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Effeminate Misogynistic Guy

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Conforming neither to tradition nor to modern taboos against overt misogyny, this guy's odd combination of feminine style and contempt for women puts him into an especially unusual position. Maybe some of his feminine traits might happen to have been a disadvantage to dating. Maybe he's just jealous that women wouldn't be considered as strange for similar mannerisms or lifestyles to his, perhaps wishing he were female instead as a result. Maybe he's insecure about his own lack of manliness, and seeing the traits he doesn't like in himself embodied in women brings out his inner resentment. Whatever the reason, he hates women while simultaneously acting in ways that are stereotypically associated with them.

Such characters will generally be villains (or at least generally more often than tomboyish girls who happen to have contempt for males, perhaps partly because women diverging from gender norms is relatively more embraced), and represent an intersection of Politically Incorrect Villain and Sissy Villain. However, some portrayals may nevertheless be more sympathetic, and make him an intersection of Noble Bigot and Real Men Wear Pink.

Can also be a deconstruction of Gay Best Friend, especially if that's a role he never asked for — maybe all those "hilariously catty" putdowns he's slinging around are more pointed than you thought they were. And does he maybe seem a bit overenthusiastic to make use of his honorary B-Word Privileges, or to detail exactly what he finds unappealing about women?

A Sister Trope of He-Man Woman Hater. Compare/contrast with Female Misogynist (as a subset of Boomerang Bigot), who have a similar issue, but the contradiction is more immediately obvious in that case, as opposed to an effeminate misogynistic guy who could instead have stereotypes about women that aren't the same as the gender stereotypes of the setting in which he's presented.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 
  • Deak Slathky from Black Cat is a woman-hating Serial Killer. He's also one of the most Bishōnen characters in the cast, to the point of Viewer Gender Confusion.
  • The Villain Protagonist Serial Killer Light Yagami of Death Note repeatedly expresses his opinions on the uselessness of women, particularly his girlfriend Misa, who continues to ignore his rebuffing of her affections and the fact that he's using her to get away with murder. However, Light himself possesses a weirdly effeminate demeanor, with a special mention to the lovely pink butterfly belt he wears in the first opening sequence.
  • Yuda from Fist of the North Star could count as a valid example: He's extremely effeminate and treats his harem as dolls.
  • Akito from Fruits Basket comes across this way until it is revealed that Akito is actually a woman; her misogyny comes partly from her terrible relationship with her mother, who forced her into crossdressing merely because she was deathly jealous of Akito's father adoration for their daughter, and partly from her utter bitterness at not being allowed to live as her birth gender. After the very girlish Tohru helps her have a Heel–Face Turn, Akito acknowledges how screwed up this was (and the consequences), and by the end, she both wears more feminine clothes and is coming to terms with herself.
  • Clair Leonelli from Heat Guy J is a more subtle example of this trope. He's a small, slender, physically-unimposing Bishōnen who also is in charge of the only organization in the series to contain absolutely no women, and he once disparages Daisuke for having to be saved by a woman on one occasion. note  In the manga, he seems to ignore his girlfriend(?) a lot, except when he needs her expertise with robotics. On a more metatextual level, there's also the fact that his birthday coincides with Hinamatsuri, a festival associated with women and girls; but at the same time his own mother died giving birth to him.
  • Jakotsu from Inuyasha dresses like a woman, has a female voice actor on both sides of the Pacific, is Camp Gay, and is contemptuous of his female opponents.
  • Jōjū Senjin!! Mushibugyō: downplayed by Nagatomimaru/Tokugawa Ieshige: while he's not a villain, he's a Bishōnen with a fixation for the main hero Jinbee and an utter, irrational disgust for women, especially Oharu, Jinbee's endowed love interest. He's not very manly himself and tend to dress in a very effeminate way (usually hiding his face behind a feminine Noh mask). The downplay comes from the fact that his hatred for women is played for laughs and shallow, as he's seen getting along with Hibachi and the Insect Magistrate.
  • The Lupin III franchise features several, usually cast as villains:
  • Yurimaru from Ninja Scroll seems pretty contemptuous of women. He is gay, but also very effeminate.
  • Samurai Deeper Kyo: Bikara, one of the 12 Heavenly Generals, has an extremely effemminate behavious, is openly gay (manga only at least) and is extremely spiteful of women, badmouthing Yuuya at the drop of a hat and even trying to kill her unprovoked. In spite of his effemminate behaviour though, Bikara is also a massive, muscular brute of a man.

