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Standard Female Grab Area (view source)

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{{trope}}
[[File:female_incapacitation_edit2_1937.jpg|link=Casey and Andy (Webcomic)|right]]
 
{{quote|''OH NO! HE'S MILDLY GRIPPED ME BY THE ARM!''|''Film Brain'', ''[[Street Fighter: theThe Legend of Chun -Li (Film)|Street Fighter the Legend of Chun Li]] Review.''}}
 
So, the [[Action Girl]] is busy slinging around multiple opponents with her competent style of [[Waif Fu]]. In fact, she is doing so well that one has to wonder what the [[Big Damn Heroes]] are doing at all when they could leave the entire mission to her and she'd get it done and be back home in time for dinner.
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No one is quite sure why, but it appears that any female lead's weak point in any given show happens to be on or around her upper arm (or alternatively the wrist). She could be absolutely dominating a fight, but the moment any old mook sneaks up behind her and say, grabs her shoulder, she suddenly [[Faux Action Girl|loses all competency and is reduced to begging the hero to save her, or tries once and again to fight back but is completely useless]]. This trope would make more sense if the [[Mooks|Mook]] also had, say, a gun to her back or something, but too frequently he runs at her unarmed and manages to reduce her to complete harmlessness. Maybe [[Action Girl|Action Girls]] come factory-equipped with an on/off switch in their upper arms.
 
Giving the benefit of the doubt, this trope exists to keep fights interesting. But since it doesn't happen quite as often to guys, it's more likely that [[Double Standard|gender stereotypes haven't changed as much as we're led to believe]]. Alternatively, when someone tries to calm or incapacitate a guy it's much more socially acceptable to use a believable amount of force--such as punching him, [[Tap Onon the Head|knocking him out with a weapon]], or beating him senseless. Until the audience gets over its distaste for seeing female characters hurt--and immediately seeing any man who uses force against a woman as a villain--there will be a double standard. A third possibility is that of simple pragmatism: while animators these days have no problems lampshading how ridiculously sexist "chivalry" is, many real life holds on women can come off as perversely sexual (e.g. a full nelson from a strong opponent, while capable of incapacitating the character, also involves her assailant pressing himself behind her, forcing her head down, and spreading her arms from her chest). It doesn't excuse how ridiculous it is for an otherwise strong female to fold this easily, however.
 
