History Main / DistaffCounterpart

* The NBA Cup[[note]]For now, the NBA is simply calling it the "In-Season Tournament", expecting to gain a [[ProductPlacementName corporate sponsor]] before the first game. The trophy, however, is the NBA Cup.[[/note]] is this to the WNBA Commissioner's Cup. Both are in-season tournaments, with all games except the championship final counting fully toward regular-season results. It's listed here instead of "Distaff Counterpart" because the WNBA got there first—the Commissioner's Cup was first played in the 2021 season ([[ReleaseDateChange/COVID19PandemicRelatedExamples delayed from 2020 by COVID-19]]), while the NBA Cup is debuting in the 2023–24 season.

Just like how many female characters are defined by their relationship to the default or already established male character, [[NeverASelfMadeWoman many distaff counterparts are defined primarily by their relationship to the male counterpart]]. This can be shown through their visual properties, narrative connection, and occasionally promotional materials. They are often a wife or girlfriend, but can be a sister or friend to the male counterpart. Often, and especially if the characters in question are animals, the female character will have a bow on her head or other TertiarySexualCharacteristics defining her as female and to set her apart from the "default" male characters. In other words, the male character or characters may have little or no stereotypical masculinizing gender specifiers, but his or their distaff counterpart or counterparts will have stereotypical feminizing gender specifiers to mark them as female. If the distaff counterpart is a girlfriend, she is usually the LoveInterest to the male character.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Balto}} II'', a direct-to-video sequel, has Balto's daughter fulfilling this role.

* ''WesternAnimation/IceAge: Continental Drift'' involves Diego's LoveInterest Shira. They even engage in SnarkToSnarkCombat. This helps the two sabre-toothed tigers to recognize how similar their pasts are.

** Mr Tidy -- Little Miss Neat

* Mima Shimoda and Raven Hiroka ended up becoming distaff counterparts to 1000% Guaperrimo Shocker while they teamed in Mexico, as part of an EvilIsSexy[=/=]ForeignFanservice deal(Shocker also had male partners for his Guapos Internacional branch)

* In ice hockey, the Canadian Women's Hockey League, which folded after its 2018–19 season, had the Calgary Inferno, a counterpart of the NHL's Calgary Flames, and Les Canadiennes de Montréal, a counterpart of the Montreal Canadiens. The CWHL's US counterpart, the Premier Hockey Federation[[labelnote:*]]originally the National Women's Hockey League[[/labelnote]], has averted this trope; although all of its teams to date have been in NHL markets (as of 2022–23, seven), none have names similar to those of NHL teams.

* ''Literature/MySisterTheVampire'' has a spear counterpart series named [[https://www.goodreads.com/series/93753-my-brother-the-werewolf ''My Brother The Werewolf'']].

* Hal Roach created the DoubleAct of CloudCuckooLander [=ZaSu=] Pitts and OnlySaneMan Thelma Todd to be this to Creator/LaurelAndHardy. They made a bunch of short films together for MGM, then Pitts demanded a pay rise and Roach replaced her with DeadpanSnarker Patsy Kelly for another run of films which was ended by Todd's tragically early death. Kelly was then paired up with, in turn, Pert Kelton and Lydia Roberti, before finally making a feature film with Pitts. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsJG-MWUgmw Pitts and Todd]]/[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8A4O2aiqfw Todd and Kelly]] films are almost forgotten now and their quality can be erratic, but at their [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsJG-MWUgmw best]] they're genuinely funny and worth hunting up, not least for their startling amounts of {{Slapstick}} and LesYay.[[note]]Patsy Kelly was one of 30s Hollywood's very few out lesbians, and her snarky, no-bullshit persona in the Todd and Kelly films is decades ahead of its time.[[/note]]

* In Japan, ValentinesDay is seen as a day in were only women give a present (frequently chocolate) to their male love interest. White day, on the other hand, consists of a day where the males give a present to their confessed crush as a form of thanks (frequently white chocolate, where the day takes its name). What about non-heterosexual couples and why don´t both genders give presents to their special beloved ones on the exact same day? [[ValuesDissonance only Japanese people will know]]

NOTE: A "distaff" is a spinning device, used with a spinning wheel and, even before that, with a spindle. (More [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distaff here.]]) Since TextileWorkIsFeminine, it's used to symbolize femininity.

