History Main / MasculineFeminineGayCouple

** Ruby and Sapphire are a DiscountLesbians example. They're from a species of alien who have NoBiologicalSex but are treated as woman. Ruby is a red coloured HotBlooded tomboy who wears martial arts-inspired clothes while her girlfriend Sapphire is a [[TrueBlueFemininity blue coloured]] ProperLady with long hair who wears dresses.

* Subverted with ComicBook/{{Batwoman}} and her girlfriend Maggie. At first glance they fit the archetype, with Kate being femme and Maggie being butch, however they are both in fact butch.

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When it comes to gay couples in media, this is the most common set-up for them. Whichever gender they are, one is very feminine while the other is very masculine, with gay male pairings consisting of a ManlyGay or StraightGay character and a CampGay one, and lesbian pairings consisting of a ButchLesbian and a LipstickLesbian. This usually also shows itself in their character designs, with one being shorter and dantier (sometimes even [[TheTwink twinky]] if male) than their OneHeadTaller, and often more muscular, lover.

Pairings involving two {{Straight Gay}}s or two {{Manly Gay}}s are becoming increasing popular in media in order to subvert the CampGay cliche, however couples involving two CampGay individuals are quite rare. Pairing two {{Lipstick Lesbian}}s is extremely common, especially for [[GirlOnGirlIsHot fanservice reasons]] or in YuriGenre works (in QueerRomance it also pops up but so do butch-femme couples), but two {{Butch Lesbian}}s in a relationship are all but unheard-of in fiction.

This trope goes back to misconceptions that there must be a "man" and a "woman" in a relationship. It also invokes OppositesAttract. Despite the fact it's often based on misconceptions, this trope does appear in works written by queer people. It's not remarkably rare to see couples like this in RealLife, and thus the writers [[WriteWhatYouKnow take inspiration from experience]].

When it comes to gay couples in media, this is the most common set-up for them. Whichever gender they are, one is very feminine while the other is very masculine, with gay male pairings consisting of a ManlyGay or StraightGay character and a CampGay one, and lesbian pairings consisting of a ButchLesbian and a LipstickLesbian. This usually also shows itself in their character designs, with one being shorter and dantier (sometimes even [[TheTwink twinky]] if male) then their OneHeadTaller, and often more muscular, lover.

* ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'': Chibitalia and Holy Roman Empire are a PuppyLove example. Chibitalia is a meek artist who wore female clothes while [=HRE=] is a bold warrior who wears boy's clothes. Subverted as HRE actually mistook Chibitalia for a girl. As an adult, Italy became a {{keet}} and started wearing men's attire.

* Tetsuo and Taichi from ''Manga/{{Yuureitou}}'' become this in the epilogue. Tetsuo is a cool-headed ByronicHero {{transgender}} guy and Taichi is a sensitive LovableCoward DistressedDude that Tetsuo meets. The two start out with an OddFriendship that quickly ends up romantic. This aspect of their relationship is emphasised when Taichi is forced to be DisguisedInDrag and pretends to be Tetsuo's wife. He initially loathes it but soom finds it comfortable and notes that he wouldn't mind [[WholesomeCrossdresser being Tetsuo's crossdressing lover]].

* Tetsuo and Taichi from ''Manga/{{Yuureitou}}'' become this in the epilogue. Tetsuo is a cool-headed ByronicHero {{trans|sexual}} guy and Taichi is a sensitive LovableCoward DistressedDude that Tetsuo meets. The two start out with an OddFriendship that quickly ends up romantic. This aspect of their relationship is emphasised when Taichi is forced to be DisguisedInDrag and pretends to be Tetsuo's wife. He initially loathes it but soom finds it comfortable and notes that he wouldn't mind [[WholesomeCrossdresser being Tetsuo's crossdressing lover]].

* ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11886910/1/Gankona-Unnachgiebig-Unità Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità]]'': Germany is the manly one while Italy and Japan are the feminine ones. Yes, ''[[{{Polyamory ones]]''.

* A HideYourLesbians variation occurs in ''Anime/{{Canaan}}'' with Canaan and Maria. They never make the full leap to romance but their relationship is heavy on the subtext. [[spoiler:They're also a StarcrossedLovers example, with Canaan's life as an ActionGirl not meshing well with Maria's civilian life]]..

