History Main / GenderRestrictedAbility

* Christian mythology (ie, the kind of [[{{Heresy}} stuff]] you'd find in the ''Literature/MalleusMaleficarum'' and only tangentally related to the teachings of the bible) holds that magic can be practised by both sexes, but women tend to go for it more because men have the Lion's Share (pun not intended) of God's grace. Women, being (supposedly) less blessed, tend to go [[DealWithTheDevil elsewhere]].

* In ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'', while gender is apparently irrelevant for most professions, including the priesthood, oracles, who have prophetic abilities and can tell the will of the gods, have been women in every case we have seen or heard of.

* ''Series/TheWheelOfTime'': Magic (the One Power) is divided strictly by gender here. Only women touch Saidar, the female half, as only men touch Saidin, the male half. Touching Saidin leads to eventual insanity because it was tainted by the Dark One, which caused the Breaking of the World. The episode ''Saidin, Saidar, Stone'' of ''The Wheel of Time: Origins'' animation says that Saidin and Saidar require vastly different techniques (a very important point in the books, as well as their different specializations), but it hasn't come up in season 1.

* ''The Mage With Special Circumstances Wants To Live Peacefully'': Only men can be born with magic powers. The main protagonist, a woman who happens to be the only exception to the rule that she knows about, keeps her powers (or her true sex depending on circumstances) a secret due to the risk of AllOfTheOtherReindeer or becoming a target for HumanTrafficking for her value as a BreedingSlave.

* ''The Mage With Special Circumstances Wants To Live Peacefully'': Only men can be born with magic powers. The main protagonist, a woman who happens to be the only exception to the rule that she knows about, keeps her powers a secret due to the risk of AllOfTheOtherReindeer or becoming a target for HumanTrafficking for her value as a BreedingSlave.

* ''The Mage With Special Circumstances Wants To Live Peacefully'': Only men can be born with magic powers. However there is a method for a women to get it. The main protagonist, a woman who happens to be the only exception to the rule that she knows about, keeps her powers a secret due to the risk of AllOfTheOtherReindeer or becoming a target for HumanTrafficking for her value as a BreedingSlave.

* In Eastern Slavic mythology male users of demonic/unholy magic power can sometimes partially overpower the will of their supernatural masters and use their power for good. In very rare cases it was even possible for a vampire to be a sort of good guy who protects his homeland and people who live there from threats, supernatural ones in particular. That said, they are still doomed to go to hell after death as their souls still belong to Devil. In contrast, female witches are always slaves to the will of their masters.
** It's more than that - only males can be born with magical powers. A woman must sell her soul to become a magic-user - and will still be weaker than a male mage. In fact, even the sorcery-accotiated god (who is male) of pre-Christianic times was believed to be rather mysoginistic. In contrast, Eastern Slavic mythology also have a good number of very badass non-magical [[ActionGirl action girls]]. In other words, while for the most world [[MagicisFeminine magic is feminine]], [[RussianReversal in ancient Rus(sia) Magic is Manly]] while physical violence is gender-neutral. And yet, for whatever reason, in western fantasy Eastern Slavic-themed cultures often make a point of having either mostly female or outright female-only magic-users. Even worse - both Eastern Slavs and some native peoples of Siberia had a theme of female (but not male) magic being weakened/outright blocked by cold - but a generic western portrayal of supposedly Eastern Slavic-inspired spellcaster is very often a female [[IcePerson ice person]]. Makes one think where did this wrong but weirdly persistent idea even came from?

* Zigzagged in Frank Herbert's ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' universe: the Bene Gesserit are an all-female order of holy-warrior-diplomats, with many of their skills reliant on CharlesAtlasSuperpower, and those skills can be taught to men without issue. However, their greatest abilities, limited Spice-induced prescience and the ability to commune with the "ghost-memories" of all their female ancestors, are granted through an initiation ritual involving an extremely toxic form of Spice, and results in either superpowers or death. Every single man, no matter how well-trained, who attempted this ritual died. The Bene Gesserit implemented an extremely long-term eugenics program to produce a man that would be capable of surviving this, who would be called the Kwisatz Haderach. In fact, the Kwisatz Haderach would have even ''greater'' abilities than any Bene Gesserit, including expanded prescience and the ability to access the ghosts of ''all'' ancestors, not just female ones (the ghost-memory thing is apparently [[GeneticMemory stored through chromosomes]], meaning it is impossible for women to ever access male memories). Paul Atreides, aka Muad'dib the Prophet, was the first man to successfully undergo the ritual and survive.