A male counterpart to an existing female character or AlwaysFemale trope is technically and traditionally a '''Spear Counterpart''' (which was named for the spearhead-shaped end of the symbol of Mars that represents males. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant You may also be thinking]] the "spear" [[FreudWasRight means something else]]... and you'd be right.

NOTE: A "distaff" is a spinning tool traditionally used by women, and by extension it means 'female,' as opposed to "spear," representing 'male.'

Since "distaff" means "female", the inverse of this (a male counterpart to an existing female character or AlwaysFemale trope) is technically and traditionally a '''Spear Counterpart''' (which was named for the spearhead-shaped end of the symbol of Mars that represents males. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant You may also be thinking]] the "spear" [[FreudWasRight meant something else]]... and you'd be right, because that's what the Mars symbol is based on, too).

SECOND NOTE: A "distaff" is a spinning device, used with a spinning wheel and, even before that, with a spindle. More [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distaff here.]] TextileWorkIsFeminine; that's why it's used to symbolize femininity.

NOTE: "Distaff" refers to "female"; a distaff is a spinning tool traditionally used by women.

NOTE: "Distaff" means "female".

* The NBA Cup[[note]]For now, the NBA is simply calling it the "In-Season Tournament", expecting to gain a [[ProductPlacementName corporate sponsor]] before the first game. The trophy, however, is the NBA Cup.[[/note]] is this to the WNBA Commissioner's Cup. Both are in-season tournaments, with all games except the championship final counting fully toward regular-season results. It's listed here instead of "Distaff Counterpart" because the WNBA got there first—the Commissioner's Cup was first played in the 2021 season ([[ReleaseDateChanges/COVID19PandemicRelatedExamples delayed from 2020 by COVID-19]]), while the NBA Cup is debuting in the 2023–24 season.

->Suppose you're a kid attending wizard school, with classes in Potions and Broom Flying, in a medieval castle surrounded by dark forests. It's hard for you, since you weren't raised by a magical family, but you make two best friends pretty quickly, and then spend the rest of the series getting into adventures with them--usually of the out-of-bounds kind. Your chief rival, meanwhile, is the stuck-up scion of an old magical family... who, to make things worse, is blatantly the favourite of one of your most-hated professors, the sour-faced potions teacher. At least the kindly old head teacher is on your side...

* ''Manga/SpyXFamily'' : Fiona Frost a.k.a "Nightfall" can be considered a feamale equivalent to both Loid Forger/Twilight and Yuri Briar. Like Loid, she is a highly competent agent who can do a very effective job and is also a capable strategist. On the other hand, she parallels Yuri in the sense that she is also a StalkerWithACrush who has a great obsession with Twilight and [[LoveMakesYouEvil is capable of making serious damage to anyone who interferes between them]], even if that means [[spoiler:eliminating Loid's own "wife"]].

* In addition to {{DragQueen|s}}, there are also drag ''kings''; performers, usually crossdressing women, who base their acts around an exaggeration of masculinity in the same way drag queens perform femininity.

* {{Extraverted Nerd}} ↔ {{Go Getter Girl}}

* {{Hollywood Dateless}} ↔ {{Hollywood Homely}} and {{Hollywood Pudgy}}

* Generally speaking, the term "Gary Stu" (Or MartyStu) was coined as the male counterpart equivalent for the MarySue archetype commonly found in fanfiction. Due the MostFanficWritersAreGirls stereotype, both terms are much less commonly used than the female version.

* ''Literature/PrinceCinders'' is a humorous GenderFlip retelling of Literature/{{Cinderella}}, with the main character is a young man bullied by his three big hairy brothers.

* DisguisedInDrag ↔ SweetPollyOliver

* DraggedIntoDrag ↔ SweetOnPollyOliver

* Manga/BlackJack = Ray, from the manga and anime series of the same name.
* Anime/CaptainHarlock has two within the works of creator Creator/LeijiMatsumoto. Fellow space pirate Anime/QueenEmeraldas has the same scar across her face while Captain Bainas (from ''Anime/{{Ozuma}}'') has the messy red hair. Both also happen to be badass captains who have a penchant for {{badass cape}}s.