Double Standard

"No I won't calm down. Women are allowed to get angrier than men about double standards."

—Liz Lemon, 30 Rock

Double standards for the genders are very old; separate gender roles have existed for thousands of years. The world has changed since then, of course, but writers (and the tropes they use) can take a long time to catch up. A double standard trope exemplifies this; these are tropes whose persistence reveals our collective assumptions about gender roles, drawing in one fashion or another on enduring, often unspoken assumptions that men should be like this and women should be like that.

Tropes can reveal these assumptions in odd and unintuitive ways. Inverting accepted gender roles in having our rough, tough Big Damn Hero turn out to be female in a shocking plot twist or sight gag can still be a Double Standard, since the effect relies on the idea that it's surprising that a woman should be doing these things.

Women are not the only ones confined into gender roles by the assumptions underlying these tropes. Everyone knows that A Man Is Not a Virgin or that Men Are the Expendable Gender, after all. Other tropes reveal gender assumptions in a more complicated fashion; Double Standard Rape (Female on Male) reveals assumptions about both men and women—women are assumed not to have any sexual potency (so they can't hurt men with sex), and men, unlike women, are not considered 'defiled' or 'deflowered' by sexual acts (so men can't be hurt by sex, unless it's done by another man, sometimes not even then).

Remember that Tropes Are Not Bad, and that many of these tropes are only noteworthy because of their prevalence across entire genres or societies; one example in a particular work doesn't automatically mean anything on its own. It is only the fact that these tropes appear time and again that calls attention to them.

Also, merely being Always Male or Always Female does not a sexist trope make, unless that trope has built-in sexism. In fact, underhanded sexism (of the "frequently sexist in execution or delivery but not sexist in nature" variety; see below) is most prevalent in tropes that are in theory gender-neutral, but whose examples are in overwhelming majority male or female (where one draws the line may be a matter of opinion). Often an issue in works relying on Mars and Venus Gender Contrast. Any invocation of Some of My Best Friends Are X (gender, race, other) will tend to rely on a Double Standard.

While the Trope Codifier is on gender, this trope can also affect Race, Religion, Nationality, to even things such as fanbases and more.

See also the Sliding Scale of Gender Inequality.

No real life examples, please; this is not about double standards in the real world, it is about double standards in storytelling. Also, the examples here should be tropes, not works or people.

