Imagine you have a magical artifact of unimaginable power. Depending on the story, this artifact could trigger a [[MagicalGirl transformation sequence]], give the wielder [[ArtifactOfPower superpowers]], or simply act as a weapon. The catch? This artifact can only be used by a girl.

It is often used in the {{Harem Genre}} in Japan's pop culture (mainly to justify a WorldOfActionGirls-setting). The main character is usually the TheOneGuy. Often results in {{Sliding Scale of Gender Inequality}} where men get the short end of the stick.

Subtrope of GenderRestrictedAbility. See VirginPower when the requirement to use the powers is not being female so much as being [[ChasteHero chaste]]. See also BarrierMaiden. If a transgender woman finds that the power works for her just as well as it would for a cisgender woman, she is a SupernaturallyValidatedTransPerson.

See StayInTheKitchen for when {{Action Girl}}s are told to stay away from combat. For devices literally powered by a little girl as a battery see PoweredByAForsakenChild.
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!!Examples:

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[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* The HumongousMecha of the AlternateUniverse in ''Anime/DualParallelTroubleAdventure'' only work for girls, with the exception of Kazuki. [[spoiler: The reason Kazuki can is because his parallel twin is a Mecha.]] [[spoiler: The reason only girls can pilot the Mecha is a limiter that was put in place, because men could make them produce [[Anime/TenchiMuyo Light Hawk Wings]], which makes this an [[InvertedTrope inversion]].]]
* In ''Franchise/SailorMoon'', only girls can be Sailor Senshi, end of story. Tuxedo Kamen is the closest the series has to a male Sailor and represents Earth in the lineup, but his power comes from the Golden Crystal, the counterpart to the Silver Crystal, not a Sailor Crystal like the rest of the Senshi. This is what justifies the idea of SailorEarth.
* Only girls can become [[MagicalGirl magical, well, girls]], in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. There's no specific reason why there ''couldn't'' be a magical boy, but [[spoiler:Kyubey and the rest of his alien race specifically target pubescent girls because [[PoweredByAForsakenChild their emotional output is much higher]] than any other human demographic; it's just not worth the investment for them to try to harvest anyone else.]]
* ''Anime/ValkyriaChronicles'' has the Valkyria, who seem to be a race of only women. Men don't even bother picking up Ragnite lances as weapons.
** Then came the Valkyrie power armors which evened out the playing field, as well as other projects which gave them OneWingedAngel forms, at the cost of their sanity.
* The priestesses of the ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'' stories are, as the name implies, all female, for no other reason than the four gods just aren't into guys. Most of the Seishi are men, however.
* Name a Comic Valkyrie Manga such as ''Manga/{{Freezing}}'' for example, the Pandoras (aka girls) are the actual combatants in the BattleCouple, the guys only purpose is to hold the bad guys down to allow the girls to beat them up
* ''Anime/MyHime'' and ''Anime/MyOtome'', only a girl (and in ''My-Otome'', a {{virgin|Power}}) can have a CHILD. This doesn't stop Yuuichi from trying to help out, nor Mashiro (in the Manga, where she is really a he) pulling a CMOA in the end.
* In ''Manga/VITASexualis'', Shirou acts a conduit for allowing the already powerful [[ActionGirl female cast]] to transform and fight.
* ''Anime/StrikeWitches'' is a subversion as non magic powered weapons can damage the Neuroi, but because it takes longer and more ammo to kill them, Witches are needed to quickly finish them off.
* The titular ''Literature/InfiniteStratos'' combat exoskeletons are only usable by women, with the sole exception of the main male protagonist. Apparently according to the inventor, this wasn't intentional, but she won't care to fix this, nor find out why the main character can use it despite his gender.
* In ''Literature/{{Kampfer}}'', all the fighters are female and the only one who isn't goes through a GenderBender to do so.
* [[GenderInvertedTrope Gender inverted]] in ''Manga/DNAngel'' since only males can bear the "Dark" gene that allows them to take on their magical boy form.
* The titular planes on ''Anime/{{Simoun}}'' could only be piloted by girls, who had to [[LesYay kiss each other]] to activate it.
* Questionably present in ''Manga/GunslingerGirl''. It's explained that only children can be turned into cyborgs, and never explicitly stated that they have to be girls, but we never see any sign of a male cyborg.
* While the actual handlers in ''Literature/AsuraCryin'' can be of either gender, the [[PoweredByAForsakenChild Burial Doll]] are always girls.
