Sliding Scale of Gender Inequality: Difference between revisions

There are no female characters in the story, or there are very few, but they serve as nothing more than background for the male character, and don't do anything of note. None of them are more than a minor character. There may be nothing sexist about it - there can be a legitimate reason for the lack of women, such as stories being set in places where women are not allowed (a [[The Shawshank Redemption|men's prison]], a [[Das Boot|WWII era military submarine]], etc.)

 

* In general, the majority of [[Boys Love Genre]] anime and manga have very few and / or largely insignificant female characters.

** Used in ''[[Ai no Kusabi]]'' to justify its [[Cast Full of Gay]].

* ''[[Akagi]]'' has zero women onscreen in the entire show.

 

* Most ''[[Tintin]]'' books feature no significant female characters and in the series as a whole only Bianca Castafiore can be considered an important female; and she's relevant to the plot in only a few of the stories.

 

* ''[[Gettysburg]]''; there is talk of wives left behind, but the only women that actually appear in the film are either waving to the troops or tending the wounded in the background.

* Likewise, in ''[[Master and Commander (film)|Master and Commander]]'', the only women that appear in the film are part of a party of native traders that resupply HMS Surprise.

** Some modern versions try to correct this by making the judge a woman. Others simply opt to retitle the play "Twelve Angry Jurors" just so that some of the jury can be women.

 

* ''[[The Hobbit (novel)|The Hobbit]]''.

* [[Terry Brooks]]' ''The Sword of [[Shannara]]'', probably because it was just a ripoff of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''; it should be noted the next book has the world saved by a girl and in the third one of the trilogy, one of the protagonists is a girl.

* In ''[[World War Z]]'' by Max Brooks there are 37 men yet only 5 women in what is presented as a UN report.

 

* ''[[Thomas the Tank Engine]]'' used to be like this until characters like Daisy, Mavis, and Emily came along. Apparently, as the show goes on, it goes up a few levels in the scale.

* ''[[Deadliest Warrior]]'' - Being a show about historical warriors battling to the death that's [[Rated "M" for Manly]], it's to be expected. Briefly became a type 4 in one episode of Season 2 (CIA vs. KGB), where both sides had one female operative, and one of them ({{spoiler|The KGB}}) kicked quite a bit of ass.

* ''[[Red Dwarf]]'''s plot hinged entirely on three guys (four once Kryten joined the cast) getting stuck on a spaceship in the middle of deep space 3 million years from Earth (though for a little while they did have a female computer). There were even a few episodes where the guys tried to get women on board, only for something strange to be revealed. The series finally gained a female lead half-way through Season 7, but even then Season 8 largely took place in the ship's prison, and her role was greatly overshadowed by the other male characters.

 

* ''[[Transformers]]''. [[Captain Obvious|Even though they're robots]]. Compared to how many male characters there are, females only exist due to [[The Smurfette Principle]].

 

* In ''[[Punch-Out!!]]'', the only women ever seen are [[Surfer Dude|Super Macho Man]]'s fangirls in still pictures, and Aran Ryan's sister who is mentioned and nothing else. Justified though - it ''is'' a male boxing circle, after all.

** Well, and [[Wholesome Crossdresser|Heike Kagero]].

* The original [[Sonic the Hedgehog]] games bar ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog CD|Sonic CD]]'' and ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball|Sonic Spinball]]'', which fall on Level 3.

 

* The warcamp in ''[[Goblins]]'' is males-only by mandate of the goblins' deity, with female spellcasters the only exception. Justified in that the "warcamp" is an [[Men Are the Expendable Gender|expendable decoy settlement]], which diverts adventurers' attention away from the hidden village where the noncombatant women and children can live in safety.

 

* ''[[Metalocalypse]]''. Only a small handful of episodes give female characters any lines; mostly they're just nude or semi-nude groupies.

 

 

== Level 2: Whores, Whores, Whores... ==

 

* Most beer ads, where women exist solely as sex objects/status objects for men.

 

* The infamous ''[[Mad Bull 34]]''.

 

* Level name comes from an infamous [[Memetic Mutation]] that sprung up around [[Frank Miller]]. Most of his works, especially ''[[Sin City]]'', are set either here, or at Level 3.

