History Main / MotherNatureFatherScience

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E5TheDaemons The Dæmons]]", the Doctor is contrasted to Miss Hawthorne, a witch. The text seems to suggest that they're NotSoDifferent, however.

Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/WildKratts'', the Kratt Brothers are adventurers who regularly trek through nature to find and learn more about animals, while their female friends, Aviva and Koki, are techies; Aviva created and maintains all the technology they use while Koki handles data monitoring and communications.

* Various studies have shown that women display greater interest in religion and spirituality, while atheists are more likely to be men.

* Various studies have shown that women display greater interest in religion and spirituality, while men are more likely to identify as atheist.

* Various studies have shown that women are more likely to participate in religious and spiritual belief systems, while men are more likely to identify as atheist

[[folder:Reap Life]]

[[folder:Other]]

Compare ClarkesLawForGirlsToys, MenBuyFromMarsWomenBuyFromVenus, MarsAndVenusGenderContrast, and EmotionsVsStoicism. See also TheChick, TheSmurfettePrinciple, StrawVulcan and StrawmanEmotional. Contrast WrenchWench and MotherlyScientist (usually female, but not always).

* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', protagonist Amuro Ray's father was an emotionally-distant Engineer who took his son into space. By contrast his mother is ''literally'' CloserToEarth, having chosen to stay there and work in a refugee camp, and she's shown to be pretty irrational, even questioning why his son fired his gun to kill an enemy soldier when in danger of being shot.

* ''Anime/SailorMoonSTheMovie '' is a inversion; a female scientist and her emotional boyfriend who believes in myths.
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' the only characters who can use [[GreenThumb Mokuton]] are male: Senju Harashima, Captain Yamato and [[spoiler: Shimura Danzo]]. Later on, [[spoiler: Uchiha Madara]]. However, the associated character traits are not present.

* ''Anime/KOBeast'': The MythArc revolves around this trope. The key MacGuffin of the series, Gaia, is revealed as [[spoiler:one of two Master Computers created to control the Northern and Southern hemispheres of the EarthThatWas. While Gaia encouraged her people to live InHarmonyWithNature, and set them on the path to become [[BeastMan the Beast tribes]], the other computer, Uranus, turned his side into a dystopian EternalEngine. The world was literally split apart because of the war between the two, and the goal of Uranus, in the guise of the Human leader Czar Master, is to finally wipe out Gaia and take over the rest of the planet.]]

** Even Penguin shows this when compared to Catwoman. Both have an affinity with an animal (Birds and Cats respectively), Penguin shows a higher preference for high tech gadgets (like his trick umbrellas) than Catwoman who relies on a plain whip, claws and acrobatics.

* In the Franchise/{{Superman}} comic book story "Father Nature's Folly" a male alien arrives on Earth, and claims that he and his mate were [[{{Precursors}} the creators of life in many worlds]]. He claimed to be unhappy with the result of his mate's work on Earth, and would have mutated all life into bizarre forms had Superman not stopped him.

* ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'' is a genderflip. It has two major pairs of "sweet, mystical, peaceful boy" and "strong warrior woman" (Suntop and Ember, Redlance and Nightfall), and both are experienced as playing against type. An AnimatedAdaptation was proposed, but canceled when ExecutiveMeddling demanded that the personalities be switched.

* ''FanFic/TheBridge'' goes all over the place with this. Two of its prominent characters gives us a contrast between Princess Luna and Godzilla Junior. The former is very clearly a magic user and while the latter doesn't use technology, his powers came about due to [[ILoveNuclearPower radiation he was exposed to]] since he was an egg. Further more, the most proficient magic user amongst the heroic kaiju, Mothra Lea, and naturally most of the magic using Equestrian heroes are all female. Inversely, male kaiju Anguirus and Rodan have their roots in {{Magitek}} and female kaiju Destroyah was born out of a science super-weapon.

