History Main / GirlShowGhetto

* The belief that only men collect anime figures is why figures of male characters that aren't RatedMForManly were extremely rare for quite a long time. In recent years this is starting to change with female-targeted lines like Good Smile's Orange Rouge, but if it's not from a series that also appeals to men, often scale figures are made in very limited quantities and [[CrackIsCheaper go up in price rather quickly]].

* Unlike the cartoon and comic, the ''Film/JemAndTheHolograms2015'' film fell into the ghetto. Compare the other times Creator/{{Hasbro}} properties have received live action film adaptations: ''{{Film/Transformers}}'' received a budget of $150 million. ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' received $175 million. Even ''{{Film/Battleship}}'' received a $220 million budget. The one adaptation based on a girl-oriented franchise? $5 million. While the cartoon broke out of the ghetto, the movie fell straight into it - barely making $2 million worldwide, though part of this may be due to the UncertainAudience. Fans of the series loathe it for being all-but InNameOnly while the target demographic likely doesn't know what ''Jem'' is.

* Part of what led to Wrestling/AllJapanWomensProWrestling's downfall was that in spite of being among the most successful promotions in the history of the industry the promoters believed they were still too much of a girl show. People of multiple demographics enjoyed watching on television but most of the fans attending live were little girls. Perhaps because the more coed crowds of Wrestling/{{FMW}} were starting to draw similar numbers in the 1990s, AJW began pandering to male ticket buyers, which may or may not have led to bigger gates but for the most part didn't lead to bigger crowds. Money was still being made but the lack of little girls in the crowd translated [[PromotedFanboy into a lack of women becoming wrestlers for AJW]]. It took time, but after fourteen years the lack of new talent their absence led to hit AJW pretty hard. Out of context, reascending "the retire at 25" rule could be interpreted as progressive but it was really a drought relief measure that proved too little too late. Not only did AJW's bookers and promoters now have the new [[WagTheDirector problem]] of [[TallPoppySyndrome tenured wrestlers]], one every other fed of comparable size had decades more experience dealing with, other feds like GAEA largely built from outgoing AJW wrestlers also found their talent pools becoming shallower. While there were far more things than talent issues that led to the Japanese women's wrestling scene nearly imploding during 2005, it's common, jokingly or otherwise, [[FranchiseOriginalSin to say trying to get men into the arenas is where it all went wrong]]. Many women's cards continued to run after the shock of AJW and GAEA's closure, occasionally one gets mainstream attention, but none of the promotions contemporary to AJW or GAEA, nor any starting up later, manage to rise above indie level until Wrestling/WorldWonderRingStardom in the mid-2010s. Since the 1950s, Japan has consistently managed to have a men's feds operating on a national level, often two or four.

* Similar to J. K. Rowling under literature, Hiromi Arakawa uses the male pen name Creator/HiromuArakawa because she thought that male readers wouldn't want to read a {{shonen}} manga written by a woman.
* Naoko Yazawa, the creator of ''Manga/WeddingPeach'', similarly went by the pen name Nao Yazawa in order to disguise that she was a woman in order to be taken more seriously as a mangaka.

* ''Anime/OjamajoDoremi'' was picked up by 4Kids in the United States (under the English title "Magical Doremi") primarily because they wanted to expand their channel demographics, as the shows on their roster at the time only attracted boys. When the show still failed to draw in female viewers, they promptly dropped it, even though it was followed by two other female targeted shows: ''WesternAnimation/{{Bratz}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub''. Their other attempt, ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'', known as "Mew Mew Power" actually got good ratings for [=4Kids=] but the dub had to be cancelled midway through due to [=4Kids=] being unable to find a toy deal, possibly due to this trope.

* ''Anime/PrettyCure'' actually defies the ghetto in its native Japan. Despite being a traditional magical girl series aimed at young girls first and foremost, it doesn't talk down to its audience, in particular with its action-packed fight scenes reminiscent of ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. The series naturally has strong MultipleDemographicAppeal, so it isn't hard to find adult ''Precure'' fans; the creators have listed "men aged 16-35" as a primary audience alongside "girls aged 4-12". However, the ghetto is in full force when it comes to exporting the show [[AmericansHateTingle outside of Japan]] -- a casual Western viewer is more likely to gag at the bright colors and sparkles than give it a proper shot, and every attempt at localization (such as the rebranded ''Glitter Force'') has flopped due to being perceived as a "''Sailor Moon'' clone" meant exclusively for young girls. This is in spite of ''Precure'' having a small but passionate international fanbase consisting mostly of teenagers and adults.

* Some DVD sets of ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH'' that include its direct-to-video sequel, ''Timmy to the Rescue'', have a cover that does not feature Mrs. Brisby, the main character of the older and more beloved of the two movies. Instead, it has her son, Timothy, the central character of the sequel. Not to mention that it's TheFilmOfTheBook of ''Literature/MrsFrisbyAndTheRatsOfNIMH'', Mrs. Frisby was dropped from the title of the film for the same reasons.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' was an attempt to break out of the ghetto that didn't quite take, although its notoriously TroubledProduction may have had something to do with that. The advertising for the film focused nearly as much on Merida's three brothers -- comic relief characters with very little screen time -- as her. While early fears that the first Creator/{{Pixar}} film with a female lead would flop despite the company's stunning financial track record proved unfounded, it's perceived SoOkayItsAverage quality confirmed it suffered with this at least slightly, with a common complaint being they didn't let its feisty heroine set off on an epic adventure. Instead, she's involved in a plot that boils down to she and her mother learning to understand each other better in the process of [[spoiler: breaking an enchantment that turned the latter into a bear]] -- bringing up the stereotype that "women's stories" just deal with emotions rather than actions (which isn't always the case, but even so, stories that center on emotional dynamics and internal character growth are not bad or lesser). Its Best Animated Feature Oscar win over the more popular, better-reviewed (and perhaps not coincidentally, male-oriented) ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' was controversial and even accused of being political correctness on the Academy voters' part. To make matters even worse, Merida becoming a Franchise/DisneyPrincess meant that not only is virtually all of the film's merchandising aimed only at girls, but [[MisaimedMarketing misrepresents her by making her appear girly and sparkly]].

