History Main / UnwillinglyGirlyTomboy

[[AC:''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'']]

[[AC:''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'']]

[[AC:''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'']]

* Downplayed early in the Literature/{{Temeraire}} series. While Jane Roland [[TheSquadette (Senior Captain,]] [[DragonRider Aerial Corps)]] is willing enough to don the clothes expected of early 19th century women when she is obliged to leave the aviators' precincts; her stride, battle-scarred face, and [[TheLadette general mannerisms]] make her seem distinctly 'off' to most observers and attracts many odd stares. When she gets promoted and ennobled to the point where she can wear her uniform in public, she admits she does not mind 'society' nearly as much.

* Maddie, the tomboy in the eponymous TomboyAndGirlyGirl pair of ''Series/LivAndMaddie'', has to wear a dress in the final scene of one episode, as she is on her way to attend a formal dance. She finds the accompanying high heels too difficult to manage, so she at least gets to compromise by wearing her sneakers. Liv attempts to challenge her on this, but she answers "I'm wearing a dress. Don't push it."

** During the school trip, Chie and Yukiko are talked by Yosuke into wearing very revealing bathing suits, something which particularly contradicts Chie's usual tomboyish behavior. After the trip, Chie changes back into her normal clothes and never wears the bathing suit again [[spoiler:unless you (again) play ''Persona 4 Golden''.]]

-->"Does that mean I can change out of these stupid things and into my hood now? ...stupid lady stilts!"

** In the episode "Control Freaks," Sam's parents want her to act more like a proper young lady and give her a pink dress to wear, which Sam spray-paints black and cuts in half. To make sure Sam does become a proper young lady they put a restriction order on Danny since they consider him a bad influence, especially since Freak Show placed him under his control. At the very end, Danny, Sam, and Tucker are seen being forced to study in the library, where Sam's grandmother says that Sam is enduring a cruel and unusual punishment. Sam states that her wearing the pink dress was the only way her parents would lift the restriction order on Danny.

--->'''Sam''': But how do I get through the thick head of a fourteen-year-old boy? ({{Beat}}) Oh ''no''. ''(cut to the next day at lunch with Sam wearing pink and a skirt and makeup as she walks up to Danny and Tucker.)'' May I join you?\\

* In ''Series/CobraKai'', TheLadette Tory has to get a job to help her family pay the rent. There's a dressing-room scene that looks like she's working in a strip club, [[BaitAndSwitch but then it's revealed]] that she's actually dressing up as a mermaid for a kiddie birthday party. When Sam finds out, she incessantly mocks Tory for it (which is acknowledged as incredibly mean-spirited) and ultimately ends up getting her fired.

* In ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', Diana has to disguise herself as an ordinary Englishwoman, for which she chooses a very plain outfit. Later on, she wants to smuggle herself into a fancy party, so steals another woman's fancy, girly dress. Diana's original outfit is not modeled on male fashion, but is, ''allegedly'', practical rather than intended to please the male gaze, so this trope still applies.

** In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', when the Gaang tries to meet the Earth King, the girls dress up as Ba Sing Se nobility to get into a high-class party. [[GirlyBruiser Katara]] enjoys the makeover, Toph...not so much, especially when they try to scrub her feet. Interestingly, it's tomboyish ''Toph'' who's trained in high-society manners, and she teaches Katara how to behave.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': The titular character knows she has an important role to the world as Avatar, is the tomboy, and can't even properly put on makeup, which is PlayedForLaughs at the beginning. Korra occasionally gets made up and looks pretty nice like that, but is awkward when it happens even with her GirlyBruiser best friend Asami's help.