* A non-human example with Franchise/{{Godzilla}} and Film/{{Mothra}}. Once Mothra was fully integrated into the pantheon of the Godzilla universe following her success in her solo films, later films would establish her as the classically heroic feminine {{Foil}} to the antiheroic masculine Godzilla. A major different between them is that Godzilla is the mutated product of [[ILoveNuclearPower nuclear radiation]], while Mothra is solely a product of nature. Where Godzilla is a destructive [[IWorkAlone loner]] with a heart full of rage, Mothra is widely venerated as a benevolent guardian of Earth, she [[TechnicalPacifist seeks peaceful solutions whenever possible]], and she often serves as a communicator and a peacemaker between {{Kaiju}} and humans, since her twin guardian fairies can translate Kaiju language into human speech.

** Wizards are urban and associate with the Unseen University, thus are some variety of academia parody. They are often silly old duffers or giant nerds, but this does give the luster of hard science to their magic, and they were more powerful once in Disc politics. The leading wizard, Ridcully, is pretty pompous but macho too (and ironically was thought to be CloserToEarth, but was actually an EgomaniacHunter). In earlier stories they tended to assassinate each other a lot. They're also celibate because of the possibility of [[Literature/{{Sourcery}} Sourcerors]].

** A few Witch characters have been seen to use wizard magic, which is a variety of [[FunctionalMagic Rule Magic]] and so there is really no reason why not. No wizard has been seen to use Borrowing or any other of the Witch specialties, but on the other hand there has never really been any suggestion that they couldn't if they wanted to. Granny once fought a magical duel with the then-current Archchancelor, and they fought to a standstill. In ''Literature/EqualRites'', Eskarina Smith succeeds in being accepted as the first ever female student of Wizardry. When she's reintroduced in ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals'' she's taken a much CloserToEarth approach to the discipline than the male colleagues of hers that we've seen.

* Diane Duane's ''Literature/YoungWizards'' series follows this. Nita's magic relates to nature and living things. Her male partner Kit tends to do better with technology and inanimate objects like rocks. However, later on Nita's sister subverts the whole thing by being a computer wiz with a magical affinity for technology and silicon-based lifeforms, and both Nita and Kit eventually grow out of their original specialties into others, which is apparently common for wizards. It's left open whether their initial foci came from awareness of the trope, but newcomers to magic in the books do tend to get it in a form which behaves as much the way they expect it to as is practical (without breaking MagicAIsMagicA).
* In the Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures novels, the mythology of Gallifrey features a group of male scientists (led by Rassilon) and a group of female witch-priestesses (led by the Pythia) struggling for control. Rassilon won, and went on to found the Time Lord society. Different novels offer different opinions on whether this was good or bad.

* Everything Creator/DanBrown has ever written is a inversion of this trope. His hero is always an expert in some area of humanities, while his heroine is an expert in some mathematical field.

* Inverted in ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'', where the technocratic Amazons of [[LadyLand Azania]] eagerly embrace science and technology, whereas their enemies in the reactionary, borderline theocratic [[TheFundamentalist Northern Confederation]] gut their universities and actively ban modern electronics. By the time they go to war, Azania uses cloning and genetic engineering for mass-scale HomosexualReproduction and deploys a network-centric military based on air supremacy, smart artillery, drones and information advantage, whereas the Confederation employs World War II-era armor and large forces of [[HomeGuard rugged militiamen]] to counter their foe's superior firepower with audacity and [[WeHaveReserves numbers]].

** The Rani is meant to be a genius, and is usually shown doing evil science of some kind, but still falls partially within this trope in that her field seems to be biogenetics, as opposed to the engineering favoured by both the Doctor and the Master.

** Bashir and Jadzia initially appear to be an inversion. Bashir is the medical officer and Jadzia is the science officer. However, Jadzia's scientific degrees are all in exo-biology, zoology and exo-archaeology. The only thing that gives her an apparent inversion over Bashir is that she also has a degree in astrophysics. This is later negated by the revelation that Bashir is a genetically engineered genius who can grasp science and maths as the plot demands, making him innately better at grasping, theorising, forecasting and calculating astrophysics and engineering principles than Jadzia and O'Brien combined.