* The first ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' movie nearly experienced this. The idea that female moviegoers alone could turn a film into a blockbuster hit was considered so unthinkable that, when Paramount was adapting the movie, [[ExecutiveMeddling they tried to make it far more action-heavy]] (basically, a high school version of ''Film/Underworld2003'' or ''Film/{{Blade}}'') in order to attract the male audience that they thought was necessary. [[http://www.hollywoodlife.com/2010/09/23/twilight-saga-almost-turned-into-action-film-summit-paramount-robert-pattinson-kristen-stewart-stephenie-meyer-mark-morgan/ This page]] goes into detail on the changes that would've been made. These plans were [[ExecutiveVeto vetoed]] by Creator/StephenieMeyer, leading to Summit's far more faithful adaptation.

* Unlike the cartoon and comic, the ''Film/JemAndTheHolograms2015'' film fell into the ghetto. Compare the other times Creator/{{Hasbro}} properties have received live action film adaptations: ''{{Film/Transformers}}'' received a budget of $150 million. ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' received $175 million. Even ''{{Film/Battleship}}'' of all things received a $220 million budget. The one adaptation based on a girl-oriented franchise? $5 million. While the cartoon broke out of the ghetto, the movie fell straight into it - barely making $2 million worldwide, though part of this may be due to the UncertainAudience. Fans of the series loathe it for being all-but InNameOnly while the target demographic likely doesn't know what ''Jem'' is.
* Similarly to the Marvel entry above, fans have not been pleased with the lack of female ''Franchise/StarWars'' merch. An absolutely JustForFun/{{egregious}} case with [[http://www.themarysue.com/hasbro-wheres-rey-figures/ a Target exclusive Hasbro set]] for ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', where they have main characters like Finn and Kylo Ren along with a generic Stormtrooper and TIE Fighter Pilot, all the while excluding [[ActionGirl Rey]] and [[DarkActionGirl Captain Phasma]]. While Phasma is a pretty minor character, Rey [[spoiler:''ultimately ends up TheHero of the film'']], making her exclusion mind boggling. Even Creator/JJAbrams, the film's director, isn't pleased with the lack of Rey merchandise.

** By the time ''Film/TheLastJedi'' was released, ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsForcesOfDestiny'' had been launched; a toyline specifically aimed at girls and featuring heroines across the franchise (in the same vein as ''Toys/DCSuperheroGirls''). While this did help get more merchandise out there, the fact that it was specifically and blatantly girl-focused made it fall into the non-merchandising version of this trope; as some people viewed it through the lens of "media aimed at girls sucks".

* ''Film/{{Pollyanna|1960}}'' made less money than Creator/WaltDisney hoped, a misfortune he attributed to the story's feminine-sounding title scaring away men. The next movie Walt made starring Creator/HayleyMills, an adaptation of the book ''Literature/LottieAndLisa'', received a name that sounded more gender-neutral than that or ''Pollyanna'' -- ''Film/{{The Parent Trap|1961}}'' -- and earned a much larger gross.[[note]] And then, of course, ''Lottie and Lisa'' was already a change from the original book title ''Das doppelte Lottchen'' (which would be accurately translated from German as ''Double Lottie''). What's more, the leading characters themselves underwent an AdaptationNameChange in ''The Parent Trap'', to Sharon and Susan.[[/note]]

* In-universe, the entire premise of ''Series/ThirtyRock'' is that Jack retools the previously female-oriented ''The Girly Show'' into ''TGS With Tracy Jordan'', forcing female lead writer Liz Lemon to include a male comedian in a central role.

* Towards the fifth season of ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'', the producers, in the hopes of drawing in more male viewers, [[{{Fanservice}} started dressing the female leads in more revealing clothes and coming up with various episodes where the sisters would be transformed into magical creatures that would require a skimpy outfit.]] And when the actresses protested before the final season, they still introduced a younger character who could act as the MsFanservice. Thanks to the marketing focusing on the titillation, it's led to lots of people (''The Mary Sue'' infamously) dismissing it entirely as {{fanservice}} - and the 2018 reboot marketed itself as a "smart, funny, ''feminist''" version of the original. This prompted actress Creator/HollyMarieCombs to snark on Twitter "guess we forgot to do it the first time."
* Some of the Brazilian children’s soap operas produced by SBT tend to suffer from this:

** Female ''villains'' have it even worse toy-wise. Not only were Rita Repusla and Scorpina absent from the ''Mighty Morphin[='=]'' toylines, but starting from ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'', villain representation in general had been on the downturn for several years. Villain toys started to pick up again starting with ''Series/PowerRangersSamurai'', but villainesses are still in a tough spot; Poisandra from ''Series/PowerRangersDinoCharge'' and even BigBad Madame Odius from ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaSteel'' ended up sold only in two-packs with a Ranger, while a handful of MonsterOfTheWeek characters got single-carded figures.

