Bare Midriffs Are Feminine

Until the mid-20th century, bare midriffs were mostly seen as obscene in Western culture. The '60s led to partial nudity being more and more acceptable. However, female nipples are still seen as unacceptable, leading to outfits that cover a woman's chest but leave the midriff bare, such as belly shirts (a.k.a. crop tops), sports bras, and bikinis, becoming popular especially in the younger generation. This, in turn, led to bare midriffs in media being a visual shorthand for "teenage girl" or, in some cases, just "girl", or otherwise indicating a character's femininity.

Since men are allowed to show their entire upper body without the work getting an R rating, it's rare to see a male character wearing a midriff-baring shirt. When he does so, it's usually an indicator that he's Camp Gay, Camp Straight, a Crossdresser, or In Touch with His Feminine Side. This can overlap with Man in a Bikini when Played for Laughs or for Fan Disservice. When a Pretty Boy wears this kind of clothing, it can easily lead to Viewer Gender Confusion.

Female characters with bare midriffs often include the Alpha Bitch and her Girl Posse, who wear revealing outfits to flaunt their bodies and intimidate their more homely-looking peers; the Pom-Pom Girl whose outfit is supposed to look both attractive and athletic (and can overlap with the former if she's a Cruel Cheerleader); The Fashionista whose Unlimited Wardrobe will likely include a handful of midriff-baring clothes; the Tank-Top Tomboy or Shorttank, who generally wears a boyish, athletic outfit but will bare her midriff to indicate her femininity (though she can be used as an inversion if she's paired up with a girly girl in a long dress); and the only female in a team of males. The character with a bare midriff is very often a Ms. Fanservice, but it also shows up on young girls and in other non-fanservice contexts.

When a uniform comes in male and female varieties, it's very common that the female variant is midriff-baring whereas the male variant covers the entire torso. The Distaff Counterpart of a male superhero will often wear a more feminine variant of his outfit, often incorporating a bare midriff. A Sarashi, when worn by a man, has the bandages cover the midriff and bare the chest, but on a woman, it's the other way around, making it resemble a tube top, a feminine upper body garment. This trope can even be applied to women in armor, despite that exposing the midriff would leave some vital organs unprotected. A Fembot will often be painted with darker colors around the chest and hips but lighter around the waist to emulate the bare midriff look. And when a male character gets transformed into a woman (especially an attractive one), he may end up wearing a midriff-baring variant of his usual outfit.

When a culture is portrayed as "exotic" or "primitive", with different nudity taboos from Western civilization, such as Barbarian Tribe, Hollywood Natives, or an ancient civilization (such as Ancient Egypt or Mayincatec), it's very common to portray men with bare chests and women with bare midriffs, as a way of avoiding National Geographic Nudity. This often comes with the unfortunate implications of exotification and sexualization of non-European cultures, such as Orientalism. Bedlah Babe is specifically when Middle Eastern women are portrayed in midriff-baring outfits. Similarly, when cavemen or Tarzan Boys run around in Loincloths, cavewomen and Jungle Princesses often wear midriff-baring Fur Bikinis. Women like this will almost always be portrayed as Nubile Savage.

Subtrope of Gendered Outfit. See Tertiary Sexual Characteristics for other visual indicators of femininity and masculinity, and Dresses, Gowns and Skirts for other feminine clothing. Underboobs will occur if this trope is taken to the extreme.

Note: a character simply wearing a midriff-baring outfit is People Sit on Chairs. Please explain with every example how it ties into said character's femininity, either by contrasting them to more masculine characters or by describing their stereotypically feminine traits.