 

* ''[[Naruto Veangance Revelaitons]]'' is among the most extreme examples of Type 2, to the point of being openly misogynist. It is stated at several points that Sakura is nothing without Ronan, and while everyone from canon suffers [[Badass Decay]] [[Overshadowed by Awesome|compared to]] [[God Mode Sue|Ronan]], Sakura is completely unable to even try to fight after losing the first battle against Orochimaru, addicted to sex and dependent on Ronan. Mei, the Mizukage, is defeated in one attack, with Ronan [[Politically Incorrect Hero|stating that it's no surprise she can't defeat him because she's a girl]]. Among the original characters, while Taliana has special powers as an antagonist, she's unable to defeat Ronan, and ''even gets beaten up by Sakura'' when the author was going through a breakup with the girlfriend he based her on. Two out of five (later retconned to four) of the [[Big Bad|Council]] [[Omniscient Council of Vagueness|members]] are female and somewhat more vocal than the males, their being feminists is portrayed as evil.

 

* The [[Mad Scientist|mad scientists]] trying to take over the world in ''[[Our Man Flint]]'' hypnotize the majority of women into "pleasure units" who serve, flirt, canoodle, and presumably sleep with any man without question. For his part, [[White Knighting]] Flint manages to undo this by uttering "You are not a pleasure unit" in a woman's ear.

 

* ''[[Gor]]!''

* ''[[The Eye of Argon]]''

* [[So Good We Mentioned It Twice|Because it bears repeating]], ''[[Gor]]''.

 

* The Dothraki women in [[HBO]]'s ''[[Game of Thrones]]'' are only ever seen being active, gleeful recipients of the men's lustiness. This is played with when Daenerys succeeds her husband as Khal (it seems subverted at first but then again, most of his Khalasar abandons her).

 

* ''[[FATAL]]'' is here, among its many other flaws (including the very fact that it exists).

 

* The first ''Lost in Blue'' game has the almost totally-useless Skye as your sole companion.

 

* ''Warmage''.

* The [[Ciem Webcomic Series]] and its [[Ultimate Universe]] counterpart both have shades of this. Yes, the women outnumber the men, and get to have more adventures. But a lot of their adventures can best be described as "almost got raped/killed/whatever today, but got away in the nick of time." Men hold nearly all the positions of authority, and the few women that have any authority are either useless or psychotic. With exception of a small handful of good guys, all the men are either [[All Men Are Perverts|mindless sex addicts]] or [[Complete Monster|depraved sadists]] or [[Manipulative Bastard|sleazy manipulators]], all bent on enslaving women and usually abusing them sexually. The women are [[All Women Are Lustful|completely obsessed]] with their [[Slave to PR|romantic/sexual reputations]], and the damage done from all the times they're raped and/or nearly killed.

Women are useless and most of the time don't contribute anything. If they are in trouble, they can only wait to be rescued. Also, they are never in control of anything - males are always patriarchal leaders and their actions can be questioned only by other males. Most of the purest and straightest (which means those that will never change) examples of [[The Chick]] and [[Damsel in Distress]] are here.

 

* ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'', definitely.

* ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]''

* ''[[Mobile Fighter G Gundam]]'' is guilty of this attitude as described in Level 4 below.

 

* [[Robert E. Howard]]'s ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' stories generally alternate between this and Level 2 above, though there are notable exceptions in Belit and Valeria, who are treated as Conan's equals, and superior to the average man. Same with Zula from Conan The Destroyer. Although she needed rescuing toward the beginning she more than manages to hold her own in combat with and against men. Female monarchs are about Level 4: they have the same level of power and influence as their male counterparts, but story considerations often cast them in the role of damsel-in-distress. It goes with the time period (both when it's supposed to have happened and when it was written).

* Most of the stories in the 1920s-era [[Pulp Magazine]]s were at this level; the only role female characters ever had was [[Damsel Scrappy]].

** Dothraki culture is very patriarchal, but the dosh khaleen, the religious leaders of the capital Vaes Dothrak, are all widows of the male Khals.

 

 

* Most of the classic [[Fairy Tales]] about [[The White Prince|the prince]] (or [[Farm Boy]]) saving the princess.

