It takes two basic forms: lying or sitting.
In the laying form, a female character will be lying on her stomach, often in bed, though any flat surface will do. If in bed she may often be reading, or even writing in her diary. Her legs will be up in the air behind her, swishing absently back and forth, or, if she is more the tomboyish sort, scissoring back and forth. She may even be anticipating the arrival of a Love Interest.
In the sitting form, she will be seated on any surface that gives her legs room to move, be it a porch, a swing, a porch swing, or a dock, swishing her legs back and forth. Again, a more tomboyish character will often be doing so in a scissoring motion, instead of with her feet together. Often while sitting next to her Love Interest.
This is usually more pronounced with youthful or adolescent characters, indicating a degree of immaturity. It could also be one of a few Nervous Tics. It is typically intended to show a degree of youthful attractiveness, particularly in works directed at a younger audience. It serves as shorthand for her feminine personality. One common variation is to have the woman pose with her ankles crossed as they stick in the air.
In settings with older characters, the girl will often be in clothing that shows off her legs, making them a focus of the scene for a degree of Fanservice.
If an adult woman does this, it could indicate a naïve innocence and girlish charm to her character. Or it could indicate more childish aspects of her personality. She could also deliberately invoke it to attempt to entice a lover, playing at being cutesy.
May also be an indicator of a Precocious Crush or Puppy Love. Often accompanies a Luminescent Blush.
This can often be in play during a Beach Episode or Pool Episode, where the characters will have access to beach blankets, large inflatable floaties, or even diving boards on which to lie.
This is more likely from the Girly Girl in a Tomboy and Girly Girl duo.
If a male character does this, it is either because he is demonstrating a more feminine character, often making him the feminine boy in a Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy pairing. Or he could simply be doing so to mock or tease a girl he's with.
Pre-adolescent children of either gender doing this would simply be a sign of youthful energy and age-appropriate immaturity, and would not qualify for this trope. It is only post-adolescence that this seems to take on a characteristic of either femininity or age-inappropriate immaturity or both.
See also Foot Popping, Foot Focus, and Leg Focus. Sister Trope to Ready for Lovemaking, which is also about women posing in bed.
Static imagery such as movie posters or book covers will not be counted as examples. Literary examples must describe the action, preferably with an inference of feminine charm and/or immaturity.
No Real Life Examples, Please! This is a characterization trope that's also too common.
Examples:
- At the beginning of Chapter 15 of Asteroid in Love (animated as the second segment of Episode 5 of the Animated Adaptation), Mira, who is the more feminine of the main duo, is shown waving her feet in the air in a scissoring motion while reading an astronomy magazine on her bed. For the sake of comparison, her Pseudo-Romantic Friendship partner, the Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak Ao, tends to sit on the bed when reading.
- Azumanga Daioh: In ep. 12, the girls are all having lunch together on the roof. Tomo is sitting on a planter, swinging her legs up and down together as she eats. It's worth noting that Tomo doesn't do the scissoring motion and instead moves her legs together in tandem.
- K-On!: "Winter Days", Ritsu lies in bed, kicking her legs back and forth in a scissoring motion as she reads what she believes is a love letter from a boy ( but is actually song lyrics from Mio who wanted Ritsu's opinion), showing a softer, more girly side to the tomboyish member of HTT.
- Lucky Star: Konata, whom Kagami frequently criticizes for her immaturity, has a unique variant where she will not only swing her legs back and forth but also side to side, lightly clapping her heels together while reading manga in her bed.
- My Dress-Up Darling: Sajuna "Juju" Inui is shown this way a couple of times in her bedroom, first in a flashback when she's checking her phone after getting a photo of Marin's first cosplay, and later when she's talking to Gojo via videocall to discuss some details, as she's also checking her laptop.
- Ranma ½: In the first episode, Nabiki is shown in a pair of short shorts absently kicking her legs back and forth when her father, Soun, comes to call her to be prepared to meet Ranma. In this instance it is used to show off the attractiveness of Nabiki's legs, as we quickly learn she has no feminine charm whatsoever.