* Inverted by ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch''. To cash in on Sabrina's popularity, ABC produced two further UrbanFantasy series, ''Series/TeenAngel'' and ''You Wish'', though with male protagonists. Both shows ended after a season, while Sabrina lasted for years and even had a few spin-offs. There in fact seem to be more male fans than female of the sitcom. Unsurprising, since Creator/MelissaJoanHart's previous sitcom ''Series/ClarissaExplainsItAll'' had broken out of the ghetto and gotten her a big male fanbase.

* Music/{{Vocaloid}} producer Oster Project did not reveal her gender until years after she debuted because she wanted listeners to view her work under a gender neutral lens, possibly because people may have viewed her work differently if they knew she was a woman.
** And speaking of Vocaloid, this trope, mainly the idea that only women would require a male Vocalist or would want to buy software with a hot guy on the box, is a possible reason why male Vocaloids generally don't sell many copies or achieve the same levels of popularity as the female ones in Japan, and are rarely ever made compared to the legions of female Vocaloids. The only one to achieve success on par with Miku or IA, Kagamine Len, was bundled with a female voice bank, and while Kaito is modestly popular now he tanked hard when first released. Though this is not the case in the west, as male English Vocaloids usually outsell their female counterparts and Oliver is ''the'' most popular English-only Vocaloid in terms of sales, use, and view count.

* Part of what led to Wrestling/AllJapanWomensProWrestling's downfall was that in spite of being among the most successful promotions in the history of the industry the promoters believed they were still too much of a girl show. People of multiple demographics enjoyed watching on television but most of the fans attending live were little girls. Perhaps because the more coed crowds of Wrestling/{{FMW}} were starting to draw similar numbers in the 1990s, AJW began pandering to male ticket buyers, which may or may not have led to bigger gates but for the most part didn't lead to bigger crowds. Money was still being made but the lack of little girls in the crowd translated [[PromotedFanboy into a lack of women becoming wrestlers for AJW]]. It took time, but after fourteen years the lack of new talent their absence led to hit AJW pretty hard. Out of context, reascending "the retire at 25" rule could be interpreted as progressive but it was really a drought relief measure that proved too little too late. Not only did AJW's bookers and promoters now have the new [[WagTheDirector problem]] of [[TallPoppySyndrome tenured wrestlers]], one pretty much every other fed of comparable size had decades more experience dealing with, other feds like GAEA largely built from outgoing AJW wrestlers also found their talent pools becoming shallower. While there were far more things than talent issues that led to the Japanese women's wrestling scene nearly imploding during 2005, it's common, jokingly or otherwise, [[FranchiseOriginalSin to say trying to get men into the arenas is where it all went wrong]]. Many women's cards continued to run after the shock of AJW and GAEA's closure, occasionally one gets mainstream attention, but none of the promotions contemporary to AJW or GAEA, nor any starting up later, manage to rise above indie level until, arguably, Wrestling/WorldWonderRingStardom in the mid-2010s. Since the 1950s, Japan has consistently managed to have a men's feds operating on a national level, often two or four.
* Wrestling/{{WCW}}'s first shot of their so called "Monday Night War" was fired after Wrestling/{{Madusa}} jumped at the opportunity to wrestle for them since the WWF women's division was drying up and WCW boasted an ''amazing'' talent pool that included pretty much all of GAEA. Madusa was so ready to get women's wrestling back on TV she agreed to drop the WWF's hunk of plastic and metal into a garbage can, even though she really didn't want to disgrace their title belt. It turned out to be just a [[RatingsStunt publicity stunt]], as WCW [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves rarely gave her matches, much less wins]], the highlight of her stay perhaps being a feud with an offensive Wrestling/JimRoss knockoff for the cruiserweight title belt. Akira Hokuto, despite actually winning the WCW Women's title, did not fare any better as getting it meant losing her spot in CMLL and she'd never do much of anything in Mexico again. WCW did a lot of nothing with Hokuto or her belt before vacating it and then scrapping it after a year that saw GAEA try to get a run with Devil Masami going. And their women's cruiserweight belt lasted even less time. WCW had two women's belts but somehow managed to not use the large majority of the women it boasted to have, a link in a chain of events that nearly ended with the deaths of every major women's division left on North America.
* In general, {{Smart Mark}}s would often label any women's match as a 'piss break'. This is partly due to WWE's terrible use of women solely for {{Fanservice}} in the Attitude Era, and the Women's Championship being defended in various T&A style matches. And when the Divas broke out of the ghetto in the Ruthless Aggression Era, the division was [[AuthorAppeal suddenly buried]] with Diva Searches - that reduced the division to T&A once again and resulted in a lot of genuine wrestlers getting released in favour of models. But since about 2008, many Divas who began as models faced an uphill battle despite training to wrestle, and they would often be dismissed or labelled as using WWE as a stepping stone for other avenues. Only a handful managed to completely break out of the ghetto (Wrestling/MickieJames, Wrestling/BethPhoenix, Wrestling/NatalyaNeidhart, {{Wrestling/Melina}} - basically the wrestlers established outside of WWE lucky enough to win a title belt) and reviews of Diva matches would tend to be rated very low, outside of websites like ''Diva Dirt''. This attitude seems to be dying off as of the popularity of NXT and many former Divas revealing just how hard things were for them [[ExecutiveMeddling behind the scenes]] - but you still find plenty of smarks who claim that women shouldn't be allowed to wrestle, citing the Diva matches as proof.