* Inverted in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. Captain Janeway is a TechnoBabble-spouting former Science Officer, while her NumberOne is MagicalNativeAmerican Chakotay. Lampshaded when they're stranded on a planet in "Resolutions"; Janeway sets up her scientific equipment, determined to find a cure, while Chakotay sets about building a log cabin. Likewise the final season Chakotay hooks up with {{Cyborg}} IceQueen Seven of Nine.
* In ''Series/StargateSG1'', we have a genderflip. Daniel Jackson is a linguist, archaeologist and anthropologist whereas Samantha Carter is a genius astrophysicist. She's also amazing at math and engineering in general.

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': In the initial cast there's Crichton, a scientist (if one given to explosiveness under pressure), and Zhaan, a priestess. However, this might also count as an inversion, because Crichton is very emotional, and Zhaan at least tries to be calm and logical.

* In ''Series/AgentsOfShield'' the teams scientific team are Fitz, a man who specializes in physics and electronics and Simmons, a woman, who specializes in biology and chemistry. However the teams hacker and computer scientist Skye, is also a woman who later TakesALevelInBadass. You also have Coulson as the empathetic team [[TheLeader leader]] and May his [[OneManArmy One Woman Army]] [[TheLancer lancer]].

* Averted in Myth/NorseMythology, in which gender was used to represent different facets of both nature and logic/wisdom, rather than to distinguish them. Nature was represented by a plethora of gods, giants and spirits, most prominently by the siblings Frey and Freya, who represent male and female fertility, respectively, while both Odin and his wife Frigg were associated with the wisdom deemed appropriate for each gender, specifically in the roles as patriarch and matriarch. (Still gender-normative, yes, but FairForItsDay.)

* Played straight in ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}''. In the Sovereign Host, Aureon the god of Lore and Onatar the god of Craftsmen are both males. Arawai is the goddess of Life, and is female.

* In contrast to the trope title, 'Father Nature' figures do occasionally crop up. ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' third edition featured two nature deities; the all encompassing Obad-Hai, a male 'Father Nature' figure, and Ehlonna, a female deity specifically of the woodlands. Obad-Hai remained staunchly neutral, encompassing all of nature's aspects, while Ehlonna was good-aligned, and usually portrayed as subordinate to Obad-Hai. In the TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms setting, the deities are similar. Nature as a whole is covered by Silvanus; so much a 'Father Nature' that his title is the Oakfather. Mielikki plays the same role as Ehlonna; she serves him, and while accepting that there's a natural cycle, out of tender-heartedness tends to intervene benevolently. There is a 'Mother Nature' figure, Chauntea, but she is described as specifically the deity of how humans interact with nature. Nature itself comes under Silvanus. It's still played straight with the science half of things. Of the ''TabletopGame/{{Greyhawk}}'' deities, Boccob is the coldly intellectual deity of magic and learning, and male, while Wee Jas is the female goddess of magic and death-but called a Witch Goddess of mysticism rather than enlightenment. Of the TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms? All four of the deities of knowledge, invention, and learning are male (Oghma, Deneir, Gond, and Milil), Azuth, the god of wizards and academic magical learning is male. The only female deities who come remotely close are Mystra, goddess of magic, and Selune, goddess of the moon, and both have an extremely mystical bent rather than academic. The story is similar for all the non-human pantheons. Averted, however, by the 4th edition pantheon, in which Nature and Magical Study are the domains of goddesses Melora and Ioun, respectively.