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Examples

Anime & Manga

• Appare-Ranman!: Xiaoleng wears an outfit that exposes her midsection and she's notably the only female racer. Xiaoleng fought against Gil's female goon with knives who also bare her belly (and her gangs' snake tattoo).
• Bakugan: In the first season, Runo and Julie, two of the three female brawlers in the main cast, wear crop tops, while Alice and the boys don't. The more feminine and emotional Julie continues to wear crop tops in the following two seasons, while the more tomboyish Runo doesn't continue the trend. On one occasion, Julie mentions that she is proud of doing this.
• Beastars: An Invoked Trope on the cover of Chapter 170 with Kyuu and Legoshi as seen here. On it both both of them are doing pull-ups in identical white tops with red pants, but while Kyuu was already in either a white crop top or bra, Legoshi, who is already In Touch with His Feminine Side, not only invokes but inverts this trope due to wanting to be tougher, wears a white tank top that he tied up exposing his furry abs.
• Black Lagoon: Revy is The Lad-ette and the only female on the Lagoon Company, and her default outfit is a tank-top that exposes her navel.
• Played With in Comet Lucifer. The non-child female character of the main group, Kaon, wears an outfit which prominently features pink and shows off her belly, but she is more of a Shorttank, even calling herself a tomboy in one episode. All the male characters have their midsections covered in contrast.
• Cowboy Bebop: The two female members of the Bebop crew both wear midriff-baring tops. Faye's is a knot-up shirt over a small halter top that also accentuates her breasts; Ed's is a loose-fitting tank top. By contrast, the two male crew members Spike and Jet both wear full shirts.
• Dead Rock: Frey and Mikoto are two of the main female characters among the cast and they show their midriffs in casual clothes (Frey a bikini top and Mikoto a Navel-Deep Neckline), while male characters wear normal shirts, or are shirtless like Raizen.
• Digimon Frontier: Zoe Orimoto is the only female in the group and her outfit has her navel on display throughout the entire series and even carries over into her Digimon forms. Ranamon, the only other female among the Legendary Warriors, also bares her midriff in both her forms.
• Digimon Universe: App Monsters: Eri Karan is the only female App Driver and she wears two different outfits that shows off her midriff. Notably in summer season Haru and the other male App Drivers only exposed their limbs.
• Dinosaur King: Zoe, the only girl in the main trio, wears a midriff-baring shirt, although a few episodes set in colder climates show that her shirt is full-length, she just rolls up the bottom to show her midriff. Ursula, the only female of the Alpha Gang trio, has a Navel Window instead.
• Dragon Ball Super:
  • Heles, the Goddess of Destruction of Universe 2, wears a golden top that leaves her midsection exposed, unlike all the other (male) Gods of Destruction, who are shirtless.
  • Caulifla wears a tube top and Kale a belly-shirt, and they are the only female Saiyans in the Tournament of Power.
• EDENS ZERO: Some of Rebecca Bluegarden's outfits leave her midriff bare, adding to her image as a feminine Gamer Chick who loves fashion and cats and usually wears Girlish Pigtails.
• Fairy Tail:
  • Among the members of the Strongest Team Lucy is the most feminine of the girls, which her white and blue outfits emphasize, and frequently wears outfits which bare her midriff, most notably her standard X791 outfit.
  • Erza Scarlet more or less zig-zags this trope as she is a Tomboy with a Girly Streak and tends to be bare midriffed every now and then. Her most prominent belly-baring outfits are her Heaven's Wheel Armor and her Clear Heart Clothing.
  • All three female members of the Spriggan 12 wear midriff-baring outfits. The males either have their torsos covered, wear a single-shoulder kasaya, or are shirtless.
• Fullmetal Alchemist: Paired with their slender figure, long hair, and boyish voice, Envy's crop top and skirt outfit make their gender a lot more ambiguous than the obviously masculine Sloth, Pride, Wrath, Greed, and Gluttony.
• Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet: Most of the female cast let their midriff show, more often than the men go shirtless. While it's justified for their Sultry Belly Dancer outfits and for their swimwear, they also tend to wear crop tops as their casual clothing, with the exception of the straight-laced Ridget.
• Gibiate: The outfits Kathleen and Ayame wear bare their midriffs, and they're the two most prominent female characters. In contrast, the male characters males wear modest clothing.
• Gintama: Matako Kijima is the only woman in the Kiheitai. While the men either have their torsos fully covered or wear a slightly open kimono, Matako wears a pink outfit which leaves her midriff bare.
• Satomi Kanohara from Godzilla: Singular Point wears a crop top under her Otaki Factory jacket, which combined with her low-rise jeans, shows off nearly her entire abdomen. She also happens to be the only female employee at Otaki.
• Farangis from The Heroic Legend of Arslan bares her midriff and is an elegant and composed Lady of War. This contrasts the male members of Arslan's group and the tomboyish Alfarid.
• Interspecies Reviewers: While most of the townswomen wear normal outfits, the "working girls" of various brothels almost always bare their midriffs. From the will-o'-wisps that never wear a stitch, to the nekomimi in the cathouse, these pleasure girls often show off their toned tummies; otherwise, their outfits rise only to nipple height and no further. Contrasted by barmaid Meidri, whose uniform covers her collarbones to her knees, and everything in between: she serves only food and drinks, no cloaca.
• Iwa Kakeru Sport Climbing Girls: The girls wear tank tops that expose their flat stomachs while climbing, and most of them are feminine yet athletic. The only male climber in the series wears a regular shirt.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Mostly Subverted. Throughout the series, there have actually been more men (and masculine ones on that) wearing crop tops and clothes that leave their midriff exposed than women, such as Jonathan and Joseph Joestar, Kishibe Rohan and Guido Mista. Of course, notable female characters like Jolyne Cujoh and Trish Una also bare their midriff, but even then they're more masculine than some of the men they are surrounded by.
• Kiba:
  • Roya cements her status as the main female character with her outfit, which bares her midriff to an almost impossible degree, and her water-based spirit.
  • Molima is the only female member among the four ministers of Tusk, and her outfit exposes her abdomen while the male members have their torsos covered.
• The Magnificent Kotobuki: Zara is the only member of her squadron who bares her midriff in her default outfit, and she's easily the most feminine and the resident Ms. Fanservice.
• Naruto:
  • Out of the four girls of the Konoha 12, Ino Yamanaka is the most feminine, with her having the longest hair and not being subtle about her figure. While she initially subverts the trope by covering her belly with a sarashi, her post-timeskip appearance has her ditch the sarashi and leave her abdomen on full display. With the exception of her uniform during the Fourth Shinobi World War, her midriff is almost always bared afterwards, even after she becomes a mother.
  • In the Itachi Shinden series, the sole female squad member of Itachi's team, Shinko Inari, wears a crop top. The male members all have their torsos completely covered.
• One Piece:
  • Nami frequently wears midriff-baring outfits, which add to her femininity alongside her water motifs, long hair post-timeskip, and love for children, shopping, and fashion.
  • Perona's first outfit has a cropped blouse that exposes her stomach and which, aside of complimenting her gothic lolita look, communicates her feminine and childish personality. After the time-skip, however, she wears a full dress, which shows how much she's matured over the years.
• Ouran High School Host Club:
  • There are a couple of instances where the guys in the Host Club have Imagine Spots where Haruhi is in a frilly bikini, which is far more blatantly feminine than how she normally dresses and something she wouldn't be caught dead wearing to begin with.
  • "Jungle Pool SOS" is set in a tropical environment, but Haruhi is wearing shorts and a hooded shirt. In sharp contrast, when Renge shows up, rather than the long flowing dress she normally wears, she's wearing a bikini. She also has strange markings on her belly; when Hikaru and Kaoru ask about them, she comments that she's cosplaying as Quon Kisaragi.
  • In "Haruhi in Wonderland", part of the Alice in Wonderland homage includes the Nekozawa siblings picking and eating mushrooms growing under Kyouya, who is the caterpillar. The mushroom Kirimi eats causes her to age up from elementary school-age into a teenager; her shirt doesn't grow with her, so it goes from completely covering her to fully exposing her midriff.
• Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt:
  • Panty Anarchy wears a crop top or sports bra in almost every single episode, including her outfit worn in the transformation sequences and is a flirty and very promiscuous character that wants to have sex with every good looking male she meets.
  • Scanty and Kneesocks also do this in the transformation sequences and due to the Art Shift it shows off their full figures and femininity.
• Pokémon: The Series:
  • Out of the original lead trio, the male Ash and Brock wear T-shirts, but Misty wears a crop top.
  • Jessie and James of Team Rocket wear nearly identical outfits, but James's undershirt goes all the way down to his waist whereas Jessie's is a crop top.
  • Annie and Oakley from Pokémon Heroes stand out for their night outfits that consist of skintight, halterneck crop tops that expose their midsections, and are very feminine (they even leave a signature card with lipstick).
• Rave Master:
  • Elie and Julia are the sole female members of the main squad for a large portion of the series, and both wear midriff-baring outfits.
  • Celia is a feminine mermaid princess who always wears a bikini top, exposing her midriff.
  • Renard wears a bikini-top and is the only major female member of the Blue Guardians.
  • Out of the Demon Lords, Jiero is the only woman and wears a midriff-baring outfit that is basically a bikini.
  • Clea was the only woman of her team and also, the only one whose battle attire revealed the midriff.
  • Unlike the male sorcerers who wear regular shirts, Hilde wears a bikini top that exposes her midriff.
• Release the Spyce: The members of Tsukikage all wear ninja outfits that expose the midsection and they're pretty feminine.
• Resident Evil: Heavenly Island: Claire and Inéz both wear midriff baring outfits due to the hot weather there. Pretty much every one of the models wear two piece bathing suits, in fact. Marilou Mabou seems to be the only female who isn't wearing a midriff baring outfit.
• Samurai 7 features the water priestess Kirara, who is an elegant Yamato Nadeshiko and her midriff is bare. Of course, so are some of the other women of her village.
• The Seven Deadly Sins:
  • Elizabeth is a feminine princess and Meliodas hires her as a waitress at his bar, making her wear a midriff-baring attire for the job.
  • Galla from The Seven Deadly Sins the Movie: Prisoners of the Sky is the only female of the Six Black Knights, and she dresses like a Bedlah Babe.
  • From the sequel Four Knights of the Apocalypse, Anne. After joining Percival's team, she changes her dress for an outfit with a midriff-baring shirt. On the other hand, her male teammates wear regular shirts.
  • Also from the sequel is Elva, who styles her hair into Girlish Pigtails, is the only female member of her troupe, and also the only member with a midriff-baring outfit.
• Tokyo Mew Mew:
  • Zakuro Fujiwara is the most elegant and glamorous of the Mews, since she works as a fashion model and stands out as the only team member with a midriff-baring Magical Girl outfit.
  • Feminine Pretty Boy Quiche wears a short-sleeved shirt that exposes his stomach.
• Urusei Yatsura: Lum is a girly Alien Princess and her Iconic Outfit is a tiger-print bikini that reveals her midriff.
• Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun: Elizabetta Ix's Custom Uniform has the midsection removed so her midriff shows and she's easily the most feminine among the females of the Misfit Class.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!: Tea Gardner has several outfits that show her stomach, including on the final story arc, and she's the most prominent female human character. Mai Valentine's Of Corsets Sexy shows her navel and she's the most prominent Ms. Fanservice in the series.