    Comic Books 
  • Most gay characters in From Hell. The book makes mention of the gay fraternity group known as "The Apostles" who occasionally show up in Jack the Ripper conspiracy theory lore, who were well known for their outspoken hatred of women (more than most people in the 1800s, even!). This plays into (and in the Apostles' case may have been an inspiration for) the British stereotype of homosexual men in general, especially in older works, that portrays them being very catty and mean to women, rather than the supportive "sassy gay friend" archetype more often seen in North American works.

    Fan Works 

    Films — Animation 
  • Fire and Ice (1983): Nekron, the Big Bad. When his mother kidnaps Princess Teegra (who is quite the Ms. Fanservice herself) to serve as his concubine, he is disgusted by the idea of mating with her, referring to Teegra as a "little slut" and throwing her in a dungeon. He does say that she is attractive for "a lesser beast" and he might take her after all, but this was said to goad her brother into attacking him. In fact, he shows more interest in the male hero than her.
  • Heavy Metal: King Ard is a very effeminate man who hates women and considers them inferior to men.
  • Mulan: Chi Fu is a mild example; he is a Non-Action Guy known for his Girly Scream, yet when told that Mulan is a hero he simply says "She's a woman, she'll never be worth anything."
  • We Are the Strange: HIM is a pink guy who looks like he's wearing lipstick while smacking around a woman at his strip club and stating that women are "mere tools" of pleasure for him.

    Films — Live-Action 

    Literature 
  • Kay Brightmore from Doctrine of Labyrinths is a weepy gay soldier who clearly views women as naturally subordinate to men (as evidenced by his decision to arrange his unwilling sister's marriage) and repeatedly chides himself for "womanish" behavior.
    • Notably averted by most of the gay and/or effeminate male characters in the story, such as Felix, Shannon, and Vincent, all of whom seem to value their female friends and colleagues and regard them as equals. It's pretty clear that Kay's misogyny is the product of his specific upbringing and cultural influences.
  • The Countess in book/movie Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.
  • George aka "Georgette" in Last Exit to Brooklyn - he's a drag queen who constantly makes contemptuous remarks towards women, particularly those competing for the attention of the thug he's infatuated with.
  • Judge Dee: "The Coffins of the Emperor": Captain Pan accuses a fellow soldier of murdering Pan's wife after she refused his advances. It very quickly becomes obvious Pan is gay and a Non-Action Guy who loathes women, and that Pan murdered his wife after Woo rejected him.
    'The murderer was a fellow-officer of mine, sir. One of those disgusting woman-chasers: you could never have a decent, clean conversation with him. Always talking about women, women, always letting himself be caught in their filthy little games...' The young man spat out those last words.
  • Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs; see Film above.
  • Lestat of The Vampire Chronicles. Although he loves fancy clothes and fine surroundings, displays languid body language, and describes himself as a "mother" in making Claudia, he's "astonished" that a woman could have thoughts like Gabrielle's, underestimates Claudia's intellect and will, rapes a woman who tries to help him, describes women in general as "terrifying," and agrees with Memnoch that angels, despite being technically sexless, are "more male than female."
  • Mr. Jones, the ringleader of a trio of bandits in Joseph Conrad's novel Victory can't stand being in the presence of women and expresses revulsion at their very mention. He's also described as an effete dandy with soft, feminine facial features and hands. As a murderer and robber, Jones also qualifies as a Sissy Villain.

    Live-Action TV 
  • The "hermaphrodite" Alpha Centauri in Doctor Who has a prissy, feminine personality and is voiced by a woman. Yet, in "The Monster of Peladon", he's very sexist towards Sarah Jane and the Queen (a trait he didn't display in his first appearance).
  • Tom in Gimme, Gimme, Gimme often expresses misogynistic opinions. Then again, he does share a flat with Linda.
  • In Living Color!: Blaine Edwards and Antoine Merriweather, the critics of the "Men on..." series of sketches, will dismiss anything and everything that has to do with women (even tangentially) with a unison response of "hated it!"
  • Stargate SG-1: The System Lord Ba'al, who used to be an Evil Overlord, is a prime example of The Dandy, with his delicate features, often dressing himself in flowery robes or leather suits and concerned quite a bit with his own appearance. He also makes a bunch of misogynistic comments at Colonel Carter when he and SG-1 have been forced into an Enemy Mine, who punches him in the face in response.
  • Lionel Trane (a gay, activist teen) from United States of Tara was so misogynistic that he made other, more mature and secure gay characters uncomfortable.
  • Jack from Will & Grace DID occasionally have elements of this, but it varied from episode to episode due to Rule of Funny.

