History Main / MonsterMisogyny

* Music/FosterThePeople song ''Music/BestFriend'' featured a woman who could swallow people alive. However, rather than [[LiteralManeater eating men as one would expect from such a premise]], she instead only eats other women. This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] because she is a supermodel and when she eats a woman she [[YouAreWhoYouEat absorbs some of her beauty]] so it makes sense that only women get eaten.

* A JustifiedTrope in ''Anime/{{Witchblade}}''. The I-Weapons usually go after women; women who just happen to have the Cloneblades of the Witchblade they are attracted to.
* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Ichigo is confronted by a Hollow named Grand Fisher, named for the hook on his head which he can give the appearance of a small child to lure his victims, with [[MsExposition Rukia]] explaining that his favourite prey are women. He is also the hollow that killed [[MissingMom Ichigo's mother]]

* ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'':
** All of Furuta's named victims in the series have been women, and it doesn't seem to be entirely a coincidence. He dropped the steel beams on Rize, even though they knew each other as children. He seduced and brought Ami to the Ghoul Restaurant in order to see her murdered for his amusement. He belittled Matsumae's sense of honor and blinded her before finishing her off. And he states that Eto is just the kind of woman he likes, while [[VillainousCrush posing suggestively and commenting on her looks]]....and swears that he'll personally punish her for taunting him.
** Played straight and inverted, in ''Tokyo Ghoul:re''. The Ghoul SerialKiller [[ALoveToDismember Torso]] preys exclusively on women with scars, while [[GroinAttack Nutcracker]] is a FemmeFatale that enjoys preying on men. Both are considerable sources of FanDisservice, as a result of the horrifying violence, they visit on their preferred victims.
* In ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', Wyald takes advantage of his role as an Apostle [[TheHedonist to enjoy himself to the fullest extent]], and while he finds plenty of joy in slaughtering men [[BadBoss (including his own followers)]], he seems to take a special pleasure in graphically raping and murdering any pretty young women who cross his path.
* In ''Manga/FutokuNoGuild'', it's been lampshaded that monsters only sexually assault women in order to get their mana, but they still try to kill and eat the men. That it wasn't the case before the series is a story plot point.

* There's a perhaps unintentional example in ''VideoGame/{{Koudelka}}'' and the ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' games. A semi-common monster in Koudelka was called Inverse and resembled [[OurMonstersAreWeird a revolver-totting upside-down man with 3 heads growing from the right side of his face]]. This creature always seemed to attack Koudelka while ignoring James and Edward. It reappears in the first Shadow Hearts game and again it will exclusively aim for the females present in battle most of the time, only attacking the guys if there are no women in the battle team. Oddly enough, there isn't an in-game explanation for this quirk; Kouldelka's manual described the monster as a "shade of a former thief who sought to pillage from the Monastery. Poisoned and then shot, he stalks the grounds trapped in his own purgatory." and in Shadows Hearts it is a "ghost that has resided in Nemeton Monastery for a long time. It roams among the ruins now, a soul that will never be saved." leaving its misogynistic tendencies a mystery. Some of the monsters are described favoring female targets, such as the kappa.

* There's a perhaps unintentional example in ''Koudelka'' and the ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' games. A semi-common monster in Koudelka was called Inverse and resembled [[OurMonstersAreWeird a revolver-totting upside-down man with 3 heads growing from the right side of his face]]. This creature always seemed to attack Koudelka while ignoring James and Edward. It reappears in the first Shadow Hearts game and again it will exclusively aim for the females present in battle most of the time, only attacking the guys if there are no women in the battle team. Oddly enough, there isn't an in-game explanation for this quirk; Kouldelka's manual described the monster as a "shade of a former thief who sought to pillage from the Monastery. Poisoned and then shot, he stalks the grounds trapped in his own purgatory." and in Shadows Hearts it is a "ghost that has resided in Nemeton Monastery for a long time. It roams among the ruins now, a soul that will never be saved." leaving its misogynistic tendencies a mystery. Some of the monsters are described favoring female targets, such as the kappa.

** The monsters in the Torna Canal section of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' only target females. If you pay attention, their attacks hint at TheReveal of Faris' gender in the next chapter.
** The Orthros in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' will only appear if your party consists of Fran, Ashe, and Penelo - all of whom are female. Granted, it will still attack male characters if they are switched out, but the monster seems to prefer attacking females.