* All of the CR-Units are manned by girls in ''Literature/DateALive'' as the Director who makes the Realizer Units is a HandsomeLech.
* While the sole consistent of becoming a Anime/PrettyCure is being a girl, it seems to flip flop on other matters:
** Both ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'' and ''Anime/SmilePrecure'' had a FreakyFridayFlip episode which had a Cure swap minds with their fairy partner. While the ''Fresh'' episode allowed Tarte-in-Inori's-body to transform into Cure Pine just fine despite Tarte being male, the ''Smile'' episode forced Miyuki-in-Candy's-body to transform into Cure Happy despite both being girls.
** Age is another odd thing. Young girls like ''Anime/SuitePrettyCure''[='s=] Ako and ''Anime/DokiDokiPrecure''[='s=] Aguri are able to transform and older teenagers like ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure''[='s=] Yuri and ''Anime/KiraKiraPrecureALaMode''[='s=] Akira are shown being able to transform, but anyone older tends to flip flop as the post-series novels for ''Fresh'' and ''Smile'' have shown the girls transforming ten years later, yet an adult chosen to be a Cure in ''Anime/HappinessChargePrettyCure'' can't get her stone to create a [=PreChan=] Mirror
* In ''Manga/ChainedSoldier'', only women can eat the Mato "peaches" that grant super-powers to fight back against the mindless beasts coming from that dimension, who seek to kill and eat all life on Earth.
%%* ''Anime/{{Symphogear}}'': McGuffin Relics are used solely by women.
* ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'' has an evil version with the Salamander demon. Only women can be force-fed the evil salamander egg that will possess their bodies for as long as the hatchling lives inside their bellies.
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[[folder:Comic Books]]
* The titular ''ComicBook/{{Witchblade}}'' can only be wielded by women with only a few men as wielders, and has been by several famous warrior females throughout history like Jeanne d'Arc. Also it strips off all your clothes and leaves you wearing skimpy armor... [[MostWritersAreMale we wonder why]].
* ''ComicBook/TheDarkness'' has both an inversion and an example, only men can be hosts to the demonic power of the Darkness, the one exception is Jackie's twin sister, and only women can be possessed by the Angelus the natural enemy of the Darkness. Also, Sara Pezzini, the host of the above Witchblade has appeared in crossovers.
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[[folder:Film]]
* The McGuffin in the ''Film/RedSonja'' film could only be handled by women. Men who touched it were instantly killed by bad special effects.
* Inverted in Chaos Walking, where only Man can use Noise.
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* All Pegasus Knights in the ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' games are female; this is because the pegasi themselves won't allow men to pilot them. Wyverns, on the other hand, don't appear to be so picky, as there are Wyvern Riders of both sexes throughout the series.
** The fourteenth game, ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', finally averts this. Since ''Fates'' is the start of a [[NonLinearSequel new continuity]], this is explained as Hoshidan pegasi being more accepting of male riders than Archanaean/Jugdrali/Elibean/Magvellian/Tellian pegasi.
* The Xbox 360 version of ''VideoGame/RumbleRoses'' appears to be this even though the game doesn't have a story. It's an all-female wrestling competition that also features mud-fights and photoshoots, and everything is devoted to Fanservice.
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[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Played mostly for laughs in ''Webcomic/SparklingGenerationValkyrieYuuki''. Only girls can be Valkyries, so when Hermod transforms Yuuki, in addition to receiving the intended mantle of power he also becomes a girl. [[FirstLawOfGenderBending And stays that way]].
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The [[AmuletOfConcentratedAwesome Heart of Candracar]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' allows a team of five [[MagicalGirl Magical Girls]] to transform into Guardians to fight evil on Earth and in other universes. From what we've seen so far it's pretty much understood that only females are allowed to become Guardians for whatever reason, though the creator of the Heart was female in the comics and show and some fans speculate that this is the reason for the girls-only clause. The simpler explanation may be that WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}} is marketed as a girls' property and each of the Guardians are meant to relate to their audience.
** Later subverted in the comic with the Runics, a male EvilCounterpart of the group.
[[/folder]]
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