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Tropes

Sexist Against Men

• A Man Is Always Eager: A man has no right to not want sex.
• Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male, Armor-Piercing Slap: In fictionland, women are weak and ineffectual. Consequently, women can inflict physical violence to men all they want, it can't be that serious. And if it is, it's "justified" since women are morally superior, hence use violence more wisely than men. As for psychological abuse, it doesn't count since it's Unmanly for a man to have feelings aside from fury and urges to kill.
• All Abusers Are Male: Companion to Double Standard Rape (Female on Male), Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male, and Double Standard Rape (Female on Female). This trope specifically refers to shows that deal with or address abuse (or even try to educate people about it) and either imply or openly state that only men are capable of committing this act. Sometimes this carries the implication that all men are abusers, but other times it simply implies that women are above reproach and men have to work much harder to avoid default Complete Monster status.
• All Gays Are Promiscuous: The homosexual version of All Men Are Perverts. But while female sexuality in the absence of men is a beautiful, chaste thing and lesbians are portrayed as loving and maternal, male sexuality in the absence of women is sexually predatory and insatiable. Add in some AIDS and the story becomes a metaphor for how male sexuality in the absence of women is not only dirty and filthy but lethal. One disturbing Unfortunate Implication of this trope is that gay men can't be raped by other men.
• All Men Are Perverts: No man is able to keep it in his pants. Male sexuality is often portrayed as "dirty", "stupid" and "demeaning to women". In contrast, female sexuality is "beautiful," "exciting," and she's "exploring her femininity," "taking charge of her fulfillment," "asserting her sexual power against male repression" etc.-- unless it's benefiting a man, in which case it's "exploitative and objectifying of women;" some feminists even go so far as to claim that men only want sex with women, solely in order to degrade and control them. (And likewise, this isn't considered "hate-speech.")
  • Statutory Rape is perhaps the most infamous example of this type of double-standard; when a female teacher or other older woman seduces a student or other under-age male, it's typically trivialized, dismissed or laughed at; but if the genders are reversed, he's typically called a "child-rapist" or "pedophile" even if the girl is old enough to marry him under state law (which would make it hebephilia or ephebophilia at worst-- not pedophilia).
  • Underscored on South Park, where a 25-year old teacher is having sex with Kyle's 2-year old brother; and when Kyle reports it to police, they just ask "is she hot? Nice."
  • Male sexuality isn't even allowed to be referenced, except in context of female sexuality; for example, in When Harry Met Sally, Meg Ryan can "fake it" in the middle of a crowded restaurant. and get public approval; likewise, "Oprah" can yammer about female orgasms etc. constantly, but the instant a male doctor utters something about ejaculation then she shuts him down immediately, screaming "this is a family show!"
  • Men are also portrayed as more shallow then women, only interested in physical beauty rather then mental, emotional or spiritual beauty, whereas women, who are wiser, have a far more developed and nuanced sense of romantic attraction. (Although in the case of a Super Mom yoked to a Bumbling Dad, she seems to have absolutely no standards. Which is played for laughs.)
• A Man Is Not a Virgin: Or if he is, he's inappropriate and pathetic. Similarly, men aren't allowed to fear rejection in approaching women—and likewise, such non-concern makes him an insensitive creep. Likewise, woman are allowed to humiliate a man who does approach her, and it's played for laughs.
• A Real Man Is a Killer, Manly Men Can Hunt: Justified in History dramas and in tribal societies but elsewhere it implies that reveling in boorish and gratuitous violence towards weaker beings is the quintessence of virility. Non-aggressive, peaceful guys are just pansies. Also justified if hunting is a ritual of a fantastic culture, or in other words if Manly Men Can Hunt is an in-verse prejudice.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Goes hand in hand with Men Are the Expendable Gender.
• Bumbling Dad: "My dad's got no brains and I will NOT hesitate to tell him how much he SUCKS! But if I told that to my mom, I'd be skinned alive, and not only by her!" Referenced in a Dilbert book where Dogbert teaches etiquette, which features a segment dedicated to this. Dogbert is shown insulting a man's father with no visible reaction, but when he says something like "He's so ugly that the only way your mom would marry him is in the dark", which elicits an angry "What did you say about my mom?!"
• Casanova Wannabe: Unattractive tacky guy wants to get laid, hilarious! (The far rarer female equivalent would be an Abhorrent Admirer depending on how unattractive and tacky we're talking here.)
• Compensating for Something: When was the last time you heard a woman being accused of compensating for a really wide vagina?
• Does Not Like Men and He-Man Woman Hater: Women who dislike men are portrayed more sympathetically than men who dislike women.
• Double Standard: Yes, the double standard is even Shaped Like Itself. You'll notice that a large number of trope entries on this page detailing tropes sexist against men... actually talk about how they're really just as sexist, if not more, against women. Even when something negatively affects men, it's apparently still about women.
• Double Standard Rape (Female on Male): Women can't 'really' rape men, it is implied, so he must have wanted it or been so weak he's not worthy of sympathy.
• Double Standard Rape (Male on Male): A subtrope of Black Comedy Rape. Supports that a) Only a man can hurt another man by sex b) The victim is an Acceptable Target for not having been able to defend himself c) Unless it's Black Comedy, laughing at a female victim of rape is being a complete asshole.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: for a woman to wear men's clothing is pretty much normal nowadays. For a man to wear women's clothing? A big, ugly deal.
• The Dulcinea Effect: The stupid husband of lame Damsel in Distress.
• Gendercide: Almost always applied to men and the world will often be shown as a Utopia without them. And if women are wiped out, men's only concern will be to simply finish the job and massacre themselves until there's no a single human being left. (With maybe some anal rape thrown in.)
• Fan Girl vs Fan Boy: The former is able to "get away" with actions that would get the latter locked up or looked down upon, in both fiction and Real Life. Girl cosplays? That's childish hence cute! Guy cosplays? He's an asocial loser who needs to get out of his mom's basement. Girl admits to wanting to sleep with a male celebrity, complete with fanart? That's cute, since girls are innocent and childlike, never sinister or dangerous. Guy admits he wants to sleep with a female celebrity, complete with fanart? Creepy stalker who needs to stop fapping to girls he will never have.
• Female Angel, Male Demon: Highly offensive to both but much more to men than to women. First, it holds that mercy, refinement and kindness are "female" virtues as opposed to crudeness, violence and cruelty which are seen as "male" attributes. Second, should genders be reversed, the female will always be a Horny Devil, no other flaw needing be mentioned, because My Girl Is Not a Slut; and the male will be portrayed as a pansy for his gracious nature is Unmanly. Finally, Evil Is Sexy for both genders, plus it's Badass for men but Good is only desirable for women because, in fictionland, kindness equals weakness and weakness is the very definition of femininity for many. Thus, men MUST NOT be gentle in their "goodness", lest they'll be branded as sissies.
• Groin Attack: Women will never be attacked here - other than Rape as Drama - but it's played for laughs with men. (And even then, in Real Life, kicking a woman down there will still hurt them)
• Henpecked Husband: No one will take them seriously. But if they were women, everyone would SCREAM in outrage.
• High Heel Face Turn: Women have to do twice the evil to get the same recognition as evil. Women disproportionately score more convenient redemptions then men. Related to Beauty Equals Goodness. May be partially explained by most writers being male and viewing women as more beautiful then men. But it does not entirely explain it, since there have been times and places where Most Writers Are Male did not coincide with viewing women as more beautiful and redeemable then men. Draco in Leather Pants is a related fandom phenomenon in which fangirl sympathy for male characters is directly proportionate to fangirls' desire to... er... show them the error of their ways.
• Macho Disaster Expedition: Men are inherently idiotic once they take off to the country.
• Men Act, Women Are: Men are defined by what they do. Women are defined by what they are.
• Men Are Generic, Women Are Special: Simply being female is a "distinct characteristic", while maleness is the "default".
• Men Are the Expendable Gender: Unlike female characters, male characters don't start with audience sympathy, they have to earn it; male deaths aren't portrayed as being as significant or emotionally impactful as female deaths. While the trope is doubtlessly demeaning to men, it has Unfortunate Implications for women as well. Think of the commonly associated dramatic phrase, "women and children" (as in "women and children first," or "the Complete Monster attacked women and children!"), which equates the self-sufficiency of women with that of young children. In general, this trope comes with the implication that the reason male deaths are more acceptable is that men are expected to be able to take care of themselves and others and forfeit sympathy if they don't, while women aren't expected to take care of themselves or others and don't forfeit sympathy when they don't.
• Men Are Uncultured: Beethoven, Picasso and Shakespeare notwithstanding, men wouldn't know cultural refinement if it bit them on the ass. Because being cultured is un-Badass thus Unmanly.
• Men Don't Cry: Men's tears are more likely to be viewed as weakness, while a woman's Tender Tears are more likely to appear as proof of a tender heart. Manly Tears, if acknowledged to exist, must be used very sparingly.
• Momma's Boy: A woman dominated by her father is a poor victim. A Daddy's Girl might be annoying, but not necessarily. A man dominated by his mother is an instant Butt Monkey and an Acceptable Target.
• No Bisexuals: Much more applicable to men, especially in the past few years. In general if a woman does something sexually risque or out of the norm it's kinky; if a man does it, its gross, perverted, creepy, and, in this case, makes him less of a man.
• No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Male sexuality isn't something worthy of pursuit. If a woman thinks a man is worthy of pursuit, there's something wrong with her and something wrong with him for submitting to it.
• Parenting the Husband: because men (boys?) never grow up.
• Pedo Hunt: Male pedophiles are eviscerated and burnt at the stake by society. Female pedophiles? Unless they're also lesbians, they're hardly ever mentioned and given a "free pass" despite being guilty of the same depravity. In addition, guys seen talking to children who are not family members are automatically thought of as pedophiles due to this and All Men Are Perverts.
  • Also, male victims of pedophilia perpetuated by women are actually lauded, and any trauma he may experience is completely ignored, especially if the perpetrator is attractive and young (ex., "hey, he nailed his hot Social Studies teacher, lucky bastard"). Conversely, female victims are always looked upon as victims and handled with much more compassion, and this time even if the perpetrator is a woman.
  • In fact, that very perspective (the first part, about male victims being lauded) was pointedly mocked in an episode of South Park.
  • The only exception to the rule are the parents- and even then, sometimes only because of the chance of her male accomplices being the real pedophiles and the chance of human trafficking.
• Raised by Dudes : Men cannot nurture babies nor can they raise children correctly without the help of women, especially if the child is a girl.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil : Does not apply to male victims, ever. This Double Standard is the meta-Double Standard for Double Standard Rape (Male on Male) and Double Standard Rape (Female on Male).
• Runaway Bride: If a man leaves a bride at the altar, he's an asshole. If a woman leaves a groom, she just values her independence against men or has found her true love elsewhere.
• Sex for Product: Not only are men stupid enough to fall for it, it also strongly suggests men aren't sexy enough on their own to attract women, they have to have something extra. The implication that all women are essentially prostitutes is also rather vile.
• Sissy Villain: Masculine women are often heroes with suitably heroic deaths; feminine men? Evil incarnate.
• Stalker with a Crush: Women who obsessively chase men, no matter how far they go, are just funny and eccentric. Men who do the same to women are portrayed as evil monsters who need to be jailed away.
• Straw Feminist page compared with the Straw Misogynist page.
• Turn Out Like His Father: Somehow, sons always take evil traits after their father. Some daughters do as well. But any good they may have in them always comes from their saintly mother. Note, however, that not all mothers are saintly.
• The Unfair Sex: To some writers, whenever a relationship goes wrong, it's always the man's fault, no matter if it's the case or not.
• Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: Male characters who employ this trope against female characters are evil; female characters who employ this trope against male characters are just really frustrated and upset.
• Would Hurt a Child: The perpetrator of this is almost Always Male. Female child abusers seem to only limit themselves to psychological abuse but, as anybody knows, women are just too weak to physically hurt anyone, not even children. Alternatively women are seen as inherently good in comparison to beastly men.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Women can hit men but men can't hit women. Women are too weak to be hit; Men Are the Expendable Gender. Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male while a Woman hitting a Man is rarely ever seen this way.