If the women are abducted rather than killed, it's probably because MarsNeedsWomen. See also DistressedDamsel, SlashersPreferBlondes, MonogenderMonsters, NaughtyTentacles, TouchOfTheMonster and DragonsPreferPrincesses. MenAreTheExpendableGender can either avert or invert this, depending on the hostility towards the gender -- though on a meta-level, that trope can contribute to the decision to use this trope if a creator makes the victims female so the attacks look more shocking. For a type of female monster that does this, see the LesbianVampire. For the inverse, see LiteralManeater.

* James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca of ''WebVideo/DeadMeat'' have discussed this on occasion. James has noted that, in his experience watching horror films for ''WebVideo/TheKillCount'', the body count overall tends to lean towards men more often than not, but it's the women who get the more brutal and drawn-out death scenes.

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Barry the Chopper attacked people regardless of gender. In the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime version]], however, he is mentioned as killing only young women.

* The Wiki/SCPFoundation has [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-847 SCP-847.]] Usually a normal-seeming (if damaged) female mannequin, it comes to life sporadically. If a man approaches it, it will try to entice him with moanings, and afterwards it will destruct parts of itself according to whatever comment it hears about "her" lacking something. If a woman approaches within 100 meters of it, [[MurderousMannequin it immediately attacks]] with a single-minded determination to murder the woman, after which it will use body parts from her victim to repair itself. Its only known weakness is [[TaserTagWeakness electricity]], which will temporarily render it dormant.

* ''Humanoids from the Deep'' takes everything the 1950s horror movie monsters hinted at [[MarsNeedsWomen when monsters kidnapped young women]], and updated it for 1980s exploitation sensibilities by [[{{Squick}} showing monster-on-girl rape scenes]]. Quite infamous for its misogyny, despite being directed by a woman. She claims producer Creator/RogerCorman added more explicit rape footage later; he confirmed this in an interview on The Last Drive-In with JoeBobBriggs in 2021. Corman, for his part, felt that she had turned in footage far more tame than what she had originally agreed to shoot.

If the women are abducted rather than killed, it's probably because MarsNeedsWomen. See also DistressedDamsel, MonogenderMonsters, NaughtyTentacles, TouchOfTheMonster and DragonsPreferPrincesses. MenAreTheExpendableGender can either avert or invert this, depending on the hostility towards the gender -- though on a meta-level, that trope can contribute to the decision to use this trope if a creator makes the victims female so the attacks look more shocking. For a type of female monster that does this, see the LesbianVampire. For the inverse, see LiteralManeater.

%% No real life examples on this page.

This seems to be a wide-scale application of the DisposableWoman concept, sans any significant connection to TheHero. Further, the deaths carry no more than the normal dramatic weight, and do not motivate the Hero to action any more than would male deaths. All other things being more or less equal, the director will simply ''choose'' to populate his movie with female victims. And then, of course, there are plots in which the killer will ''specifically'' target females.

This trope does carry some UnfortunateImplications about women's safety compared to men's. A very common real life misconception about murder is that women are more likely to be murdered then men, and that the world as a whole is more dangerous for women then men. In reality, whilst ''serial'' killers tend to target women, 70% of murder victims in general are ''male'' and out of the 30% of female victims, most are killed by someone she knows. Plus, serial killers are extremely rare compared to other types of murderers, despite some media suggesting otherwise.

If the women are abducted rather than killed, it's probably because MarsNeedsWomen. See also DistressedDamsel, MonogenderMonsters, NaughtyTentacles, TouchOfTheMonster and DragonsPreferPrincesses. MenAreTheExpendableGender can either avert or invert this, depending on the hostility towards the gender--though on a meta level, that trope can contribute to the decision to use this trope if a creator makes the victims female so the attacks look more shocking. For a type of female monster that does this, see the LesbianVampire. For the inverse, see LiteralManeater.

** In the first OAV, all of the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Shinma of the week's]] victims were female: two schoolgirls, a college student, an OfficeLady and a HouseWife. (And we actually witness the poor HouseWife's death; she's picking some silks in a store, the glass of the window suddenly cracks a little, and all of a sudden we see her dead on the floor.) ''Somewhat'' justified in that [[spoiler:Aiko, the girl "commanding" the Shinma, had her life "ended", therefore the Shinma believed it had to finish other female's lives as well since they had the lives that poor Aiko couldn't aspire to anymore.]]