Comic Books

• Hawkman: Kendra Saunders, the third Hawkgirl, bares her midsection both as a hero and in casual clothes, which contrasts with Carter Hall's shirtless look.
• Among the Power Trio of Josie And The Pussy Cats, who wear leopard print leotards on stage, it's the wiggly-jiggly-giggly Melody whose outfit has no cloth between her ribcage and pelvic bones. While Josie and Valerie aren't masculine by any measure, Melody is a full-on boy magnet given to wearing the skimpiest outfits.
• Les Nombrils: True to the title, most of the outfits the three protagonists wear show their belly-buttons. Vicky and Jenny start out as a pair of shallow Alpha Bitches who are a poor influence on Karine. Karine stops using so many midriff revealing clothes after she gets a makeover and learns to stand up for herself.
• In The Order (2007), every female member of the team (and no men) has a midriff-baring costume of some type. Justified since the team are celebrities given temporary superpowers, and the comic was conceived in the 2000s when such looks were practically mandatory for any female celebrity under thirty.
• Stargirl (DC Comics): The Star Spangled Kid outfit Courtney Whitmore found was a full-body suit; the same as all Starman incarnations. One of the ways the rather feminine Courtney modified it for herself was to make the top bare her midriff, something that is consistent in all continuities she appears in. She often wears crop-tops in her civilian life too. She once justified it to S.T.R.I.P.E. by noting that it sometimes distracted male opponents, and on at least one occasion, encouraged Supergirl to bare her midriff for the same reason.
• Star Wars: Legacy: Delilah Blue is a Zeltron, the main female character of Volume 1, and almost all of her outfits show her midriff. She's actually annoyed at having to cover up.
• Sunfire and Big Hero 6: Out of the two girls of the eponymous team, Honey Lemon wears a revealing crop top, and she's the most caring and compassionate team member who fights by conjuring wormholes out of her purse. By contrast, the more tomboyish and hotheaded GoGo Tomago prefers physical combat and wears a Powered Armor that covers her midriff, and so do the male members of the team.
• Supergirl's outfit is similar to Superman's but with a few feminine twists. This included a bare midriff in the Post-Crisis comics until the New 52 reboot, as well as in some of her animated adaptations.
• X-Men:
  • Many of Emma Frost's outfits expose her midsection, and she's confident in her looks, seductive and very much feminine, which contrasts greatly with other X-Men girls who wear more modest uniforms.
  • Boom-Boom's most commonly seen outfits are crop-tops, which serves to represent her Valley Hard-Drinking Party Girl status.
  • Laura Kinney's most iconic early outfit was cropped to show her flat stomach, which contrasts with Logan's full-covering costume. After taking the Wolverine moniker she began wearing a full-body covering version of Logan's own.
  • Noriko Ashida/Surge from New X-Men: Academy X wears midriff-baring outfits either as an X-Man or as a civilian to show her femininity and confidence in her appearance, which puts her at constant odds with her roommate the devout muslim Sooraya Qadir/Dust, who wears a niqab.

Fan Works

• Fate/Gamers Only: The supplies Da Vinci gave the cast for the Orleans Singularity include two versions of the True Ether Mystic Code, with the female version having an exposed midriff. Rikku would rather not show off her midriff and takes the top from the male version, much to Da Vinci's disappointment. When entering Septem, Rikku finds that Da Vinci swapped the male top out for another version in eye-searing bright colors to encourage her to wear an outfit with a midriff, which doesn't work until Nero forces her into the alternate outfit after being convinced by Da Vinci that Rikku lacks confidence to want to wear it.

Film — Animation

• Ainbo: Spirit of the Amazon: Bare midriffs seem to be standard among the Amazonian native women, whereas men are usually bare-chested. Ainbo wears a tight crop top and skirt that exposes her navel. Also Zumi, though to a lesser extent.
• Disney Animated Canon:
  • Aladdin, being a film about "Arabian Nights" Days, has plenty of young Arabic women who wear midriff-exposing halter tops, including Princess Jasmine herself. The only women who don't dress like this are older, more serious, fatter women, who are, for the most part, none too friendly towards the Walking Shirtless Scene that is main character Aladdin.
  • Atlantis: The Lost Empire: Atlantean women tend to wear midriff-baring outfits, whereas men are either bare-chested or fully robed. Most notably, Princess Kida spends the majority of the movie in a sarong and a midriff-baring top, until the end of the movie when she switches to a more modest royal outfit.
  • The Jungle Book 2: Shanti, Mowgli's best friend in the village is the only prominent female character in the movie, who seems to be very content with her feminine role in the village. Although her outfit in the original movie averted this, in this sequel she wears a white, midriff-baring choli along with a high-waisted purple skirt.
  • Lilo & Stitch: Most of Nani's outfits show her midsection and she's the most prominent adult female character. It also serves as contrast with her younger sister Lilo who wears a covering dress as her default outfit.
  • The Little Mermaid: Most mermaids regardless of age only wear a Seashell Bra, while mermen are shirtless.
  • Moana: The denizens of Motonui all wear long, woven skirts, but the men and young children are all bare-chested whereas the women wear a cloth wrapped around their chests. On older women like Grandma Tala and Sina, the skirt has a high waistline that covers their midriff, but on younger women, including the eponymous Moana, the waistline is just above their belly button, leaving most of their midriff bare.
  • Zootopia: Gazelle, being an Ink-Suit Actor version of Shakira and a glamorous pop singer, performs in a sparkly, midriff-baring outfit that accentuates her feminine figure. It's contrasted by the similarly skimpy, shirtless outfits of her male tiger background dancers.
• FernGully: The Last Rainforest: Most younger female fairies, including the protagonist Crysta, wear a midriff-baring top and skirt combo, whereas male fairies tend to be shirtless, wearing loincloths.
• Heavy Metal: All the barbarians that overrun the city, slay the citizens, and sack the place are men dressed and equipped for warfare. In particular, the barbarian king has a horned crown + helmet that shields most of his head and a crimson Badass Longcoat. His opponent, in contrast, is shapely Taarna, whose outfit is mostly a Battle Bikini and a sword. Her exposed midsection gets a nasty gash from the barbarian's whirling blade weapon.
• Planet Hulk: Elloe's shirt is torn to show her midsection, while Caiera's armor is cropped to show her abs, and they're the most prominent females in the movie.
• The Road to El Dorado: Chel wears a midriff-baring outfit that accentuates her feminine figure. She seems to be the only one dressed like this — the other native women wear less revealing clothes, whereas most native men are shirtless.
• Ultimate Avengers: While both Janet and Natasha wear full-covering bodysuits as heroes, in casual clothes they wear midriff baring tank-tops. Meanwhile the male heroes wear normal shirts.