Sexist against women

• Abduction Is Love: An Always Female kidnapping is love scenario.
• All Amazons Want Hercules, Best Her to Bed Her, No Guy Wants an Amazon: Strong women can only find their fulfillment with stronger men.
• All Lesbians Want Kids: A so-called Truth in Television that is, in many or even most cases, just not true at all. But enforced many times and often focusing mainly on the difficulty of finding a semen donor, who invariably turns out to be a straight man. Usually stems from the fact that Most Writers Are Straight Males and have only a limited understanding (sometimes coloured by unrealistic fantasy) of how relationships between homosexual women work, and / or a desire to reassure themselves (and the male audience) that men still form a vital part in women's lives, even if the women in question are gay.
• All Women Are Lustful: Should normally be the Distaff Counterpart to All Men Are Perverts but is currently a Forgotten Trope that is almost never used, almost never played straight and almost never treated as negatively as the male version. Since women have no sexual potency, today's female wantonness is either seen as good service for males, or as a positive emancipation.
• All Women Are Prudes: Replaces All Women Are Lustful in all modern fiction. Women have absolutely no sex drive and do not want, desire, or even enjoy sex whatsoever. They only have sex with men to get men to marry them, do/buy stuff for them, or to get pregnant. Having no sex drive also means pulling off a Lysistrata Gambit is cakewalk to them.
• Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: Women should be offended not being raped because sexual assault is a compliment and a blessing, like any good rape victim will tell you!
• Asian Airhead: An Asian woman? She must be a stupid bimbo, easy to manipulate and good service in bed for the Mighty Whitey!
• Career Versus Man, Family Versus Career: Women have to choose between career and family.
• Chick Flick: According to media and those in power, women ought to enjoy romantic films and nothing else. Also, men who have watched such a film are Acceptable Targets or pansies. Women who don't dig such a genre are abnormal.
• Chickification: An extremely common trope that strips strong female characters from their independence, assertiveness and self-confidence as soon as they show a glimpse of femininity. Or simply because there is no other female on the main cast and someone has to be saved at one point.
• Clarke's Law for Girls Toys: Toy adverts often contend that little girls are inherently mentally retarded while little boys are the epitome of intelligence.
• Cat Fight, Designated Girl Fight: When men fight each other, it's serious. When women fight each other, no matter how brutal and gory the battle gets, it is considered cute and arousing, thus dismissed as a Cat Fight.
• Disposable Woman, Cartwright Curse: Women serve as plot devices in service of male character development or backstory, and are killed off, most times in the most gruesome way possible, or Put on a Bus as soon as their usefulness in this regard has ended. Usually the result of Executive Meddling, though plain old bad writing is sometimes to blame.
• Disposable Sex Worker: Prostitutes deserve no compassion and must be killed off. Can be Gender Flipped but it's rare.
• Dumb Blonde: Although subversions are fairly common.
• Effortless Amazonian Lift: A man carrying someone is considered omnipresent, since men are expected to excel in the physical department.
• Fag Hag: Women who associate closely with Gay men often suffer the same bias as Yaoi Fangirls and, as the title suggests, are more often than not portrayed as unattractive, overweight spinsters that are just desperate for male company but too ugly to get laid. Attractive portrayals DO exist but are less common. However, Heaven forbids they actually enjoy watching Gay men getting it on!
• Fat Girl: Seldom seen and almost always the show's Acceptable Target. Positive portrayals are extremely rare, especially is she's White. Compare to Big Fun and Fat Bastard who are almost exclusively male.
• Faux Action Girl: She supposedly kicks ass but we never get to see her doing it. Similar in theory to Miles Gloriosus, but in practice the latter boasts of his own prowess and his shortcomings are entirely due to his ego and cowardice, while the former is shilled by her compatriots and her inadequacy in combat carries the implicit message that a woman is too weak and too emotional to fight.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: Home cooking is the quintessence of femininity. In the real world, however, professional cooking had only very recently began to open its doors to women. That women are by and large considered to be too weak, both mentally and physically, to handle the professional kitchen is still shockingly prevalent despite the recent emergence of female celebrity chefs. Nevertheless, especially in anime, a feminine woman who can't cook is regularly treated as though there is something seriously wrong with her (although in some cases this can be probably true) and often entire episodes are dedicated to her learning to do so, usually so she can make something nice for her Love Interest.
• GIRL: How many males get this much scrutiny over their gender?
• Girl of the Week: An Always Female Shallow Love Interest that often ends up Stuffed in The Fridge.
• Girls Are Really Scared of Horror Movies
• Girls Need Role Models: Many depicted lean toward those that girls don't exactly need. And guys don't need any role models because they're not expected to challenge the gender role given to them by society.
• Give Geeks a Chance: Funny how only male geeks end up with the babes. This may be largely due to the cultural perception that there are no female geeks in the first place. It also furthers the idea that men can expect women way beyond their league and be really shallow about it, whereas a woman can't even have reasonable standards without being called a bitch.
• God Save Us From the Queen: Women in positions of power are usually portrayed as shrill, PMS-ing, Manipulative Bitches or all-along incompetent rulers.
• Heir Club for Men: Justified by historical accuracy in period dramas, but still completely Truth in Television in many places.
• Hollywood Pudgy + Hollywood Homely: In Hollywood, women - especially White women - have to fit in a very strict standard of beauty. Merely ordinary looks, never mind actual ugliness, are the ultimate no-no and women who don't fit these patterns that almost always need plastic surgery to exist will have a limited career and elicit a less than positive reaction from the (male) audience. Hence, most actresses in Hollywood look strangely the same. Unattractive men, on the other hand, have virtually no limitations in these regards and can have a successful career, no matter what they look like. Honestly, how many female equivalents of Woody Allen, Mike Myers, Jack Black, Edward James Olmos, Joe Pesci or Danny De Vito can you think of? (On the other hand, most of the above male actors are pigeonholed into comedic roles. Basically, ugly men are funny and ugly women don't exist.) All of which constitutes an Unfortunate Implication that there is nothing more important to a woman than physical appearance and that men are allowed to be much shallower about their standards than women.
• Hysterical Woman: Holds that women must be more temperamental and neurotic than men, and therefore less capable, simply because they are women.
• Kavorka Man: The female equivalent doesn't exist in the media. In Real Life, ugly or plain-looking women who manage to score are viewed with suspicion at best, with disgust most times.
• Licensed Sexist: Misogyny by a sympathetic character, often played for laughs.carry
• Lineage Comes From the Father: Only men carry nobility and honourable legacy in their bloodlines. Women are just unimportant vessels for the next generation who have nothing to contribute otherwise. Related to Heir Club for Men.