Note this ''never'' happens to a [[Dark Action Girl]]. If a Mook were to attempt such a thing, well, expect someone to be on the business end of a nasty [[Groin Attack|kick to the crotch]], aka: the standard ''male'' instant-incapacitation area. And that's if he's lucky - modern Dark Action Girls are rather likely to opt for breaking his arm in three places instead of "lowering themselves" to a groin attack.
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* In ''[[Ranma One Half]]'', a shadowy assailant surprised [[Cute Bruiser|Akane]] from behind, and pulled her back while cupping [[Putting a Hand Over His Mouth|his hand over her mouth]]. She paused just long enough to gather her thoughts before elbowing him ''hard'' in the gut and slapping him senseless. (Turned out it was just the [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|Jusenkyo Guide]], who wanted her to be quiet due to all the [[Winged Humanoid|Phoenix Soldiers flying around]], but he really could've picked a better approach.)
** In the anime, Akane tries to defeat Ranma's [[Living Shadow]]. Due to his crush on her, the shadow simply grabs her wrists and keeps her in place. It isn't until Nabiki says that Akane will hate him if he doesn't stop holding her that he impulsively lets his grip go slack.
* Miu of ''[[Kenichi: theThe Mightiest Disciple]]'' subverts this trope. She's trained herself to automatically flip anyone who approaches her from behind.
* This happens to ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'''s Faye Valentine in the first ''Jupiter Jazz'' episode. She's in a bad mood and about to take it out on some thugs who [[Mugging the Monster|surround her in an alley]] when Gren appears, grabs her by the forearm and drags her away to the relative safety of his apartment.
* Subverted in ''[[Flunk Punk Rumble|Yankee-kun to Megane-chan]]''; Shinagawa grabs Adachi's arm to stop her from running away, so she grabs him and [[Waif Fu|throws him to the ground]].
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* Episode twelve of ''[[They Are My Noble Masters]]'', has {{spoiler|Ren's father}} use this on a couple of the servants...and it's played completely straight, despite all the female servants being proven asskickers. Apparently getting grabbed on the arm by a drunk, was their only weakness...
* A canine version of this appears in the [[Grand Finale]] of ''[[Ginga Densetsu Weed]]'', where Hougen kills one of Jerome's Alaskan Malamute followers and hold the female follower hostage by grabbing her throat. He only drops her when Weed arrives in time for the final battle.
* Used in ''[[Rosario to Vampire (Manga)|Rosario to Vampire]]'' against Kurumu by Hokuto.
{{quote| '''Hokuto''': Although your attacks are sharp, it becomes weak once you're caught. }}
* In ''[[Code Geass]]'', Suzaku does this to [[Hot Amazon|Kallen]], but this is also a [[Subverted Trope|subversion]] due to the fact that [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|he suckerpunched her in the stomach]] first.
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== Films ==
* ''[[Man of the Year]]'': Eleanor is walking out of a mall when suddenly the [[Big Bad]]'s mook comes and grabs her under the armpit. She squeals and is dragged forcefully to his van. The moment she retaliates and manages to escape is the exact moment he lets go of her.
* Subverted in ''[[Serenity (Film)|Serenity]]'', where Jayne grabs River by the arm in the middle of her rampage through the bar. That fails, so he pins both her arms to her body with a bear hug, and leans on her to hold her down. It looks like she's been handily contained by Jayne's intervention... but then she [[Groin Attack|attacks his weakpoint for massive damage]] and [[Waif Fu|the ninety-pound girl kicks the everliving crap out of him]].
* The ''[[Mortal Kombat (Filmfilm)|Mortal Kombat]]'' film has the previously shown [[Action Girl]] Sonya Blade being held by the [[Big Bad]] Shang Tsung with her arm behind her back and gripped by her ponytail. While to be fair this ''is'' likely painful as hell, it has very much the same effect as this trope because Sonya is supposed to be a trained FBI agent and he is yanking her around like a rag doll while she makes absolutely no attempt to fight back. While the movie takes time to remind the viewer that he's '''''a near omnipotent sorcerer''''' and Shang Tsung outclasses pretty much everybody there but Liu Kang, the movie still doesn't show him using any special powers beyond grabbing her arm.
* While Lyra of ''[[His Dark Materials|The Golden Compass]]'' can be forgiven for suffering from this weakness because she is so young, it's still almost hilariously obvious several times in [[The Film of the Book]], especially in the [[Final Battle]].
* Played with in ''[[Get Smart (Filmfilm)|Get Smart]]''; although Agent 99 is subdued like this a couple of times, the first time she manages to get herself out of it by kicking her captors; the second time, she is subdued and tied to a car, but still manages to get a few good kicks in during the fight scene.
** She's excused in both situations as both times, the men who grabbed her arm also had guns pointed at her kidneys.
* ''[[The Wild World of Batwoman]]'' has this used successfully on several girls in a row.
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'''Gabriel''': [[Sarcasm Mode|You're]] ''[[Sarcasm Mode|sure]]''? }}
* A justified example comes in the ''Percy Jackson'' film. A terrified woman grabs onto Annabeth's hand and renders her unable to fight Medusa - because Medusa turns the woman to stone while she's still holding onto Annabeth's wrist.
* A rare male example in Disney's ''[[Tarzan (Disney film)|Tarzan]]''. Earlier in the film, he successfully incapacitates a full grown silver back gorilla, but when he's grabbed by the upper arm by a man of average build, he can't break free.
* Subverted in [[Last Action Hero]]. Slater's daughter gets grabbed by one of the Mooks and becomes little more than a screaming nuisance, but as soon as the mook takes her to another room she uses her screams to cover the sound of her [[Curb Stomp Battle|dealing with him.]]
* In ''[[Tron Legacy (Film)|Tron: Legacy]]'', [[Action Girl|Quorra]] ends up on the receiving end of one. [[Your Mileage May Vary|Possibly]] justified as the grab is more like a joint lock, she was punched in the face seconds prior, and {{spoiler|one of her opponents [[An Arm and Aa Leg|chops off her arm]] almost immediately.}}
 
