Real Women Never Wear Dresses/Sandbox

A woman is shown as weak, incompetent, and ineffectual in this trope unless she dresses and behaves like a man. A common variation on this is to present a woman as superior because she's "not like other women." Another variation is a Tomboy and Girly Girl scenario, where the tomboy is presented as superior.

We're just recording the trope, here. It happens. Between a woman in trousers and one in a dress, the odds are the trouser lady is going to be the Action Girl of the pair and the one in the dress is going to end up being a Damsel in Distress. Subversions exist, of course, but they're pretty rare.

See also Pink Means Feminine and Acceptable Feminine Goals.

In-Universe examples only, please. This is not an Audience Reaction trope.

Anime and Manga
"Jadeite: Can't you do anything without the help of a man? Women are such foolish creatures in the end!
 * In Sailor Moon, the infamous Stay in the Kitchen remarks by Jadeite in the first season, where he takes Tuxedo Kamen out of the fight and then mocks the girls for being upset about the apparentl lost of their ally. Moon, Mercury and Mars responded with a Shut UP, Hannibal and an awesome Three Plane Fu.

Mars: Hah! Only old men think that they're better than women in these days!

Mercury: That's right! Scorning women is positively feudalistic!

Moon: Down with sexual discrimination!

The three: We must fight against Jadeite, that arrogant man!"


 * Within the show: Kanae aka Moko on Skip Beat! deliberately calls out Kyouko when they meet, only because she perceives Kyouko as a "housewife"-type of woman who shouldn't stay near the show business. Even later in the manga, when both have a kind-of-friendship and Kyouko has shown how scarily competent she can be when acting, Kanae still feels uncomfortable with Kyouko due her own perceived contradiction between being able of do any domestic chores and being an reputed actress and entertainer. There is a twist though,
 * In Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z, Buttercup is shown to be reluctant to join the group because it would require her to wear a skirt. Later she breaks her own code by wearing one in order to get the attention of a boy she has a crush on, but realizes that she prefers her boyfriend to like her as she is and not for what she pretends to be.
 * Simultaneously averted by the other girls who, despite being more feminine, are not shown to be any weaker or less determined, just having different personalities.
 * Despite the fact that she isn't complaining about the skirt anymore, don't mention it to Buttercup. Just don't.
 * Fate Stay Night deconstructs this trope with Lady of War Saber. She pretended to be a man and fought on the front lines of battle for all of her human life. At some level she never really wanted to do these things, but she accepted them because they were her duty . As a result, though, she has no sense of self-worth, and can only feel fulfilled by serving other people. The main character Shirou realizes that even though she is a supremely skilled warrior, she would be happier if she didn't force herself to fight.
 * Let's not forget Rin Tohsaka, who wears her hair in Girlish Pigtails and uses skirt-based Zettai Ryouiki. And she manages to both be pretty and badass.
 * Also inverted in that Shirou, the main hero of the story, has so many features of The Chick, especially in contrast to the female characters. Moreso in the visual novel, where he's shown to be on top of all things domestic, and the one Sakura learned to cook from.
 * Ironically, he often takes a Stay in the Kitchen attitude towards girls, especially Saber and (more justifiably, ) Sakura, although this is seemingly less about them being weak and more because he doesn't want them to get hurt....
 * A recurring element in the Nasuverse is extremely powerful females (often most powerful in the series), both physically and mentally, with big responsibilities. Nonetheless, every single one of them wear either a dress, a skirt, a kimono, or some kind of dressy attire. The only exceptions are the Aozaki sisters and Rider in her casual clothing (though Aoko does wear a skirt as part of her school uniform in her younger days). The dresses does nothing to diminished their strength as a character though and most have better things to worry about then what it is they are wearing and petty gender wars on dress codes, with the exception of Saber since her battle dress does provide her with protection.
 * Subverted and averted as all hell with Roberta from Black Lagoon. This woman is practically the embodiment of Badass and wears her hair in braids as well a maid dress 95% of the time. Ah, and her motherly/sisterly love for Garcia, the child she takes care of, is one of her defining traits... and one of the reasons why she is so badass.
 * Balalaika, too. The most powerful and badass woman in The Mafiya is a long-haired Lady of War who wears more often than not a business suit with a long skirt, and her feminine attire doesn't disminish her badassery either. Maybe the scars have something to do with it... or is it the Slasher Smile? Yeeeaaah...
 * Beautifully averted in Saiunkoku Monogatari. Female lead Shuurei is able to be successful in a male-dominated society through brains and hard work, and she's allowed to be as feminine as she wants while she's doing it.
 * In Freezing, it's interesting to try to apply this trope to the main character, Sattelizer L. Bridgette. As a child, she was, resulting in her have a paralyzing fear of being touched. At her mother's deathbed, she was told to never give up and not take shit from anyone any longer, and a little later on she became a Super Soldier Action Girl. However, rather that this solving all her problems as per this trope, this in fact did not help at all, as this did nothing for her fear and resulting in her savagely beating the crap out of anyone who came close to her, causing her to be feared and hated by all. It's only when she falls in love with a male, Aoi Kazuya, the first guy to be nice to her, that she slowly starts to get over her problems and work on them.
 * Averted with Izumi Curtis from Fullmetal Alchemist, who is one of the most terrifyingly badass characters in the manga despite dressing in an unelaborate feminine way and proudly describing herself as a "housewife".