    Music 

    Pro Wrestling 
  • Shooter Storm, whom New Jack claims is this way because Storm's mother only gave birth to half of him. Shooter Storm has an affinity for bright colors, an aversion to bruising, and is out to destroy women's wrestling, one division at a time, demonstrated when he defeated Jillian Hall for the PWX Women's Championship belt and renamed it the United States title.

    Video Games 
  • Cyberpunk 2077 has Fingers, a shady ripperdoc who services the city's many prostitutes. He is rather lanky and is clad from top to bottom in body-exposing fishnets and hot pants. His fingers are long and painted and many of his accessories are pink. One would think that he would be in good standing with the Moxes due to his work with sex workers and his gender non-conforming ways, something many players got the impression to be the case in the initial trailers. But no. Interactions with him reveal that he is a relentless creep who sexually takes advantage of the prostitutes under his care and often treats them as disposable. And though he doesn't outright expresses hatred of women, his comments are often tinged with misogyny and it is all-but-stated he regularly rapes some of his "patients". That is to say nothing of the fate he inflicted on Evelyn Parker. In short, he is the exact sort of person the Moxes would love to dump in a shallow grave.
  • Persona 4 presents Kanji's Shadow this way, a guy initially clad only in a fundoshi (who later transforms into a muscle-bound titan with a head of roses wielding Mars symbols as weapons) who speaks with an obvious "gay accent." He tells Kanji that he hates girls because they always gossip and taunt him about his feminine interests, and then says he finds comfort in men. As the Shadow is supposed to be everything the individual hates about themselves, Kanji does not take this monologue kindly.
  • Street Fighter II has Vega, a narcissistic effeminate matador who seemingly regards women with contempt and disdain. He wears purple eyeliner, nail polish, and what appears to be lip gloss. In the dubs, he tends to speak in a soft somewhat feminine tone. For years, gamers thought Vega gay, until Capcom clarified the matter by stating that Vega wasn't gay, but a narcissist. They even had him take an interest in Cammy's beauty, during the SF: Alpha series (so to speak), as a way of showing it.
    • In Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, he became jealous when Bison appeared to take an interest in Chun Li's "talents". And, when tasked with eliminating her, Vega's method was sadistic; delighting in Chun Li's suffering until she fought back and stepped on his face.
    • Similarly, in the comics Vega gets pissed when Ken's fiancée Eliza, normally a Nice Girl, gets upset at him and gives him a hard slap to the face. If not for Ken being there, the poor girl would've been torn to shreds.
    • By Street Fighter IV Vega seems to have settled for being less bloodthirsty towards women, in favor of passive-aggressive condescension. A good example is his rival intro with Chun-Li, whom he considers his equal in both skills and looks.

    Web Videos 
  • Omega Zell from Noob slips into this by being both Ambiguously Gay and a misogynist.
  • Played with by The Nostalgia Critic. Vain, subby, and girly, he's a feminist who nevertheless likes to occasionally poke female tempers so he can get dommed or at least slapped around.

    Western Animation 
  • Herbert, the elderly pedophile who lusts after Chris and other boys from Family Guy, has a very effeminate voice and mannerisms. When he learns that Chris is having trouble getting a girl to like him, he replies "Ah, women, who needs em?" in an angry tone. On another occasion when he is asked to babysit the Griffins, Meg tells him she's too old for a babysitter; he replies "Well, you're a 17-year-old girl, I don't need you, either!" Later, he is disappointed when Meg gives him a sponge bath instead of Chris.
  • In South Park, the gay (later transgender, and then back again) teacher Mr. Garrison thinks this of women:
    "Never trust anything that bleeds for a week straight and doesn't die."

Alternative Title(s): Effeminate Misogynist

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