"I stand for poofy dresses, flowers, ribbons, and all that is girlie!"
—Wedding Peach:, Wedding Peach Abridged
While "feminine" simply means "any attribute associated with women", culturally, the term also means the traits that are expected of women to perform and have, encompassing things like beauty, grace, elegance, and good social manners. Unfortunately, the latter often involves things like demureness and timidness, which has also led to women being expected to be weak-willed and fragile, while bringing rejection and ridicule to those women who fail (or refuse) to comply.
And, of course, some women take advantage of these associations, which may result in Nothing Nice About Sugar and Spice.
Regardless of the exact form (such as whether one is "girly", "lady-like", or "matronly"), these are the tropes about femininity.
Contrast Tomboy, Bifauxnen, Masculinity Tropes.
Compare/Contrast Gender-Blending Tropes.
Tropes
Related:
Categories:
- Agent Peacock: A badass feminine guy.
- All Girls Like Ponies: If you're feminine, this is one of your favorite animals.
- Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: Female and feminine characters are more likely to wear midriff-baring clothes.
- Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: The Beauty in this trio is feminine.
- Caretaking is Feminine: Jobs that involve caretaking, such as nursing or babysitting, are for women.
- Classy Cat-Burglar: She'll steal your heart, but be (mostly) ladylike about it.
- Coy, Girlish Flirt Pose: A pose to show one is flirty, but still a lady.
- Cute Indignant Girl Stance: A pose for the angry, but still feminine.
- Dainty Little Ballet Dancers: Ballet dancers are portrayed as waifs.
- Damsel in Distress: It's often to be captured and rescued by a helpful man.
- Diaries Are Girly: Diary-keeping is seen as a traditionally feminine pastime.
- Dragon Lady: The Asian Femme Fatale.
- English Rose: A young, delicate, ideal English lady.
- Every Proper Lady Should Curtsy: Ladies do this instead of bowing.
- The Fashionista: Women (and men) like fancy, stylish clothes.
- Femme Fatale: Femininity used for sinister purposes.
- Femme Fatale Spy: Her feminine wiles are a great asset for espionage.
- Feminine Mother, Tomboyish Daughter
- Feminine Women Can Cook: You aren't a lady if you can't cook.
- Femininity Failure: Not every lady can pull this off.
- Fille Fatale: She doesn't need to grow up to use her wiles.
- Flowers of Femininity: Flowers are used to emphasize femininity.
- Girliness Upgrade: A tomboy becomes more feminine.
- Girlish Pigtails: The most visibly young feminine hairstyle.
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Feminine girls like plush toys.
- Girly Bruiser: Kick some ass, but still look sweet and innocent otherwise.
- Girly Girl
- Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: Not every lady has to be completely ladylike.
- Girls Love Chocolate: The ultimate feminine food.
- Girly Skirt Twirl: True ladies will try spinning a new dress once in a while.
- Gonky Femme: Looks mannish, is feminine.
- Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Purple signifies mature femininity.
- Grande Dame: Her femininity is about being tough, but still ladylike.
- Harp of Femininity: A ladylike instrument.
- High-Class Call Girl: Being feminine is part of the job.
- High-Heeled Feet
- High-Heel Power
- Hime Cut: The most royal of Japanese female hairstyles.
- High-Powered Career Woman: Part of second wave feminism's redefining of femininity and female gender roles that posits it's ok and even admirable to have and pursue career ambitions.
- Housewife: Feminine women can keep the house looking nice.
- Ice Queen: The feminine way to remain poised and in control of one's emotions.
- Innocent Flower Girl: Sweet, ladylike, but so tragic.
- Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Dressing like a lady, while taking names in a fight.
- Kindly Housekeeper: Hiring someone to keep the house looking nice, but still be feminine.
- The Lady's Favour: A true lady of chivalry will give this to her knight as he goes off to battle.
- Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: A childlike feminine paired with a seductive feminine.
- Lipstick-and-Load Montage: A ladylike dressing up montage.
- Lipstick Lesbian: A feminine woman who is homosexual.
- Long Hair Is Feminine: Ladylike long locks.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Long hair makes a Pretty Boy and Bishōnen even prettier.
- Love Be a Lady: Love is often explored or personified through feminine entities (or if in a group, the most feminine).
- Mama Bear: When protecting her kids, it's okay to loosen femininity requirements
- Masculine, Feminine, Androgyne Trio: A feminine character is grouped with a masculine character and an androgynous character.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: A feminine male and a masculine female are featured together.
- Men Are Strong, Women Are Pretty: Men are attractive as long as they're active and/or physically strong or strive to become so. Women are born attractive and if they're not, nothing but plastic surgery will ever make them attractive.
- Naginatas Are Feminine: If a Japanese lady wants to kick ass, best to use this.
- No Guy Wants an Amazon: Be a "real woman" or don't get the guy.
- Ojou Ringlets: In Japanese media, royal ladies often wear their hair in twin curls that frame the ears.
- One of the Girls: A guy and his girl friends spend time and do things together.
- Parasol of Prettiness: A ladylike accessory, now giving an old fashioned air.
- Pink Heroine: In a team, the girl member prefers this color.
- Pink Means Feminine: Pink signifies femininity.
- Princess Classic: The most feminine of princesses.
- Princess Phase: Any true lady must at least want to be a princess at some point in her life.
- Prone to Tears: Crying a lot is cute and acceptable in girls.
- Proper Lady: The ideal British lady.
- Real Men Wear Pink: A masculine male with a feminine streak.
- Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: Femininity means weakness.
- Regal Ringlets: Hair for ladies of high birth.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: One man is feminine, and the other is masculine.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: If she doesn't look feminine at first, she will.
- She-Fu: Kicking ass, but looking very girly about it.
- Shoe Size Angst: People with small shoe sizes and men with large shoes are likely to avoid any ridicule. Women with big feet on the other hand are seen as unfeminine and will likely be the subject of mockery from everyone, aside from guys with foot fetishes.
- Shy Blue-Haired Girl: A hair color that signifies delicate femininity.
- Silk Hiding Steel: Feminine on the outside... and on the inside, but you don't want to cross her anyway.
- Southern Belle: The feminine ideal of the old south.
- Spirited Young Lady: Femininity as wholly compatible with empowerment and independence.
- Tender Tomboyishness, Foul Femininity
- Textile Work Is Feminine: True ladies can make and mend clothes.
- The Three Faces of Eve: A special feminine trio.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: One girl is masculine, and the other is feminine.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: A tomboy still has some femininity within her.
- Town Girls: A trio has one tomboy (Butch), one girly girl (Femme) and one that doesn't fit into either category (Neither).
- True Blue Femininity: Blue signifies femininity.
- The Vamp: Corrupt femininity weaponized to destroy a morally righteous man.
- Vanity Is Feminine: True ladies care about their appearance.
- Vasquez Always Dies: Masculine women are expendable.
- Winter Royal Lady: Winter-evoking nobility titles are ladylike and glamorous.
- Water Is Womanly: Association with water represents femininity.
- Womanliness as Pathos: Women inherently cause drama or intense feelings.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: The genteel but strong-willed ideal Japanese lady.
