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{{trope}}
[[File:real-women-dont-wear-dresses_silent-hill_5621.png|link=Silent Hill (Filmfilm)|frame| 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.
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== [[Anime and Manga]] ==
 
* In ''[[Sailor Moon (Manga)|Sailor Moon]]'', the infamous [[Stay in Thethe Kitchen]] remarks by Jadeite in the first season, where he takes [[The Worf Effect|Tuxedo Kamen out of the fight]] and then mocks the girls. Moon, Mercury and Mars responded with a [[Shut UP, Hannibal]] and an awesome [[Car Fu|Three Plane Fu]].
{{quote| '''Jadeite''': Can’t you do anything without the help of a man? Women are such foolish creatures in the end!<br />
'''Mars''': Hah! Only old men think that they’re better than women in these days! <br />
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** Famously, the ''series'' itself averts this. While most of the girls have feminine aspects, it doesn't make them weaker or less strong, instead making femininity and powerful females (both physically and mentally) as one of the ''main aspects'' of the series. it's rather telling that Usagi's transformation trinkets, the ones that give her her powers, are all based on ''jewelry'', and the girls shout out "make-up!" as they transform.
** Not to mention, even the most tomboyish character (Makoto/Lita/Jupiter) is still relatively feminine, and unlike in the [[Tomboy and Girly Girl]] trope, she isn't portrayed as "superior" to the other girls just because she's tough and a little butch. Same goes for Haruka/Amara/Uranus.
* Kanae aka Moko on ''[[Skip Beat (Manga)|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 Thethe Kitchen|shouldn't stay near 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 to her own perceived contradiction between being able to do any domestic chores and being an reputed actress and entertainer. There is a twist though: {{spoiler|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|and 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 she is so annoyed by it.}}
* In ''[[Demashita! Power PuffPowerpuff 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. Despite the fact that she isn't complaining about the skirt anymore, [[Berserk Button|don't mention it]] to Buttercup. Just don't.
** 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.
* ''[[Fate/stay Stay Night (Visual Novel)night|Fate Stay Night]]'' 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 {{spoiler|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]]. And she manages to both be pretty ''and'' badass.
** 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 wears 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 to diminish their strength as a character though, and most have better things to worry about then what it is they are wearing and petty gender wars on dress codes, with the exception of Saber since her battle dress does provide her with protection.
* Subverted and averted ''as all hell'' with Roberta from ''[[Black Lagoon]]''. This woman is practically the embodiment of [[Badass]], wears her hair in braids, and has a maid dress on 95% of the time. 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 as well. The most powerful and badass woman in [[The Mafiya]] is a long-haired [[Lady of War]] who wears more often than not [[Hot Chick in Aa Badass Suit|a business suit with a long skirt]], and her feminine attire doesn't disminish her badassery either. Maybe the [[Good Scars, Evil Scars|scars have something to do with it]], or the [[Slasher Smile]]...
* 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. When Shuurei prepares to take the Imperial Examinations in the hopes of becoming the first woman to qualify to hold government office, her erstwhile employer and sometimes mentor gives her the gift of a fully-stocked cosmetics case, to remind her to see her femininity as a strength.
* In ''[[Freezing]]'', it's interesting to try to apply this trope to the main character, Sattelizer L. Bridgette. As a child, she was {{spoiler|sexually abused by her half-brother}}, resulting in her having a [[Hates Being Touched|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]], the first guy to be nice to her, that she slowly starts to get over her problems and work on them.
* Averted with Izumi Curtis from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (Mangamanga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', who is one of the most terrifyingly badass characters in the manga despite dressing in an unelaborate feminine way and proudly describing herself as a "[[Housewife]]".
* Rico in ''[[Gunslinger Girl]]'' isn't used to wearing dresses. When she's forced to wear a dress in order to move unnoticed in an opera house in order to assassinate her target she says that a dress is "too loose." It may be more understandable in her case: she loathes the idea of being restrained in any way {{spoiler|since she's an ex [[Ill Girl]] who was in an hospital bed for years.}}
* Inverted with Pao-Lin aka Dragon Kid of ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'', who is being pressured to act ''less'' masculine because her corporate sponsor thinks it would make her more popular. {{spoiler|In the [[Grand Finale]] she wears a sundress and hairclips, but it's less about sponsors and ''much'' more about [[She Cleans Up Nicely|just looking nice while going out with Mom and Dad]].}}
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* 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.]]
* 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.
* Subverted in the [[Furry Fandom|furry]] comic, ''[[Albedo Erma Felna EDF (Comic Book)|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|Badasses]] for their fun considering the second they spot a potential terrorist, they instantly have him covered with their own guns.
* 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.
 
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** 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.
* Rachel and Cassie are inversions of this trope in the ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|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.
* 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.
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* [[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 Five5]] 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 Aa 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 [[Nineteen19 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 ==
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* 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 (Theatretheatre)|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]] ==
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* 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.}}
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.}}
 
== [[Web Comics]] ==
 
* Debated between skirt-hating [[Straw Feminist]] Susan and skirt-loving [[Action Girl]] Nanase in ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|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]] ==
 
* The ''[[Barbie]]'' movies avert many clichés thrown at the [[Disney Princess|Disney Princesses]] 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.
* Played with in an episode of ''[[American Dad (Animation)|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.
* Deconstructed in ''[[Wonder Woman (Filmanimation)|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.}}
* Averted in ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'': we've got two [[Tomboy|tomboys]] 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|Physical Godess]] [[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.
* [[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 Asas 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 (Animation)|Avengers Earths 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 (Comic Book)|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.
 
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