* The Puerto Rican versions of the World Wrestling Council and (later) International Wrestling Association are bizarre examples, as they collectively had one of the most badass women's divisions in the world. One of WWC's top baby {{face}}s hitting La Tigresa with [[ShovelStrike the trademark weapon]] of WWC's [[Wrestling/CarlitoColon other top baby face]] only slowed her down for a few seconds before she choke slammed him, initiating a group beating that another woman had to save him from. IWA's first women's champion Amazona meanwhile had already knocked off the violently insane [[Wrestling/DeanAmbrose Moxley Mox]] for their [[GarbageWrestling hardcore]] title. Neither enterprise had any problem portraying its women as threats to nothing less than their top stars and yet, even that unbiased [[Website/{{Wikipedia}} other wiki]] basically said they had one division, as the two rivals seemed to arbitrarily shuffle most of the female wrestlers between themselves (behind the scenes wrestlers jumped ship based on changing paychecks and it was rare for both companies to be paying women well at the same time). By the 2010s, IWA was on its deathbed and WWC lost interest in its women's belt, so women's wrestling was only regularly seen in indie companies like EWO and CWS.

* Inverted example in ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' as ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' as Raiden’s entire character was devised when Creator/HideoKojima overhead two teenager girls complaining that military games “were full of old men” and thus created Raiden as a {{Bishounen}} to appeal to them. Despite his good intentions, Raiden was mainly seen by gamers as a ReplacementScrappy to the better liked and more masculine Snake and it took Raiden TakingALevelInBadass for him to be celebrated by both male and female fans alike. Ironically ''Metal Gear'' had already amassed a female following thanks to the FemaleGaze being just prominent as the MaleGaze and the HoYay shipping of Snake and Octacon and Big Boss and Ocelot, which in turn garners a hatedom from the male fans who mainly enjoy the series for its SpyFiction and RatedMForManly elements.

* Activision infamously told a studio pitching a game set in Hong Kong with an Asian female lead to "[[http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/29719/InDepth_No_Female_Heroes_At_Activision.php lose the chick, they don't sell.]]" [[http://kotaku.com/5424441/girls-night-with-the-most-male-game-of-2009 A.J. Glasser]] once noted in an editorial for Kotaku that the only role presented for women in ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2'' were [=NPCs=] [[spoiler: who are all immediately gunned down]]. There were ''no'' speaking parts for women in the entire game, despite earlier ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' games actually remembering once in a while that there are in fact women who serve in the military. She also pointed out a culture gap between Japanese games, which tend to frequently have female leads or supporting casts but also greatly objectify them as a trade-off, and Western games, which frequently just leave women out entirely.
* [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristen-wolfe/dear-customer-who-stuck-u_b_1190690.html This story]] made the rounds in late 2011, in which a young boy was threatened with actual violence by his father for wanting to buy ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge''. Entirely because, well, it ''must'' be a girl's game, it has a woman on the cover!

* This trope is why the creators of ''[[VideoGame/KameoElementsOfPower Kameo: Elements Of Power]]'' went to great pains to hide the fact that you are essentially a fairy princess defending her kingdom from her sorceress sister, hiding her wings as much as humanly possible (and her actual body when you start delving into gameplay) and muting the colors of her clothes, among other things.
* Now, of course, everyone knows that SamusIsAGirl, but back in the late '80s the manual for the original ''VideoGame/{{Metroid|1}}'' deliberately tricks the reader into thinking she is male, even going so far as to refer to her with "he" and "him"; the reveal of her actual sex was supposed to be a TwistEnding. Apparently, it was assumed no one would buy the game about the badass running around a distant planet in super-powered armor, gunning down aliens right and left, if they knew the protagonist was a woman. However, it's been averted since then, as even with the knowledge of her gender the games generally don't treat her any differently and she's still popular as a power-armored, alien-gunning badass and [[FollowTheLeader spawned Japanese sci-fi games with a playable female character]] (even if in the end the trend only lasted like a month or three).
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'' is a sequel to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' and controversial for its LighterAndSofter tone, usage of J-pop music, and focusing entirely on Yuna, Rikku, and new character Paine, and Yuna is characterized as a more upbeat and cheerful character than in the original game. Not helping is that the FMV opening of the game features Yuna ([[spoiler:actually someone impersonating her, but this doesn't help first impressions]]) putting on a peppy music concert; contrast ''X'' opening up on a blitzball game and Sin attacking Zanarkand set to a HeavyMetal tune.

* While Creator/AksysGames is the one western company to consistently license the most [[OtomeGame otome games]] and many of their titles such as ''VisualNovel/{{Hakuouki}}'' and ''VisualNovel/CodeRealize'' have broken out of the ghetto, the company has still attracted some criticism and accusations of believing in this trope from western otome fans due to their tonedeaf and condescending attitude towards much of the genre and even their own audience. Much of the advertisement for their otome titles are misleading and downplay the romance elements, and the company pretty much only localizes DarkerAndEdgier or more action-oriented otome games in order to not alienate a potential male audience while completely ignoring more lighthearted and flowery titles regardless of how popular they are or how much they're requested, a representative even outright dismissing these types of otome games in one interview. Reading some of these interviews, its apparent they seem to believe that any game that's "Too girly" is inherently inferior, which is utterly ridiculous as otome games by definition are a genre by and for women, and the customers for Aksys's otome localizations are pretty much entirely women.

* Compared to the show, which was basically ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'' with female main characters, the original ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower'' toyline was far more Barbie-esque. Catra was portrayed as the BigBad in the toyline while in the show, she was a subordinate to Hordak, who had previously been sold as a ''Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse'' toy, and was portrayed as the show's BigBad. This was all supposedly because Creator/{{Mattel}} didn't think girls would play with a Hordak toy, nor would boys play with a toy of a female She-Ra character.