* In ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'', the hippie environmentalist faction is led by Deirdre Skye, a woman, and the scientific technological faction is led by Prokhor Zakharov, a man. ''Alien Crossfire'' then inverts this by introducing Aki Zeta-5, an EmotionlessGirl leader of an entire faction of [[TheSpock Spocks]], and Cha'Dawn, a young man who is supposedly a MessianicArchetype, head of the Cult Of Planet. The expansion also played it straight with the two alien factions: the Caretakers, led by a female sworn to preserve the planet, and the Usurpers, led by a male and hellbent on exploiting its power for their own gain. As an inversion, the expert hackers (Data Angels) and the ultra-militaristic faction (Spartans) are led by women, while the humanitarian Peacekeepers are led by a man.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has Dr. Hojo, who tends to initially dismiss supernatural theories about The Promised Land, and tends to see everything and everyone in terms of facts or varibles. He is contrasted by Dr. Lucrecia Cresent who dedicated her career to ancient, magical occurrences within the planet. Significant in that [[spoiler: Sephiroth is their child; the combination of polemical forces to essentially create the game's version of the anti-Christ. Though the addition of a Third Wheel known as Jenova, an EldritchAbomination that eats a Planet's Lifestream also probably had something to do with it]].

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' This trope is defied in all regards by the character [[MagicAIsMagicA Twilight Sparkle]] who plays the role of father science to a whole bunch of characters (both male and female) representing mother nature. This includes, but isn't limited to, the rest of her friends (which includes a farmer, an athelte, a fashionista, a party girl and a nature orientated animal caretaker), her plucky baby dragon male assistant, her brother that joined the royal guard and married a princess of love, and a LargeHam princess of the Night. What could be regarded as the exception is her relationship with her equally brilliant mentor, Princess Celestia, but even then Twilight's temperament is far closer to the logical analyst compared to Celestia's more whimsical nature. Twilight is a living embodiment that even a female character on a little girl's show could be a highly logical rationalist.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' Dipper and Mabel. Dipper is easily the smarter of the Pines twins and is highly intelligent and resourceful. Mabel, on the other hand, is far more goofy, energetic and emotional.

* Ecofeminism and "difference feminism" generally play this trope straight, arguing that Western society has traditionally privileged "masculine" sources of knowledge and ways of approaching nature over "feminine" values like intuition, nurturing and respect for the natural world. Note that neither of these are really widely accepted by mainstream feminists these days since this school of thought still upholds traditional gender roles, although they're still significant side factions.

Compare ClarkesLawForGirlsToys, MenBuyFromMarsWomenBuyFromVenus and MarsAndVenusGenderContrast. See also TheChick, TheSmurfettePrinciple, StrawVulcan and StrawmanEmotional. Contrast WrenchWench and MotherlyScientist (usually female, but not always).

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' is very complex and goes back and forth about this. ''Discworld/EqualRites'' brought these ideas to the fore.
** Wizards are urban and associate with the Unseen University, thus are some variety of academia parody. They are often silly old duffers or giant nerds, but this does give the luster of hard science to their magic, and they were more powerful once in Disc politics. The leading wizard, Ridcully, is pretty pompous but macho too (and ironically was thought to be CloserToEarth, but was actually an EgomaniacHunter). In earlier stories they tended to assassinate each other a lot. They're also celibate because of the possibility of [[Discworld/{{Sourcery}} Sourcerors]].

** A few Witch characters have been seen to use wizard magic, which is a variety of [[FunctionalMagic Rule Magic]] and so there is really no reason why not. No wizard has been seen to use Borrowing or any other of the Witch specialties, but on the other hand there has never really been any suggestion that they couldn't if they wanted to. Granny once fought a magical duel with the then-current Archchancelor, and they fought to a standstill. In ''Discworld/EqualRites'', Eskarina Smith succeeds in being accepted as the first ever female student of Wizardry. When she's reintroduced in ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'' she's taken a much CloserToEarth approach to the discipline than the male colleagues of hers that we've seen.

* This is OlderThanFeudalism: [[AncientGreece ancient Greek]] thinkers believed that men were blessed with rationality and self-control, allowing them to handle tasks like philosophy and politics, while women lacked rationality and were controlled by their emotions and physical passions much like animals were.

* Inverted in Creator/ETAHoffmann's 1816 story "Literature/TheSandman", with superstitious, (over)sensitive proto-EmoTeen Nathanael and his hardheaded rationalist girlfriend Clara.

* In ''Series//DonaBarbara'', the title character (a wealthy landlady) represents the brutish nature while Santos Luzardo (a lawyer from the big city) is the civilization.