** Men and women can't even see the flows that the opposite sex channels most of the time, and can only block them by use of a special weave.
*** Quite a lot of these distinctions is drawn from the philosophy of Yin ("soft" control, passiveness, air, water, etc.) and Yang ("hard" control, aggressiveness, fire, earth, etc.).

* Subverted in Kelley Armstrong's ''Literature/TheOtherworld''. Witches are female, sorcerers are male. They can use each other's magic, but not as well as the proper users can. Witch magic generally relies on incantations or healing brews, while sorcerer magic uses gestures. Witch and sorcerer genes are sex-linked and supposedly incompatible with each other, requiring them to breed with mundanes. However, there are hints in ''Dime Store Magic'' and ''Industrial Magic'' that witches and sorcerers may be more alike than they think, particularly the revelation that neophyte witch Savannah Levine is the daughter of a witch and a sorcerer, supposedly impossible. It is also pointed out that social stigma prevents sorcerers and witches from having sex together.
** ''Industrial Magic'' suggested that sorcerer magic and witch magic are branches of the same school. Witches only know the first level of their magic, as they eschew the second level spells (such as curing hiccups) as useless. Unfortunately for the witches, learning the second level spells is the only way to unlock the upper tier spells (contained in the witches' own GreatBigBookOfEverything, but dismissed as unworkable). Most supernaturals dismiss witch magic as weak and useless, as both witches and sorcerers believe that the basic tier of witch spells is all there is.

* In ''First Literature/{{Lensman}}'', Mentor explains to Jill why it is impossible to create a Lens for a female. Mentor is lying his head off, as Clarissa will prove later in the series, but for the first couple books that's how the Lens works.
** He's not exactly lying, given that he also outright tells her that there will at some point be a female Lensman. He doesn't, however, mention her daughters, who I guess aren't ''technically'' Lensmen ... they just have all the powers even without having a lens and can generate their own out of thin air purely by thinking hard.

* Male Hradani in Creator/DavidWeber's Literature/TheWarGods series suffer from the Rage, which, until it's later learned to be controlled and directed, turns them into bloodthirsty berserkers. Female hradani do not experience the Rage (and as a result are the default gender for hradani judges and diplomats). The Rage was imposed on the hradani by the evil wizards who enslaved them; apparently those wizards wanted their female slaves producing warriors instead of being warriors.
** [[CursedWithAwesome The flipside]], however, is that while in the Rage they are essentially immune to all but the most powerful magic, making them a dire threat to most magic users on the battlefield who they will instinctively attack.

* ''The Mage With Special Circumstances Wants To Live Peacefully'': Only men can be born with magic powers. However there is a method for a women to get it. The main protagonist, a woman who happens to be the only exception to the rule that she knows about, keeps her powers a secret due to the risk of AllTheOtherReindeer or becoming a target for HumanTrafficking for her value as a BreedingSlave.

* ''The Mage With Special Circumstances Wants To Live Peacefully'': Only men can be born with magic powers, however there is a method for a women to get it.

** It's more than that - only males can be born with magical powers. A woman must sell her soul to become a magic-user - and will still be weaker than a male mage. In fact, even the sorcery-accotiated god (who is male) of pre-Christianic times was believed to be rather mysoginistic. In contrast, Eastern Slavic mythology also have a good number of very badass non-magical [[ActionGirl action girls]]. In other words, while for the most world [[MagicisFeminine magic is feminine]], [[RussianReversal in ancient Rus(sia) Magic is Manly]] while physical violence is gender-neutral. And yet, for whatever reason, in western fantasy Eastern Slavic-themed cultures often make a point of having either mostly female or outright female-only magic-users. Even worse - both Eastern Slavs and some native peoples of Siberia had a theme of female (but not male) magic being weakened/outright blocked by cold - but a generic western portrayal of supposedly Eastern Slavic-inspired spellcaster is very often a female [[IcePerson ice person]]. Makes one think where did this weird idea even came from?

* ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'': Subverted. All of the eponymous yoma-infused warriors we meet are women, but it's eventually revealed that the Organization ''did'' create an all-male generation early on--which had GoneHorriblyWrong, as nearly every member of it Awakened and became a major monster: Isley, Rigardo, Dauf, and Chronos we see much later in the manga were all members of that generation. The Organization stuck with women from there on, with the justification being that they have [[WomenAreWiser better self-control]] over their temper than men, so they're less likely to be goaded into accidentally going over their limits. Also, the process of going over one's limits and awakening, while excruciating, is also orgasmic. Men have less restraint in their sexuality, so they're less likely to pull back from awakening, unlike women, since AllWomenArePrudes.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', the ability to summon [[HyperspaceMallet magical hammers out of nowhere]] is female only and they can only used to [[PervertRevengeMode punish men for making inappropriate comments at women]].