* Similarly to ''Young Justice'', the short lived Kids' WB show ''WesternAnimation/PhantomInvestigators'' was cancelled after its first season due to too many girls watching the show, [[http://nikandgarydoapodcast.tumblr.com/post/107633292559/nik-gary-do-a-podcast-mini-sode-1-stephen according to a podcast with co-creator Stephen Holman]]. The show was aimed at a gender-neutral audience and had an equal amount of boys and girls as the main characters, with the leader (Daemona) being a girl. Kids' WB was actually happy that there was a female leader as they wanted to gain more female viewers, as they were the highest rated block with young boys and wanted to get girls to watch as well. This worked as the show managed to become number one in its timeslot each time it was on. And then while the show gained more female viewers, it began to slip with boys. [[GoneHorriblyRight This was enough for Kids' WB to get rid of it immediately after only six episodes aired, as they didn't want to lose their status of having the highest ratings with young boys]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Braceface}}'': While the show is mostly aimed at pre-teen girls and the first season focuses on a lot of girl-related things, later episodes started to shy away from it, becoming more slice-of-life, character-driven and some episodes tackling heavier issues such as relationships (familial and budding), racism, ethical issues, homosexuality (keep in mind this was the early 2000's, one of the earliest animated shows to feature a gay character), and changes one's body goes through in adolescence.

* While ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' is likely meant to be a unisex show, a good majority of the merchandise is aimed at young girls (e.g. fashion dolls). Additionally, the female heroes have a tendency to get more focus in the merch than the male heroes -- toys of Adrien/Chat Noir are hard to find, and Nino/Carapace is essentially the merchandising equivalent of Bigfoot.

-->-- '''Creator/BobChipman''' discussing the backlash to ''{{Film/Titanic|1997}}''

* The lack of faith in shows with a female protagonist, [[ShoujoDemographic let alone a show explicitly aimed at girls]], may have been why ''Anime/SallyTheWitch'', despite being practically tailor made for American tastes of the time, was one of the few anime of the 1960s (that weren't too violent, controversial, or overtly Japanese) to not receive an English dub. Outside of theatrical animation like ''WesternAnimation/BettyBoop'' and the various Creator/{{Disney}} heroines, American television cartoons with female leads were not really a thing until the turn of the 1970s with titles like ''WesternAnimation/ThePerilsOfPenelopePitstop'' and ''WesternAnimation/JosieAndThePussyCats'', and by then ''Sally'' might have been a tough sell due to being partly in black and white.

** This was also the main reason why in the 2018 series adaptation of {{Literature/Pollyanna}} named "As Aventuras de Poliana", [[AscendedExtra the character of Jimmy Bean gets a main role]] and shares near equal screen time as the titular character, heck, the original title was actually "As Aventuras de Poliana and João Feijão".

** This was also the main reason why in the 2018 adaptation of {{Literature/Pollyanna}} named "As Aventuras de Poliana", [[AscendedExtra the character of Jimmy Bean gets a main role]] and shares near equal screen time as the titular character, heck, the original title was "As Aventuras de Poliana and João Feijão".

** This was also the main reason why in the soap opera adaptation of {{Literature/Pollyanna}} named "As Aventuras de Poliana", [[AscendedExtra the character of Jimmy Bean gets a main role]] and shares near equal screen time as the titular character, heck, the original title was "As Aventuras de Poliana and João Feijão".

** The 2015 remake of ''Series/ComplicesAlRescate'' is a very female oriented soap opera, with the main focus being the twins Isabela and Manuela as well as their talent for music, making it more popular with girls than boys, the target demographic and merchandising for this series was strictly more geared towards girls than any other children’s soap operas produced by this network.

** The 2015 remake of ''Series/ComplicesAlRescate'' is a very female oriented soap opera, with the main focus being the twins Isabela and Manuela as well as their talent for music, making it more popular with girls than boys, the target demographic and merchandising for this series was strictly more gendered than other soap operas produced by this network.

** ''VideoGame/TheIdolmasterDearlyStars'' was the first ''[=iDOLM@STER=]'' game to be partly marketed towards girls and is the only game in the series that allows you to play as an unambiguous female protagonist. Yet it gets treated even worse than [=SideM=], as its tenth anniversary was completely ignored, and it was also shafted from ''Starlit Season''. While Ryo was eventually added to [=SideM=] as a producible idol, Ai and Eri have been relegated solely to cameos ever since. [=iM@S=] has also never attempted a female player character since, aside from the AmbiguousGender [=SideM=] producer who was made male in the anime anyway.

* The VirtualPaperDoll series ''VideoGame/StyleSavvy'' is a popular Creator/{{Nintendo}} franchise (and in fact was one of the best selling UsefulNotes/NintendoDS titles) but almost never gets brought up when discussing Nintendo games. When the first game was released on UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole, many gamers complained about it and called it "shovelware" or "bad" just because it was a game about {{fashion model}}s that has you as the owner of a clothing shop.