- Squid Girl: Season 2, Episode 4-B, "You Th-INK You Can Stop It!?", Squid girl is lying on the floor of Eiko's room, reading, and kicking her feet back and forth in a scissoring motion, showcasing her childish tendencies. However, she is also waving her tentacles around absently, which causes her to inadvertently tickle Eiko's bare feet, which is how Squid Girl learns about tickling.
- Teasing Master Takagi-san: Takagi will swish her legs back and forth, typically in the laying on her stomach pose, while chatting on the phone with Nishikata, whom she has a crush on.
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: Willie Scott is lying in bed, wearing a pair of silk pajamas, absently kicking her legs back and forth as she waits for Indy to come to her. It showcases a bit of her womanchild tendencies. She grows irate as Indy fails to put in an appearance. Of course, the audience knows it's because he's currently fighting off a cult member trying to strangle him with a garrote.
- In the 1997 Lolita, Humbert falls in lust at first sight with underage Dolores Haze after seeing her lying in the stomach pose reading a magazine, in the garden on a hot day with the lawn sprinklers playing over her dress. As per this trope she has one foot up in the air, idlily playing it in the spray of water.
- A Signature Scene from The Dick Van Dyke Show has Mary Tyler Moore on top of a giant pile of walnuts with her head propped up on one and her foot popped in the air while she smiles at her husband.
- Miserable by Lit: Val the giantess (played by famous sex symbol Pamela Anderson) poses this way off and on throughout the video, lying on her stomach with either one or both her legs thrust into the air. She's portrayed as very feminine in both appearance and mannerisms and is a Lust Object for the (notably all-male) band members who are standing on top of her reclining body. Her legs are subjected to a lot of Male Gaze throughout the video via the camera panning over them or treating them to extreme close-ups. At one point, while her leg is in the air and the band is standing on top of her platform heels she rather playfully shakes her foot causing the guys to almost fall off. This may have actually been an Invoked Trope on Val's part since she plans on eating the guys at the end of the video and likely used her femininity to make them lower their guard.
- Fate/Grand Order: Saber Frankenstein's Final Ascension art shows her lying on the beach with her legs crossed and staring at the viewer. The pose is rather intimate, as it makes her look vulnerable and Ready for Lovemaking.
- Shantae: Half-Genie Hero: In "Pirate Queen's Quest", Bare Midriffs Are Feminine Risky Boots, is being a Bathing Beauty in her bathtub, in multiple possible positions that randomize when loading the Captain's Cabin. One of those positions has her thinking in her bathtub while on her stomach and her feet are in the air, waving forward and back.
- Overly Sarcastic Productions: Subverted in the video, "Legends Summarized: The Saga of Grettir
", when Thorfinn asks the usually highly masculine Grettir if he wants to do any work, Grettir is seen lying on a stack of hay and crossing his legs, which is a stereotypical feminine pose.
- Family Guy: One Cutaway Gag spoofing Gossip Girl reveals that Peter is Gossip Girl, with him doing the swish while wearing a blonde wig and pink nightgown.
- Futurama: Invoked. Bender, during a stint as a pro wrestler, is forced to play the part of "The Gender Bender", laying in a bed wearing a tutu and a wig, saying in an effeminate voice, "I'm a tuffy" while swishing his legs back and forth.
- The Loud House: In a video featuring the Louds singing a parody of "12 Nights of Christmas", Lori the Valley Girl is shown lying on her bed, swishing her legs, as she says she got a new phone plan.
- Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright: When the guys are going to their own room for the night, Daphne begins swishing her legs back and forth as she makes eye contact with Fred, who tells her he'll see her in the morning. She sighs contentedly as she lay her head down on the bed, repeating that Fred would see her while continuing to swish her legs, showcasing the femininity of a girl in love. Also serves as Leg Focus and mild Fanservice for the film.
- Tom and Jerry: Jeannie, a blonde-haired babysitter from the shorts "Busy Buddies" and "Tot Watchers", will quickly jump on the phone and prostrate herself on the sofa, or draped over chairs as she chats with friends, swishing her legs back and forth as both a sign of her youthful femininity and her immaturity, as she spends her whole time chatting on the phone while Tom and Jerry work together to protect the baby she is supposed to be watching from various hazards around the home.