* There is a running joke in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' where Rarity tries to girly up the athletic Rainbow Dash and farm pony Applejack. They are typically not amused.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'': Mother Mae Eye forces Raven to wear a yellow Shirley Temple-styled dress with a large white bow in the back and her hair tied into GirlishPigtails tied with matching yellow bows. Because Raven is being mind-controlled, she raises no complaints and even ''giggles'' when Mae Eye puts her in it and proceeds to pinch her cheek while telling her she can still dress pretty. After the spell is broken however, Raven is ''furious'' to find herself in a little girl's dress with her hair done up so girly, and uses her powers to change back to her usual looks.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' while Sadie isn't a tomboy in the strictest sense, she commonly prefers slacks. When her overbearing mother tried to take over Sadie's participation in a talent show, this included making her dress in a very feminine and somewhat revealing outfit and heavily made up. When she finally had enough, the first thing she does is to dunk her head into a rain barrel until all the makeup washes off.
* This happens a couple of times on ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' to Spinelli, the first of which was done as blackmail by the Ashleys when it was learned that [[EmbarrassingFirstName Spinelli's first name was Ashley]] as well, the other in which Spinelli is entered in a beauty pageant as a bet to win out over any of the Ashleys.

* Deedlit from ''Roleplay/RecordOfLodossWar'' faces a dilemma when Parn and Co. attend a ball in honor of [[WarriorPrince King Kashoe]]. She's not overly tomboyish compared to other examples... but as an Elf ActionSurvivor, she's used to cute but simple clothing and having her hair loose. So when she has to wear a PimpedOutDress and pull her hair up, she looks beautiful but feels very uncomfortable.
-->"Ah, this dress is so tight! I don't know how you ladies manage it..."

* ''Fanfic/ADragonsRoar'': Lyanna is this. She expresses annoyance with having to dress like a ProperLady and her attempts at etiquette, such as curtsies, are described as stiff in Eddard's POV.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3223345/1/Soul-Shredder Soul Shredder]]'' is a ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' fic in which characters are exposed to the titular sword and [[WhatDoTheyFearEpisode forced to experience their worst nightmares]]. The first chapter is about Sam, who among other things finds herself forced into wearing a frilly pink floral-pattern dress that she utterly despises.

* In Creator/RobinMcKinley's "Sleeping Beauty" retelling ''Spindle's End'', peasant-raised princess Rosie is an utter tomboy who always wears trousers, keeps her hair short, and only wears a dress with great reluctance for her foster-cousin Katriona's wedding. When she learns she's a princess, she's distraught not only because her whole life as she's known it is a lie, but because a future of wearing nothing but elegant dresses and having to be a proper royal lady horrifies her. This is part of the reason why [[spoiler:she chooses to stay a peasant in the end, while her GirlyGirl friend Peony assumes her identity as the princess.]]

At the end of the episode, or scene, or comic, that it happens in, she casts off the clothes, tired of the charade, and reverts to her original personality. This is supposed to come with a feminist message of how women shouldn't have to be confined to typical roles, but if done poorly, it tends to come up as [[RealWomenDontWearDresses demonizing and demeaning feminine women]] instead.

Different from SheCleansUpNicely, which involves the Tomboy willing to look more feminine for special occasions. In that trope and other ones like it (GirlinessUpgrade or FemininityFailure for example), she is sincerely attempting to become more feminine. In this trope, it's basically foisted on her, for better or for worse. May overlap with ForcedIntoTheirSundayBest, since dresses are typically considered standard formal wear for women and girls. Compare DraggedIntoDrag, for when male characters are unwillingly forced into feminine clothing. Contrast TomboyWithAGirlyStreak, whose "girly streak" maybe being comfortable with dresses. The opposite is TomboyAngst, an insecure tomboy who secretly wants to be feminine like the other girls, and EmbarrassinglyDresslikeOutfit, for when a ''male'' character finds an outfit too similar to a dress.

* In ''Anime/PowerpuffGirlsZ'', Kaoru (a.k.a. Buttercup) is much more tomboyish than her western counterpart, so much that she normally dresses in boy's clothing. But when it's time for work, she (like her 2 best friends) takes on a girly, sporty dress as a part of their MagicalGirl gimmick, and she isn't very happy about it.

* A downplayed example: the female main character of ''Tenkosaki'', school idol Haruki Nikaido, keeps the air of a refined young woman whom her classmates admire for being the prettiest and smartest girl in class, which hides the fact that she's a massive tomboy. This comes as a shock to her childhood best friend Hayato Kirishima, who actually thought she was a boy when they were kids and is surprised at how different she looks as a teenager. He primarily acts as her SecretKeeper; she keeps up the girly front as her public persona, while she's free to act a lot more brash and casual around him by themselves.