• A Man Is Always Eager: Men always want to have sex, no matter what, even if they've never had it before, and it's all they think about. Also, women see sex as a chore and are never completely "ready" for it, and sometimes, they never recover from their traumatic first time.
• Mars Needs Women: Goes hand in hand with Monster Misogyny. See below.
• Monster Misogyny: Women, being weak and easily frightened, make better victims than men. Carries even more Unfortunate Implications if the killing is intended to titillate.
• Most Common Superpower: Male superheroes get muscular figures. Female superheroines get big boobs.
• Most Writers Are Male: The source of many double standards.
• Moustache De Plume: The price to pay for female writers if they want to be taken seriously.
• Ms. Fanservice: If the character is well-developed in other ways, it's not a serious problem; but often she'll be objectified and used for fanservice and very little else. And the male equivalent Mr. Fanservice is nearly always a functional character as well as providing fanservice.
• My Biological Clock Is Ticking: Since women's foremost preoccupation is to be mothers and Childfree Is Not Allowed, those who are still childless at age 40 will automatically freak out and let go of everything in order to fulfil their primary function in society. Those who don't are selfish bitches or Straw Feminists.
• My Girl Is Not a Slut: The boy, on the other hand, can be easy like Sunday morning and not get any flack from it.
• Neutral Female: Not interfering in the fight between The Hero and the Big Bad, The Chick stays on the sidelines, waiting for the strongest male to come and pick her up as prize.
• Nipple-and-Dimed: Males can have as many shirtless scenes as they want, and still be rated "G". Women meanwhile, if you even so much as show them without a bra on, expect to have the rating bumped up to "R" (or "PG-13" if you're lucky) merely because of that. Thus, with any nude scenes, females must either cover their naked breasts with their arms or some kind of object, whereas males are able to show off much more of their bodies...including nipples.
• Quickly-Demoted Woman: So a man can take the position.
• Double Standard Rape (Female on Female): An extremely insulting one—a) Women are so weak they just can't harm anyone seriously, NOT EVEN OTHER WOMEN b) Lesbian sex is sexy but doesn't count as "true" sex because all sex is penetrative else it's just foreplay thus nothing to complain about. c) Dismissing this trope as unappealing passes off as Selective Squick.
• Really Gets Around: As usual with sexual activity, if it's a man, he's expected to be promiscuous and admired if he is. If it's a woman, she's just a slut.
• Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: To many fans, it's impossible to be badass if you're feminine! You must be a macho man in the body of an Action Girl, throw out your miniskirts, piss on men and insult any woman less "badass" than yourself, if you want some respect and be seen as a "strong female", else you're useless.
  • Note that the trope deals with women displaying femininity always being negative characters, not with the fact of wearing a dress/skirt to fight which is another matter.
• Ryona: Fan-made videos that fetishize violence dealt to women in fighting and survival games. The phenomenon carries many Unfortunate Implications and marks a particularly sadistic brand of misogyny. Related to Stuffed Into the Fridge and Monster Misogyny.
• Screaming Woman: A woman stands screaming and helpless as the monster advances on her. Cue her square-jawed male rescuer, arriving in the nick of time with his trusty sword/shotgun/other phallic symbol to pull her out of danger. Goes hand in hand with Monster Misogyny, and, as such, was far more prevalent in the black-and-white era.
• The Smurfette Principle: Count the male and female speaking parts in the cast of the top ten grossing movies in any year. Or in Tolstoy. Or Shakespeare. Or the scriptures of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Or the classical Greek dramas.
• Standard Hero Reward: Doesn't take into account the princess's desire to marry or not to marry the hero. "Giving" her to the hero as a reward also implies that she is property, although genderflipped examples aren't that uncommon either. No one asks the hero if he wants her as a reward, either. Maybe all those heroes were gritting their teeth and secretly thinking, 'Don't insult the king. Don't insult the king. Don't insult the king.'
• Standard Female Grab Area: Female Badasses are often subdued far more peacefully—and improbably—than their male counterparts. Apparently it's enough to stop an Action Girl from doing something "silly"...
• Stay in the Kitchen: Can be played off as noble, if misguided, chivalry. But when it comes from male fans judging female characters, it's nearly always flat out misogyny.
• Straw Feminist: Because it distorts the real-world ideology of feminism into misandry/female supremacy. There are self-proclaimed feminists who fit the trope, but they are relatively few and far between. In the media, however, all feminists tend to be portrayed in such a fashion.
• Stripperiffic: And its sub-tropes, such as Breast Plate and Thong of Shielding - scant, usually impractical armor designed to show as much skin as possible. Common in RPGs, but notably less so in other genres and media; averted in some cases and with both genders fitting the bill in others. Frank Frazetta, who might be considered the grandfather of this trope, was about as fond of the Loin Cloth as he was the Fur Bikini, although he generally adhered to the standard convention that man in loincloth = Badass, woman in fur bikini = Fan Service.
• Three-Way Sex: A man has sex with 2 girls at the same time: One manly Badass!! A woman has sex with 2 guys at the same time: Eww!! What a whore!! The men in a MMF Threeway don't come off much better, the insult being that they are somehow gay for even being there.
• Token Minority: Women are often treated and included in media as if they were a minority that needed to be "included" on much the same basis as ethnic minorities. In reality, females make up a small majority in most developed industrial nations, and their low-and-only-slowly-increasing participation in media is an artifact of long-term social exclusion. On the other hand, this slowly changing phenomenon may be due to such reasons as a lower percentage of female actors, or a subconscious expectation by both sexes to see a certain distribution of sexes in media which naturally takes time to change.
• Twofer Token Minority: A non-white woman is treated as ticking two "minority" boxes. See Token Minority above.
• Vasquez Always Dies: Tough, badass women are more likely to die before the end of the story because No Guy Wants an Amazon, especially not one that isn't after Hercules. Also contains an underhanded aesop to female viewers that refusing to appeal to males means death. Could also be due to the Worf Effect, wherein the most badass and capable are taken out first in order to ramp up the tension.
• Virgin Power, Virgin Tension: And all virginity tropes. Virginity equals purity and a virgin woman can do whatever questionable act she wants, it doesn't count: she's a virgin thus pure. However, women who have lost their virginity, never mind how and when, are Defiled Forever and repulsive pieces of trash that no sane man would ever bother with.
• White Dwarf Starlet, Hollywood Old: Getting older is forbidden for actresses. Male actors are just given different roles when they get old, and allowed go on playing romantic leads even when it gets a bit creepy. (Roger Moore in A View to a Kill was older than co-star Tanya Roberts' mother.) This is slowly being worn at, with such actresses like Dame Judi Dench, Julie Andrews, Meryl Streep, and Maggie Smith. Still in force, in that they have extensive work history and acclaim.
• Yoko Oh No: Music Trope concerning love interests of band members. If the love interest is a woman, she will have derision and scorn heaped upon her more likely than a male one.