Note that which approach is portrayed as better varies widely; see RomanticismVersusEnlightenment. In many works that come down on the side of Enlightenment, you'll see women portrayed as [[HystericalWoman hysterically]] [[StrawmanEmotional irrational]] and [[WeakWilled easily manipulated]], while their male counterparts' hard-nosed, [[StreetSmart pragmatic]] rationalism proves to be [[ScienceHero the key to saving the day]]. More Romanticist works, on the other hand, often portray men as [[TheStoic cold]], [[InsufferableGenius arrogant]], [[LackOfEmpathy heartless]], and [[MeasuringTheMarigolds unable to appreciate beauty or emotional realities]], while the women are [[CloserToEarth more balanced]], [[TheHeart compassionate]], and [[NatureHero in tune with nature]] (though it must be said that not all enlightenment or romanticist works conformed to these generalizations). In some works, it will be suggested that [[TheKirk both approaches are necessary]] and [[EmotionsVersusStoicism have to balance each other]]. (Note that this doesn't entirely get rid of the UnfortunateImplications if it's still implied that your gender determines which approach you have to take.) Nowadays, due to widespread awareness of this trope and its UnfortunateImplications, it's increasingly common to see [[InvertedTrope inversions]], with [[MasculineGirlFeminineBoy a sensitive, expressive man and a logical, stoic woman]]. Again, which one is portrayed as right will still vary, although works like this are perhaps slightly more likely to go with the "both sides are necessary for balance" approach.

* In ''Anime/TweenyWitches'', the witches live in a lush, [[Creator/HayaoMiyazaki Miyazaki-flavored]] valley-town fueled by magic, while the in-name-only warlocks and their witch wives live under the desert in an underground fortress (basically the one in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''), surrounded by very high technology and artificial food. There are a few actual warlocks who can use magic, but they have been cast out from the fortress.

* ''Anime/SailorMoon S: TheMovie '' is a inversion; a female scientist and her emotional boyfriend who believes in myths.

In a great deal of media, science and technology are portrayed as inherently masculine. Men, according to this trope, approach life as a puzzle [[TheSpock to be solved by logic and reason]]. Nature, on the other hand is portrayed as inherently feminine, and the women [[TheMcCoy approach problem-solving by relying on their feelings and intuition]].

In a great deal of media, science and technology are portrayed as inherently masculine. Men, according to this trope, approach life as a puzzle [[TheSpock to be solved by logic and reason]]. Women, on the other hand, tend to
[[TheMcCoy be in tune with their emotions and approach problem-solving by relying on their feelings and intuition]].

This is OlderThanFeudalism: [[AncientGreece ancient Greek]] thinkers believed that men were blessed with rationality and self-control, allowing them to handle tasks like philosophy and politics, while women lacked rationality and were controlled by their emotions and physical passions much like animals were. Unlike modern writers, though, [[NoWomansLand the Greeks had no doubt which one was better]].

* In the SeductionCommunity it is widely believed that that men think logically whereas women think using irrational, emotional "chick logic".
* Interestingly, in both Greek and Latin 'scientia' (knowledge), and 'sophia' (wisdom), are female. Additionally, philosophy is one of the few humanities that remains male-dominated, especially in terms of faculty.

* In UsefulNotes/MyersBriggs, the "Thinking" function is seen as masculine and the "Feeling" function is seen as feminine. It may or may not be a coincidence that there are more male Thinkers and female Feelers in RealLife.

* Interestingly, in both Greek and Latin 'scientia' (knowledge), and 'sophia' (wisdom), are female. Additionally, philosophy is one of the few humanities that remains male-dominated, especially in terms of faculty. Although philosophy heavily involves logic, it's generally classified as one of the humanities.