* While all branches of ''Franchise/TheIdolMaster'' remained popular with both girls and boys, it's the female-oriented ''VideoGame/TheIdolmasterSideM'' that got less attention than its peers. Its rhythm game, ''Live on [=St@ge=]!'', had noticeably inferior production values compared to ''[[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls Cinderella Girls: Starlight Stage]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterMillionLive Million Live! Theater Days]]'', which were aimed at a mostly male audience. It even lacked representation outside of cameos in ''THE [=iDOLM@STER=]: Starlit Season'' obstenibly about celebrating all main branches of the franchise, which caused speculation that the ''[=SideM=]'' cast was skipped because of fears their "girl game" background would have deterred fans of the [=PlayStation=] games. Granted, there's the practical reason that it would be difficult to implement the shared costumes if some of the characters were male, but they could have at least put [[WholesomeCrossdresser Saki]] in there. Thankfully, Bandai Namco at least prominently featured ''[=SideM=]'' in the 15th anniversary celebrations, and made up for their snubbing by showing them alongside everyone else in ''THE [=iDOLM@STER:=] Poplinks''. ''Live on Stage'' was eventually shut down and replaced with a new game ''Growing Stars'', and while the gameplay, live2d portraits, and full voice acting was much better received, the mostly 2d visuals during the concerts caused some backlash. ...And then the game was unceremoniously brought offline with zero warning and explanation after only a little over a year of service in spite of being successful and profitable.

* While all branches of ''Franchise/TheIdolMaster'' remained popular with both girls and boys, it's the female-oriented ''VideoGame/TheIdolmasterSideM'' that got less attention than its peers. Its rhythm game, ''Live on [=St@ge=]!'', had noticeably inferior production values compared to ''[[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls Cinderella Girls: Starlight Stage]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterMillionLive Million Live! Theater Days]]'', which were aimed at a mostly male audience. It even lacked representation outside of cameos in ''THE [=iDOLM@STER=]: Starlit Season'' obstenibly about celebrating all main branches of the franchise, which caused speculation that the ''[=SideM=]'' cast was skipped because of fears their "girl game" background would have deterred fans of the [=PlayStation=] games. Granted, there's the practical reason that it would be difficult to implement the shared costumes if some of the characters were male, but they could have at least put [[WholesomeCrossdresser Saki]] in there. Thankfully, Bandai Namco at least prominently featured ''[=SideM=]'' in the 15th anniversary celebrations, and made up for their snubbing by showing them alongside everyone else in ''THE [=iDOLM@STER:=] Poplinks''. ''Live on Stage'' was eventually shut down and replaced with a new game ''Growing Stars'', and while the gameplay, live2d portraits, and full voice acting was much better received, the mostly 2d visuals during the concerts caused some backlash.

* Creator/{{Ubisoft}} faced renewed criticism in 2020 for their lack of female protagonists, amongst the company facing several public accusations of the toxic corporate work culture. Writer Jill Murray claims she was told by editoral that the protagonist had to be a "[[https://twitter.com/disco_jill/status/1285590827830517761 straight white alpha male]]" which was [[EmphasizeEverything emphasized in writing]], and designer Marie Jasmin was told "[[https://twitter.com/mariejasmin_/status/1285565180097761281 women don't sell]]." This effected many titles, speficially the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series. ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedUnity'' left out female protagonists with a flismy excuse that they would "be harder to animate." ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate'' originally gave the male and female protagonists, Jacob and Evie, respectively, equal time before Jacob was clearly made the lead. ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOrigins'' was originally going to kill or injure the male protagonist Bayek early in the game and his wife Aya would take over for the rest, but Bayek ended up dominating the narrative in the end. Kassandra was originally going to be the single protagonist for ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOdyssey'', but they added a playable male character and gave players the choice to play as either. Somewhat rectified in that Kassandra is the canonical protagonist of ''Odyssey'', and ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedValhalla'' both the male and female protagonists are canon.

** The original ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' series was also [[VileVillainSaccharineShow darker than it]] [[SurpriseCreepy appears from the outside]]. Unfortunate, not many people give it a chance [[AudienceColoringAdaptation thanks due the reception]] of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyG3''.

* Part of what led to Wrestling/AllJapanWomensProWrestling's downfall was that in spite of being among the most successful promotions in the history of the industry the promoters believed they were still too much of a girl show. People of multiple demographics enjoyed watching on television but most of the fans attending live were little girls. Perhaps because the more coed crowds of Wrestling/{{FMW}} were starting to draw similar numbers in the 1990s, AJW began pandering to male ticket buyers, which may or may not have led to bigger gates but for the most part didn't lead to bigger crowds. Money was still being made but the lack of little girls in the crowd translated [[PromotedFanboy into a lack of women becoming wrestlers for AJW]]. It took time, but after fourteen years the lack of new talent their absence led to hit AJW pretty hard. Out of context, reascending "the retire at 25" rule could [[ChristmasCake be interpreted as progressive]] but it was really a drought relief measure that proved too little too late. Not only did AJW's bookers and promoters now have the new [[WagTheDirector problem]] of [[TallPoppySyndrome tenured wrestlers]], one pretty much every other fed of comparable size had decades more experience dealing with, other feds like GAEA largely built from outgoing AJW wrestlers also found their talent pools becoming shallower. While there were far more things than talent issues that led to the Japanese women's wrestling scene nearly imploding during 2005, it's common, jokingly or otherwise, [[FranchiseOriginalSin to say trying to get men into the arenas is where it all went wrong]]. Many women's cards continued to run after the shock of AJW and GAEA's closure, occasionally one gets mainstream attention, but none of the promotions contemporary to AJW or GAEA, nor any starting up later, manage to rise above indie level until, arguably, Wrestling/WorldWonderRingStardom in the mid-2010s. Since the 1950s, Japan has consistently managed to have a men's feds operating on a national level, often two or four.