* Merida from ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' is forced into uptight corsets by her mother when she's about to be married off. She rebels against it at first by pulling out one curl, and later on breaks through her corset in order to win the archery tournament.
* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak variation in ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'': Mulan ''is'' comfortable enough in hanfus, but she gets nervous and totally screws up when she has to dress up as a potential bride for her meeting with the matchmaker, and in song describes her dolled-up reflection as "someone I don't know." While in her frilly hanfu, she moves a chess piece on a game two men are playing so that one of them loses.

* In ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', Diana has to disguise as ordinary Englishwoman, for which she chooses a very plain outfit. Later on, she wants to smuggle herself into a fancy party, so steals another woman's fancy, girly dress. Diana's original outfit is not modeled on male fashion, but is, ''allegedly'', practical rather than intended to please the male gaze, so this trope still applies.

* Happens to Lyra when she has to, in ''Literature/TheGoldenCompass'', be dressed up by Mrs. Lonsdale for meeting her uncle, Mrs. Coulter or Dame Hannah Relf.

** Brienne of Tarth is forced to wear a pink dress at one point of the story. (And due to her being [[BrawnHilda tall and muscular]], it doesn't even look good on her at all.)

-->'''Sam''': Daniel, find me an anthropologist that dresses like this and I will eat this headdress.
* In one episode of ''Series/SweetVicious'', Jules and Ophelia set out to infiltrate and take down a sorority that [[InitiationCeremony hazes its female pledges]] in a sexually degrading manner, [[spoiler:films it, and makes money selling it as fetish porn]]. Since Jules is already a member of a different sorority, while Ophelia's mother is an alumnus with this one (meaning that she can easily get in as a legacy), this means that the green-haired punk chick Ophelia has to turn herself into the preppy sorority sister "Fifi". Jules is quite amused, while Ophelia's mother is downright ecstatic that she's following in her footsteps. Ophelia very much isn't.

[[folder: Mythology & Religion]]
* This is Achilles' cover while DisguisedInDrag in ''Literature/TheAchilleid''. According to Thetis, Achilles is her daughter and needs to be taught to be marriageable instead of hunting like an Amazon. By selling the demigod as a tomboy, Thetis deftly convinces Lycomedes to rationalize Achilles' obvious masculinity and to keep him away from the soldiers and armories Thetis knows will drive him to join the Trojan War. It doesn't work, of course: one version has Odysseus bring gifts for Lycomedes' daughters, a spear and shield among them. Then Odysseus arranges for an alarm to be sounded, and single out the "girl" who immediately ran for the weapons.

** During the school trip, Chie and Yukiko are talked by Yosuke into wearing very revealing bathing suits, something which particularly contradicts with Chie's usual tomboyish behavior. After the trip, Chie changes back into her normal clothes and never wears the bathing suit again [[spoiler:unless you (again) play ''Persona 4 Golden''.]]

** In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', when the Gaang tries to meet the Earth King, the girls dress up as Ba Sing Se nobility to get into a high-class party. [[GirlyBruiser Katara]] enjoys the makeover, Toph... not so much, especially when they try to scrub her feet. Interestingly, it's tomboyish ''Toph'' who's trained in high-society manners, and she who teaches Katara how to behave.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': The titular character knows she has an important role to the world as Avatar, is the tomboy and can't even properly put on makeup, which is PlayedForLaughs at the beginning. Korra occasionally gets made up and looks pretty nice like that, but is awkward when it happens even with her GirlyBruiser best friend Asami's help.

** In the episode "Control Freaks," Sam's parents want Same to act more a like a proper young lady and give her a pink dress to wear, which Sam cuts on half and paints it black. To make sure Sam does become a proper young lady they put a restriction order on Danny since they consider him a bad influence, especially since Freak Show placed him under his control. At the very end, Danny, Sam, and Tucker are seen being forced to study in the library, where Sam's grandmother says that Sam is enduring a cruel and unusual punishment. Sam states that her wearing the pink dress was the only way her parents would lift the restriction order on Danny.