** All of Furuta's named victims in the series have been women, and it doesn't seem to be entirely coincidence. He dropped the steel beams on Rize, even though they knew each other as children. He seduced and brought Ami to the Ghoul Restaurant in order to see her murdered for his amusement. He belittled Matsumae's sense of honor, and blinded her before finishing her off. And he states that Eto is just the kind of woman he likes, while [[VillainousCrush posing suggestively and commenting on her looks]]....and swears that he'll personally punish her for taunting him.
** Played straight and inverted, in ''Tokyo Ghoul:re''. The Ghoul SerialKiller [[ALoveToDismember Torso]] preys exclusively on women with scars, while [[GroinAttack Nutcracker]] is a FemmeFatale that enjoys preying on men. Both are considerable sources of FanDisservice, as a result of the horrifying violence they visit on their preferred victims.

* Chucky of the ''Film/ChildsPlay'' series is the Stephen King take on this trope: a seemingly inhuman monster (in this case, a SerialKiller doll) that turns out to be ''very'' human in its attitude and appetites. His very first onscreen victim in the first film is a woman he kills for being a "bitch" and he has a very violent (and memorable) misogynistic tirade in response to being threatened by the film's female protagonist. Later movies would only escalate on this misogyny, from casually disparaging women drivers in the second film to getting a [[MadLove Joker and Harley Quinn-themed]] relationship in the post-trilogy films. ''Film/CurseOfChucky'' is definitely the worst, as it shows he [[spoiler:developed an obsessive "love" with one particular woman, kidnapped her and held her tied up for days, and then viciously stabbed her when she called the police, rendering the daughter she was pregnant with a paraplegic from birth]].

* The Land Shark, a recurring sketch on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', described by the narrator as "the cleverest of all sharks. Unlike the Great White shark, which tends to inhabit the waters and harbors of recreational beach areas, the Land Shark may strike at any place, any time. It is capable of disguising its voice, and generally preys on young, single women." Usually, the skit would involve him fooling the female victim into opening the door to her apartment by claiming to be a plumber, salesman, or claiming to deliver a candygram or flowers. (In one case where the victim was onto him, he claimed to be a dolphin, or in one case, outright [[SarcasticConfession admitted he was a Land Shark]]; clearly he only preys on ''stupid'' victims.)

* The titular serial killer in ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' is not an example, but many of his victims are. The Ice Truck Killer targets only women, and in particular prostitutes. This is similar to real serial killers, who (being primarily men) will target prostitutes under either some misguided "morals" that they have, or simply because they feel [[DisposableSexWorker they won't really be missed]].
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'', being based on real life serial killers, plays it straight in many episodes. It's {{Justified}} in that 70% of victims of serial killers are women, and the show does try to balance out this trope by having cases with omnivores, with--usually--final victim that is rescued before any harm can be done to her being a woman.
* One MonsterOfTheWeek in ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'' was a guy named Crumummy who only attacked the female members of Terra Venture, although in his defense, that's what Trakeena ordered him to do, so he could steal their beauty and transfer it to her. In fact, that's part of why the plan was thwarted. Trakeena decided to come down to the colony in disguise to check on him, and when she was the only woman he didn't attack, Mike quickly got suspicious of her.

* Music/FosterThePeople song ''Music/BestFriend'' featured a woman who could swallow people alive. However, rather than [[LiteralManeater eating men like one would expect from such a premise,]] she instead only eats other women. This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] because she is a supermodel and when she eats a woman she [[YouAreWhoYouEat absorbs some of her beauty]] so it makes sense that only women get eaten.

* The Ogres in ''VideoGame/DragonsDogma'' tend to target female pawns at top priority, and inverted by the Elder Ogre, which targets men first.

* [[ExaggeratedTrope Amped to 11 thousand]] in ''VideoGame/TheSuffering''. The Creeper in the second game is the incarnation of a pimp who abused, murdered, raped, and did all sorts of unspeakable things to his hos. One line cut from the game was his: [[{{Squick}} "Blood makes the best lubricant."]]

