History Main / StandardFemaleGrabArea

No one is quite sure why, but it appears that any female lead's weak point in any given show happens to be on or around her upper arm (or alternatively the wrist). She could be absolutely dominating a fight, but the moment any old mook sneaks up behind her and say, grabs her shoulder, she suddenly [[FauxActionGirl loses all competency and is reduced to begging the hero to save her, or tries once and again to fight back but is completely useless]]. This trope would make more sense if the [[{{Mooks}} Mook]] also had, say, a gun to her back or something, but too frequently he runs at her unarmed and manages to reduce her to complete harmlessness. Maybe {{Action Girl}}s come factory-equipped with an on/off switch in their upper arms.

Note this ''never'' happens to a DarkActionGirl. If a Mook were to attempt such a thing, well, expect someone to be on the business end of a nasty [[GroinAttack kick to the crotch]], aka: the standard ''male'' instant-incapacitation area (and ''this'' one is TruthInTelevision). And that's if he's lucky - modern Dark Action Girls are rather likely to opt for breaking his arm in three places instead of "lowering themselves" to a groin attack.

So, the ActionGirl is busy slinging around multiple opponents with her competent style of WaifFu. In fact, she is doing so well that one has to wonder what the BigDamnHeroes are doing at all when they could leave the entire mission to her and she'd get it done and be back home in time for dinner.

[[CaptainObvious It should go without saying]] that in RealLife, it will take more than just grabbing your opponent's upper arms or wrists and standing there to stop them, regardless of gender. (This depends on the girl, however; often in many cultures, women are ''conditioned'' to submit reflexively to being physically apprehended by a man or matron-- which is probably the history behind the trope).

* Used on Sara in {{Film/Red}}, but justified: the attackers are ''armed CIA agents'', while Sara just works in a cubicle. Would ''you'' try to resist? (The grab would probably have a snowball's chance in hell at working on the movie's other female lead, [[TheDreaded Vic]][[{{Badass}}tor]][[ActionGirl ia]].)

* Though not a physical example, the spirit of the trope is still present in {{The Walking Dead}} when [[spoiler:the Governor threatens to rape Maggie and she makes no real attempt to resist,]] even though he put his gun belt down on the other side of the table. She goes from zombie-killing [[ActionGirl Action Girl]] doing risky supply runs to [[FauxActionGirl giving into torture]] relatively quickly.

** It's highly likely that she was expressing dismay and confusion over the fact that her best friend was [i]intentionally trying to cause her pain[/i] for no reason whatsoever. She might not have physically felt any pain, but Robin's clear attempt at doing so was what frightened her.

** Shepard does it again in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' to [[spoiler: Samara in the Ardat Yakshi monastery]]. Of course, it's mentioned that biotics need precise and exact muscle movements, and Shepard is a super-powered cyborg at both points, so this means that the SFGA is a perfect way to incapacitate biotics as long as they haven't learned how to channel their abilities through their legs.

* In the opening cinematic for ''Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn''. Justified as mages have low strength stats.

** Shepard does it again in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' to [[spoiler: Samara in the Ardat Yakshi monastery]]. Of course, it's mentioned that biotics need precise and exact muscle movements, and Shepard is a super-powered cyborg at both points, so this means that the SFGA is a perfect way to incapacitate biotics.

Note that this could often be justified if the one using the grab is more skilled, or more sufficiently armed. For example, Alice has a knife and is fighting Bob, who also has a knife. Charlie has a club, sword, electric spear and metal armor. He grabs Alice to make his presence known, and Alice knows not to resist or she'll get run through with something.

