she fully fills the quota of "never wears dresses", she doesn't try to invoke this trope.
* Similar to the Animorphs example is the ''Spy High'' series, where beautiful, blonde, fashionable Lori is arguably the most ruthless of the team, especially when provoked; whereas the less looks-conscious Cally is [[The Heart]] of the [[Five-Man Band]] and eventually wins the love of leading man Ben. Bex, the biggest [[Action Girl]] of the team, rejects feminine dress and looks completely; with punk clothes, many piercings, and short spiky [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|green hair]].
* In ''[[Tortall Universe|Song of the Lioness]]'', Alanna starts out hating the fact that she's a girl and wishing she were a boy, and part of her [[Character Development]] is coming to accept her femininity.
** In the fourth book, while she and Liam are snowed in at an inn, she basically decides "screw it" and puts on a nice dress. Liam is scornful of this "softness," which serves as an indication that their relationship isn't going to work out.
** Averted with a vengence in the ''Protector of the Small'' quartet: Kel wears dresses to dinner in order to remind the other pages that she is a girl and isn't ashamed of it.
** In one of the short stories, when Fedal complains about women of Tekalimy's Islam [[Expy]] religion being forced to wear veils, she gives a speech about how she ''likes'' wearing them, since it means she isn't judged on her looks. Another short story follows this girl as she speaks for the female side of her god as a prophet, but continues to wear the veil.
** Also averted in Tamora's other "Circle" universe. Of the four main characters there are three girls- the [[Tomboy]] Daja, the [[Badass Bookworm]] Tris and [[The Chick]] Sandry. This last one can control thread, which can elicit a [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?]] response, especially compared to the other two's abilities to control metal and weather respectively...but not only has Sandry's compassion and peace-making skills saved their hides repeatedly, we discover that [[Heart Is an Awesome Power|thread is an awesome power!]]

== [[Live Action TV]] ==
[[Real Women Don't Wear Dresses/Live Action Television|Live Action Television]]

More examples:
* [[Veronica Mars]] likes to avert this trope. Veronica's a [[Badass]] investigator who will destroy the lives of anyone who dares to cross her - but also bakes "spirit cookies" for her friend Wallace (snickerdoodles!), and hopes to receive a pony as a gift someday.
* Totally averted by Delenn on [[Babylon 5]] who wears gorgeous clothes, looks and acts unmistakably feminine, and is the most unambiguously good, kind, and even maternal character on the show, but is so [[Badass]] that the Shadows probably have dark, ancient legends about ''her''.
* Averted by Dana Scully of [[The X-Files]]. She is the [[Action Girl]] of her and Mulder's partnership and is capable of doing more than her fair share of the rescuing. She has a degree in the more male-dominated field of physics, is a pathologist, and insists that her male coworkers not treat her differently because she is a woman and tiny. However, she is undeniably feminine. She has a liking for nice clothes and bubblebaths, a well-kept apartment, is a health-nut and is very concerned about her weight.
* [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Buffy's]] whole schtick is to subvert this. Unmistakably feminine, a former cheerleader, not above going nuts in a clothing store, and if a creature from the depths of hell tries to attack her in a dark alley, a quick death is about the most it could hope for.
* Averted ''hard'' by Kara Thrace in ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]''. Kara is an [[Ace Pilot]] whose wardrobe consists of mainly military uniform or fatigues, but she's not above pulling out all the stops to render her [[Love Interest]] speechless at the sight of her, going so far as to tell him that her in a dress is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
** That doesn't sound like a "hard" aversion...
* Sometimes used in [[Super Sentai]], which is fond of the [[Tomboy and Girly Girl]] trope: if there are [[Two Girls to a Team]], typically the Pink (or White) Ranger will be girly and wear skirts/dresses, while the Yellow (or Blue) Ranger will be more tomboyish and wear shorts or pants. Early series would lean towards making the tomboy the stronger warrior, while the girly girl would be more of a pacifist and often have a less powerful weapon. Subverted in more recent years, where the two will more often be shown to be equally skilled, but with different fighting styles.
* Completely inverted with [[19 Kids and Counting]], to the point of [[Unfortunate Implications]]; if a woman isn't an [[Extreme Doormat]], she WILL [[Disproportionate Retribution|go to]] [[Fire and Brimstone Hell|Hell]].
* Played straight (albeit accidentally) on ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' which saw Djaq, an intelligent, resourceful, competent [[Action Girl]] who always wore pants written out at the end of the second season and [[Replacement Scrappy|replaced with]] Kate, a girl who wore an impractically long dress out in the forest, and whose contributions to the outlaw gang included a string of kidnappings, endless bitching and moaning, and a [[Romantic Plot Tumour]].