* There's a perhaps unintentional example in ''Koudelka'' and the ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' games. A semi common monster in Koudelka was called Inverse and resembled [[OurMonstersAreWeird a revolver-totting upside down man with 3 heads growing from the right side of his face]]. This creature always seemed to attack Koudelka while ignoring James and Edward. It reappears in the first Shadow Hearts game and again it will exclusively aim for the females present in battle most of the time, only attacking the guys if there no women in the battle team. Oddly enough, there isn't an in-game explanation from this quirk, Kouldelka's manual described the monster as a "shade of a former thief who sought to pillage from the Monastery. Poisoned and then shot, he stalks the grounds trapped in his own purgatory." and in Shadows Hearts it is a "ghost that has resided in Nemeton Monastery for a long time. It roams among the ruins now, a soul that will never be saved." leaving its misogynistic tendencies a mystery. Some of the monsters are described favoring female targets, such as the kappa.

* ''Webcomic/ShreddedMoose'' is particularly horrible about this -- Brew, the "hero", kills or abuses women as a matter of fact; we are supposed to laugh at and approve his acts.

* The Wiki/SCPFoundation has [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-847 SCP-847.]] Usually a normal seeming (if damaged) female mannequin, it comes to life sporadically. If a man approach it, it will try to entice him with moanings, and afterwards it will destruct parts of itself according to whatever comment it hears about "her" lacking something. If a woman approaches within 100 meters of it, [[MurderousMannequin it immediately attacks]] with a single minded determination to murder the woman, after which it will use body parts from her victim to repair itself. Its only known weakness is [[TaserTagWeakness electricity]], which will temporarily render it dormant.

This trope does carry some UnfortunateImplications about women's safety compared to men's. A very common real life misconception about murder is that women are more likely to be murdered then men, and that the world as a whole is more dangerous for women then men. In reality, whilst ''serial'' killers tend to target women, 70% of murder victims in general are ''male'' and out of the 30% of female victims, most are killed by someone she knows. Plus, serial killers are extremely rare compared to other types of murderer, despite some media suggesting otherwise.

This trope does carry some UnfortunateImplications about women's safety compared to men's. A very common real life misconception about murder is that women are more likely to be murdered then men, and that the world as a whole is more dangerous for women then men. In reality, whilst ''serial'' killers tend to target women, 70% murder victims in general are ''male'' and out of the 30% of female victims, most are killed by someone she knows. Also serial killers are extremely rare compared to other types of murderer, despite some media suggesting otherwise.

The phenomenon in {{B Movie}}s from the 1950s to early 1960s in which rampaging monsters/serial killers seem to focus their "random" attacks mostly on women. Usually young, innocent, vulnerable women. Although such films may show a man or two as victims, [[DoubleStandard the real focus is on the ladies]]. For instance, if the movie includes a montage of attacks, expect every victim shown to be female.

If the women are abducted rather than killed, it's probably because MarsNeedsWomen. See also DistressedDamsel, MonogenderMonsters, NaughtyTentacles, TouchOfTheMonster and DragonsPreferPrincesses. MenAreTheExpendableGender can either avert or invert this, depending on the hostility towards the gender--though on a meta level, that trope can contribute to the decision to use this trope if a creator makes the victims female so the attacks look more shocking.

* ''Humanoids from the Deep'' takes everything the 1950s horror movie monsters hinted at [[MarsNeedsWomen when monsters kidnapped young women]], and updated it for 1980s exploitation sensibilities by [[{{Squick}} showing monster-on-girl rape scenes]]. Quite infamous for its misogyny, despite being directed by a woman. She claims producer Creator/RogerCorman, who confirmed this in an interview on The Last Drive-In with JoeBobBriggs in 2021. Corman, for his part, felt that she had turned in footage far more tame than what she had originally agreed to shoot.

One would assume, in this age of equal rights and feminism and all, that this would be a DiscreditedTrope or even a DeadHorseTrope. But no, the trope is alive and well. Apparently, the sight of women being terrorized on screen is just more... um... [[FanService titillating]]. Or a good way to show just how evil your monster is by [[KickTheDog attacking poor defenseless girls]]. Also don't forget that GirlsAreReallyScaredOfHorrorMovies. Either that, or it's because this is TruthInTelevision for some monsters of the human variety, as {{serial killer}}s target women much more often than men (especially when there's a [[InterplayOfSexAndViolence sexual component to their murders]]). Ted Bundy, Ed Kemper, Gary Ridgway, and UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper killed women exclusively, or nearly so. However, it should be noted that whilst ''serial'' killers tend to target women, 70% murder victims in general are ''male'' and out of the 30% of female victims, most are killed by someone she knows.