Film — Live-Action

• Austin Powers: Austin is often paired with beautiful and sexy women, parodying the "Bond girl" characters of the James Bond movies. Many of them wear midriff-baring outfits to show off their figures, including Felicity Shagwell from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Foxxy Cleopatra from Austin Powers in Goldmember.
• Barbie (2023): The hyperfeminine Barbie and her male companion Ken don cowboy-inspired outfits after ditching their leotards in the real world. While both outfits are loud and ostentatious, Ken's black shirt fully covers his upper body, while Barbie's is hot pink, sleeveless and exposes some of her midriff. After they get arrested (again) the officers comment that the outfit looks great on Barbie particularly because they can imagine more.
• Birds of Prey (2020): Of the women on the titular team, Harley Quinn, Black Canary, and Huntress all wear high-waisted pants paired with crop tops or bras, paired with feminine fighting styles favoring kicks. The exception is Renee Montoya who wears a police button-up and favors a brawler fighting style. Her more masculine manner of dress reflects how Renee wants to be seen as an equal to the men in her workplace. But when she instead turns towards fighting alongside the women in her life, she secretly wears a gaudy corset Harley offers her, which saves Renee's life when it turns out to be bulletproof.
• King Arthur (2004): For the Battle of Badon Hill, Guinevere and other female woad warriors wear midriff baring tops, while the men fight shirtless or with pelts.
• Jawbreaker: All three members of the bitchy queen bee trio are shown with bare midriffs on the poster. More specifically, in the film itself:
  • Courtney wears a cropped sweater during her Make Way for the Princess Supermodel Strut after Liz's death.
  • When Fern transforms into Vylette and Courtney realizes that "Vylette" is becoming more popular than she is during a scene where she's almost attacked by a baying mob, Vylette/Fern is wearing a pink crop top that says "BITCH".
• Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle:
  • Bethany wears a midriff-baring shirt, reflecting her beauty influencer personality, in contrast to Martha, the other girl of the group who is nerdy and Booksmart. Her final scene averts this — Bethany wears a more conservative, outdoorsy outfit, showing how the game has taught her to become less appearance-obsessed.
  • Lampshaded by Martha as her in-game character Ruby Roundhouse, who becomes the only female-bodied member of the group ^note since Bethany got stuck with the body of an overweight, middle-aged male character and the only one to bare their midriff in the game's jungle setting.
  Martha/Ruby: (covering her stomach) Why am I wearing this outfit in a jungle? Tiny, little shorts and a leather halter top, I mean, what is this?
• Mean Girls: The cool Girl Posse of the Plastics all wear cropped tops from time to time, usually in pink or white. Cady's transformation from outsider is marked when she starts wearing more fitted, cropped shirts (which she then trades again for more hyper-feminine clothes like dresses and skirt sets). They are contrasted against the "uncool" `artist Janis, who wears baggy, layered clothes.
• In One Million Years B.C., the cavemen are dressed in loincloths and animal pelts. However, Loana, the female lead played by Raquel Welch, wears a Fur Bikini that emphasizes her feminine figure. The advertising for the movie played up the Fur Bikini, calling it "mankind's first bikini" and describing Loana as "a marvelous breathing monument to womankind".
• Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed: When Scooby and Shaggy end up in an alchemy lab, they try out various transformation potions. When Shaggy drinks one that transforms his body into that of a woman with large breasts and an hourglass figure (but leaves his face unchanged), his green shirt shrinks into a crop top. When the next potion transforms his upper body into that of a male bodybuilder, the shirt visibly grows longer and covers up his six-pack.
• In Space Jam, Lola Bunny wears an athletic, midriff-baring outfit whereas the male Looney Tunes mostly don't wear clothes at all. When donning basketball gear, Lola's top is much smaller than her teammates', also exposing her midriff. In the sequel, she started wearing outfits that cover her midriff.
• Star Wars:
  • Return of the Jedi: When the notorious mob boss Jabba the Hutt captures the heroes of the Rebellion, Han and Luke are kept in their usual clothes but Leia is chained to Jabba and forced to wear a gold bikini. She ends up turning the tables on the Hutt by strangling him to death with that very chain.
  • Attack of the Clones: While as a queen Padme typically wore massive elaborate gowns, as a Senator her outfits are typically less ornate and more form-fitting. On Tatooine, she wears a midriff-baring dress and a robe. On Geonosis, she wears a practical bodysuit, but a vicious Nexu's claws tear it open, bewilderingly turning it into a two-piece while dealing only shallow wounds. Padme then completely avoids this trope in Revenge of the Sith, due to having to conceal her pregnancy.
  • The Clone Wars: Despite being a monastic order, Jedi women are fairly commonly seen in two-piece outfits while the men all wear robes. Examples include Aayla Secura, Ahsoka Tano (who started off in literally just a little bandeau top that hid nothing but her breasts, but transitioned into more modest outfits over the seasons), and Shaak Ti (who typically wears robes but wears a much more revealing outfit in The Force Unleashed.) Additionally, Suu Lawquane, married to AWOL clone Cut Lawquane, wore midriff-exposing chaps but in Star Wars: The Bad Batch now wears a more modest jumpsuit.
• Suicide Squad (2016): Both female members of the eponymous squad, Harley Quinn and Katana, wear midriff-baring clothes, whereas none of the male members do.

Literature

• Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor: The Alzano Academy female uniforms show off the midriff, while the male uniforms fully cover the torso. Justified: unlike male students, the females are recommended to wear less clothing (during academic periods) to increase their affinity to mana. Their clothing is also enchanted with automatic air-conditioning magic which adjusts the temperature and humidity of the air around them.
• Alderamin on the Sky: Midriff-baring crop tops seem to be a common style of clothing for women of the Katvjarna Empire, though the army uniforms avoid it. Even Princess Camille has her navel showing when she presides over the main cast being knighted.
• In the Belisarius Series, midriff-baring saris are standard women's wear in India. Respectable women wear them out of the practicality of baring their midriffs in the hot and humid Indian climate.
  • Saris are noted as being feminine but not particularly vulgar when worn by prostitutes. What marks a prostitute in India is the addition of an orange waist-scarf and large bangles worn on the ankle.
  • Irene, when she visits India, is advised to wear a midriff-baring sari for the sake of comfort. She declines, continuing to wear hot and uncomfortable Roman robes to mark her status as the envoy from the Roman Empire.
  • Anna feels tempted when she sees another woman wearing a midriff-baring sari, but it's not until she reunites with her husband and is told by him to do so that she starts wearing them herself.
• Lord Marksman and Vanadis: All seven Vanadis wear midriff-baring outfits, which represents both their power and femininity since only they would wear such outfits on the battlefield. Limalisha is the only other major female character who also bares her midsection in casual wear, and she's a Tomboy with a Girly Streak.
• Serge Storms: Stripper and amateur porn star Rachael from Atomic Lobster is more sensual than Serge's usual Hot Librarian Girl of the Week and her wardrobe includes a lot of clothes tops that show off her stomach, including baby tee shirt, a skimpy halter top, and a sports bra.

Live-Action TV

• Encantadia: The Sanggres are a quartet of Action Girls with Elemental Powers. In the 2005 version, three of them wear midriff-baring outfits; the one that doesn't is Amihan, who is a strong, sword-wielding warrior opposed to the more graceful daggers, spears and sticks the other three wield. In the 2016 reboot, all four of them wear midriff-baring clothes.
• Lizzo's Watch Out for the Big Grrrls: The cast full of big beautiful women frequently wore crop tops, typically as dancewear/workout but also sometimes as everyday clothing. In this case, it's an indicator that they confident enough to wear feminine, midriff-baring clothing despite their weight.
• In Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, both female rangers sometimes wear tops that bare their midriffs, but it's not the girly Pink Ranger Kimberly Hart, but the Yellow Ranger Trini Kwan who does it more often. She's not the only Yellow Ranger to do so either; Power Rangers Lost Galaxy's Maya also has a bared midriff.
• Star Trek: In the Mirror Universe, the female version (but not the male version) of the standard Starfleet uniform bares the wearer's midriff in the original series and in Star Trek: Enterprise. It was abandoned in Star Trek: Discovery, reportedly because the showrunners didn't want to imply that Sex Is Evil.
• Xena: Warrior Princess: Bare midriffs were one of the main form of the show's fanservice. Out of the main duo, Gabrielle the bard's green halter top and burgundy skirt exposed her midriff whereas the tough warrior Xena wore a breastplate that covered it. Gabrielle's outfit got even more revealing over the seasons; eventually she switched to a red top that was barely more than a bra and a shorter matching skirt. Eventually, Xena also got into the midriff-baring with her Japanese armor in the finale. Almost all other female guest stars and recurring characters also wore midriff-baring outfits.

Music

• In the late '90s and early 2000s, crop tops were almost the mandatory wear for female pop singers (both Girl Groups and solo performers) during music videos and concerts, with too many examples to list here. Boy bands, which were also popular at the time, hardly ever bared their midriff despite often going for an effeminate Pretty Boy look rather than a more traditionally masculine one. In mixed-gender bands (such as Vengaboys, S Club 7 or A-Teens), the female members often wore crop tops while the male members wore T-shirts. Even Country Music, historically a rather conservative genre, wasn't immune, with Shania Twain becoming famous for her midriff-baring ensembles in concerts and music videos.
• Asian pop idols of either gender often wear midriff-baring clothes. For male idols, it is part of their Pretty Boy look — which can make them appear androgynous in the eyes of Western audiences.
• The Giant Woman Pam/Val in the video for Miserable by the band Lit, a Proud Beauty and Shameless Fanservice Girl, spends the entire video in a white bikini with black straps. There are also several closeups of her bare stomach as she writhes to the band's music. This is used to highlight her femininity and beauty in contrast to the fully dressed band members, who are all male.
• Kagamine Rin from Vocaloid bare her midriff as a contrast from her male counterpart Len. This extends to whenever they wear a matching outfit, though for her Append design they give her a Navel Window that's larger than Len's instead.