Compare RealWomenDontWearDresses, WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForLittleGirls, UsefulNotes/TheBechdelTest, DoubleStandard, TheSmurfettePrinciple, WhiteMaleLead, RaceLift, AnimationAgeGhetto, MinorityShowGhetto, LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek, DaytimeDramaQueen, ChickLit, ChickFlick, ExtrudedBookProduct, FeministFantasy, WatchedItForTheRepresentation.. For when the series itself avoids the ghetto but the merchandise falls into it, see UnisexSeriesGenderedMerchandise.

* The reason ''Series/NewGirl'' changed it's iconic theme song going into season 4 was because executives feared the hand-crafted aesthetic and cutesy lyrics would turn off male viewers.

* ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' has experienced this more than any other play by Creator/WilliamShakespeare. As the plot concerns two teenage StarCrossedLovers who die tragically, it's developed a reputation as something only teenage girls would enjoy. This phenomenon seems to be NewerThanTheyThink - as it's an easy play to [[SmallReferencePools to reference in kidcoms and cartoons]], resulting in numerous fictional female characters {{Squee}}ing over the story while males roll their eyes.

* Towards the fifth season of ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'', the producers, in the hopes of drawing in more male viewers, [[{{Fanservice}} started dressing the female leads in more revealing clothes and coming up with various episodes where the sisters would be transformed into magical creatures that would require a skimpy outfit.]] And when the actresses protested before the final season, they still introduced a younger character who could act as the MsFanservice. Thanks to the marketing focusing on the titillation, it's led to lots of people (''The Mary Sue'' infamously) dismissing it entirely as a JiggleShow - and the 2018 reboot marketed itself as a "smart, funny, ''feminist''" version of the original. This prompted actress Creator/HollyMarieCombs to snark on Twitter "guess we forgot to do it the first time."

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' did okay at the box office for Disney, but not nearly as well as its reviews and hype suggested that it would. Disney determined that this trope was the reason and was rumored to [[http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/21/entertainment/la-et-1121-tangled-20101121 completely shut down adapting fairy tales into movies.]] For the marketing of their ''Literature/{{Rapunzel}}'' adaptation the following year, they completely downplayed the fairy tale-ness of the movie, changed the title to the somewhat more [[VerbedTitle comedic-sounding]] ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'', [[http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/09/business/la-fi-ct-disney9-2010mar09 put the male hero character front and center, and marketed it like a DreamWorks comedy film.]] The advertising brought a whole lot of backlash but paid off -- ''Tangled'' went on to become Walt Disney Animation Studios' first movie since ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing'' to break the $200 million mark domestically.

* Within a few episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard'' beginning fans have become worried of this trope. Despite ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing'' being unisex and being popular with female audiences, the series is presented as a [[DistaffCounterpart Spear Counterpart]] to ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst''. Although female characters exist, few are major characters and they are severely downplayed; for instance, Fuli's first limelight episode was swapped for a [[KidAppealCharacter Bunga]] episode, and the previews rarely include Fuli.

* ''VisualNovel/ChoicesStoriesYouPlay'': Overall, the large amount of romance novels with female-only player characters is a major source of criticism from fans, who believe these stories alienate anyone who isn't a straight female romance fan, while stories in which the player character's gender can be customized tend to be more well received. Fans believe that in stories where women's issues are not the focus, there could still be dialogue variations that match the player character's gender.

* ''VisualNovel/ChoicesStoriesYouPlay'': Overall, the large amount of romance novels with female-only player characters is a major source of criticism from fans, while stories in which the player character's gender can be customized tend to be more well received. Fans believe that in stories where women's issues are not the focus, there could still be dialogue variations that match the player character's gender.

* ''VisualNovel/ChoicesStoriesYouPlay'': Overall, the large amount of romance novels with female player characters is a major source of criticism from fans, while stories in which the player character's gender can be customized tend to be more well received.

* The lack of faith in shows with a female protagonist, [[ShoujoDemographic yet alone a show explicitly aimed at girls]], may have been why ''Anime/SallyTheWitch'', despite being practically tailor made for American tastes of the time, was one of the few anime of the 1960s (that weren't too violent, controversial, or overtly Japanese) to not receive an English dub. Outside of theatrical animation like ''WesternAnimation/BettyBoop'' and the various Creator/{{Disney}} heroines, American television cartoons with female leads were not really a thing until the turn of the 1970s with titles like ''WesternAnimation/ThePerilsOfPenelopePitstop'' and ''WesternAnimation/JosieAndThePussyCats'', and by then ''Sally'' might have been a tough sell due to being partly in black and white.

* A prime example of this would be the critically acclaimed and fairly successful pre-ComicBook/{{New 52}} version of ''[[ComicBook/{{Batgirl2009}} Batgirl]]'', written by Bryan Q Miller, who at the time was new to the scene and as such didn't have a following that would help most books start off. The series is ''still'' recommended by comic book stores due to being fun and awesome, but its been reported that more than not, the book gets turned down because it's 'a girl book'.

%%* Some FanFiction writers hypothesize that MostFanficWritersAreGirls is the reason why 'fanfiction' is considered to be so viscerally disgusting by so many people. It's worth observing that on this wiki, most of the fanfiction included in tropes lists is either adventure-based stuff often written by boys (''FanFic/ShinjiAndWarhammer40k''), or relationship-based stuff that's legendarily bad (''FanFic/MyImmortal'').

