History Main / GirlsVsBoysPlot

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': In [[Recap/TheBigBangTheoryS6E4TheReEntryMinimization "The Re-entry Minimalization"]], Sheldon and Leonard arrange a Pictionary game night for themselves and their girlfriends. Penny casually suggests that the teams be boys versus girls, prompting InsufferableGenius Sheldon to claim that any team without him on it is bound to lose. Unsurprisingly, he ends up eating crow, as Amy and Penny prove far better at Pictionary thanks to Sheldon's ComplexityAddiction: the first word given is "present," and while Penny simply draws a box with a bow, Sheldon insists on depicting the current situation that they're all experiencing--that is, the ''present'' moment. The night quickly devolves into a series of games that the boys keep losing, including wrestling (Penny pins Sheldon in seconds), a pie-eating contest, [[Literature/WheresWaldo tracking down Waldo]] after removing glasses, and even deliberately making themselves dizzy and then solving a long division problem.

* This trope is in danger of being upended in the world of sports by so-called "transathletes", where biological men will identify as women and then proceed to figuratively, and in some cases literally, crush their female competitors.

* This trope is in danger of being upended by so-called "transathletes", where biological men will "identify" as women and then proceed to figuratively, and in some cases literally, crush their female competitors.

* This trope is in danger of being upended by so-called "transathletes", where biological men will "identify" as women and then proceed to figuratively (and sometimes literally) crush female athletes in competition.

[[Folder:Real Life]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': The conflict in "Arthur's Birthday" is caused by Arthur's and Muffy's birthday parties being scheduled on the same day, causing the boys to side with Arthur and girls to side with Muffy. The two sides play a game of tug-of-war so intensely that the rope breaks straight down the middle. As Arthur summarizes, "I guess nobody wins."

* The ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' episode "Operation: F.U.T.U.R.E." centers around a girl named Margaret teaming up with her future self to eliminate all boys on Earth. This leads to a future where the last remaining boys, led by an old-aged Numbuh 4, fight against Margaret's army of girls. [[spoiler:The boys soon gain assistance from Numbuh 3's granddaughter, Sally Sanban, who defected from Margaret's twisted utopia, to go back in time and stop her plan.]]

Compare ShowingUpChauvinists and YouGoGirl, both of which overlap. See also SlobsVsSnobs and BrainsVersusBrawn, which is often grafted on top of the gender divide (men are typically depicted as the slobs and the brawn, women as the snobs and the brains). If this happens within a friend group, may lead to a FriendshipStrainingCompetition. May also involve a MachoDisasterExpedition or a GenderSeparatedEnsembleEpisode. Finally, see also GirlsHaveCooties.

Compare SlobsVsSnobs and YouGoGirl, both of which overlap (in the former case, the men and women tend to serve as the "slobs" and "snobs" respectively), as well as the FriendshipStrainingCompetition, which these can sometimes turn into. This may involve a MachoDisasterExpedition or a GenderSeparatedEnsembleEpisode. Finally, see also GirlsHaveCooties.

The episode tends to end in one of two ways. One is for the narrative to side with the girls and have them beat the boys, with the latter swallowing their pride and [[GracefulLoser taking their loss in stride]], and learning AnAesop about [[PrejudiceAesop feminism or gender equality in general]]. The frequency of this outcome is likely due to some form of PositiveDiscrimination in the girls' favor, such as the assertion that WomenAreWiser. Another common outcome is for the contest to [[EvasiveFightThreadEpisode end in a tie, deliberately leave the conclusion ambiguous, or end without any clear winner or loser]], with the Aesop being that neither gender is better than the other. If this happens, expect at least one person on both sides to call the tie unfair and call for a rematch, which probably won't happen.

More rarely, the episode may instead end with the boys explicitly prevailling over the girls instead. This conclusion is much riskier to end the episode with than the other two, as it can potentially carry the UnfortunateImplications that boys [[MenAreBetterThanWomen should feel justified in seeing the opposite sex as inferior]], even with the justification that the boys team just happened to be better prepared for the contest in question. Strangely, [[DoubleStandard this is not the case for girls winning over boys.]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' episode "Operation: F.U.T.U.R.E." centers around a girl named Margaret teaming up with her future self to eliminate all boys on Earth. This leads to a future where the last remaining boys, led by an old-aged Numbuh 4, fight against Margaret's army of girls. [[spoiler:The boys soon gain assistance from Numbuh 3's granddaughter, Sally Sanban, to go back in time and stop Margaret's plan.]]