Sexist against either

• Abhorrent Admirer, compare to Stalker with a Crush: Basically a female Casanova Wannabe equally Played for Laughs but with even more Unfortunate Implications for both sides: a) Women who aren't physically perfect should remain unnoticeable else they're posing a serious threat to men b) Men are so stupid and shallow they can't stand the presence of a woman who isn't physically perfect and sexually passive c) A woman depicted as being that picky about men's physique is just a bitch.
• Acceptable Targets
• Action Girl / Non-Action Guy: While these two character archetypes may be well-executed, and often are, the simple fact that action and non-action, respectively, are the assumed default position for men and women (enough to merit tropes that point out when a woman is capable of fighting or a man is unwilling or unable to fill the shoes of an action hero) certainly constitutes a double standard.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Compassionate, caring and intelligent men don't score girls—rugged bastards do. Likewise, women must only think with their vaginas and fall for said rugged bastards - often with the implication that said women either subconsciously desire to be treated like dirt, or are simply too naive to know what they really want.
• All Guys Want Cheerleaders: Cheerleaders are dumb, cruel and shallow by default, and if you like one of them, you'll never appreciate real good women. Implies that men think only with their penises and therefore would choose an attractive, but abusive woman over a less attractive but sweet one. .
• Amusing Injuries: Women are free to inflict comedic violence with impunity, especially against men, but injuries inflicted by men are rarely comedic, especially if they're inflicted on women. This is sexist against men in that it limits the roles male characters are allowed to take, but it's also sexist against women in that it carries a subtext that women are weak, and incapable of inflicting serious injuries.
• Bastard Boyfriend: And related tropes. Women are depicted being abused by their boyfriends to titillate the audience. Even more disturbing, this trope shows up mostly in media made by women for women and is very popular in the Boys Love. Not only does it carry the Unfortunate Implication that women, and by extension homosexual men, are inherently masochistic and if they're not they should be, but it also raises other questions such as: why do women think so poorly of men? or Is Love Martyrdom the sole way to greatness for women and gay men?
• Be it this trope, or Bitch Girlfriend, there is also the danger of unittingly encouraging people to blow slight relationship problems way out of proportion and treat them as cases of the significant other displaying consciously hurtful, controlling or neglectful behavior.
• Be a Whore to Get Your Man: Modest, decent women never get the guy unless they start dressing and acting like wanton skanks. Because All Men Are Perverts.
• Beast and Beauty: ...and many other subtropes thereof, having a woman that must be hot and a man hat must be fugly.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Plain looking or truly ugly people are unlikely to be seen as good/redeemable persons. More often applied to women but men are also concerned. And if you're evil and hot, you must be redeemable somehow...
• Cute Monster Girl: The females are less monstrous than the males in any species, but sex appeal is only important for said females, not the males.
• Death by Woman Scorned: Killing a cheater (can be male or female depending on the work) is seen as absolutely justified.
• Depraved Homosexual, Depraved Bisexual, Psycho Lesbian: Three character types that fall outside society's established sexual roles and portrayed as mentally unstable sexual predators whose evil tendencies stem from their unusual sex drives, especially if the first two are male and if the last one is not bisexual. Which "proves" that men and women who have interest in same-sex relationships are dangerous and threatening, if not downright insane. Don't even get started on the even bigger can of worms opened up when someone asks if it's possible to have one of these characters without Unfortunate Implications.
• Different for Girls
• Dismissed Gender
• Dropped a Bridget On Him / Samus Is a Girl: Women that turn out to be men are seen as Squick inducing, while men that turn out to be women are seen as a turn-on. This pretty much sums it up.
• Girl-On-Girl Is Hot: But boy on boy is Squick (though Ho Yay can occasionally] result) and an actual lesbian relationship is likely to be viewed with contempt, as a woman is only supposed to be happy with a man in her life.
• Girl Show Ghetto: Implies that shows made for girls are inferior and should only be watched by girls. This also has a little homophobia in the implication that any men who watch said shows are gay, and that is bad.
• High Heel Face Turn: Due to the Women Are Wiser rule, evil women are usually portrayed as more redeemable than evil men. Or as just too naïve, indecisive and emotional to choose their path by themselves and thus need to follow a man. And this possibility of redemption is almost always proportional to the woman's attractiveness; ie if she's unattractive she's MUCH LESS likely to be redeemed.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: One of the worst offenders of this section. Upon entering adolescence, nevermind the typical uneasiness that most teenagers experience with their changing bodies, girls will automatically turn into shallow skanks, whose major goal is to look like sluts and be with a boy so they can be complete. Boys automatically turn into lecherous perverts whose main purpose will be to prove their masculinity by losing their virginity and acting boorish. And if they don't fit in these two categories, something is wrong with them.
• Hot for Student: It is acceptable for an authoritative adult, be male or female, to desire sex with minors; the minors should thank their luck instead of even thinking they were taken advantage of, as long as said authoritative adult is attractive. This applies more to female teacher/male student than vice versa.
• I Just Want to Be Loved/I Just Want to Be Badass: Wish Fulfillment tropes that downplay what women and men are supposed to want out of life. Since a woman is Never a Self-Made Woman, being a mother and wife is all that should matter. For men, there's no other valid way to exist than being violent, assholish and sexually hyperactive. Only then can you claim the crowning titles of "manly" and "respectable".
• I'm a Man, I Can't Help It: Since All Men Are Perverts, having their way sexually is the only important thing to men in a relationship. And women have to deal with it, like it or not, else men are entitled to dump them or cheat on them.
• Lady Land: If it's portrayed as a Utopia because there are no men this is Straw Feminist times OVER NINE THOUSAND. On the other hand portraying it as a Dystopia because women should NEVER be in-charge of ANYTHING not related to household is extremely chauvinistic.
• Lifetime Movie of the Week: The sexism against men by portraying them as perpetually greedy, perverted, selfish and cruel is a given. But it's sexist against women too, by portraying them as perpetual victims, both weak and virtuous, and telling them to expect this as their lot in life.
• Lysistrata Gambit: Where All Women Are Lustful and I'm a Man, I Can't Help It intersect. Played equally it's almost not sexist, showing both genders as slaves to their loins. More typically, it uses one of those two tropes more than the other.
• Mars and Venus Gender Contrast: The mainstream movies version of Men Buy From Mars, Women Buy From Venus which insultingly describes men and women as absurdly stereotyped and totally unable to communicate and interact with each other unless one accepts being symbolically "vanquished" by the other. Can be pulled off well but the Unfortunate Implications potential is always very high.
• Men Buy From Mars, Women Buy From Venus: A common assertion that exacerbates gender stereotypes to the point of absurdity in adverts.
• Most Gamers Are Male: Commonly held, much like There Are No Girls on the Internet, as a truism, when it isn't - now less than ever. On one hand, there is the assumption that women are rarely, if ever, interested in video games, a "male" form of entertainment. On the other, men are assumed to be interested in nothing but violence, titillation and explosions - when many, many story-heavy games have proven quite successful.
• Mother Nature, Father Science: A specific subtrope of Harmony Versus Discipline where the kind and nurturing but squeamish and emotional woman plays along the logical, more analytical but assholish and conceited man who scorns anything not related to science.
• Never a Self-Made Woman: According to media and due to Most Writers Are Male, a woman just can't achieve major success/strength/power/badassery, in short anything important, without the help of an Always Male mentor/family member/friend/lover who is automatically stronger and cooler than she is. She will always be a superior man's daughter/ward/sister/lover/student before anything else.
• No Accounting for Taste: Mismatched couples almost ALWAYS make the man the less conventionally appealing one, as in Ugly Guy, Hot Wife. This seems to incorporate a) it's much funnier to laugh at pathetic men and b) no one would EVER marry a woman who wasn't conventionally appealing no matter what. Sucks for both sides.
• Otaku Surrogate: A woman interested in comics, gaming or science fiction? She must have been invented by a man.
• Prison Rape: The "real" punishment of daring to break the law. Usually applied to men as men make up a larger amount of the prison population, but is also applied to women.
• Rape as Redemption: Can happen for either gender - though for women, it reinforces traditional gender ideals by having her be 'mastered' by a man and therefore made into a good person; for men it is intended to destroy macho, usually chauvanistic pretensions. Essentially, a Take That to uppity men who fail to respect women as they should.
• Rape Is Love: When one character rapes another character to show how much s/he loves him or her. Seen most often in Romance and Yaoi fiction.
• Right Through His Pants: Female nudity in media is far more prevalent than male nudity, particularly during sex scenes. This trope is very slowly becoming discredited as the perceived audience for current media expands.
• Sex Is Evil and I Am Horny: On one hand, the Jerkass whose motto is this is almost always male. On the other hand, it justifies the sexual abuse of women who are Defiled Forever or no longer virgins since such women are whores by definition.
• Skinship Grope: If someone of the opposite sex "touches" the intimate parts of the opposite sex, it is usually seen as a Kick the Dog moment and leads to many consequences. However if someone of the same gender does it, it is usually seen as okay, hot, or comedic. Any groping seen is media is almost always female on female. Male on female is possible, but unless it's in a hentai, it has to be an accidental moment and it usually follows with a Megaton Punch from the female. Of course the one on the receiving end, regardless of the gender of the inflicter, is never amused.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Heavy Unfortunate Implications. For women: It's sexist right out of the gate because women can't be unattractive in the media, but men can be. Women are expected to overlook appearances and love men for who they are, regardless their sex-appeal, and the opposite isn't true. The inversion of the trope (Ugly woman with hot man) is only useful for comedy purposes, because of course those women don't deserve those men. For men: Women MUST be attractive before anything else since men are too shallow and too sex-crazed to look past this. The overall message: Ugly men can still score more women than they would points in a shmup but ugly women shouldn't even exist.