* In ''Anime/TweenyWitches'', all the female witches live in a lush, [[Creator/HayaoMiyazaki Miyazaki-flavored]] valley-town fueled by magic while the in-name-only warlocks and their witch wives live under the desert in an underground fortress (basically the one in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''), surrounded by very high technology and artificial food. There are a few actual warlocks who can use magic, but they're very old and live outside the fortress.
* Anime/{{Ponyo|On The Cliff By The Sea}}'s mother is a goddess of mercy, and her father a scientist. (Well, sort of a wizard, but a very mad-science-flavored wizard.) However, there's a bit of a subversion in that her father is [[OverprotectiveDad motivated more by love for his family than anything else]] and cares deeply about nature, to the point of [[YouAreWhatYouHate hating humans]] for unbalancing the ocean's ecosystem.

* ''Anime/TweenyWitches'' has the all-female witches living in a lush, [[Creator/HayaoMiyazaki Miyazaki-flavored]] valley-town fueled by magic while the in-name-only warlocks and their banished witch wives live under the desert in an underground fortress (basically the one in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''), surrounded by technology and artificial food. There are a few actual warlocks who can use magic, but they're very old and live outside the fortress.

* In contrast to the trope title, 'Father Nature' figures do occasionally crop up. ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' third edition featured two nature deities; the all encompassing Obad-Hai, a male 'Father Nature' figure, and Ehlonna, a female deity specifically of the woodlands. Obad-Hai remained staunchly neutral, encompassing all of nature's aspects, while Ehlonna was good-aligned, and usually portrayed as subordinate to Obad-Hai. In the ForgottenRealms setting, the deities are similar. Nature as a whole is covered by Silvanus; so much a 'Father Nature' that his title is the Oakfather. Mielikki plays the same role as Ehlonna; she serves him, and while accepting that there's a natural cycle, out of tender-heartedness tends to intervene benevolently. There is a 'Mother Nature' figure, Chauntea, but she is described as specifically the deity of how humans interact with nature. Nature itself comes under Silvanus. It's still played straight with the science half of things. Of the ''TabletopGame/{{Greyhawk}}'' deities, Boccob is the coldly intellectual deity of magic and learning, and male, while Wee Jas is the female goddess of magic and death-but called a Witch Goddess of mysticism rather than enlightenment. Of the ForgottenRealms? All four of the deities of knowledge, invention, and learning are male (Oghma, Deneir, Gond, and Milil), Azuth, the god of wizards and academic magical learning is male. The only female deities who come remotely close are Mystra, goddess of magic, and Selune, goddess of the moon, and both have an extremely mystical bent rather than academic. The story is similar for all the non-human pantheons. Averted, however, by the 4th edition pantheon, in which Nature and Magical Study are the domains of goddesses Melora and Ioun, respectively.

* Inverted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyDissidia2015'', where the two primary deities are Materia, the goddess of machinery and Spiritus, the god of magic.

** Then there's Harley, the mad psychiatrist. She may have started off as a psychiatrist, but she is driven by her insanely emotional devotion to SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker.

* In ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'' both Bruce Banner and Betty Ross were scientist working on the serum that lead to Bruce's transformation. Bruce is Marvel's resident Gamma radiation and physics expert whereas Betty is a professor of biology.

** Wizards are urban and associate with the Unseen University, thus are some variety of academia parody. They are often silly old duffers or giant nerds, but this does give the luster of hard science to their magic, and were more powerful once in Disc politics. The leading wizard, Ridcully, is pretty pompous but macho too (and ironically was thought to be CloserToEarth, but was actually an EgomaniacHunter). In earlier stories they tended to assassinate each other a lot. They're also celibate because of the possibility of [[Discworld/{{Sourcery}} Sourcerors]].

** A few Witch characters have been seen to use wizard magic, which is a variety of [[FunctionalMagic Rule Magic]] and so there is really no reason why not. No wizard has been seen to use Borrowing or any other of the Witch specialties, but on the other hand there has never really been any suggestion that they couldn't if they wanted to. Granny once fought a magical duel with the then-current Archchancelor, and they fought to a standstill.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': Despite the fact that they are a plant specices, they are a play on this trope. The Ents and Entwives in Treebeard explain that the Ents delighted in nature and the wilds, and would roam for long periods communing with plants and animals. Whereas:

-->-- "Ancient Einsteins", '''Ancient Impossible'''