* Subverted in ''Manga/AoiHana''. Yasuko is Fumi's first girlfriend. She's a tall, boyish looking girl who prefers masculine clothes outside of school and is the captain of the basketball team. Yasuko however doesn't enjoy being forced into a masculine role in order to fit people's expectations [[spoiler:and is actually bisexual, not lesbian]]. Yasuko and Fumi break up, [[spoiler:and after being PutOnTheBus Yasuko grows her hair out and undergoes a GirlinessUpgrade]]. Fumi's girlfriend at the end of the manga is [[spoiler:her short, girly {{childhood friend|Romance}} Akira]].

* In ''Webcomic/FriendlyHostility'', Bootsie asks Collin and Fox at one point which one of them plays the woman. Collin is incensed and chews her out, saying that a gay couple doesn't need one member to be more feminine than the other and that his love of cock has no impact on his masculinity. Fox, however, correctly guesses that Bootsie was actually referring to the [[WholesomeCrossdresser plaid skirt]] she found while doing their laundry and explains that Collin sometimes likes to roleplay as a slutty Catholic schoolgirl while they're having sex. So Collin ''is'' more feminine than Fox, but not by that much considering that he's also an aspiring dictator who HatesEveryoneEqually.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' lets you play with this. A male Hawke (especially the default with the beard and rugged look) seems pretty "butch" compared to [[{{Elfeminate}} Fenris]] or [[TheMedic Anders]] (your uncle will even say that he doesn't have to ask "which one of you is the girl" if you're romancing Fenris). Hawke can be designed and played much less butch, but the male love interests are pretty no matter how you swing it.

When it comes to gay couples in media, this is the most common set-up for them. Whichever gender they are, one is very feminine while the other is very masculine, with gay male pairings having one ManlyGay or StraightGay and a CampGay, and lesbian pairings consisting of a ButchLesbian and a LipstickLesbian. This usually also shows itself in their character designs, with one being shorter and dantier (sometimes even [[TheTwink twinky]] if male) then their OneHeadTaller, and often more muscular, lover.

* Ymir from ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' is a tall, muscular young woman who usually wears trousers and is TheLadette. Her love interest Krista is a short, feminine girl.
* Subverted with [[KissingCousins cousins]] Rei and Yoshino from ''LightNovel/MariaSamaGaMiteru''. Rei is a tall girl with BoyishShortHair who is into kendo while Yoshino is a short IllGirl with GirlishPigtails. When it comes to their actual personalities however, Yoshino is the loud and more tomboyish one of the two.
* Haruka and Michiru from ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' are one of the most iconic examples in manga. Haruka is a cool {{bifauxnen}} who always wears the boy's school uniform and Michiru is her {{Ojou}} girlfriend who [[ElegantClassicalMusician plays the violin]]. This is somewhat an example of CharacterExaggeration in the 90s anime. In the manga, Haruka is still butch but has her feminine moments and even occasionally wears girly clothes. In the '90s anime she is much more masculine and is even a {{Bokukko}} (in the manga she uses the girly pronoun "atashi"). In the manga, Haruka [[SweetPollyOliver actively disguises herself as male]] while in the 1990s anime she's a tomboy who [[UnsettlingGenderReveal just gets mistaken for male]].

* ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'': Chibitalia and Holy Roman Empire are a PuppyLove example. Chibitalia is a meek artist who wore female clothes while [=HRE=] is a bold warrior who wears boy's clothes. Subverted as HRE actually mistook Chibitalia for a girl. As an adult, Italy became a {{keet}} and started wearing men's attire.

* ''Film/INowPronounceYouChuckAndLarry'' has a scene where Alex and her gay friend are guessing who of the titular duo is Femme and who is the Butch, which for them apparently is the same as Bottom and Top.

* The first novel in Katherine V Forrest's Kate Delafield detective series, ''Amateur City'', has the very ButchLesbian Kate starting a relationship with LipstickLesbian Aimee, and feeling some genuine identity disorientation when she finds herself bottoming to Aimee in bed and enjoying it.
* The 1928 novel ''Literature/TheWellOfLoneliness'' is about a woman named [[GenderBlenderName Stephen]] who is diagnosed with "gender inversion" (an outdated 'disorder' that theorized [[TransEqualsGay gay people are mentally the opposite gender]]). Stephen falls in love with a nurse named Mary while working together during The Great War.