Toys

• Many female action figures, such as ones based on other media (TV shows, Video Games, etc.) where females wear shirts that show their stomachs.
• Mermaid High: Unsurprisingly for a toy line based mermaids, the main four protagonists are all girly characters who wear clothing that exposes their stomachs.

Video Games

• Azure Striker Gunvolt: For the game's English release, promotional artwork was edited so that the teenage male Gunvolt's undershirt no longer exposed his stomach, citing that audiences outside Japan were more likely to see this as effeminate (especially in combination with his slender build and hair braid). His in-game sprite is unchanged.
• BlazBlue: Noel Vermillion, Makoto Nanaya and Mai Natsume wear midriff-baring outfits at different points and they're quite girly. Bullet subverts this, since her bare midriff highlights her tomboyishness instead.
• Borderlands 3: The male Psychos of Pandora run around without any clothes on their upper body. The female Psychos wear a white, midriff-baring tank top.
• In Cave Story, Quote and Curly Brace are both amnesiac Ridiculously Human Robots (and it's a late-game reveal that they were partners in the backstory). Both are dressed in tank tops, baggy pants, and boots. Curly Brace is the female of the pair, so she has a short tank top showing off her belly, while the male Quote doesn't.
• Dark Souls II: Zigzagged with the Desert Sorceress Top. The Desert Sorceresses' Stripperific outfit includes a midriff-baring tube top to accentuate their feminine appeal, as they employ Distracted by the Sexy to seduce men. When a male character wears the Top, it is modified from the original design worn by the Sorceresses and female characters, but it still bares the midriff.
• Digimon: Angewomon notably bares her midriff, which contrasts Angemon's full-covering (but still form fitting) look. Ophanimon, one of Angewomon's possible evolutions, also has an opening in her armor for her stomach.
• Donkey Kong: Out of the female Kongs, both Candy Kong and aged-up Tiny Kong tend to wear midriff-baring clothes, and Dixie Kong, while while pantsless, wears a knot-up shirt that evokes the bare midriff look. By contrast, the male Kongs typically either wear full shirts (with or without pants) or only a necktie.
• Dragon Age: Origins: The Dalish Leather Armor, when worn by a female character, is essentially a purple-colored cheerleader ensemble consisting of a shapely sports bra, a short skirt and knee-high boots. The male version retains the skirt but covers the whole torso while bearing a much less conspicuous brown color, making the female version look even girlier by comparison. Notably, this is the only Gendered Outfit and also the only midriff-baring outfit in the game, with anything heavier being the typical full-body armor suits you'd expect in a medieval fantasy setting.
• Fallout: The games have a few Gendered Outfits.
  • Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas:
    • The Merc Adventurer outfit includes a full vest over a full-sleeved shirt for a male character. For a female character, the vest and shirt are now shortened, showing her midriff.
    • The Raider Badlands, Raider Commando, and the Leather Rebel (exclusive to 3's DLC The Pitt) outfits give proper shirts to men, but midriff-baring tops to women.
  • Fallout 4:
    • The "Harness" outfit, both the regular and the "Gunner" variants, have women wear nothing above the waistline but a greenish strip of cloth to (barely) cover their bra, plus some canvas straps to keep the pants in place like skimpy overalls.
    • The Nuka-Girl Rocketsuit, added in the Nuka-World DLC, basically combines skintight white leggings with a skimpy long-sleeved top, topped off with heeled boots and a Fishbowl Helmet. It is intended by Nuka-Cola to be worn on a pinup model mascot, after all.
    • The Grognak the Barbarian costume consists of skimpy Pelts of the Barbarian on both male and female characters. On males, it is simply a loincloth. On females, there is a top strap that covers the bra and fully exposes the midriff.
• Fate/Grand Order:
  • Astolfo is famous for his androgynous looks and Ambiguous Gender Identity, and Stage 1 and 2 of his Saber form wears a midriff-baring outfit to further highlight his femininity.
  • The Tropical Summer and True Ether Mystic Codes will show the protagonist's midriff if the player assigns their gender as female.
• Fire Emblem Engage:
  • The effeminate Rosado wears a short black top that leaves his midsection exposed as his standard outfit in the Somniel.
  • While the generic class outfit for Warriors have an exposed chest for both genders, the female version includes a sports bra to put more emphasis on the character's midriff compared to the male version.
  • The outfit of Long-Haired Pretty Boy Seadall exposes his lower chest for all to see.
• Final Fantasy: Many female characters in the series wear crop tops (such as Tifa Lockheart), typically contrasting the male characters who have covered or fully exposed torso.
• Five Nights at Freddy's: The character Roxanne Wolf has a design that is meant to give this impression, with red plates at her chest and waist mimicking a crop top and hot panties.
• Galaxy Angel: Ranpha Franboise wears a qipao-like dress with a cutout that leaves her abdomen completely bare. She's competitive and practices martial arts, but also has very girly interests like fashion, fortune-telling and romance movies.
  • Galaxy Angel II: Semi-averted with both Lily C. Sherbet and Anise Azeat, as while both wear outfits exposing their midriffs they're the least feminine members of the Rune Angels. Anise at least has an excuse for her tomboyishness in that she had lived alone for a few years.
• Genshin Impact: The Traveler and their Sibling are opposite-sex twins; however, in an inversion of this trope, Long-Haired Pretty Boy Aether has a noticeably bared midriff to contrast the Sexy Backless Outfit of female Lumine.
• Inazuma Eleven: Rika is a Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak who always customizes her soccer jersey like this: she ties the edge of the shirt into a knot and lifts it up, exposing her midriff. In contrast, the tomboyish Touko wears her jerseys normally. Furthermore, the uniform of the latter's team, SP Fixers, is a tuxedo.
• Kid Icarus: Uprising: Phosphora has the looks and personality of a 16-17 year old teenage girl, being rather flirty towards Pit and often attempting to get under both Pit and Palutena's skin. She's the only character in the game to wear a crop top and is one of the few characters to count as a Ms. Fanservice alongside Amazon Pandora. All the other male characters either have a Shirtless Scene or wear a regular top.
• Last Cloudia: When Lukiel gets her power sapped away, she starts donning a new outfit that bares more skin including her midriff. Her profile also starts using female pronouns to describe her instead of the previously used neutral pronouns.
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: Gerudo Town is populated entirely by women and men are forbidden from entering. To get inside, Link must wear the same outfit as all the other Gerudo women, which includes a midriff-baring top and sirwal pants. In The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Ganondorf, who is the only male Gerudo born, has a Walking Shirtless Scene instead.
• In Man of Medan, Julia and Fliss are the only female protagonists, and unlike the male protagonists. Julia's diving gear shows her stomach, and then after they are hijacked by the pirates and on the ghost ship, she has a pink T-shirt tied above her stomach. Fliss's main outfit shows off quite a bit of her stomach. The men all wear full shirts.
• Metal Slug: Almost every playable female character wears a midriff-baring t-shirt or tank-top, in contrast to the male characters who wear regular shirts and jackets.
• Pokémon:
  • Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire has Team Aqua, where the female grunts and admin Shelly expose their midriff and navel, while the male grunts wear a regular top. Matt, the male admin for Team Aqua, is a Walking Shirtless Scene instead.
  • Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver: Karen is the only female among the Elite Four and her outfit is a belly-shirt.
  • Pokémon X and Y: When playing as Serena, the character is given summer outfits for character customization. Many of these outfits are crop-tops (though the default outfit is not). Calem on the other hand is given winter outfits which are full shirts.
  • Pokémon Sword and Shield: Nessa is the Water-type Gym Leader of the region, wears a swimsuit that exposes her entire torso and she's a fashion model on her off time. As part of her Gendered Outfit, Marnie wears a midriff-baring tank-top as Gym Leader.
  • Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: Professor Sada from Scarlet wears a tank-top that shows her abs. This contrasts with her Violet counterpart Professor Turo, who wears a form-fitting bodysuit instead.
• Several female characters (but no male characters) in the Resident Evil franchise feature midriff-baring outfits:
  • Jill's bonus outfit in the original Resident Evil.
  • Claire Redfield's outfit in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica.
  • Claire's biker outfit in the original Resident Evil 2.
  • Claire's cowgirl outfit in Resident Evil: Revelations 2 As well as Moira's ninja outfit.
  • Ashley's pop star bonus outfit in Resident Evil 4.
  • Ada's outfit in the Assignment Ada bonus game of Resident Evil 4.
  • Rebecca's bonus outfit in Resident Evil 0.
  • Party Girl of "Echo Six" in Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.
  • Sherry's bonus outfit in Resident Evil 6, being her old school uniform which is now WAY too small for her.
• Rise of Legends: Arri, the Alin princess, shows off a large portion of her belly in an otherwise practical desert outfit.
• Shantae: The titular Shantae is a frequent source of midriff- and navel-focus as both a Half-Genie and Sultry Belly Dancer, but pretty much every single other major female character is young, cute, and shows off a slender stomach. For that matter, virtually every non-child female character — including villagers and some Mooks — bares her belly or shows just enough to reveal the belly button, suggesting midriff-baring is customary in Sequin Land. In the (very rare) case a female character's abdomen is fully covered, she'll sport a Navel Outline, solidifying the trope of female belly button fanservice as something of a series hallmark. By contrast, male characters like Bolo, Uncle Mimic and the various Barons tend to wear full shirts, although on some males it's open in the front.
• In Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, the Siamese Cat guards have Bedlah Babe outfits which showcase their midriffs, which confirm that they are all female.
• Soul Nomad & the World Eaters: If you play as a male Revya, he'll be wearing relatively modest leather armor. Female Revya, however, goes shirtless aside from pauldrons and a metal bra. Their Sprites, on the other hand, avert this, both wearing the same midriff-baring chest armor.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • In the first two Mario Strikers games, the football uniform of the two princess characters, Peach and Daisy, come with a crop top instead of regular football shirt worn by the male players. Battle League would avert this by having them (and the other female players) wear more modest attire.
  • Peach and Daisy also wear midriff-baring track suits in the Tokyo 2020 edition of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games.
  • In general, compared to Daisy who’s portrayed more as a Tomboy Princess, Peach, as a feminine and dainty Princess Classic, has more moments where her midriff goes exposed. Aside from the sports spinoffs, she's also seen in a bikini in Super Mario Odyssey postgame as well as a mermaid outfit in Princess Peach: Showtime!, which also contrasts with her other transformations being less-revealing.
• Sword Art Online: Compared to Kirito, whose outfits cover him up, Philia's default outfits in games from Hollow Fragment to Hollow Realization all show her midriff to some extent. Her outfit in Fatal Bullet is the first time this is averted.
• Wii Fit: The female trainer wears only a sports bra, exposing her stomach, which contrasts toward the male trainer, who wears a shirt covering his entire torso.
• World of Warcraft:
  • Infamously, there are several armor pieces in the game that look imposing and cover everything on male player characters but shrink into a Chainmail Bikini when worn by female characters.
  • A number of female NPCs also tend to wear midriff-baring outfits. This includes the kind-hearted, pacifistic sorceress Jaina Proudmoore; the Dark Action Girl Sylvanas Windrunner; and the humanoid form of the dragon queen Alexstrasza the Life-Binder, who is characterised as being wise, compassionate and in tune with nature.