** In "[[ValentinesDayEpisode Love Struck!]]", Timmy made a wish that segregated the sexes in their own societies with a wall between them. But when the opposite sexes feel absent of something, Timmy wished for the wall that segregated them to break... [[NiceJobBreakingItHero except]] because they were separated for so long that they went right to war with each other. It took assistance from Cupid, who was literally dying from no love, to make things right.

* The ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' episode "F.U.T.U.R.E." centers around a girl named Margaret teaming up with her future self to eliminate all boys on Earth. This leads to a future where the last remaining boys, led by an old-aged Numbuh 4, fight against Margaret's army of girls.

* ''Manga/{{Kodocha}}'': This was the main conflict in Sana's class in the first four episodes. The boys are troublemakers who create chaos in the classroom and disrespect the teachers, while the girls are irritated by their behavior but can't do anything to stop them… except for Sana, who openly confronts Akito, the leader of the boys. When they get into conflict, all the girls root for Sana and all the boys root for Akito. Episode 33 revives this plotline and mixes it with a FeudEpisode, in which the girls are now openly fighting back against the boys this time (since Akito isn't even bothering to join in), and two of the teacher (who also happen to be lovers) are the ones fueling it.

* ''Manga/{{Kodocha}}'': This was the main conflict in Sana's class in the early episodes. The boys are troublemakers who create chaos in the classroom and disrespect the teachers, while the girls are irritated by their behavior but can't do anything to stop them… except for Sana, who openly confronts Akito, the leader of the boys. When they get into conflict, all the girls root for Sana and all the boys for Akito.

* A few episodes of ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' used this trope in later seasons, as son Theo [[OutnumberedSibling was the only boy among five children]] in the first few. Once the cast balanced itself out with the addition of boyfriends and husbands for the women, it became a more common plot.

* ''The Better Sex'' was a 1977 game show that pitted a team of six men trying to outguess answers to questios regarding each gender against six women. The objective is to eliminate each member of the other team.

** The "Spring Break-Up" special involves the students starring in a special reality-show produced by Logan's father. The show, "Gender Defenders", is entirely ''about'' this sort of plot, meaning that they're put into this conflict intentionally. It starts out fun until Chase accidentally steals Zoey's Tek-Mate, which cost her team a game they would've otherwise have won [[ImpededCommunication due to a communication failure]], and suddenly, [[FriendshipStrainingCompetition it becomes a lot more serious]], and the fighting becomes real. In the end, the girls win after a tie-breaker between Zoey and Chase that the latter forfeited just when he was about to win.

** After Team Victory was disbanded, as well as [[TheSmurfettePrinciple Izzy]]'s removal from the game, the rest of the pre-merge episodes were girls ([[ThatOneGuy Team Amazon]]) vs. boys ([[ItsAllAboutMe Team Chris is Really, Really, Really, Really Hot]]). The girls won in London, Greece, and Area 51, while the boys won in Australia and Sweden. The teams merge after that point.

** The "Spring Break-Up" special involves the students starring in a special reality-show produced by Logan's father. The show, "Gender Defenders", is entirely ''about'' this sort of plot, meaning that they're put into this conflict intentionally. It starts out fun until Chase accidentally steals Zoey's Tek-Mate, which cost her team a game they would've otherwise have won [[ImpededCommunication due to a communication failure]], and suddenly, [[FriendshipStrainingCompetition it becomes a lot more serious]], and the fighting becomes real.

** During "Prank Week," the returning students play pranks on the new students - which, since this is the first year girls are allowed at PCA, amounts to the boys playing pranks on the girls. Although the new students traditionally aren't supposed to retaliate, the girls do so anyway after getting drenched with water balloons. The prank war grinds to a halt, however, when the girls get caught defacing a statue and threatened with expulsion. In the end, the boys deliberately play another prank and openly take responsibility for it, forcing the school to either expel ''all'' of the students (which is obviously impossible) or let the girls stay.

* ''Shiverstone Castle'' has two pre-teen, sex-segregated boarding schools of opposite genders going at each other's throats. They eventually become all friends, with even a bit of ShipTease between two pairs.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheChipmunkAdventure'', The Chipmunks and their DistaffCounterpart trio have a competition to see whether the boys or the girls can win a race around the world first. Both get repeatedly sidetracked and nearly die, and in the end, the winner is left ambiguous.

* ''Series/{{Glee}}'': OnceASeason the Glee club is divided between girls and boys, with the groups then having to perform a musical medley. This is supposed to be a friendly competition, but often the groups take it too seriously. For instance, in the first season, both groups take drugs in order to keep their energy up.

The high school musical the musical the series episode the transformation is about this Nini even calls it boys vs girls competition