* In both new world monkeys and prosimians, color vision is ''only'' present in some female individuals. This is because, for color vision, three different genes are required - two of which are in the X chromosome. For apes (humans included) and old world monkeys, this is no big deal: each of our X chromosomes has room for both of these genes and usually. But for other primates, there can only be one of these genes per chromosome, as they both occupy the same locus. This means only heterozygous female individuals can see in full color, males and homozygous females are all red-green colorblind.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem the enemy pegasus knights were male, but they appear to have been have {{Retcon}}ned out of the series as they're gone from the remake.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' has female Dancers and male Bards, though they essentially do the same thing. In addition, only females can ride Pegasi, explained at one point as the weight (amusingly, generic enemy Pegasus knights count as male stats wise). Another explanation claims that it's because it's hard enough for a woman to get her Pegasus to trust, while a man is incapable of gaining a pegasus' trust.
** In the earlier games in the ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia Fire Emblem Akaneia series]]'' the enemy pegasus knights were male, but they appear to have been have {{Retcon}}ned out of the series as they're gone from the remake.

** In ''Shadow Dragon'', the spell Excalibur can only be used by men and the spell Aura can only be used by women (despite it being used by a male character used it in the games story). It is also noted that Falchion can only be wielded by male descendants of Anri [[spoiler:though this is proven false when Lucina wields it in ''Awakening''.]]

* In ''Franchise/DeadSpace'' [[VideoGame/DeadSpace 1]] and [[VideoGame/DeadSpace2 2]], only female [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Slashers]] have the ability to spit explosive globules. This is averted in 3, thanks to the necromorphs only having male corpses to infect. However, they're extremely rare (read: three in one of the last areas of the game) and are shown to have had to re-grow several organs that were repurposed into muscles during the infection, wasting resources to acheive something that just happens normally (well, as normal as an ArtisticLicenseBiology MysticalPlague can be) to someone with two X chromosomes.

* ''Manga/BakiTheGrappler'': Only male Hanma´s can be born with a Demon Back.

* ''LightNovel/LetsStartAnInnOnTheDungeonIsland'': In the new world, only women can use magic, nobody really knows why. When word gets out that the protagonist can use magic, he needs to have bodyguards because of the Victoria Era setting where he'd be very, very socially vulnerable, and ''everybody'' wants to exploit him.

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' certain forms of magic (such as walking the moon's road) are exclusive to women; even a trans woman can't go. There was a passing reference to the Sandman example being based on chromosomes (the character who brought it up didn't know a whole lot about the subject) while WordOfGod suggest that the ancient deities and witches just can't get over some old prejudices; there is nothing that inherently prevents a biological male from practicing "female" magic, except a deity that can't get her head around the idea. As seen later on, Death feels no need for such discrimination.

* For the most part only women can wear the Comicbook/{{Witchblade}}, though there has been at least one male case.

* The German booklet series ''Maddrax'' has [[ActionGirl the women of the 13 islands]]. Almost all of them are [[PsychicPowers telepathically gifted]], but men rarely have this ability. This is one reason why their folk are a [[{{Matriarchy}} matriarchy]].

* Downplayed in ''LightNovel/UndefeatedBahamutChronicle'', where females generally have higher compatibility for Drag-Rides than males. There are exceptions, such as main character Lux having higher compatibility than the female average, but the difference is such that men make up the majority of RedShirts and {{Mooks}} while women make up the majority of high-level Drag-Knights.

* In ''Videogame/JadeCocoon'', only women are permitted to carry out the ritual of purification, transforming firefly cocoons into white cocoons so that the soul of the monster in the cocoon is pacified and a cocoon master can call upon the monster's aid in battle. If a man attempts the purification ritual, it will result in a black cocoon, a thing of great evil that fills anything it touches with despair.