 

* Most ''[[Super Mario Bros.|Super Mario Bros]]'' games, with Peach as a perfect [[Damsel in Distress]]. However, ''[[Super Princess Peach]]'' is an inversion.

** Never forget though that the same 1980s and even the same company ([[Nintendo]]) [[Metroid|brought us]] [[Samus Is a Girl]].

* ''[[Dragon Quest I]]'' had only one named female character, who was a [[Damsel in Distress]].

 

* ''[[TUGS]]'' kinda falls between this level and Level 4.

* ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]'' - there are very few females and they only show up when the plot of the episode revolves around their character, which isn't that often. It's no surprise to know that the lead male Skipper can be a sexist jerk.

At this level it looks like both sexes are equal. Then why do only males have all the cool and most offensive powers and equipment, while their female teammates do things like providing first aid, being [[Mission Control]], working in the laboratory and you would be damned if you will ever see any of them in an actual fight? And even if they go into a fight, they end up either defeated easily, insignificant in the overall victory, [[Designated Girl Fight|or end up fighting another girl]]. Every unlucky [[Action Girl]] that lives in a world set at this level will suffer from [[Chickification]] and eventually turn into or be revealed as a [[Faux Action Girl]]. At this level, men and women are equal, but [[Stay in the Kitchen|some things are still a man's job]].

 

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' - Most of the time a girl wins in Duel Monsters, it's an unimportant duel that we see only in a cut-scene, and those on which the plot is focused and have been won by girls can be counted on one hand.

** Similarly in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (anime)|GX]]'', where Asuka is considered among the seven best duelists in Duel Academy, [[Informed Ability|but we see her having a victory in a plot-important duel only twice]].

* ''[[Muhyo and Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation]]''. There are skilled females of various trades in the Magical Law Society (Biko, whose skill at making tools is crucial on several occasions, her teacher Rio and Imai, a skilled Judge) and Ark (Ivy, {{spoiler|Rio, again}} and Panza), but the majority of the most influential and powerful heroes and villains are male.

 

* Ever since ''[[The Spy Who Loved Me]]'', most [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] movies have fallen under this level. The older ones are entirely Level 3.

* Many mally action movies such as ''[[Con Air]]'', which had two women with supporting roles, they were the protagonist's wife and the female prison guard.

* In ''[[Star Wars]]'' (the original trilogy, anyway) Princess Leia had a less active role than the major male characters and only played a major combat role in [[Return of the Jedi]] (which, of all the movies, comes closest to Level 5, though it loses points for the blatant fanservice). Even there, Han rather than her led the Endor strike force even though she'd been with the Rebellion a lot longer and was among its top leadership. All the fighter pilots in all three movies were male, and the only other female character, Mon Mothma, was in a leadership but non-combat role.

 

* ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' may fit here: although most of the characters are men, the few female characters that exist are very strong personalities and in Galadriel's case, quite powerful. This probably explains why Arwen is written to be significantly more [[Badass]] in the first film, although she suffers from Chickification later on.

* In ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]'', Viola's first feature episode is also the very rare girl power episode. While all the girls [[Reluctant Warrior|can deliver heaping abuse if forced to]], they are all uneasy about using violence. (Viola [[Sassy Black Woman|the least so]].) The men tend to be ''a little'' [[A Real Man Is a Killer|more free to use violence as an option]]. Both sexes prefer the [[Guile Hero]] approach whenever possible. After landing on Mantith, the women have significantly more to do. But they also seem to have a harder time holding their own against [[Torches and Pitchforks|the mobs that chase them everywhere]]. The men have it hard too, with [[Walking Wasteland|Liquidon]] and [[Shock and Awe|Cybomec]] having it less hard.

 

* ''[[The West Wing]]'' is here. The vast majority of the important characters are male, and one of the select prominent female ones is sometimes known as a "sex kitten". Others include the first lady's Chief of Staff who's then director of legislative affairs, the president's executive secretary, the [[The Chick|deputy chief of staff]] who's Josh's love interest, and a prominent one as press secretary who manages to pull it out of Level 3. But at the end of the day it's the men who are the leaders who most of the action is around.