Comics
""Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.""
 * The creation of Wonder Woman was William Moulton Marston's attempt to address this in society:


 * Parodied as early as the 1950s, with "perfect little lady" Janie Jackson being teased and compared unfavorably to the superheroine Tomboy ("That's what I call a real girl!") by her older brother, who never realised that Janie and Tomboy were the same person.
 * In the case of the Argentinian comic strip Mafalda, while Mafalda's ideas on women's rights were advanced by the standards of The Sixties and The Seventies, they come as more rude and stuck-up than well-intentioned to modern readers. Specially when she constantly and very rudely tells her Housewife mother Raquel that she's "useless" and "mediocre" because she chose to raise Mafalda at home than juggle with work/college and motherhood.
 * Subverted in the furry comic, Albedo: Erma Felna EDF , where the title character, a scrupulously professional female military officer who has had to deal with sexist opposition at work, is convinced by her vivacious friend, Toki, to go shopping. In doing so, Erma finds that occasionally engaging such feminine activities like getting and wearing a sexy dress to attract the attentions of males is fun to do sometimes on her off time. However, she and Toki are no less Badasses for their fun considering the second they spot a potential terrorist, they instantly have him covered with their own guns.

Film

 * Casey's mother from the Disney film Ice Princess says, "I know ice skating requires a great deal of athleticism and skill, but I just can't get past the twinky little outfits." Never mind that male ice skaters wear outfits that are almost as "twinky" and in some cases even "twinkier". Note that the mother is saying this about a sport that is dangerous on the level of gymnastics (with metal blades!). This being a Disney film, by the end of the movie the mother realizes she was wrong.

Literature

 * In-Universe example in House of Leaves, at one point it summarizes interviews between Karen (who's claiming the events are fictional), and a number of celebrities. One such celebrity is a feminist who chastises Karen's 'character's' nyctophobia, dismissing it with "No self-respecting woman is afraid of the dark".
 * The Dresden Files has a few subversions of this. Local Badass Normal and Action Girl Karrin Murphy is revealed to have a home decorated with lace and doilies (albeit inherited from her grandmother). Harry's apprentice  is described by Harry himself to potentially be the most frightening wizard of her generation and she's a girly Perky Goth who carries her wizarding gear around in a pink backpack. But the ultimate subversion is probably White Court Vampire Lara Raith. She's described as the ultimate example of beauty and femininity but she will fuck up your shit and the shit of everyone you bring with you and she will do it while wearing a dress and come out looking hotter than when she started.
 * Note, however, that the one time Murphy is shown wearing a dress, she is embarrassed to be seen in it (being a cop, she's worked very hard to be "one of the boys"). She even defends herself by saying she had to wear it, as she was at a family function and her mom had bought it for her.
 * Charity Carpenter. A good catholic housewife who's popped out several kids by the start of the series, and is generally around to tend to the wounded when her husband brings his work home with him...until her daughter is kidnapped by faeries, and she puts on armor, grabs a sword and warhammer, and goes Mama Bear like you wouldn't believe. Also, she makes and keeps her husband's armor. And is his sparring partner.
 * Rachel and Cassie are inversions of this trope in the Animorphs series. Easily the toughest, most blood-thirsty, aggressive warrior of the entire group, but between her and Cassie, Rachel is by far the more womanly. At the beginning of the series (until it stops mattering), Rachel is described as a leggy, well-dressed, beautiful blonde who loves to go shopping and cares a great deal about outward appearances and often insists on improving Cassie's wardrobe and goes shopping for the entire group when clothes are needed on the fly. Cassie on the other hand is the more feminine in nature, broken-hearted for everything that breathes, is the most hesitant to do battle and yet is the one who can't dress.
 * Similar to the Animorphs example is the Spy High series, where beautiful, blonde, fashionable Lori is arguably the most ruthless of the team, especially when provoked; whereas the less looks-conscious Cally is The Heart of the Five-Man Band and eventually wins the love of leading man Ben.