Frequently sexist in execution or delivery, but not sexist in nature

• Affirmative Action Girl, Positive Discrimination: The effort is admirable, sort of, but it still leaves a sour taste.
• Angst? What Angst?: Seen as a strength in both genders, but it's more considered a strength in men than it is for a woman. Women who fit this trope are often cold as ice.
• Anything That Moves: In theory applicable to both but much more often applied to women - especially in porn - since a male sex-crazed omnisexual is often much too threatening for the heterosexual male audience.
• All the Good Men Are Gay: Gay men have the characteristics that women (apparently) desire and straight men don't.
• The Baby Trap: Goes along with the baby-obsessed nature of many women in popular media. Although male "baby traps" are common in real life, media representations are almost of the female variety.
• Basement Dweller: Always male.
• Bishoujo: There's nothing bad per se about characters who happen to be bishoujo; however, they are frequently Ms. Fanservice and show up in shows otherwise littered with other reminders that Most Writers Are Male.
• Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: Alien women are created almost the exact way as beautiful women but Alien men are created as monsters.
• Bondage Is Bad: In and of itself the trope does not require discriminating against any particular gender more than the other. However...
  • Women into bondage are either portrayed as liberated women if they are dominants and if they are submissives then they are oppressed and abused. And of course, the concept of switching off isn't even discussed.
  • Men get it slightly worse; if they are dominants then they are He-Man Woman Hater Goreans that believe Rape Is Love, and if they are submissives then they are pathetic, weak and pussy-whipped (literally!). And switches don't exist.
  • Overall there is a larger level of disdain directed towards maledom/femsub than any other kind of BDSM. Would Gor get even half of the criticism it does if the men were the slaves and women were the mistresses?
• Book Dumb: Book Dumb male heroes are a dime a dozen, but you rarely hear of a Book Dumb female hero unless it's a Dumb Blonde. In fact if a female hero does seem to be Book Dumb the chances are very good she is actually really book-smart but pretending otherwise to fit in (this never very rarely (remember Columbo) happens with a Book Dumb male). While being Book Dumb isn't bad, looked at this way it reinforces the notion that boys are inherently bad (or willfully irresponsible) in school... unless they're yucky Nerds. Point being, female characters can be book-smart and Badass or even desirable, but it's almost as though male characters need to choose between one or the other. On the other hand, the lack of female Book Dumb characters may be a result of Girls Need Role Models.
• But Not Too Black/But Not Too White: It is far more acceptable for black men (or men of non-Caucasian descent) to be dark-skinned than black women who don't fit in the standard mold. Likewise, Caucasian men who are pale-skinned are derided more than fair-skinned Caucasian women due to pale skin being associated with not getting sun/staying outside or geekiness.
• Candlelit Bath: Equating to a dead person and often a woman, natch.
• Clothing Damage: At first only girls got their clothes ripped off, but the male examples are increasing. However, sometimes for men this is a drama or atmosphere thing, while for women it is nearly always a Fan Service thing.
• Coitus Uninterruptus: Applicable to both but almost always played in favour of the man not bothering to stop having sex while being given crucial info. Women will stop altogether or at least act embarrassed.
• Crossdresser: Label is sometimes more readily assigned to men, can also exhibit a double standard if a man is more shamed by crossdressing than a woman.
• Dead Little Sister: Most examples are obviously female. Also, the older siblings who become the heroes/villains are overwhelmingly male, and their reaction to dead above-mentioned sister is more important than the death of the sister itself
• Death by Childbirth: A mother's often a Disposable Woman otherwise unimportant. Could actually be said to look like a women-only version of Dropped a Bridge on (Her), depending on how much relevance the trope and character have in the plot.
• Death by Sex: Either of them will die, but most likely a woman.
• Deliver Us From Evil: If not set up right, makes for a High Heel Face Turn (with all implications in place) of Character Derailment proportions. That, and a man is much less likely to make a Heel Face Turn simply for being a father.
• Designated Victim: Often accompanies Chickification.
• Die for Our Ship: Female characters are way more often subject to this than male characters. Often coincides with Het Is Ew and most fanfic writers are either Yaoi Fangirls or ship the hero with their preferred character or a self-insert Relationship Sue.
• Damsel in Distress: If they exist only to be rescued, it's sexist. While it's more likely to happen to a woman, when it happens to a man it's to showcase how badass the Action Girl who goes to the rescue is.
• Chained to a Rock, Chained to a Railway: Ancient (but not discredited) versions which almost always combine this with Screaming Woman and/or Stuffed in The Fridge if the rescue fails. Of course, the victim is 95% of the time a woman, that needs to be rescued by mostly male Big Damn Heroes.
• Common Knowledge: One fact in particular, actually; the one about 1 in 4 women being raped. Not only is it scientifically dicey (see trope entry), but the same study found that 1 in 6 men are raped. Strangely, you never hear about that second statistic.
• Domestic Abuse: Male on female violence is always bad. Female on male violence is sometimes presented as acceptable, if not encouraged. In anime, it's further justified if she's a Tsundere: Remember kids, she's actually flirting if she's verbally or physically abusive!
• Evil Matriarch: Because you almost never hear of a good matriarch, this is another trope full of underhanded sexism against powerful women.
• Evil Is Sexy: There's nothing abnormal about finding a sexy person sexy, even if they're a total douchebag. However, if a girl finds an evil guy really hot, it's often pegged as Draco in Leather Pants. If a guy finds an evil woman really hot, he's just being smart. Women have Perverse Sexual Lust? Since when?
• The fact that more evil women than men are likely to look good- which plays into the idea that even women who are evil must have some measure of sex appeal, which men don't need at all.
• Fan Service: There's nothing inherently wrong with fanservice, be it a Walking Shirtless Scene or a woman sporting Absolute Cleavage - but if there's more of one than the other, you can bet the opposite gender will be annoyed.
• There is also an unusual Double Standard in the perception of Fan Service. A scantily clad man is less likely to be seen as such - even when he is - while a scantily clad woman is almost always assumed to be there for no other purpose - even when she isn't.
• Fragile Flower and Shrinking Violet: Women get depicted as painfully shy and weak much more often; however, they have a greater chance to grow out of it, and attacking them openly is seen as unforgivable in-story. When a man is depicted as such, though, he's an Acceptable Target and Played for Laughs, and no one will sympathize with him or be good to him, even if they are genuinely scarred by such an abuse.
• Gonk: Female gonks rarely show up with major roles in works of fiction, are less likely to portrayed with sympathy and way more susceptible to Fail Polish.
• He Had It Coming: Examples of both men and women being killed in retaliation because they had it coming either through years of abuse or they were killed in self defense. However, if the trope name isn't enough, it's more often a man who had it coming, partly due to other existing Double Standard tropes.
• Hot for Student: A teacher/student love affair is more likely to be portrayed as romantic if it's a female teacher/male student combo rather than the gender flipped version. In recent years, news media have been condemning female teacher/male student scandals in response, but the general feeling is that female teacher/male students affairs are nothing harmful, and it addes another Double Standard if the female teacher in question is hot...
• House Husband: A woman who chooses to stay at home and raise the kids is making a noble choice to be there for her family. A man who chooses to do this is merely a loser who can't find work.
• The Ingenue and Man Child: Both describe adults with a childlike demeanor, but the former (female) has been considered a wholesome archetype for much of literature; and the latter (male) usually has negative connotations and is probably on its own less famous than its villainous subtrope (and although the Psychopathic Manchild trope is in practice gender-neutral, said characters are most likely to be male as can be seen from its mere name...). Because it's okay or even desirable for women to be naive, childish, and in need of protection, but men are fully expected to be mature and take care of themselves or there's something seriously wrong with them!