* While not a couple, Moose and Kevin like to hook-up a lot in ''Series/{{Riverdale}}''. Moose is a closeted bisexual/gay guy who is on the football team and has a girlfriend while Kevin is an openly gay boy. Kevin borders on CampGay (in contrast with his StraightGay [[Franchise/ArchieComics comic]] counterpart) while Moose is much more masculine.
* In ''Series/WillAndGrace'', Will is the manly man to Jack's feminine man. Behind the scenes, the actor who played Will won the part over an actual gay man who was perceived as too manly to be a convincing gay man.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': A lesbian Commander Shepard is always the "butch" one in every relationship, whether it be with Liara, Kelly, Samantha, Diana, or Samara. Although the last one is a LadyOfWar only ''slightly'' more femme than Shepard.

* ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' features a subtextual version between Brawns & Brawn Frank and Sly. Psychics are effeminate looking young men while Black Belts are muscular and masculine. Frank and Sly have some heavy HoYay in their dialogue.
* In the DistantFinale game of ''VideoGame/PowerInstinct'' series, ''Groove on Fight'' ([[FanNickname also called]] ''Power Instinct 3''), there's [[ManlyGay Rudolph Garthheimer]] (selectable character and also SubBoss) and [[EnglishRose Damian Shade]] ({{NPC}} in Arcade version and SecretCharacter in the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn port), which also are [[HoYay the first gay couple in the series]].

* Sun Jing and Qiu Tong from ''Webcomic/TheirStory''. Sun Jing is OneHeadTaller than Qiu Tong, wears a tie in her CustomUniform, and is tomboyish while Qiu Tong is more feminine. Official artwork that predates the comic depicts Sun Jing as even more butch, having short hair and wearing more boyish attire. In the webcomic itself Qiu Tong is initially ObliviousToLove [[spoiler:and initially rejects Sun Jing's LoveConfession]] however they end up the OfficialCouple.

* Jeff's [[HasTwoMommies moms']] from ''WesternAnimation/{{Clarence}}'' are a femme woman and a butch woman.
* [[spoiler:Korra and Asami]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' are a rare example involving two [[BiTheWay bisexual]] women. The former is a tomboyish ActionGirl while the latter is a GirlyBruiser who [[WakeUpMakeup always wears makeup]]. This is pronounced even more in the last season, which is also when they [[LastMinuteHookup get together]], as the former cuts her hair shorter.
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndSteveTheHappiestGayCoupleInAllTheWorld'': Kirsten and her wife Dana. Kirsten dresses in pink overalls while Dana is a self-proclaimed "Jewish American Bulldyke" in a mullet.
* It's [[HomoeroticSubtext heavily implied]] that in ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' Marceline and Princess Bubblegum could become a downplayed variant if they get over their UnresolvedSexualTension and the show stops trying to HideYourLesbians. Bubblegum is a TomboyPrincess in her own right but leans towards GirlyGirlWithATomboyStreak. Marceline is a punk rocker who both looks more tomboyish and is more laidback then Princess Bubblegum.

When it comes to gay couples in media, this is the most common set-up for them. One is very feminine while the other is very masculine. This usually also shows itself in their character designs, with one being shorter and dantier (sometimes even [[TheTwink twinky]] if male) then their OneHeadTaller, and often more muscular, lover.

Overlaps with TomboyAndGirlyGirl and SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan. Also see {{uke}} and {{seme}} for Japanese tropes heavily associated with this concept. See also GayGuySeeksPopularJock, where the gay guy is less conventionally masculine than the popular athlete.

* [[spoiler:Korra]] and [[spoiler:Asami]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' are a rare example involving two [[BiTheWay bisexual]] women. [[spoiler:Korra]] is a tomboyish ActionGirl while her girlfriend [[spoiler:Asami]] is a GirlyBruiser who [[WakeUpMakeup always wears makeup]]. This is pronounced even more in the last season, which is also when they [[LastMinuteHookup get together]], as [[spoiler:Korra]] cuts her hair shorter.

** There is [[PlayerCharacter Max]] and [[{{Deuteragonist}} Chloe]]. Max is more shy and traditionally feminine than Chloe, who's a {{Laddette}} punk girl. Downplayed in that Max is still far from the most feminine member of the cast, and when they were kids, Chloe was an outright girly girl before she TookALevelInCynic (whereas Max stayed more consistently feminine as she grew up).

* ''WebComic/RockAndRiot'' is about two rival {{Greaser|Delinquent}}s cliques in TheFifties. Connie is a cool butch greaser while her Carla girlfriend is a SeeminglyWholesomeFiftiesGirl. Connie is a lesbian while Carla is a [[BiTheWay panromantic]] {{asexual|ity}}.