** Due to Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter doubting that toys of female characters would sell, the MCU was [[http://io9.com/marvel-has-a-serious-problem-merchandising-its-female-c-1682014327 hit with this, merchandise-wise]], and Black Widow was barely featured in ''Avengers'' merchandise. It took ''four years'' since ''Film/IronMan2'' for Black Widow to get a solo action figure. She remained missing in a lot of the team's group shots and barely present aside from a few toys -- a Quinjet toy based on her ''[[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron Age of Ultron]]'' action scene in Seoul [[http://toybox.io9.com/black-widow-absent-from-a-toy-based-on-one-of-her-coole-1703705181 even swapped out her action figure for Captain America's]]. ''Age of Ultron''[='s=] other heroine ComicBook/ScarletWitch also suffered from a lack of merchandise (but then again so did her brother ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}}). The same applied to ComicBook/{{Gamora}} in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy''; she was absent in the merch to the point where fans had to start a Website/{{Twitter}} hashtag ([=#WheresGamora=]) to get Marvel to pay attention, and the "#Wheres____" format has caught on to call out a lack of girl merch in other films and shows. After Marvel Studios cut ties with Perlmutter, the [=#WheresNatasha=] movement succeeded in giving her a wider presence in merchandise and advertising, starting with ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''.
* This is a problem that existed well before the MCU, unfortunately. For instance, [=ToyBiz=]'s action figure line for ''Film/X2XMenUnited'' didn't have any of the women in it. To put that into perspective, characters involved in major action sequences like ComicBook/{{Mystique}} and Lady Deathstrike were left out of the line, while Comicbook/{{Iceman}}, who didn't get involved in any action scenes, was included.

* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' is a weird example in that it was mostly marketed to young men, but it still attracted a significant PeripheryDemographic of women. Creator/{{Syfy}} has a difficult time accepting that its scripted shows have a tendency to attract viewers in addition to/other than the ones they planned on, and ''Atlantis'' ended up getting cancelled to make way for ''Series/StargateUniverse'' ... which then got a lot of flak for having significant elements of soap opera [-[[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]]!-]

* Creator/{{Ubisoft}} faced renewed criticism in 2020 for their lack of female protagonists, amongst the company facing several public accusations of the toxic corporate work culture. Writer Jill Murray claims she was told by editoral that the protaginst had to be a "[[https://twitter.com/disco_jill/status/1285590827830517761 straight white alpha male]]" which was [[EmphasizeEverything emphasized in writing]], and designer Marie Jasmin was told "[[https://twitter.com/mariejasmin_/status/1285565180097761281 women don't sell]]." This effected many titles, speficially the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series. ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedUnity'' left out female protaginists with a flismy excuse that they would "be harder to animate." ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate'' originally gave the male and female protaginsts, Jacob and Evie, respectively, equal time before Jacob was clearly made the lead. ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOrigins'' was originally going to kill or injure the male protagonist Bayek early in the game and his wife Aya would take over for the rest, but Bayek ended up dominating the narrative in the end. Kassandra was originally going to be the single protagonist for ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOdyssey'', but they added a playable male character and gave players the choice to play as either. Somewhat rectified that in Kassandra is the canonical protagonist of ''Odyssey'', and ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedValhalla'' both the male and female protagonists are canon.
* For ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'', this is generally the reason seen as why Jill Valentine has been de-emphasised by Capcom as a series lead compared to posters boys such as Chris or Leon. The lesser sales of the games she was starred in/was prominent in such as ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations'' have led to Capcom deeming a ActionGirl like Jill as unbankble compared to the male heroes (especially Chris) as of late there’s no news if Jill will reappear in any future games or that will be any female led RE games again. Even the cover of the [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Remake remake]] of ''[=RE3=]'' noticeably places Carlos next to Jill, despite having lesser presence in the game and only playable for one level.

* While Creator/AksysGames is the one western company to consistently license the most [[OtomeGame otome games]] and many of their titles such as ''VisualNovel/{{Hakuouki}}'' and ''VisualNovel/CodeRealize'' have broken out of the ghetto, the company has still attracted some criticism and accusations of believing in this trope from western otome fans due to their tonedeaf and condescending attitude towards much of the genre and even their own audience. Much of the advertisement for their otome titles are misleading and downplay the romance elements, and the company pretty much only localizes DarkerAndEdgier or more action-oriented otome games in order to not alienate a potential male audience while completely ignoring more lighthearted and flowery titles regardless of how popular they are or how much they're requested, a representative even outright dismissing these types of otome games in one interview. Reading some of these interviews, its apparent they seem to believe that any game that's "Too girly" are inherently inferior, which is utterly ridiculous as otome games by definition are a genre by and for women, and the customers for Aksys's otome localizations are pretty much entirely women.

* Franchise/{{Transformers}}

* In the wake of the cancellations of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' and other Creator/DCNation shows, Creator/PaulDini revealed that the shows where cancelled because too many girls watched and [[MerchandiseDriven girls don't buy action figures]]. During the interview Smith brings up the FridgeLogic of "why don't they figure out something else to sell girls?" Summary [[http://io9.com/paul-dini-superhero-cartoon-execs-dont-want-largely-f-1483758317 here]] and full podcast [[http://smodcast.com/episodes/paul-dini-shadow-of-the-shadow-of-the-bat/ here]].

* An AnimatedAdaptation of ''ComicStrip/PhoebeAndHerUnicorn'' [[https://twitter.com/thecartoonnews/status/1608287653761253383?s=46&t=88if7ni0te2nLok-xGNcGw was cancelled]] after a group of Nickelodeon executives feared that shows with female protagonists wouldn't sell well to boys[[note]]Considering that Nickelodeon has had more than a HANDFUL of shows with female protagonists dating as far back to (at least) the early 1990s, this is even more mind-numbing.[[/note]].