 

* ''[[Bionicle]]'' goes here, primarily as a result of being a boys' toyline that is heavily affected by [[The Smurfette Principle]]. Women ''can'' be powerful warriors, but the focus is always on the male characters. Female Toa also seem to be given the least interesting [[Mask of Power|mask powers]], ranging from the [[Boring but Practical]] Underwater Breathing, to the [[Blessed with Suck]] Mask of Detection (which gives its wearer headaches as she gets closer to the [[MacGuffin]]). [[Useful Notes/The Bechdel Test|The Bechdel Test]] is rarely passed. In the early years in particular, the females were portrayed as the calm, gentle ones, while the males displayed much more diversity, although in recent years this has improved. It's unlikely that the franchise will ever make it to Level 5, however, even with the story now being independent of toy sales.

 

* In ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'', this seems to be [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|more story based rather than gameplay]], which is more even.

* ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' had mostly male characters, there were a handful of prominent female characters, including 3 female plyable characters and a handful of female villains. The kingdom of Troia had an all-female army and was ruled by a group of women. The sequel added several more playable female characters.

* In both [[Inazuma Eleven]] videogames and manga/anime, there are girls who play soccer (especially in the second game, where almost every team has one or two females on it, and there are the Osaka Gals too). However, the boys have far more focus than their female counterparts and the only two girls who have joined the Raimon so far are not very strong in comparison (heck, Touko´s The Tower ends up [[The Worf Effect|destroyed]] most of the time) Of course, this is only plot-wise, as you can make an all-female team in the games if you want to and [[Curb Stomp Battle]] rivals with a good training

 

* ''[[Arthur (animation)|Arthur]]'' started at this level but has become close to Level 5 - 6 in later seasons.

 

Stories that portray both sexes as an equal or are at last trying to balance [[The Chick]] and [[Damsel in Distress]] with [[Action Girl]] or subvert/justify them fit here. Both men and women may be protagonists. It's almost impossible to achieve a perfect balance of both sexes, especially in stories aimed for one specific audience (like [[Shonen Demographic]] or [[Shoujo Demographic]]) - sometimes girls don't get full respect only because story is just too focused on boys and vice versa. That's why many of the examples here are works that, while it is still impossible to tell whether they portray both sexes as completely equal, are just more balanced than Level 4 or 6.

 

* In ''[[Shugo Chara]]'', later on they {{spoiler|let the boys transform}} but occasionally focus issues come up. {{spoiler|Nagihiko gets focus but he's Nagihiko!}}

* ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' Part 6 breaks the series' tradition of male protagonists with Joelyne.

* ''[[Pokémon Special]]''. Even with the main characters for each generation having a [[Two Guys and a Girl]] ratio, the girls are shown to be just as well-developed and strong as the guys and the secondary cast also has a healthy amount of females in various roles. Yellow and Platinum, both girls, even get to star in their own arcs.

 

* Most [[Superhero]] universes fall here. While heroes (and villains) tend to be male, the female ones we see are just as competent. The only problem comes when the writers try to introduce some angst or remove a supporting character- who is often female- resulting in cases of [[Stuffed Into the Fridge]].

** [[Wonder Woman]] is an interesting case. Originally created precisely as an empowerment example, she is considered today to be one of [[DC Comics]]' "Trinity" of main heroes, the equal of [[Superman]] and [[Batman]]. Her supporting cast also features many strong (and some funny) female characters. ''However'', in recent times, her main background element, The Amazons, have, [[Depending on the Writer|over the years]], lost their scientific and philosophical achievements, and been in fact reinvented as man-haters. See ''[[Amazons Attack]]'' for a particularly gross example.

 

* ''[[Ultimate SpiderWoman|Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With The Light]]'' stars a full-fledged [[Action Girl]] who gets into fights with supervillains on a regular basis and always gives as good as she gets. Most of her [[Rogues Gallery]] is male, although every single one of them [[Would Hit a Girl]] and have no problems going after Spider-Woman with everything they have. In her civilian identity, Mary Jane Watson also has to deal with the same kind of bad luck, money problems, and bad grades that frequently plague male [[Triple Shifter]]s.

** ''[[Ultimate Sleepwalker|Ultimate Sleepwalker: The New Dreams]]'' doesn't apply quite as much, given that the protagonist is male, but several of his enemies are [[Dark Action Girl]]s and Sleepwalker has no compunctions about hitting them just as hard as he would any of his male enemies. The female characters in Rick Sheridan's and Sleepwalker's supporting casts also get a considerable amount of development in their own right.