 
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* In ''[[Tortall Universe|Lioness Rampant]]'', where the slender 5'4" Alanna is [[Weak but Skilled|skilled]] and [[Fragile Speedster|fast]], and rendered helpless once her arms are pinned by a larger man. On the other hand, once she gets free, beware. She will mess you up.
** On the other hand, in ''Squire'', Keladry just flexes her bicep, forcing the man to loosen his grip.
* Averted in Discworld book ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Feet of Clay|Feet of Clay]]'' when Angua, a female cop, is grabbed in this method and does nothing while she is inside the bar her fellow coppers are in. The reason why {{spoiler|is she's a werewolf and more than capable of taking care of the fools taking her hostage. She just didn't want to damage the place or her co-workers.}}
* If you grab Lieutenant {{spoiler|later Sergeant}} Murphy, prepare to have the crap beaten out of you. Unless she's pretending and you are stupid enough to believe it.
* Averted in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' by [[Dark Action Girl|Asha Greyjoy]]. A [[Unlucky Childhood Friend|childhood friend]] who was enamored with her attempted to stop her from leaving him by using this method. She promptly puts a knife to his throat and drives him off.
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* Pick a Lifetime Movie, any Lifetime movie. The most common version found here involved them getting in a screaming match(usually his fault), she'll draw back to slap him, he'll grab her wrist, and she'll hit the ground like a dying swan. It also has the amazing ability to be sexist to both men and women at the same time.
* Subverted (unsurprisingly) in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. Buffy gets grabbed like this almost once a fight. Her response is usually to use her attacker as leverage to bicycle kick some other guy in the face.
* Subverted in ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' with Djaq. A [[Mook]] twists her arm behind her back and triumphantly shouts: "I've got the girl!" She head butts him, retrieves her sword and mutters: "A ''woman'', you'll find."
** Sadly played straight with Djaq's [[Replacement Scrappy|replacement]] Kate, who in her first episode is [[Mary Sue|magically capable]] of overpowering grown, horse-backed, armoured men by poking them with her bare hands, and is then rendered [[Faux Action Girl|utterly helpless]] in every other fight she participates in. Except the [[Cat Fight]], of course.
* Reference in ''[[Shooting Stars]]'' in a segment parodying ''[[The A-Team (TV)|The A-Team]]'' - "Look, it's a woman being pushed and pulled about a bit by some communists!" (Two Fidel Castro lookalikes each holding on to the [[Standard Female Grab Area]] and pointlessly pushing her back and forth)
* Inverted in an episode of [[I CarlyICarly]], where Sam incapacitates a [[Girls Have Cooties|girl-hating]] [[Nerd|model train club member]] by squeezing his wrist.
* Averted in [[Power Rangers Wild Force]]. Toxica tried using this on Princess Shayla. Cue counter-ass-kicking.
* Averted a couple of times with Kira in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''. Played straight, however, in the flashback episode "Necessary Evil", when she is grabbed by Dukat and submits to it silently.
 