• Love Martyr: Almost Always Female and insidiously related to All Girls Want Bad Boys and Sexy Sadist. Carries the Unfortunate Implication that women's only acceptable way to greatness and character depth is to remain faithful to an assholish and violent boyfriend and endure the abuse quietly, no matter how horrible it may be, so as to become the ultimate Woobie. And the rare men who apply to Love Martyrdom are almost always seen as deluded, weak-willed and pathetic pansies.
• Male Gaze: Focusing the camera on a woman's body, sometimes to the literal exclusion of her face, to define her by her physical appeal first and foremost. Comparable shots for men are likely to cause much whining from male viewers. However, note that Male Gaze is only sexist if it's meant to be the audience's view. If it is a POV shot, it's characterization.
• Mary Sue: The threshold for labeling a female character a Mary Sue is often lower than that for a male, and therefore a female will be more likely to have fans hissing "Sue, Sue, Sue!".This is pretty much due to the fact that Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls - teenagers mostly - and thus not always aware of the blatant Mary Sue-ness of their characters due to inexperience and immaturity.
• Measuring the Marigolds: Not in itself but most examples of soulless scientists who wish to deconstruct beautiful things so as to suck the beauty out of them are male. Why? Because Women Are Wiser thus only they can properly appreciate the simple joys of life and the spirit of nature, whereas men are much too assholish to see beauty in anything.
• Millionaire Playboy and Rich Bitch: Both are filthy rich and fear not to display it. But the latter has much more negative connotations associated with it than the former and, obviously, is much more likely to be female, whereas the former is always male. (Unless the guy is also a Jerk Jock. Then he'll be the type to flaunt his cash and be completely stupid, but his dad will buy off the authorities whenever he does anything horrible.)
• Moe: Moe characters are frequently stupid, clumsy, naive, and female... And this is supposed to be cute and make the male audience want to take care of them!
• The Gender FlipPed version, however, is considered adorable by women (who would hate them if they were girls) but will be The Scrappy for male audience since they lack the violent manliness that is usually demanded from a male character.
• The Pollyanna: More often a female character, if it's a male character who fits that trope and isn't either a Child or Knight in Sour Armor, then it's likely that he'll be seen as "Gay" or "Prissy".
• Rape as Drama: Usually featuring a male rapist and a female victim, but sometimes inverted. Sometimes Truth in Television, but depending on portrayal, it can be sexist against men by making them all seem abusive, or sexist against women by making them all seem like victims.
• Samus Is a Girl: As explained in the introduction, having a badass, violent Big Damn Hero that turns out to be a woman all along is a Twist Ending because it relies on the general assumption that women are not supposed to take action in the first place, let alone be Badass, and even less be successful.
• Selective Squick: The practice of many heterosexuals of dismissing as Squick any type of Fan Service that isn't supposed to appeal to them. In other words, lesbian scenes and naked women to straight women, gay scenes and naked men to straight men.
• Likewise, any gay or lesbian character will inevitably be seen by the same sex as shallow fanservice for the opposite sex, regardless of their depth of character.
• Shock Value Relationship: Applicable to either but almost always applied to women since this trope comes from the belief that women only seek romance out of convenience and self-validation.
• The Slacker: A nearly always male character that is not by itself sexist, but can easily be against either men or women because he is usually paired with a decidedly non-slackerish girlfriend - either he comes across as a lovable goof lumbered with a joyless, career driven Ice Queen or she comes across as an intelligent, responsible adult dating a moronic, willfully immature loser.
• Stalker with a Crush: Unwanted male stalkers are dangerous, cruel and irredeemable psychos (except in romantic comedies where they're seen as Dogged Nice Guys); unwanted female stalkers are inconvenient, pathetic or warmed up to in the end.
• Stuffed Into the Fridge: The practice of killing off a character in a particularly gruesome manner for the sole purpose of goading a more important character into action is not, in itself, sexist. In many cases, however, the implications are unfortunate. It tends to happen to women more often than men (see Gail Simone's archived web page Women in Refrigerators, the former Trope Namer, for specific examples), and female deaths that fit the trope often involve some manner of humiliation, sexual or otherwise. This sometimes carries an implicit message that male superheroes and sidekicks die because they're in a dangerous profession, while female superheroes (and the wives or girlfriends of male superheroes) die because they're women.
• Super Bowl Special: Advertisements in general tends to fall into broad and sexist stereotypes, but advertisements at the Super Bowl tend to ramp this Up to Eleven since the game itself is held up as the pinnacle of Male Culture.^[1]
• Temporary Love Interest: Almost always female, almost always Stuffed Into the Fridge. The few male exceptions are backlashes or subversions.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl and Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: If either character type is presented as being better than the other, it's sexist.
• Tsundere: Goes both ways. On one hand, a Tsundere will be hailed and fetishized as a "strong female character" whether she truly is or not and used by the Fan Dumb to bash other female character types seen as "girlier, thus weaker". At the same time, said Tsundere will almost always be flanderized into being Ax Crazy or misandrist towards her love interest and/or other men, bringing up how violence against men coming from women is either "justified", "cute", or "for laughs."
• Ugly Cute: MUCH more likely a reaction is said ugly person is male. Because ugliness in a woman is just unacceptable.
• Unrequited Love: Not in itself but more often are female characters tarred with unrequited romance than male characters, for it is "manly" and normal for men to have no romantic desires whatsoever but all women should have feelings for at least one of the male characters.
• Victoria's Secret Compartment: A man going there is likely to be clobbered, whereas a woman who goes down the Trouser Space is at most frowned or yelled at.
• Wangst: The trope itself is gender neutral, however, you may notice that both in fiction and real life, people are more likely to call "Wangst" on men than they are for women, although women aren't immune from wangst either.
• Why Would Anyone Take Him Back?: Applicable to both but, as the title suggests, more often a man than a woman. Related to No Accounting for Taste.
• Women Are Wiser: In modern domestic comedies and often in other shows, the woman is the more sensible, rational and spiritually inclined character to the oafish, impulsive, shallow man. In general, women are seen to possess automatic moral superiority to men. High Heel Face Turn is a related trope in which female antagonists come to their senses and join the good guys and gals more often then male.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: If the story makes a point of treating this as the only ideal behavior for a woman, it's sexist.
• Yandere: Relates to Stalker with a Crush above, and goes two ways: female Yandere are more common than male ones, but the female ones are less likely to be taken completely seriously, and are more often found in works with a semi-comedic tone, whereas male Yandere are nearly always found in serious drama. It is perhaps interesting to note that according to theory, the Yandere (or Yanderekko) may have started as a Deconstruction of some of the more stereotypical and impractical aspects of the Yamato Nadeshiko archetype (i.e., that women must always put their love first, etc.)
• Yaoi Fangirl: Media and viewers often depict them as shrill, brainless teenagers drooling over the villains and seeing subtext where there probably isn't any. If said "girls" are actually adult women enjoying man-on-man action, they are seen as utterly abnormal. Guys who think Girl-On-Girl Is Hot are considered much more "normal," though that in itself says something about perceived social norms.