 

* ''[[Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers]]'' shows men and women as being perfectly equal, to the point of showering together and sharing sleeping quarters.

 

* In ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'', the wizarding world seems to be more gender-equal than ours; there have been female Ministers for Magic, headmistresses of Hogwarts, and female Quidditch players for centuries. In fact two of the four Hogwarts founders were women.

** Like ''Star Wars'', most of the important characters are still men, although there are several strong female characters (and two villains we love to hate—Dolores Umbridge and Bellatrix Lestrange).

* ''[[The Millennium Trilogy|The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo]]'' depicts a lot of evil men, but Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist share time as co-protagonists and are both skilled.

 

* The crew of Serenity in ''[[Firefly]]'' appears this way. Zoe, the first mate, is just as respected as Captain Mal, and perfectly capable of leading if he is indisposed.

** Also, no bones are made at all in the show that she's an [[Action Girl]], nor is her [[Non-Action Guy]] husband treated as being any less of a man just because his wife could kick his ass.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]],'' which has a female protagonist and competent male and female characters, though Slayers are always female. The Scoobies are typically fairly gender-balanced.

 

* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'', in statistical terms anyway. It can differ according to the setting, with allowances for the fact that it's mostly medieval-level societies. ''[[Planescape]]'', ''[[Eberron]]'', and ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' are probably the most egalitarian, with plenty of powerful, competent women who hold the same roles men do.

** D&D has an interesting relationship with this trope. As explained in the v3.5 ''Dungeon Master's Guide II'', the makers of the game have gone out of their way to ensure gender equality, both mechanically and within the (generally assumed) game universe—even when this clashes with players' initial expectations of a medieval-ish society. There is a simple and compelling reason for this: they don't want barriers for female player characters. However, since D&D is possibly the biggest [[Trope Codifier]] of the fantasy genre, a lot of other fantasy works that didn't have the same practical need for egalitarianism picked it up anyway. The result is that today, completely gender-blind fantasy worlds are the norm, unless this trope is actually discussed in the work. This applies even if the world is otherwise based on a medieval or otherwise non-gender-equal real-world culture.

* Applies to the ''[[Deadwood]]'' campaign setting, since the dangers of the west means most communities need everyone they can get and can't be picky. If a woman wants to guard your caravan and at least knows which end of her gun is which, you hire her. The same thing has done a good job of erasing racism.

 

* In ''[[Disgaea]]'' men and women of various classes have the same base stats and aptitudes in the key stats, but vary in weapon proficiency, other stats, and evil acts. The cast is usually relatively equal in terms of gender ratio and there are just as many badass women as there are badass men.

* ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' fits right in here. The main protagonist is male more often than not, but there are quite a few women who take that role as well. Story-wise, there are as many females in positions of power as males, and functionally, the genders are equal in combat. For every uber-powered male character you run into, there's an uber-powered female somewhere (e.g., Ike and Hector are regarded as powerhouses, but so are Titania and Tanith).

* Although ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' is usually very good at gender equality in playable characters, the only games with female main characters are the games where you could choose between male or female. Even then, promotional art usually featured the male character more often. There is also not many female villains in the series, either.

 

* ''[[The Word Weary]]'' has a lot more male characters than female, but all of the female characters are treated with the same respect and agency as the males.

* ''[[Homestuck]]'' - the cast is evenly divided between male and female characters, everyone can kick roughly equal amounts of ass (fashion-designing girly girl Kanaya fights zombies with a chainsaw; Roxy loves kittens and stuffed animals but is both a competent hacker and scientist and doesn't even need a weapon to fuck shit up), and Alternian society, while terrible in most ways, made basically no distinctions based on gender and both members of their imperial line were female.

* Haley and Miko of ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' are just as badass as their male teammates and receive just as much character development.

 

* In ''[[The Guild]]'' there are three women players and three men players in the main cast, as they wanted to point out the high number of girl gamers in online games. The girls are shown to be just as powerful and skilled as any of the guys they face in the game. Even if they're all equally idiotic.

* [[That Guy With The Glasses]]. While still a bit of a sausagefest, everyone loves [[Slapstick Knows No Gender|fighting]], everyone has varying levels of intelligence, and everyone's a lunatic.