== Music ==
* Deliberately invoked with a twist in the very NSFW song "Only Straight Girls Wear Dresses" by CWA, in which a [[Lipstick Lesbian]] reads the title in graffiti in a bathroom, finds the perp, and convinces her otherwise. With sex.
* The video for Pink's song "Stupid Girls" equates "stupidity" with feminine things such as playing with dolls, putting on make-up and wearing anything pink while equating being smart with being a tomboy and physically strong. The end of the video has a little girl choosing to play football instead of playing with her dolls, making it into a bit of a [[Broken Aesop]]. Perhaps having the little girl go and read a book would be a better Aesop to send to young girls.

== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
* This was turned into a storyline in WWE in 2011 with [[Beth Phoenix]] and Natalya's heel turns, the two of them proclaiming they were sick of the models in WWE. Interestingly on WWE's part, they kept both sides with a sympathetic point of view, Beth and Natalya wanting to make the division more serious and about wrestling while the likes of [[Kelly Kelly]] and [[Eve Torres]] trying to prove themselves as wrestlers.
* This trope is often invoked by many wrestling fans who hold a woman wrestler's previous backgrounds against her. Being a model before going into wrestling is considered some kind of sin among some hardcore purists. Often a pretty woman in wrestling will get labelled as a "model" even [[Beauty Is Bad|if she's never done modelling before]]. Women who were cheerleaders, dancers and gymnasts will often get labelled as weak as well with many people ignoring how athletic someone has to be to be in one of those sports. Dancing and gymnastics are just as challenging as wrestling but get labelled as weak because they are feminine.
** Completely averted by [[Trish Stratus]] who started out as just another busty, blonde, bit of eye candy, but who took the sport seriously and went on to become one of the most popular and respected female wrestlers in history.
* [http://www.diva-dirt.com/2011/12/21/a-londoners-eye-models-vs-wrestlers-when-did-the-battle-lines-get-drawn-and-why-do-we-have-to-choose/ This article] discusses this trope in relation to the WWE Divas and offers a neutral stance on the debate.
* During her time in ''Right to Censor'', Ivory had no choice but to wear pants in the wrestling ring despite her character being a conservative watchdog. This was to impracticality of a dress in such situation, where pants didn't have this issue.

== Theatre ==
* In-story, [[Macbeth|Lady Macbeth]] has this opinion of herself. She even calls on evil spirits to make her less feminine and able to kill Duncan.
* At first, ''[[Wicked (theatre)|Wicked]]'' seems to be following this trope; it seems to suggest that the pink-clad Glinda is an [[Alpha Bitch]] who betrayed the more hard-working and [[Tomboy]]-ish main character. {{spoiler|The two actually become best friends, and learn from one-another to overcome their respective faults.}}