Note that this trope does not apply if the female character is subjected to an actual combat move such as an armlock [[labelnote:definition]] a single or double joint lock that hyperextends, hyperflexes, or hyperrotates the elbow joint and/or shoulder joint[[/labelnote]] or a hammerlock [[labelnote:definition]]A hammerlock is a shoulder lock where the opponent's arm is held bent against their back, and their hand forced upwards towards the neck, thereby applying pressure to the shoulder joint.[[/labelnote]]. Note also that not every instance of a man grabbing a woman by the arm counts as a use of the StandardFemaleGrabArea, as there really aren't a whole lot of other places that a man can grab a woman that don't carry UnfortunateImplications, especially on a family-oriented show. This trope only comes into play when use of the StandardFemaleGrabArea makes the woman unaccountably helpless or ineffective.

* Not even [[GoldieGoldAndActionJack Goldie Gold's]] [[{{Fiction 500}} limitless wealth]] buys her way out of this trope.

Giving the benefit of the doubt, this trope exists to keep fights interesting. But since it doesn't happen quite as often to guys, it's more likely that [[DoubleStandard gender stereotypes haven't changed as much as we're led to believe]]. Alternatively, when someone tries to calm or incapacitate a guy it's much more socially acceptable to use a believable amount of force--such as punching him, [[TapOnTheHead knocking him out with a weapon]], or beating him senseless. Until the audience gets over its distaste for seeing female characters hurt--and immediately seeing any man who uses force against a woman as a villain--there will be a double standard. A third possibility is that of simple pragmatism: while animators these days have no problems lampshading how ridiculously sexist "chivalry" is, many real life holds on women can come off as perversely sexual (e.g. a full nelson from a strong opponent, while capable of incapacitating the character, also involves her assailant pressing himself behind her, forcing her head down, and spreading her arms from her chest). It doesn't excuse how ridiculous it is for an otherwise strong female to fold this easily, however. Another take from the MediaWatchdogs is that males have a lot less [[UnusualEuphenism real estate]] that would be offensive to grab, leaving few positions for women that would not be reminiscent of [[{{DoubleStandard}} sexual harassment.]] Therefore, a writer might use this as a less graphic shortcut to incur a plot development.

Giving the benefit of the doubt, this trope exists to keep fights interesting. But since it doesn't happen quite as often to guys, it's more likely that [[DoubleStandard gender stereotypes haven't changed as much as we're led to believe]]. Alternatively, when someone tries to calm or incapacitate a guy it's much more socially acceptable to use a believable amount of force--such as punching him, [[TapOnTheHead knocking him out with a weapon]], or beating him senseless. Until the audience gets over its distaste for seeing female characters hurt--and immediately seeing any man who uses force against a woman as a villain--there will be a double standard. A third possibility is that of simple pragmatism: while animators these days have no problems lampshading how ridiculously sexist "chivalry" is, many real life holds on women can come off as perversely sexual (e.g. a full nelson from a strong opponent, while capable of incapacitating the character, also involves her assailant pressing himself behind her, forcing her head down, and spreading her arms from her chest). It doesn't excuse how ridiculous it is for an otherwise strong female to fold this easily, however.

[[folder:Films]]
* ''{{Man of the Year}}'': Eleanor is walking out of a mall when suddenly the BigBad's mook comes and grabs her under the armpit. She squeals and is dragged forcefully to his van. The moment she retaliates and manages to escape is the exact moment he lets go of her.
* Subverted in ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', where Jayne grabs River by the arm in the middle of her rampage through the bar. That fails, so he pins both her arms to her body with a bear hug, and leans on her to hold her down. It looks like she's been handily contained by Jayne's intervention... but then she [[GroinAttack attacks his weakpoint for massive damage]] and [[WaifFu the ninety-pound girl kicks the everliving crap out of him]].
* The ''Film/MortalKombat'' film has the previously shown ActionGirl Sonya Blade being held by the BigBad Shang Tsung with her arm behind her back and gripped by her ponytail. While to be fair this ''is'' likely painful as hell, it has very much the same effect as this trope because Sonya is supposed to be a trained FBI agent and he is yanking her around like a rag doll while she makes absolutely no attempt to fight back. While the movie takes time to remind the viewer that he's '''''a near omnipotent sorcerer''''' and Shang Tsung outclasses pretty much everybody there but Liu Kang, the movie still doesn't show him using any special powers beyond grabbing her arm.
* While Lyra of ''[[HisDarkMaterials The Golden Compass]]'' can be forgiven for suffering from this weakness because she is so young, it's still almost hilariously obvious several times in {{The Film of the Book}}, especially in the FinalBattle.
* ''{{The Wild World of Batwoman}}'' has this used successfully on several girls in a row.