Live Action TV

 * Veronica Mars likes to avert this trope. Veronica's a Badass investigator who will destroy the lives of anyone who dares to cross her - but also bakes "spirit cookies" for her friend Wallace (snickerdoodles!), and hopes to receive a pony as a gift someday.
 * Totally averted by Delenn on Babylon 5 who wears gorgeous clothes, and looks and acts unmistakably feminine, but is so Badass that the Shadows probably have dark, ancient, legends about her.
 * Averted by Dana Scully of The X-Files. She is the Action Girl of her and Mulder's partnership and is capable of doing more than her fair share of the rescuing. She has a degree in the more male-dominated field of physics, is a pathologist, and insists that her male coworkers not treat her differently because she is a woman and tiny. However, she is undeniably feminine. She has a liking for nice clothes and bubblebaths, a well-kept apartment, is a health-nut and is very concerned about her weight.

Music

 * Deliberately invoked with a twist in the very NSFW song Only Straight Girls Wear Dresses by CWA, in which a Lipstick Lesbian reads the title in graffiti in a bathroom, finds the perp, and convinces her otherwise. With sex.

Theatre

 * Lady Macbeth has this opinion of herself. She even calls on evil spirits to make her less feminine and able to kill Duncan.

Video Games

 * Averted utterly in-canon of Phantasy Star IV, regarding Alys and Rika in particular. Alys is a beautiful, talented cook, who is openly and famously admired for being attractive and assymetrical-hemline-dress-and-jewelry-wearing feminine as well as the most Badass Hunter on the planet (although finding out that she can cook is a surprise to some of her fellow adventurers). Rika is a pink-haired Cute Monster Girl who only has healing techniques-- but is only second in damage output to the main character, thanks to her short but extremely effective list of melee combat Skills and ability to wear the heaviest armors in the game, which means she also gets to be a frontline fighter.
 * In-universe example in Trauma Team:
 * An In-universe example in Odin Sphere. Just about the only thing the Valkryies of Ragnanival fear is getting married. Since this usually entails getting hit with a love spell to make you fall in love with the first man she sees (usually a man she is given to), this is perhaps justified. Gwendolyn thankfully lucks out in that Oswald likes her just as she is, and is badass enough to beat down everyone else after her; she's perhaps not so lucky in that Oswald is a little too afraid of her not loving him if she finds out she was never under that spell to begin with, and never tells her.
 * Curiously inverted in Fallout: New Vegas with Veronica Santiago. She's a Brotherhood Scribe who isn't afraid to question the patriarchal Brotherhood's outdated beliefs, admits to having fallen in love with another woman once, and can floor a deathclaw with her fists. Her greatest wish is... to wear a dress. Simply because she wants to look good and sexy for once. She's genuinely grateful if you get her one, and if you find a good dress, she squeals like a schoolgirl. And then goes back to pummeling the opposition.

Western Animation

 * The Barbie movies avert many clichés thrown at the Disney Princesses line. The heroines always have interests and hobbies of their own, as well as sisters and female friends with whom they pass the Bechdel Test. Heck, even the female love rivals are well-portrayed (like the sweet female Paolo from Barbie: Jungle Princess) and one even features a girl saying that, much as she loves the prince, she cannot marry him because she has to travel the world and pursue her dreams first.
 * Played with in an episode of American Dad: In the beginning, Francine is practicing for a pie-baking contest, leading Hayley to belittle her and ask her questions like when she plans on giving back the vote. Later at night, Francine catches Hayley, wearing a frilly, outdated dress, baking pies of her own.
 * Played with in another episode. Hayley makes a video of Francine, mocking her status as a typical housewife who sews, cooks, and cleans. Francine is distraught and recieves a fake doctor's license, then works for the handicapped mafia. Things get out of hand, but once Francine takes care of things Hayley apologizes for claiming Francine couldn't do anything important.
 * Deconstructed in Wonder Woman. The Amazons are trained early in life to be warriors, but are secluded from mankind for centuries. Something Persephone calls Hippolyta out on near the film's climax.

Wrestling

 * This was turned into a storyline in WWE in 2011 with Beth Phoenix and Natalya's heel turns, the two of them proclaiming they were sick of the models in WWE. Interestingly on WWE's part, they kept both sides with a sympathetic point of view, Beth and Natalya wanting to make the division more serious and about wrestling while the likes of Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres trying to prove themselves as wrestlers.