Visual Novels

• Reigning Passions: One of Lyris' outfits◊ leaves his midriff bare and he has an androgynous appearance, being a bedazzled Long-Haired Pretty Boy.
• Shining Song Starnova: As expected from a female idol group, every member of Starnova wears a uniform with a star-shaped cutout which exposes a large chunk of the midriff. This is also the case with their rivals Quasar, who wear more typical crop-tops.

Web Animation

• Disventure Camp: True to its inspiration, there are more than a couple of females who wear this style.
  • Kristal's version of the typical shirt worn by Total Drama's host and interns is a more feminine one also worn by Dakota from that show.
  • Ashley from Season 1 wears a knotted crop top that shows her midsection along with her nightwear and bikini to indicate she's a girly Cowgirl and major Ms. Fanservice of the show.
  • Yul from Season 2 is a male example, since his crop top shows his abs and he's pretty Camp Straight.
  • Much like Kristal before her, Emily from All-Stars bares her midriff. It also suggests she's aware of her beauty and is meant to add to her other typically feminine traits, such as her long hair or wearing heavy make-up.
• In the Femboy and Chad animations, the more feminine Mari tends to wear a midriff-bearing outfit in contrast to the more masculine Chad.
• Helluva Boss: The characters Loona and Millie have exposed midriffs as part of their main outfits, which contrasts Blitzo and Moxxie's clothes who are covering.
  • In the episode "Queen Bee", Beelzebub is seen exposing hers as well and she's one of the two confirmed Seven Deadly Sins who are female.
  • Gliz and Glam's performing outfits leave their midriff bare to emphasize their femininity and sex appeal, in contrast to all the male performers who wear goofier clothing.
• Mundo Canibal: Whatahell wears a crop top that exposes his midriff, which goes along with his pink hair, make-up, and high-pitched voice, which are done to illustrate his stereotypical Camp Gay demeanour.
• This is a popular look in RWBY. Several characters, including Blake and Yang until the Atlas arc. Emerald, Neo, Cinder in the tournament, and many minor female characters also wear midriff baring outfits. This contrasts with most male characters who wear normal shirts, or walk shirtless like Sun Wukong.

Webcomics

• In the first few hundred strips of The Order of the Stick, Haley Starshine, the only woman in the eponymous Order, wears a midriff-baring archer outfit whereas her male companions Roy, Durkon, Elan, and Belkar all wear less exposing shirts, and Vaarsuvius wears a long robe. In later strips, she starts wearing different outfits, many of which are no longer midriff-baring. Some other female characters introduced early in the comic, such as Celia the sylph and Roy's teenage sister Julia, also wear midriff-baring outfits.
• Parodied in Stjepan Šejić's comic "Womb Power", in which heroines like Red Sonja and Starfire claim that exposed midriffs emanate magical energy that deflect projectiles and fire laser blasts. When he asks his wife Linda about it, she demonstrates herself.

Web Videos

• Critical Role: Campaign Two: Inverted. The cutesy and girly Jester always wears a full dress, whereas The Lad-ette, Beau, only wears outfits that leave her stomach exposed to show off her abs.