 

* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', the genders are represented fairly equally.

** To break down the main group, in the first season and part of the second, there was Aang (male/bender), Katara (female/bender), and Sokka (male/normal). In the second season they pick up Toph (female bender) and the group stays as that until the third season. Then, halfway through that season, finally finishing his [[Heel Face Turn]], Zuko (male/bender) joins and several episodes later helps bring in Suki (female/normal). That brings it to an even representation in overall numbers and combat abilities for both sexes.

In this trope, women often prove their superiority and are always the protagonists. Men, while still competent (usually), are only supporters at best.

 

* Pretty much any TV advertisement for household products, which tend to feature men being idiots and women being competent. Still plays into all the old sexist tropes by reinforcing the idea that women should be the ones who do the housework and/or are particularly suited to housework.

 

* Most of the [[Magical Girl]] series fit here. Boys cannot be [[The Chosen One|the chosen ones]], or fight evil with magical powers (except if they get [[Gender Bender]]). However, they can still be helpful by being themselves and provide a source of "something to fight for" for heroines. Most Maho Shoujo is simply the girl version of [[Superhero]] stories, since most girls are either not human (which explains why they are special ala ''[[Superman]]'', or simply the circumstances lead to only magical girls in the main cast a la ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha|Nanoha]]'', where there are magical boys, and most of the [[Red Shirt]] members of the TSAB appear to be men, but due to the circumstances we don't see them doing much).

** The most prominent example of this is ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', with Mamoru helping by just encouraging Usagi to never give up (and actually being more of a liability to the Sailor Senshi by being [[Dude in Distress|repeatedly brainwashed or kidnapped]]), and three boys who help Sailor Senshi via turning into magical girls themselves. Later in the series, Mamoru becomes more of a [[Badass Normal]], but still lacks the sheer power of the Sailor Senshi.

* ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' is commonly considered to belong here, since all of the male characters seem to be either evil or fairly ineffectual compared to Utena (or both). Then again, nobody in the show is without serious stains, and the gender dynamic is one of the points discussed.

 

* Book ''Frostlover and Thorn'' by Phyllis Ann Karr.

* ''Tomoe Gozen'' by Jessica Amanda Salmonson.

* [[Sheri S. Tepper]] ranges from Level 6 to Level 9 in her work. A good Level 6 example is [[The Arbai Trilogy]], starting with ''Grass''. Men are consistently shown to be either too incompetent and ineffectual, or self-important and arrogant, to figure out what is really going on on the eponymous world. Most of the females are little better; but the few that the novels actually focus on, particularly the protagonist, are far and away more competent and effective than the men.

 

* ''[[Charmed]]'' has the most powerful witches in the world and the eponymous characters as women.

* Many [[sitcom]]s, particularly the family-based ones, run on the "dumb husband screws up, competent wife fixes it" trope, ie. ''[[Home Improvement]]''.

* ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]''

 

* Among the Vistani of the [[Ravenloft]] game-setting, only women can be the spiritual/mystical leader of a tribe, as males with the Sight are killed at birth to avert their becoming that culture's version of [[The Antichrist]]. Men do direct the mundane day-to-day activities of a caravan, but only with the female ''raunie'''s approval. The overall setting probably averages at 4 or 5, though (quite a number of domains are socially backwards by D&D standards, or have darklords with varying degrees of sexism, among them [[The Bluebeard]] - yes, ''that'' one).

 

* All the important characters in ''[[Touhou|Touhou Project]]'' who actually do anything are female. There are a few male characters but their roles are very limited.

* ''[[Embric of Wulfhammers Castle]]''.

 

* In ''[[Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki]]'' the main protagonist can become a Valkyrie, but it permanently [[Gender Bender|turns him into a girl]].

* ''[[Drowtales]]'' in story (about 25% of the lead characters are male). Drow society is quite matriarchal.

 

* Tex from ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'': Oh my lord Tex, one of the only female characters is also one the [[Punctuated! For! Emphasis!|Most. Badass. Characters.]] EVER; just take a look at [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke9wtbzGjCI this] (she's the one in black armour).