Non-Gender related / Other

• Accentuate the Negative: Cynicism is seen as "intelligent" or "mature", whereas being positive all the time is seen as "stupid", "immature", or "gay". Negativity is also funny to watch.
• Acceptable Targets: Those that are considered to be an "Acceptable Target" are more vilified if they do something wrong than those that aren't if they do something wrong...even if those that aren't Acceptable Targets were/are just as bad...if not worse. While this definitely applies to Gender roles, it also apply to all sorts of other issues as well such as Race, Religion, Nationality, to even things such as fanbases and more. One could go on forever, but it's best to just check that article and/or this article for examples and explanations.
• Acceptable Hobby Targets: Just about any given die hard fandom of anything are often stereotyped as anti-social losers... unless it involves sports. Terry Pratchett notes that the differences seems to be that (in his example) Trekkies, unlike Manchester United fans, have never trashed a train carriage. He remains puzzled as to why this means that they are the ones who are deemed to be social outcasts.
• There are some exceptions though, such as those who play fantasy sports, fans of "That Other Football" (ex. an American Football fan in Britain or a Soccer fan in America), and teams that have a really long championship drought; such as Chicago Cubs fans, but even they aren't as lambasted as other fandoms.
• Animation Age Ghetto: Teenagers and Adults who admit to watching animation tend to be looked down upon in society from those that don't. While there are exceptions, animation titles are usually "supposed to be" avoided like the plague.
• A Million Is a Statistic: It doesn't matter what you do unless it involves established named characters regardless of whether if it actually should or not.
• Babies Make Everything Better / Good Girls Avoid Abortion and Childfree Is Not Allowed / Child-Hater: You don't like babies and don't want to be a parent? HOW DARE YOU!! No matter the reasons, you are commanded to like children and babies, especially if you're a woman and you shall freak out once you approach menopause if you're still childless. Else, you're a bad person. Period.
• But Not Too Gay / Get Back in the Closet: Gay couples are far less often shown openly displaying their affection than straight couples, and what they are permitted is immediately judged as inappropriate. In a nutshell: the straight couple can make out all they like and even have sex so long as you don't see too much onscreen without risking an R rating, while the gay couple, be it male or female, cannot so much as kiss without the film being automatically slapped with a higher rating.
• Dub Text: While not in nature but there are certain types of Censorship that seem kind of questionable in more ways than one. While this can apply to gender roles such as the infamous censorship regarding Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune's relationship it can also apply to non-gender examples as well.
• Everybody Hates Mathematics: It's okay to be horrible at math. But if you fail, say, English or history, you'll be labeled as an idiot.
• Green Aesop: This is always perceived as Anvilicious. Viewers are also more likely to interpret something as a heavy-handed Green Aesop when it's really an aesop about something entirely different.
  • This began to drown in the matter of Green Aesop being paper-thin pretext in the first place on account of most "Green" having entirely different underpinning that sticks out half the time, on Twitter branded with "#GreensGoByAir".
• Hypocritical Fandom: Fans of certain works or even entire genres will hate on their opposing work for certain things, whilst ignoring that their own work of choice has the same stuff. This goes double for Genres and Authors, triple when it overlaps with It's Popular, Now It Sucks.
• It's Popular, Now It Sucks: If half of the examples on that page weren't popular, they would have heaps of praise piled on them.
• Jerkass Gods: It's widely accepted that classical mythology is full of gods behaving reprehensibly toward their mortal creations. Just don't call out the gods people currently believe in for similar (or, in some cases, identical) actions.
• No True Scotsman: A fallacy often used by anyone that advocates any Double Standards. When one (or an entire group) hears about a person committing a crime or something wrong, the person will chastise the offender (which is justifiable depending on the situation) and possibly even the offender's entire race, gender, etc. (which is not justified no matter what the situation). However if another offender that is in the same race, gender, etc. commits a crime or does something wrong (especially if it's the exact same thing); rather than admit that they are wrong, the person or group will discredit them that "Not a True Scotsman (or whatever race, gender, etc. they are)."
• Mega Corp: Related to Hypocritical Fandom above, corporations are perceived differently largely due to how long we've been using their products and what we're told to think of them by others. In the Computer Wars and the Console Wars for example, Microsoft is the evil empire, and Bill Gates is Satan incarnate, while other corporations -- Sony, Nintendo, Apple, Google etc. -- can be just as shifty and underhanded in their quest for your money without being subjected to such vehement opposition and criticism.
• On a different note; but still related to Mega Corp, political views of Mega Corporations. Since a lot of people (Primarily right-winged libertarians) seem to think that only governments can screw you over; ignoring of course that Mega Corps can screw you over just as much for yours and other peoples' money if given the shot.
• Me Love You Long Time and Where Da White Women At?: Interracial relationships are ALWAYS a touchy subject. These ones are no different. The former focuses on White man/Asian Woman, the latter on Black man/White woman. While the former seldom ever raises controversy, it's not the case AT ALL for the latter for reasons we shall not dwell on. And works that focus on the inverted gender versions (ie Asian man/White woman and White man/Black woman) are astonishingly rare and far between. This tends to be quite prevalent in cultures with a lot of mixed ethnicity, but it can still be prevalent in cultures where only one ethnicity is more dominant, as that minority is seen as "different".
• Missing White Woman Syndrome: Obviously.
• New Media Are Evil: If someone does something stupid/rash, blame is often placed on the "New Media" they enjoyed or the new communication method, whereas any mention of how they used any old media (like the telephone) to plot a murder or cyberbully someone into suicide is given a nice Hand Wave.
• Nostalgia Filter: Any film/song/videogame/etc. made after a certain year is bad. Anything made beforehand is good. Regardless of actual quality.
• Only in America / Eagle Land / Misplaced Nationalism: Nations are often perceived differently based on their cultural and political influence as well as stereotypes often used when it comes to describing that country in the media and by others.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Bad guy Mooks who desert during the fight are usually portrayed in a neutral-to-positive manner, while allies of the protagonist who do the same tend to be portrayed negatively.
• Scapegoat Creator: Some people are free to be scapegoated for literally everything, however, trying to scapegoat another creator often gets you called out on it.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money: Richer folk tend to have things easier considering that they have more money to get themselves out of a jam easier than the poor. Of course, there are always exceptions...
• Subbing Versus Dubbing: Where to begin? If a change was done from the Manga to the anime, it inevitably gets blamed on the Dub...even if it was there in the original version. If a character is a Bratty Half-Pint in the dub, it's clearly the dub's fault (If not, then the voice actor), even they were written that way and were faithfully translated over in the dub. References to western culture or the like is clearly the dub's fault; even if it was in the sub too...
• Vocal Minority: The more vocal one side of an issue is the more Demonization it gets regardless of whether if the other side can be just as guilty if not even more so of things like Fan Dumb. While this definitely can apply to Gender roles, it can apply to all sorts of other issues as well such as Race, Religion, to even things such as fanbases and more.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: If a show has averted Bloodless Carnage upon Humans it would be deemed FAR too graphically violent to be seen by children. But you can mutilate, smash and slice apart other types of creatures ESPECIALLY robots and that would be just fine though. To be fair creatures that are actual Real Life animals might be exempt but thats not always the case.
• According to Dork Tower (here), gamers are customarily on the receiving end of this.

1. ↑ Women actually make up 40% of the Super Bowl audience - a minority, but a substantial enough one that it doesn't really make sense to gear all the commercials toward sexist men.