Western Animation

• Aladdin: The Series: Just like in the movie, many female characters wear midriff-baring Bedlah Babe outfits, including Princess Jasmine, Eden the Genie of the Bottle (a Distaff Counterpart to the male, shirtless Genie of the Lamp), Mirage the Evil Sorceress, and Fatima the circus performer-turned-harpy.
• Archer: Out of the female agents of ISIS, it's the ditzy Cheryl who most often ends up baring her midriff, especially in the season where she adopts the country singer persona "Cherlene". Lana also often wears midriff-baring clothes to missions, and also often ends up in only her underwear. Even Pam gets the occasional midriff-baring outfit. The male agents never wear such outfits, not even Gilette, except for Archer in the episode "Honeypot", where he tries to seduce a male rogue Cuban agent, and wears a skintight outfit that exposes his midriff in his first attempt at seducing him, overplaying his role.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • Out of the antagonistic female trio dubbed "Ozai's Angels" by the fandom, the girly and athletic Ty Lee always wear midriff-baring outfits, whereas the aggressive Azula and the stoic and straight-faced Mai usually cover up their midriff except for the Beach Episode.
  • In the Fire Nation, female but not male soldiers wear midriff-baring uniforms.
  • When donning Fire Nation disguises, the graceful, long-haired, motherly Katara dons a midriff-baring top and skirt combo, whereas the more tomboyish, short-haired, brash Toph and all the male members of the Gaang wear shirts that cover their midriffs. When Suki joins them, she also dons a midriff-baring Fire Nation outfit.
• Braceface: Sharon Spitz's usual outfit exposes her stomach, which characterizes her as a teenage girl with typical girly interests. Other female characters also wear belly-shirts.
• Brandy & Mr. Whiskers: Brandy Harrington is a fashion-obsessed teenager who wears a pink blouse that shows her midriff. She's notably a Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal, while the other wild animals don't wear clothes.
• Captain N: The Game Master: Both major heroic female characters, Princess Lana and Princess Zelda, are dressed in midriff-baring outfits (even though Zelda doesn't wear such clothes in her parent game). Lana is The Heart of the Team N (the role most often taken by female characters).
• In The Cleveland Show, With Roberta. In every episode (sometimes winter-themed) he wears a green top that shows off his shoulders and midriff. In one episode, for example, he uses his "uncovered skin" to sweeten the male teachers (obviously a woman is there that day).
• In Code Lyoko, Yumi and Sissi regularly wear outfits that bare their midriff. Lampshaded by Tamiya in one episode where her mother had expressed concern over her daughter's outfit. Aelita's outfit for the Subdigitals has a halter-top that bares her midriff, but it was for one episode.
• Combo Niños: Azul and Pilar, the two female members of the team, wear outfits that expose their bellies. Paco and Serio wear shirts while Maestre Grinto alternates between a covering white shirt and walking shirtless.
• Danny Phantom: Several female characters, like Sam Manson, Paulina Sanchez, Ember McLean, Desiree, Kitty, Penelope Spectra and Danielle Phantom wear midriff baring outfits, and they're all feminine in different ways.
• Dave the Barbarian: Candy is the most feminine of the three siblings, with a Valley Girl personality, contrasted by her buff Barbarian Hero brother Dave and her violent, tomboyish sister Fang. Fittingly, she's the only one of the three whose usual outfit shows some skin around her waist.
• DC Animated Universe:
  • Batman Beyond: Both Chelsea Cunningham and Blade Morse wear tank-tops that show their navel and they're the Hamilton Hill School's resident Lovable Alpha Bitches.
  • Superman: The Animated Series: Just like the comics, Supergirl wears her own version of the Superman suit cropped to show her midriff.
  • Justice League: Shayera/Hawkgirl starts to wear a new superhero outfit that shows off her toned midriff after her Girliness Upgrade, while Wonder Woman also wears one during her one day off. Huntress keeps her signature outfit that's cropped to show her abs. Meanwhile Volcana's new outfit also shows her midsection. And they're all Ms. Fanservice in different ways.
• Drawn Together: Xandir, the Camp Gay Expy of Link, wears a green, midriff-baring armor to emphasize his effeminate look.
• Foot 2 Rue: The female members of the Rifflers, Eloise and Samira, wear midriff-baring crop-tops, in contrast to the male characters who wear regular shirts. Several secondary female characters also wear midriff-baring outfits, including The Heavy Victoria Malhotra, although like Eloise and Samira, her navel isn't always illustrated.
• Futurama: Out of the two women in the Planet Express crew, the girlier Amy Wong usually wears a pink, midriff-baring tracksuit, but all her other outfits (even her winter clothes) bare her midriff. The more tomboyish Action Girl Leela usually wears a white tank top that covers her midriff, but outside of that she also often ends up in midriff-baring outfits. None of the male crew members wear midriff-baring clothes.
• Gargoyles:
  • While male gargoyles tend to only wear a Loincloth, many female gargoyles opt for midriff-baring outfits, most notably Demona (the single most often featured female gargoyle), but also Coldstone's Love Interest "Desdemona", as well as Elisa in "The Mirror" during her brief time as a gargoyle.
  • Elisa, the main female character in the show, usually wears midriff-covering shirts, but when she poses as a Dirty Cop to get close to Tony Dracon, she puts on a midriff- and cleavage-exposing tube top.
  • After the villainous siblings Jackal and Hyena both get cyborg upgrades, they end up with rather similar appearance and abilities, but the female Hyena's midriff is exposed whereas the male Jackal's isn't.
  • Titania, Queen of the Third Race wears an extremely revealing outfit in her true form that exposes pretty much everything below her breasts and above her crotch. By contrast, her husband Oberon's outfit covers everything neck down.
  • The Hunters in "Hunter's Moon" wear very similar outfits, but Robyn's exposes her midriff (as well as her long hair) whereas her two male companions and brothers wear full shirts.
• The Jetsons: Judy Jetson, a stereotypical teenage Girly Girl who enjoys shopping, boys, and fashions, usually wears an outfit that exposes her midriff.
• Johnny Bravo: In the episode "Witch-Ay Woman", a witch transforms Johnny into a woman to teach him a lesson. After trying on various outfits, he decides on wearing his usual black shirt-blue jeans-sunglasses combo, except his black shirt is now a crop top. At the end of the episode, he fails to notice he's transformed back into a man and continues wearing the crop top, which covers even less of his now enormous upper body.
• Johnny Test: The opening sequence depicts Johnny going through several transformations from his scientist sisters' experiments. One of them turns Johnny into a girl, with an Impossible Hourglass Figure and growing taller such that his shirt ends above his midriff.
• Kassai and Luk: The eponymous Kassai and Luk (an African human boy and a male anthropomorphic rabbit) both wear tunics that fully cover their upper bodies. Their female friend Princess Marana, meawhile, wears a midriff-baring tube top in her human form (though she doesn't wear clothes in her gazelle form).
• Kim Possible: Kim and Ron's agent outfits look very similar: black shirt, baggy pants with utility belt, gloves, and military boots. The main difference is that Kim's shirt bares her midriff whereas Ron's covers it. In early seasons, Kim's civilian clothes and cheerleader outfits also bare her midriff. When not kicking villain butt, Kim shows a bunch of typical teenage girl interests like fashion and dating, and is a member of the high school cheerleading squad.
• In Maya and the Three several female characters wear midriff-baring outfits, including Maya, Acat, Cipactli and Chimi, while male characters are shirtless or wear full-covering clothes.
• Every female character on Mike, Lu & Og wears a midriff-baring outfit, while all males (with the exception of the pirates) are shirtless.
• Mummies Alive!: Nefertina is the only female among the main characters and her bandages are cropped to show her midriff. Chantra is the main female villain and she also bares her midsection.
• My Dad the Rock Star: Zigzagged. The three most prominent female characters, Willy's mom Crystal, sister Serenity and best friend / eventual girlfriend Alyssa all have bare midriffs, but so does Willy's eponymous dad Rock Zilla and their old male friend and driver Skunk. In the case of the latter two, the midriff is not an indicator of their femininity but of their rebellious rocker personality.
• My Gym Partner's a Monkey: Kerry is the most prominent female human character in the show and she wears crop tops, even to school.
• My Life as a Teenage Robot: Being a girly robot, Jenny's design is meant to give this impression, with blue plates at her chest and waist mimicking a crop top and a miniskirt. A screw in the center mimics a belly button. This is combined with other notable features, such as Girlish Pigtails. Despite this, in an episode when she's turned humans, she switches to a midriff-covering minidress.
• The Life and Times of Juniper Lee: Juniper Lee is a girly girl and she proudly wears a belly-shirt, in contrast to the male characters who do not.
• Eva "Molly" Wei from Ōban Star-Racers is the only female on the team and her racer's outfit exposes her midsection. The male member wear normal clothes (or is shirtless in Rick Thunderbolt's case).
• Onyx Equinox: Mictecacihuatl is the only goddess with a prominent role in the show, and she wears a midriff-baring outfit in her default form.
• Scooby-Doo: Daphne is The Fashionista of Mystery Inc. and in many incarnations (mainly beginning in the 2000s onward) is shown wearing some type of midriff-baring outfit whereas Velma, who's the brains of the group, normally isn't. It's more noticeable in direct-to-video movies such as Aloha, Scooby-Doo!^note (which even has Daphne winning a fashion design contest as part of the plot) where Daphne goes the whole film wearing a midriff-baring outfit or a bikini compared to Velma opting for a less-revealing but location-appropriate shirt.
• Sea Princesses: Just about every single princess wears midriff-baring crop tops, matching both their girliness and their aquatic theme. By comparison, the princes are either shirtless (like Marcello, Maurico and Sirilo) or wear a full shirt (like Hugo).
• Isabela from Seis Manos is the female of the main trio and her shirt shows her navel.
• Shaolin Wuzang: Hua's outfit bares her stomach, even in her winter clothes, and she's the female of the lead trio.
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: Although Bow is the only male member of the Power Trio, he is very much In Touch with His Feminine Side and serves as The Heart of the team in contrast to the tough warrior Adora and the headstrong and occasionally arrogant sorceress Glimmer. All of his outfits bare his midriff; he even rips off his cummerbund when dressing for a ball, though he decides to put it back on after feeling how cold it is there. Even his space suit has a small belly window.
• Spider-Man: The New Animated Series: Mary Jane Watson wears a cropped sweater that fully displays her midriff and she's the most prominent female character in the series. Cheyenne/Talon also wears midriff-baring outfits and she's a Classy Cat-Burglar who even blows kisses at Spider-Man to taunt him.
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Sandy Cheeks is clad in a purple bikini when not wearing her diving suit. Notably, the main character model sheet◊ features Sandy in both her bikini and her diving suit (all of the other characters only have one outfit on the sheet). By contrast, the male characters include the fully dressed SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs, the shirtless Patrick, the pantsless Squidward and the completely naked Plankton. Many of the female background characters also walk around in bikinis, unsurprisingly for a place named Bikini Bottom.
• Steven Universe: Gems usually wear outfits that expose their magical gemstones, the location of which is often an indication of their personality traits. Gemstones on the navel, which go hand-in-hand with midriff-baring outfits, seem to indicate stereotypically feminine traits like gentleness, compassion, and naivety.
  • The eponymous Steven is The Heart of the Crystal Gems, a young, emotional half-human, half-alien boy In Touch with His Feminine Side in a team of Action Girl aliens. He often ends up in midriff-exposing outfits that show off the magical gem that is embedded in his belly button.
  • Rose Quartz, the former leader of the Crystal Gems, wore an outfit with a star-shaped belly window around the gem in her belly button, to emphasize her gentle, nurturing, motherly nature.
  • Out of the antagonistic gems introduced in the second half of the first season, the dainty, feminine-looking Lapis Lazuli wears a midriff-baring halter top, whereas the buff, aggressive Jasper and the small, brainy Peridot wear uniforms that cover their midriff.
  • The Ruby Squad are five nearly identical-looking Ruby soldiers who can be most easily told apart by the location of their gems. One of them, nicknamed "Navy" by Steven, has her gem on her navel, and her uniform is customized in a way to show it. She appears to have the sweetest, most naive personality out of the five, though she's actually a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing.
  • Pink Diamond was the youngest and girliest member of the Great Diamond Authority, wearing a poofy outfit exposing the gem on her navel.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003): April O'Neil is the Turtles' primary female ally and she's primarily shown wearing a purple crop top.
• Teen Titans:
  • Starfire wears a midriff-baring outfit and is generally gentler and more cheerful than the brooding goth girl Raven or the three boys on the team. When Terra joins the team, she also starts wearing a black crop top.
  • In the Titans East team, their leader and only female member Bumblebee wears a yellow-and-black striped, midriff-baring top, whereas the male members all cover their midriffs.
• ThunderCats (2011): The female ThunderCats Cheetara and Wilykit wear crop tops, whereas the male Lion-O, Tygra, and Wilykat wear longer shirts and Panthro forgoes shirts completely. Interestingly, this was inverted in the original series where the manly and incredibly buff leader Lion-O was the only one in midriff-baring clothes.
• Total Drama:
  • Most of the female characters wear crop tops or at least tops that reveal part of their stomach without necessarily exposing their navel (in the case of Lindsay, Gwen, and Bridget). This often extends to their sleepwear and swimsuits as well. The girls that wear more modest clothing tend to be either those that aren't supposed to be appealing to the boys (Beth, Staci), or are athletic (Eva, Jo, Sky, Priya), although there are other exceptions as well. In contrast, all the boys in the first three generations either don't expose their top at all or expose it completely (Geoff). So far, the only boy to ever expose his midriff is Bowie from the fourth generation.
  • All the interns in Revenge of the Island wear red shirts that look like Chris'. Even the girls wear these, despite its large size. The first female intern looks rather manly and keeps her shirt unkempt. Dakota temporarily becomes an intern, and since she is very feminine and fashionable, she ties the shirt into a knot, exposing her midriff.
• Totally Spies!: All three main characters regularly wear midriff-baring outfits, and they are all teenage girls with girly interests.
• In The Venture Brothers, Shoreleave is one of the Office of Secret Intelligence's top agents. A Camp Gay Agent Peacock, he's one of the only agents trusted to partner with Brock Samson and is seen typically wearing an unbuttoned O.S.I. uniform shirt that is tied around his stomach, leaving his midriff exposed. His S.P.H.I.N.X. uniform instead had a Navel-Deep Neckline.
• Wander over Yonder: Lord Dominator's original, masculine-looking Tin Tyrant outfit covers everything. When she's revealed to be a woman, she changes to a midriff-baring crop top that accentuates her figure.
• Debbie Thornberry from The Wild Thornberrys has as default outfit a crop-top that shows her midriff, which contrasts her more tomboyish sister Eliza. Their mother Marianne also has a midriff-baring outfit, although her navel isn't illustrated as consistently. The male Thornberrys wear covering clothes, or in Donnie's case, walk shirtless.
• Winx Club: The Winx girls are all teenage Girly Girls who tend to wear midriff-baring outfits both in their civilian and their fairy form. In the original run, the only girl whose fairy outfit did not show her midriff was the tech-savvy Tecna. As the series goes on, they end up wearing outfits that provide coverage for their midriffs.
• The titular W.I.T.C.H. (2004) are a team of teenage girls who all wear outfits that show some skin around the belly area in their Guardian forms. In their New Power forms, only Taranee and Hay Lin do.