* In ''Baki the Grappler'', only male Hanma´s can be born with a Demon Back.
* It has been stated in ''The Mage With Special Circumstances Wants To Live Peacefully'' that only men can be born with magic powers, however there is a method for a women to get it.
* In the new world of ''LightNovel/LetsStartAnInnOnTheDungeonIsland'', only women can use magic, nobody really knows why. When word gets out that the protagonist can use magic, he needs to have bodyguards because of the Victoria Era setting where he'd be very, very socially vulnerable, and ''everybody'' wants to exploit him.
* In ''Anime/MyOtome'' the nanomachines that give the Otomes their powers can't be used by anyone but virgin females because of a chemical in sperm that destroys them on contact.
* In ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' only female holders of Sailor Crystals/"True Star Seeds" can be Sailor Senshi. Rarely, men are born with them, which will give them powers (Mamoru being male is why we have Tuxedo Mask instead of a Sailor Earth), but not make them Sailor Senshi.
* This is a major plot-point in ''Anime/{{Mnemosyne}}''. When a time spore enters a woman's body, she becomes immortal. When a time spore enters a man's body, he becomes [[spoiler:a mindless [[WingedHumanoid winged]] killer (called "angels") whose survival prospects are rather grim]]. The anime also is one of the few series to explore [[spoiler:how this affects intersex people. If a time spore enters one of them, [[HybridPower they get the best of both sides]], becoming immortal with the ability to fly and enhanced strength.]]
* ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'' makes a minor point of this near the end, where [[spoiler: Ulube]] is reading over the research notes about the Devil Gundam, explaining why Wong wanted Allenby to be its core. It's justified that since the Devil Gundam was meant to be the ultimate lifeform, it requires an organism capable of creating life, a woman, as its core. According to the show, the ability to give birth makes women the "top of all living things" and they have the most amount of energy.
* Intentionally subverted in ''Manga/{{Shitsurakuen}}''. Only men are allowed to wield the Weapons, while women are forced to be their submissive Contracts that supply the Weapons. The protagonist is seemingly a BigBad-approved SpannerInTheWorks, a girl with the determination to rescue the girls from their fate, given the tools necessary from the academy that instituted the male-dominating rules.
* In ''Manga/{{Freezing}}'', the [[ActionGirl girls]] have extreme speed and strength with the ability to summon weapons while the [[NonActionGuy boys]] are debuffers and hold down the enemy. No explanation really comes forth as to why, [[ClothingDamage except of]] [[PantyFighter course the]] [[{{Fanservice}} obvious ones]].
* ''Anime/DualParallelTroubleAdventure'''s giant robots can only be driven by female pilots, with the exception of the male protagonist. [[spoiler:This is because the race that made them put them in gender lock for females only... and the male pilot also is a male mech. It also restricted certain functions in the mechs as well.]]
* Subverted in ''Manga/{{Claymore}}''. All of the eponymous yoma-infused warriors we meet are women, but it's eventually revealed that the Organization ''did'' create an all-male generation early on--which had GoneHorriblyWrong, as nearly every member of it Awakened and became a major monster: Isley, Rigardo, Dauf, and Chronos we see much later in the manga were all members of that generation. The Organization stuck with women from there on, with the justification being that they have [[WomenAreWiser better self-control]] over their temper than men, so they're less likely to be goaded into accidentally going over their limits. Also, the process of going over one's limits and awakening, while excruciating, is also orgasmic. Men have less restraint in their sexuality, so they're less likely to pull back from awakening, unlike women, since AllWomenArePrudes.
* The title characters of ''LightNovel/{{Kampfer}}'' have to be female. When a Kampfer bracelet finds its way onto the wrist of a boy, it turns him ''[[SexShifter into]]'' a girl [[SuperGenderBender whenever he becomes a Kampfer]].
* In ''Manga/CorpsePrincess'' only young women within a certain age range can be made into Shikabane Hime.
* In ''Anime/UltimateMuscle'', it is declared that the "Burning Inner Strength" can only be attained by the males in the Kinnikuman family.
* In ''Anime/LeviathanTheLastDefense'', it's explicitly stated in the intro to episode 4 that only women are capable of using magic. Though for some reason Bahamut's father is called a mage and has powers.