** Then subverted when we later learn that {{spoiler|Tex is actually an AI modelled after someone her creator once knew, and because of a few factors riding on that distinction, she's hardwired on a psychological level to always snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.}}

** Further exemplified by Agent Carolina, who was recognised as the best Freelancer before Tex came along. And boy does she kick ass.

 

* ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' epitomizes this level. Though one episode featured a villain who was a [[Straw Feminist]] trying to convince the girls that all men are dogs and that women are superior, as a lesson that this ''isn't'' the case.

* ''[[Kim Possible]]''. The eponymous [[Extraordinarily Empowered Girl]] "can do anything" while her [[Sidekick]], Ron, is mainly used for [[Plucky Comic Relief]], although he does have a few [[All Up to You|heroic moments]]. Meanwhile, her main [[Arch Enemy|nemesis]], [[Mad Scientist|Dr. Drakken]], is far less competent than his [[Dark Action Girl|sidekick]], Shego.

Men are jerks and there's nothing good in living with them, because they only think about sex and how to get a partner under their thumbs. However, living without them is hard too - there are things that should not be the concern of women, or simply require brute strength to get accomplished. Also, there's one thing that makes males necessary - procreation. Simply, you need a man if you want to have kids, and if there's one thing they're good at, it's making kids.

 

* One (or thirty) too many [[Lifetime Movie of the Week|Lifetime movies Of The Week]]. Made worse because they're supposed to be ''empowering'' for women, but it fails by portraying men as [[Exclusively Evil]] for no other reason than to "make women look good".

* Many romcoms shoot for this level. However, whether they make it or not is a different story. Many of the worst flop back down to Level 3, where instead of making the female protagonist(s) look empowered and feminist, instead makes them helplessly sit around for the whole movie until Prince Charming shows up.

 

* Many love stories. ''Especially'' Harlequin novels and their ilk, though they sometimes loop back into male chauvinism by making the woman a bit too meek or accommodating.

 

[[Lady Land|Governments are ruled by women, wars are fought by women and all important functions in the society are in their hands]]. Men are useless and there's not a single thing that women couldn't accomplish without them. Except for one - procreation. That's the only reason men weren't slaughtered already. But they are still reduced to second-class citizens at best, and to sex slaves at worse. In other words, this is just a complete inversion of Level 2.

 

* In ''A Brother's Price'' by Wen Spencer, women outnumber men by about 20 to 1 (or more) so polygamy is the norm. This is not the fantasy that men might envision. Society is completely matriarchal. Men are basically property and can be sold or traded for money or a husband for their mothers or sisters. Men also take care of the home and children while women work and fight. Even the male protagonist primarily functions as a [[Damsel in Distress]].

* Drow society in the ''[[Forgotten Realms]]''.

* [[Melanie Rawn]]'s ''Exiles'' series.

 

* In ''Incredible Hercules'', Artume almost turned Earth into that kind of place, with women in charge since the beginning of time, most males as second-class citizens and the few men that survived, including Hercules, labeled as terrorists.

* In the [[Gene Roddenberry]] TV-pilot film ''[[Planet Earth]]'', the PAX team led by Dylan Hunt encounters a society where the women rule the man, and in many ways, reverse 20th Century gender roles, attitudes and behaviors.

** This is a favorite of Roddenberry's: he [[Recycled in Space|uses the exact same society setup]] in the Season 1 ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' episode "[[Star Trek: The Next Generation/Recap/S1/E13 Angel One|Angel One]]".

 

* The government in ''[[Drowtales]]'' runs under this principle seeing as women have a higher status than men (not to mention being physically larger than the men) and only a few men have fairly important positions. There is a growing male rights movement in the story, but it's mostly been implied and not focused on much.

** This probably comes from the fact that the original D&D Drow have a strict matriarchal society, created and kept in power by their demonic goddess.

 

* Lovable Weirdos in ''[[Nation States]]'' falls into this.

 

Women rule the world, men are all either castrated slaves or [[Gendercide|extinct]]. Women live in a [[Straw Feminist]] Utopia with superior technology or some kind of [[Scenery Porn|nature paradise]] to emphasize how women are [[Closer to Earth]], and are either happy lesbians or simply celibate. Genetics takes care of procreation. On occasion, there is nothing sexist about it when the fiction takes place in a realistically women-only setting (like a realistic, non-[[Fetish Fuel]] women's prison), but this happens far less often than in Level 1.