--->'''Sam''': But how do I get through the thick head of a fourteen-year-old boy? ({{Beat}}) Oh ''no. (Cut to the next day at lunch with Sam wearing pink and a skirt and makeup as she walks up to Danny and Tucker.)'' May I join you?\\
'''Danny''': ''(Literally shoves Tucker out of his chair so she can sit.)''\\

** Happens in "Toads and Tiaras" to Lana when her more feminine twin, Lola, gets injured and cannot appear at an upcoming beauty pageant, so her coach Lincoln, who wants to win the two season passes to Dairyland that are the prize, bribes Lana to dress up in a {{pink|MeansFeminine}} dress and give up her mannish habits to fill in for her sister. She actually proves quite adept at the task, admits it was surprisingly fun, and wins the pageant, though for the talent section Lincoln finally relents and lets her BeYourself.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'': Mother Mae Eye forces Raven to wear a yellow Shirley Temple styled dress with a large white bow in the back and her hair tied into GirlishPigtails tied with matching yellow bows. Because Raven is being mind controlled, she raises no complaints and even ''giggles'' when Mae Eye puts her in it and proceeds to pinch her cheek while telling her she can still dress pretty. After the spell is broken however, Raven is ''furious'' to find herself in a little girl's dress with her hair done up so girly, and uses her powers to change back to her usual looks.

* Maddie, the tomboy in the eponymous TomboyAndGirlyGirl pair of ''Series/LivAndMaddie'', has to wear a dress in the final scene of one episode, as she is on her way to attend a formal dance. Though she does find the accompanying high heels to difficult to manage, so she at least gets to compromise by wearing her sneakers. Liv attempts to challenge her on this, but she answers "I'm wearing a dress. Don't push it."

[[folder:Mythology & Religion]]

The lines between {{Tomboy}} and GirlyGirl can be very blurred at times. Sometimes the tough, spirited {{Ladette}} (who usually HatesWearingDresses) has to don girly clothing or participate in traditionally feminine activities like [[TextileWorkIsFeminine needlework]] - for whatever reason.

* In ''Series/CobraKai'', the {{Ladette}} Tory has to get a job to help her family pay the rent. There's a dressing-room scene that looks like she's working in a strip club, [[BaitAndSwitch but then it's revealed]] that she's actually dressing up as a mermaid for a kiddie birthday party. When Sam finds out, she incessantly mocks Tory for it (which is acknowledged as incredibly mean-spirited) and ultimately ends up getting her fired.

-->-- '''Heather''', ''Series/JustBeyond'', ''Leave Them Kids Alone''

Different from SheCleansUpNicely, which involves the Tomboy willing to look more feminine for special occasions. In that trope and other ones like it (GirlinessUpgrade or FemininityFailure for example), she is sincerely attempting to become more feminine. In this trope, it's basically foisted on her, for better or for worse. Compare DraggedIntoDrag, for when male characters are unwillingly forced into feminine clothing. Contrast TomboyWithAGirlyStreak, whose "girly streak" maybe being comfortable with dresses. The opposite is TomboyAngst, an insecure tomboy who secretly wants to be feminine like the other girls, and EmbarrassinglyDresslikeOutfit, for when a ''male'' character finds an outfit too similar to a dress.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', Sam enters a BeautyContest to try and prove how sexist it is. It's actually a charade for a medieval King Ghost from another dimension to pick a human bride, and when Sam accidentally wins, she is dressed up like a princess for the King by his lady servant. She even busts through her glass slippers.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/GazsHorribleHalloweenOfDoom'': Gaz pre-orders a witch costume for Halloween, but the costume shop mysteriously loses it, and the only costume they have that's her size is a frilly pink fairy princess costume. She finds it humiliating to wear, but she can't stand the thought of staying home on Halloween and missing all the candy.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Manga/BocchiTheRock'', Nijika and Kita made Bocchi put on some clothes her mom bought her that she never wears when they came over. They then tried doing her hair, but she turned to dust when they pushed her bangs out of her eyes.