* In ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'', the (male) [[TheFourGods gods]] can only be summoned by a girl, who ''must'' also be [[VirginPower a virgin]]. Men and boys, however, can serve as guardians for the Priestess, if they are granted the right powers.
* ''Anime/BloodPlus'' has the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent chiropterans]]. The queens are always female and they are always twins. The chevaliers who create them are always male. It is never said that it is not possible to create female chevaliers, but since the chevaliers are intended to mate with the other queen, female chevaliers would have little use.
* A very minor example in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf''. The effects of the Dragon's Whisker herb appear to only effect males. A bald man who drinks a soup or tonic made from it will have their hair regrow, a man with hair who drinks it will [[RapidHairGrowth have their hair grow out of control]] until it falls out completely unless bound with another Dragon's Whisker. A woman who drinks it... nothing. Turns out to be useful for [[SexShifter Ranma]] who drank the soup by accident and has to have his hair bound... or use his Jusenkyo curse to temporarily halt the effects while several older, bald and balding cast members fight over one used to bind his hair when they find out.
* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', Kyubey only ever offers adolescent girls the contracts that will make them become [[MagicalGirlWarrior Magical Girls]]. Why he never does the same with any male or females of other ages groups is unspecified. One theory is that [[spoiler:because Kyubey's species, the Incubators, are trying to harvest energy via emotions, they figure that's the demographic that has the strongest emotions]].

* The time machine invented by the famous MaskedLuchador hero Wrestling/ElSanto in ''Film/SantoEnElTesoroDeDracula'' has an unusual limitation. Santo determines that only healthy young ''women'' are strong enough to survive the trip.
* The vampires in ''Film/PerfectCreature'' were all male born from human mothers, with no female ever yet born.
* In ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'', only female Gelflings have wings.
* In ''Film/{{Hereditary}}'', only a male can successfully and safely be a vessel for King Paimon. Females possessed by Paimon end up becoming enraged, demonic, and ultimately ends with them being decapitated. A passage in one of the books Annie reads also specifies that Paimon can only be invoked by men.
* In ''Film/{{Martyrs}}'', the Mademoiselle tells Anna that females (particularly those in their 20's and 30's) are the most likely to be able to achieve martyrdom which entails withstanding great torture, deprivation, and agony to achieve a transcendental state that allows one to see beyond death and into the afterlife. However, male martyrs aren't unheard of (though interestingly, the only examples of male martyrs shown in Mademoiselle's book are prepubescent boys).
* ''Film/RedSonja'' features a powerful artifact that can only be wielded by a woman, destroying any man who touches it.

* The fifth ''Film/{{Dragonheart}}'' movie reveals that female dragons can [[{{Animorphism}} shapeshift into animals]], while males can take the form of rocks or water.

* The Andalites in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' show that. Male Andalites have larger tail blades, which allows them to attack opponents more effectively in combat.
** The Andalites who are ''Estreens'' and are much better at morphing than other Andalites tend to be female. Male estreens are not unheard of, but rare.

* Partly subverted in Kelley Armstrong's ''Literature/TheOtherworld''. Witches are female, sorcerers are male. They can use each other's magic, but not as well as the proper users can. Witch magic generally relies on incantations or healing brews, while sorcerer magic uses gestures. Witch and sorcerer genes are sex-linked and supposedly incompatible with each other, requiring them to breed with mundanes. However, there are hints in ''Dime Store Magic'' and ''Industrial Magic'' that witches and sorcerers may be more alike than they think, particularly the revelation that neophyte witch Savannah Levine is the daughter of a witch and a sorcerer, supposedly impossible. It is also pointed out that social stigma prevents sorcerers and witches from having sex together.

* ''Series/TheWheelOfTime'': Magic (the One Power) is divided strictly by gender here. Only women touch Saidar, the female half, as only men touch Saidin, the male half. Touching Saidin leads to eventual insanity because it was tainted by the Dark One, which caused the Breaking of the World. The books had a very important point that Saidin and Saidar require vastly different techniques and may have different specializations, but it hasn't come up in season 1.

* In ''Baki the Grappler'', only male Hanma´s can be born with Demon Back.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' and ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2 A2]]'', the StatusEffect preventing Ribbon accessory can only be worn by female characters. In A2 that means only [[OneGenderRace Viera, Gria,]] Adelle, [[OptionalPartyMember and]] [[spoiler:Frimelda]], but Humes, Bangaa, and Nu Mou can learn a passive ability that lets them wear one anyway. In ''Advance'' all generic teammates but [[OneGenderRace Viera]] have AmbiguousGender so only Viera and Ritz (who is a Viera for gameplay purposes) can wear them.

* ''Series/TheWheelOfTime'': Magic (the One Power) is divided strictly by gender here. Only women touch Saidar, the female half, as only men touch Saidin, the male half. Touching Saidin leads to eventual insanity because it was tainted by the Dark One, which caused the Breaking of the World.