== [[Video Games]] ==
* Curiously inverted in ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' with Veronica Santiago. She's a Brotherhood Scribe who isn't afraid to question the patriarchal Brotherhood's outdated beliefs, admits to having fallen in love with another woman once, and can floor a deathclaw with her fists. Her greatest wish is... to wear a dress. Simply because she wants to look good and sexy for once. She's genuinely grateful if you get her one, and if you find a ''good'' dress, she squeals like a schoolgirl. And then goes back to pummeling the opposition.
* An In-universe example in ''[[Odin Sphere]]''. Just about the only thing the [[Amazon Brigade|Valkryies]] of Ragnanival fear is getting married. Since this usually entails getting hit with a love spell to make you fall in love with the first man she sees (usually a man she is ''given'' to), this is perhaps justified. Gwendolyn thankfully lucks out in that Oswald likes her just as she is, and is badass enough to beat down everyone else after her; she's perhaps ''not'' so lucky in that Oswald is a little too afraid of her ''not'' loving him if she finds out she was never under that spell to begin with, and never tells her.
* Averted utterly in-canon of ''[[Phantasy Star]] IV'', regarding Alys and Rika in particular. Alys is a beautiful, talented cook, who is ''openly and famously'' admired for being attractive and assymetrical-hemline-dress-and-jewelry-wearing feminine as well as the most [[Badass]] Hunter on the planet (although finding out that she can cook is a surprise to some of her fellow adventurers). Rika is a pink-haired [[Cute Monster Girl]] who only has healing techniques—but is only second in damage output to the main character, thanks to her short but extremely effective list of melee combat Skills and ability to wear the heaviest armors in the game, which means she also gets to be a frontline fighter.
* In ''[[Solatorobo]]'', this attitude (and a literal instance) is the whole reason for the photo collection sidequest: {{spoiler|Alicia got a photo taken while wearing a princess dress, and she's so embarrassed by it that she has her gang swipe all the photographer's photos. Waffle eventually sees it and compliments her, but she's offended by the comparison to Princess Theria.}}
* In-universe example in [[Trauma Center|Trauma Team]]: {{spoiler|in one of the extras, Maria wears a dress. Gabe's response is to go try and rip his eyes out.}}

== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Debated between skirt-hating [[Straw Feminist]] Susan and skirt-loving [[Action Girl]] Nanase in ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2006-02-27 here] (although though both were [[Gender Bender|transformed into boys]] at the time) with Susan naturally taking the Real Women Don't Wear Dresses side of the argument.

== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Played with in an episode of ''[[American Dad]]'': In the beginning, Francine is practicing for a pie-baking contest, leading Hayley to belittle her and ask her questions like when she plans on giving back the vote. Later at night, Francine catches Hayley, wearing a frilly, outdated dress, baking pies of her own.
** Played with in another episode. Hayley makes a video of Francine, mocking her status as a typical housewife who sews, cooks, and cleans. Francine is distraught and recieves a fake doctor's license, then works for the handicapped mafia. Things get out of hand, but once Francine takes care of things Hayley apologizes for claiming Francine couldn't do anything important.
* [[Avatar: The Last Airbender]] averts it, too. Yes, there are very masculine and kick-ass female characters like [[Boisterous Bruiser|Toph]] and [[Magnificent Bastard|Azula]], but then there're those like the [[Team Mom]] Katara and [[Genki Girl|the incredibly perky Ty Lee.]] There's also Suki, leader of the Kyoshi warriors, who makes a point of showing how her fighting out-fit is very feminine, and she's just as good for it. And ''all'' of these girls could probably kill you.
** Also averted in the sequel series. The first episode alone introduces the title character [[Blood Knight|Korra]] and [[Da Chief|Chief]] [[Badass|Lin Bei Fong]], both of whome are quite masculine, but also the [[Bookworm|Jinora]], [[Motor Mouth|Ikki]] and [[Parents as People|Pema]], who are girlier (and all related, incidently). We later get Asami, a girl who despite her beautiful looks and polite manners is an expert racer and fighter.
* Usually averted in ''[[The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes]]''; [[The Wasp]] fights crime in a black and yellow dress, but still proves tough in battle. However, she spends a good portion of [[Ms. Marvel]]'s first episode griping about how [[Ant-Man]] always puts work and science ahead of returning her love for him. This builds up to Wasp interrupting a battle with a destructive robot to complain about Ant-Man's priorities. Ms. Marvel is still an ordinary Army major when this episode takes place, so she wears her uniform while investigating the night's potentially dangerous disturbance, and keeps a constant focus on eliminating the threat. She also advises Wasp to keep her jealousy at bay.
** Ms. Marvel wears a women's leotard when performing super-heroic duties, creating another aversion.
* The ''[[Barbie]]'' movies avert many clichés thrown at the [[Disney Princess]]es line. The heroines always have interests and hobbies of their own, as well as sisters and female friends with whom they pass the Bechdel Test. Heck, even the female love rivals are well-portrayed (like the sweet female Paolo from ''Barbie:'' ''[[Jungle Princess]]'') and one even features a girl saying that, much as she loves the prince, she cannot marry him because she has to travel the world and pursue her dreams first.
* Averted in ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'': we've got two [[tomboy]]s of different flavors (one athlete and one workaholic), we've got three [[The Chick|girly girls]] - a [[Shrinking Violet]], a [[Genki Girl]] and [[The Fashionista]] - and we got [[Adorkable|Twilight Sparkle]] who can serve as counterpart for both groups. Neither are Applejack and Rainbow Dash permanently superior nor are Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie or Twilight weaker or stupid. They all have different approaches to something and it depends on the problem what will work (In Rarity's case the approach is passive-aggressive [[Cute but Cacophonic|whining]], proving that you don't have to be on the physical side to take action). Not to mention their [[Physical God]]ess [[Every Thing Is Better With Princesses|Princess Celestia]] is very, very feminine. And, well, several thousand years old, lifts the sun every day and is noone to mess with in general.
** Series creator [[Lauren Faust]] herself is 100% opposed to this mentality in fact, stating that the reason why feminine characters come off badly is usually due to poor writing/direction.
** And let's not forget the occasional all-out brawls. [[The Fashionista]]? Mean left hoof. [[Genki Girl]]? Ends up parking the show on the [[Gatling Good]] page.
* Nicely averted in [[Phineas and Ferb]]. Isabella is a cute little girl who dresses in pink and bows, and loves fluffy unicorns- she's also a leader of her Fire Side girl troupe, a master fighter and sports player, and is capable of building ''time machines''. There's a variety of other female characters- both the girl Candace and Stacy, and the more tom-boy-ish Vanessa, and they can all kick-ass when the situation calls for it.
* Deconstructed in ''[[Wonder Woman (animation)|Wonder Woman]]''. The Amazons are trained early in life to be warriors, but are secluded from mankind for centuries. Something Persephone calls Hippolyta out on near the film's climax. {{spoiler|Diana herself manages to find a balance towards the movies end. She moves to New York and is in a relationship with Steve, but she still maintains her status as an Amazon and fights crime whenever she's needed.}}


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Latest revision as of 16:58, 1 December 2020

Guess which of these women is the tough, competent one.

A woman is shown as weak, incompetent, and ineffectual in this trope unless she dresses and behaves like a man. A common variation on this is to present a woman as superior because she's "not like other women." Another variation is a Tomboy and Girly Girl scenario, where the tomboy is presented as superior.

We're just recording the trope here. It happens. Between a woman in trousers and one in a dress, the odds are the trouser lady is going to be the Action Girl of the pair and the one in the dress is going to end up being a Damsel in Distress. Subversions exist, of course, especially in more recent works since third wave "Girl Power" feminism. Many of the straight examples are from older works when having proactive female characters at all was fairly edgy.

See also Pink Means Feminine, Acceptable Feminine Goals.

Contrast Kicking Ass in All Her Finery.

Examples of Real Women Don't Wear Dresses are listed on these subpages:
Real Women Don't Wear Dresses
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