 

* Many [[Yuri Genre]] works often have no male character of note, especially in works aimed at older readers or at actual lesbians.

* ''ICE – The Last Generation'' takes place in a setting where all men died and remaining women fight over ideological differences (if they should or shouldn't bring men back) and an ICE (which is an only thing that can help them reproduce).

 

* Amazons from ''[[Wonder Woman]]'' comics live on a separate island, without any men.

** In ''[[Planetary]]'', their [[Expies]] also have technology a thousand years more advanced than the rest of the world. They were planning to send an emissary that would usher all mankind into new golden age. However, they were still slaughtered by The Four.

** By the end of the series, however, the trope is played straighter. The world has become a near-utopia, cloning takes care of reproduction, and the only remaining men are the rare clones of Yorick himself. However, there's still international strife. The last issue has France's leader discussing the need for an Atlantic alliance to help deal with a newly nuclear-armed Iran.

 

* This level was parodied in Polish movie ''Sexmisja'' (English title: ''Sexmission''), where two male protagonists wake up from hibernation in a world where all males were killed by a pandemic and nuclear war. Women live underground and their community denies the existence of males. However, {{spoiler|their leader is in fact a transvestite who somehow managed to survive the end of the male race, and the movie ends with our heroes manipulating a cloning machine to create a new male breed}}. Keep in mind, that this move was directed in the times of communism and was one big [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]] about living in a land under the control of a communist party.

 

* ''Goodmother Night'' by Rachel Pollack.

* The world of Whileaway in Joanne Russ' novel ''The Female Man'', is all female, with the men having been wiped out ages ago by a plague,<ref>though there's a hint or two that it might instead be a result of the women winning a global war of the sexes</ref> and is unabashedly utopian.

* ''[[Herland]]'', by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is the [[Ur Example]] of this level.

 

* Microprose's ''Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender'' features a planet filled with militaristic women. It's only later in the game that you learn that there was a war involving the two sexes, the end result being the women wiped out all the men via biological warfare. Not only did women have to reproduce by using the aforementioned Gender Bender to temporarily change into men, the virus used had an unintended side-effect of making the women incapable of having male babies ever again.

* {{{[[PlayStation 2]] [[PlayStation 2]]}} RPG ''Nuga-Cel'' informs you outright at the start that absolutely no men will be appearing in the game, not even as NPCs. The (male) narrator who informs you of this is fired on the spot, never to be seen again. Although the player character is male, he is never seen or heard, unless {{spoiler|you get a particular ending where he becomes the final boss.}}

Men and women live separately. There are two divided communities, each with members of only one gender. There are only homosexual relationships (if any at all) and neither gender needs the other to survive. Even the procreation problem was somehow solved.

 

* ''[[Vandread]]''

* The Zentraedi in ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]]'' do this in the first series as men (Zentraedi) and women (Meltrandi) are kept in completely separate social systems.

* A world in ''[[Crest of the Stars|Banner of the Stars]]'' is gender segregated, being a prison planet after all. There is a part where men and women are allowed to live together...but they must be sterilized beforehand.

 

* [[Marvel Comics]] character [http://marvel.wikia.com/Thundra_(Earth-715) Thundra] comes from a future where men and women are in a state of war and use artificial methods of procreation. Her daughter, Lyra, (born in vitro with use of [[Incredible Hulk|Hulk's]] cells) gets a little [[Retcon]] of this: Her world is set [[After the End]], where women created an advanced society while men degenerated into a bunch of wild tribes who worship old superheroes as gods.

 

* One of the worlds featured in ''The Female Man'' by Joanna Russ is one where men and women are at war with one another. Near the end of the novel, the principle characters (four versions of the same woman from perpendicular dimensions) visit the men's side and one of the women tears a man limb from limb. Here, though, each gender ''does'' need the other to survive, so they develop a [[squick]]y prisoner-exchange program of sorts.

* [[Vorkosigan Saga|Ethan of Athos]]. Shortly after the invention of the uterine replicator, a religious group that believed women were the source of all sin established an all-male colony world.

 

* [[Played for Laughs]] in an episode of ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]''.

** Ditto one episode of ''[[Duckman]]''.