Real Life

• Belly Dancing outfits typically bare the dancer's midriff to draw attention to their hips as they perform dance moves that emphasize their femininity. Notably, these outfits are a Western creation and a result of orientalism - mostly dating back to the appearance of the exotic dancer Little Egypt at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair - as authentic traditional Middle Eastern dancing outfits cover the midriff.
• Female athletes at the Olympic games and similar other sports events often wear only sports bras on their upper body, whereas male athletes typically wear T-shirts or sleeveless, but midriff-covering tank tops. There were attempts to introduce crop tops as athletic gear for men in the '80s, showing off their muscular abs, but these fell out of fashion by the '90s when this trope swung into full gear.
• When performing traditional Polynesian dances, male dancers are typically bare-chested whereas female dancers tend to combine a skirt with a midriff-baring top, typically a strip of cloth wrapped around the chest, but sometimes a modern bikini top or a coconut bra.
• In India, many traditional female outfits include a midriff-baring choli top worn under the sari (the long fabric that is worn over the shoulder). The midriff is partly bared for practical reasons, i.e. to keep cool in the hot tropical climate, and partly for spiritual reasons: exposing the midriff and the navel emphasizes a woman's role as the progenitor of life.
• In 2016, the newly drafted running back to the Dallas Cowboys, Ezekiel Elliot, wore a cropped button down under his white suit jacket on the NFL Draft red carpet. Elliot was known in the NCAA as "the hero in a half-shirt" for habitually folding his jerseys up and wearing cropped shirts to practice because he didn't like the loose fit of jerseys. Many people who were just encountering Elliot for the first time however reacted to the fashion choice with homophobia, critizing Elliot as unmanly and speculating that he was a closeted gay man. This is despite the fact that male athletes wearing crop tops was quite common up until the 90s in the US.

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