 
== Videogames ==
* Subverted and played straight in ''[[Kingdom Hearts II (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts II]]''. In the subversion, villain Xaldin attempts to force the Beast to [[Sadistic Choice|choose between his magical rose and Belle]], by holding both (with Belle held by the arm). While he's busy gloating, Belle elbows him, grabs the rose from him, and runs back over to the heroes. Played straight when Kairi is kidnapped by Axel when he simply grabs her wrist and drags her around like kleenex. Kairi just goes and follows her kidnapper while slightly squirming and only dragging her feet once; never does she consider using her free hand or kicking her abductor. One could chalk it up to an uncaring animator, though. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43n-H6ZMYRw&feature=related Observe] after about 4:30.
* ''[[The Bouncer]]'' features a kidnapping in the opening cutscene where the kidnapped girl, while trying to escape, is stunned so much by being grabbed on the upper arm that he can put her in a headlock easily.
* Awesomely subverted in ''[[Last Scenario (Video Game)|Last Scenario]]'' when [[White Mage|Lorenza]] is introduced. A group of soldiers is trying to capture her, and one of them grabs her arm... so she [[Cutscene Power to Thethe Max|vaporizes him with a lightning bolt]].
* ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' involves Shepard intervening in a [[Beam-O-War]] between two exceptionally powerful Asari biotics, {{spoiler|Samara and her crazed daughter, Morinth}} by wading into the conflict and twisting the arm of his/her desired target. Alone, Shepard most likely would have been [[Subverted Trope|smushed into paste after this]], but here it serves to break their concentration and opens them up for a [[Coup De Grace]] blast from the other biotic. Then again, Shepard is [[Badass|Shepard]] and because of his/her cybernetic implants and enhancements is far stronger than a normal human. Maybe their concentration isn't broken by just a simple grab, [[Fridge Brilliance|but by Shepard twisting and gripping their arm so hard s/he is just short of]] [[Oh Crap|snapping the bones of their arm with a single hand.]]
* Averted in [[Dragon Age 2]], whenever anyone wants to grab Isabela they grab her by both arms at once from behind, and she always manages to escape anyway if she wants to.
* Used in ''[[Professor Layton and Thethe Unwound Future]]'', when {{spoiler|the [[Big Bad]] kidnaps Flora, Layton's ward, by dragging her out of a restaurant by one arm}}. To be fair, Flora is a sweet little girl and can't do much to defend herself anyway.
* In ''[[Dragon Quest VIII]]'', Angelo grabs Jessica by the arm and drags her off to sneak away from a bar brawl over his cheating at cards.
* An interesting version of this happens in the ''[[Super Smash Bros]]'' series. Characters can grab each other, and, if someone grabs a male fighter, it'll be by the chest's clothes, or in the case of fighters that don't wear clothes... by grabbing their skin directly, supposedly. However, if one grabs one of the princesses, it'll be by the arm. Of course, grabbing by the chest would lead to some [[Unfortunate Implications]].
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** Denny was completely helpless once grabbed by his ankles. Makes sense when you consider [[The Sims|the animations that were being rigged]] to create the scene.
* In ''[[Underling]]'', this happens to Eshi on [http://underlingcomic.com/page-one-hundred-seventy-one/ this] page.
* ''[[Girl Genius (Webcomic)|Girl Genius]]'' had this (briefly) when [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100319 "Snapper" Boikov tried taking Sanaa hostage]. ''After'' discovering she's a sister of the hero who did personally break half of the prisoners' or their bosses' operations and probably already knowing she was imprisoned for [[Pirate Girl|piracy]]. "Dibs on his boots!"
** Oddly enough this works on [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20120314 Bangladesh DuPree] of all people.
*** Well, it '''is''' a massive clank, and it does have her by '''both''' arms.
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* The ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' episode "The Cat and the Canary" has Black Canary being forced to watch Green Arrow fight her mentor Wild Cat in a cage match while being held this way. Different from most examples is that she more or less allows Roulette's goons to grab her, but as soon as she decides to get involved, she essentially shrugs them off with no problem.
* Not even [[Goldie Gold and Action Jack|Goldie Gold's]] [[Fiction 500|limitless wealth]] buys her way out of this trope.
* In the ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]'' episode "Haunted," when Robin is hallucinating visions of Slade, he grabs Starfire here angrily, and she exclaims that he's hurting her, despite the fact she seems to possess at least a degree of [[Nigh Invulnerability]], and he has no superstrength to speak of.
** To be fair, She may have meant more emotionally then physically.
* Used in the classic ''The Shooting of Dan McGoo'' [[Tex Avery]] short, featuring Droopy. Upon finishing her performance, [[Hello, Nurse!|Red]] is accosted by the Wolf, who proceeds to drag her across the room by the wrist, before switching to carrying her underarm.
* In ''[[Batman: theThe Brave And The Bold (Animation)|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'' after Katriana Moldoff pulls a [[Freaky Friday Flip]] on Batman, she is able to grab the now-female Batman by the arm and leave him helpless.
** Subverted later when Superman tries this on Cheetah. He grabs her arm and twists, she slashes his face with her Kryptonite-coated nails.
* Inverted in ''[[Wing Commander Academy (Animation)|Wing Commander Academy]]'': [[The Squadette|Archer]] performs this hold on [[Jerk Withwith a Heart of Gold|Maniac]], before [[She Fu|tossing him]] halfway across the room. Worth noting, Maniac appears to be about twice her mass.
 
 
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