One would assume, in this age of equal rights and feminism and all, that this would be a DiscreditedTrope or even a DeadHorseTrope. But no, the trope is alive and well. Apparently, the sight of women being terrorized on screen is just more... um... [[FanService titillating]]. Or a good way to show just how evil your monster is by [[KickTheDog attacking poor defenseless girls]]. Also don't forget that GirlsAreReallyScaredOfHorrorMovies. Either that, or it's because this is TruthInTelevision for some monsters of the human variety, as {{serial killer}}s target women much more often than men (especially when there's a [[InterplayOfSexAndViolence sexual component to their murders]]). Ted Bundy, Ed Kemper, Gary Ridgway, and UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper killed women exclusively, or nearly so.

One would assume, in this age of equal rights and feminism and all, that this would be a DiscreditedTrope or even a DeadHorseTrope. But no, the trope is alive and well. Apparently, the sight of women being terrorized on screen is just more... um... [[FanService titillating]] (many heterosexual men view women being humiliated and brutalised to be sexually arousing). Or a good way to show just how evil your monster is by [[KickTheDog attacking poor defenseless girls]]. Also don't forget that GirlsAreReallyScaredOfHorrorMovies. Either that, or it's because this is TruthInTelevision for some monsters of the human variety, as {{serial killer}}s target women much more often than men (especially when there's a [[InterplayOfSexAndViolence sexual component to their murders]]). Ted Bundy, Ed Kemper, Gary Ridgway, and UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper killed women exclusively, or nearly so.

* ''Humanoids from the Deep'' takes everything the 1950s horror movie monsters hinted at [[MarsNeedsWomen when monsters kidnapped young women]], and updated it for 1980s exploitation sensibilities by [[{{Squick}} showing monster-on-girl rape scenes]]. Quite infamous for its misogyny, despite being directed by a woman (though she claims producer Creator/RogerCorman added more explicit rape footage later -- which, knowing Corman, is probably true).

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', the French Aberration explicitly targeted women, and it's implied the CharmPerson ability only worked on those attracted to men (hence it not working on Nanase).

** All of Furuta's named victims in the series have been women, and it doesn't seem to be entirely coincidence. He dropped the steel beams on Rize, even though they knew each other as children. He seduced and brought Ami to the Ghoul Restaurant in order to see her murdered for his amusement. He belittled Matsumae's sense of honor, and blinded her before finishing her off. And he states that Eto is just the kind of woman he likes, while [[FoeYay posing suggestively and commenting on her looks]]....and swears that he'll personally punish her for taunting him.

* [[UpToEleven Amped to 11 thousand]] in ''VideoGame/TheSuffering''. The Creeper in the second game is the incarnation of a pimp who abused, murdered, raped, and did all sorts of unspeakable things to his hos. One line cut from the game was his: [[{{Squick}} "Blood makes the best lubricant."]]

* While men and women both die plentifully in works by Creator/FrankMiller, the fetishistic way that women are killed, often while they're partially or completely naked, has led to accusations of AuthorAppeal. As an example, ''ComicBook/SinCity'''s male villains in particular are nearly always some form of misogynistic scum bastard who murders and/or does truly awful things to women and girls, to the point where in ''A Dame to Kill For,'' the second major Sin City story, [[spoiler:Ava, the titular FemmeFatale, plays on Dwight's [[TheDulcineaEffect violent protectiveness toward women]] by casting her perfectly innocent husband, Damien Lord, as one of these in her WoundedGazelleGambit]].
* The Vault of Horror #35 comic titled "And All Through the House" features a homicidal maniac dressed as Santa who only murders women. It's stated that he only attacks men if provoked and [[WouldntHurtAChild doesn't harm children]] but is obsessed with only killing women.

* ''Literature/PrinceLindworm'', hilariously, plays with the concept of dragon targeting women. The dragon in question (the titular Lindworm) killed countless maidens, but it turns out he wasn't looking for a meal -- he was looking for a bride. The final maiden, the one who actually stood up to him, is the one who marries him... and that's only ''after'' she discovers that his true form is a gorgeous human man.