* ''SecretWindow'', where the antagonist drags the conscious and struggling female lead along the ground, face-down, ''by one wrist''. No, the villain is not particularly strong; she was just TooDumbToLive.
* In ''{{Mulan}} II'', one of the Mongolian emperor's guards successfully uses this on Mulan.
* ''MissCongeniality'' absolutely destroys this trope by having Sandra Bullock's character demonstrate self-defense techniques against just such a grapple for the talent portion of the beauty contest.
--> "Hey, hey! It is not a beauty pageant, it is a scholarship program."
* Subverted in ''Film/LiveFreeOrDieHard''. Near the end of the flick, a henchman has Lucy firmly subdued via the StandardFemaleGrabArea while the BigBad, Gabriel, threatens [=McClane=]... but the second the BigBad's back is turned, Lucy smacks the henchman in the face, ''shoots him in the foot with his own gun'' and almost manages to finish out the whole flick by herself. When the henchman get her back under control, he grabs her by the throat and shoves a gun in her face.
-->'''Gabriel''': You got her?
-->'''Henchman''': Yeah.
-->'''Gabriel''': You're ''sure''?
* A justified example comes in the ''PercyJackson'' film. A terrified woman grabs onto Annabeth's hand and renders her unable to fight Medusa - because Medusa turns the woman to stone while she's still holding onto Annabeth's wrist.

* In the 1943 version of ''Film/PhantomOfTheOpera1943'', the Phantom manages to drag Christine all the way down to his underground lair against her will by grabbing her arm with one hand. Justified, as Erik is always described as having near-superhuman strength despite his frail appearance.

* Subverted in ''MassEffect: Redemption''. A sleazy batarian grab's Liara by the arm, thinking that she's for sale. Liara subdues him and his volus companion with a single biotic blast, while Feron, her drell companion, [[FacePalm facepalms]].

* [[GenderFlip Gender-flipped]] in the CiemWebcomicSeries. Candi only defeats Musaran because she musters her strength after a punishing blow to punch him in the face. She was otherwise already paralyzed because [[LightningCanDoAnything Exploding Computer Monitors Can Do Anything]], and because Musaran was using the story's own standard ''male'' grab area (ankles) in the hopes that what works for the gander works for the goose.
** Denny was completely helpless once grabbed by his ankles. Makes sense when you consider [[TheSims the animations that were being rigged]] to create the scene.

* ''MassEffect2'' involves Shepard intervening in a BeamOWar between two exceptionally powerful Asari biotics, by wading into the conflict and twisting the arm of his/her desired target. Alone, Shepard most likely would have been [[SubvertedTrope smushed into paste after this]], but here it serves to break their concentration and opens them up for a CoupDeGrace blast from the other biotic.
** Shepard does it again in ''MassEffect3'' to [[spoiler: Samara in the Ardat Yakshi monastery]]. Of course, [[FridgeBrilliance it's mentioned that biotics need precise and exact muscle movements, and Shepard is a super-powered cyborg at both points, so this means that the SFGA is a perfect way to incapacitate biotics]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode "Haunted," when Robin is hallucinating visions of Slade, he grabs Starfire here angrily, and she exclaims that he's hurting her, despite the fact she seems to possess at least a degree of NighInvulnerability, and he has no superstrength to speak of.

* Aragorn does this to Eowyn in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' when she sees Gandalf performing his magic on a possessed Theoden. However she stops fighting him when Aragorn tells her to wait and as soon as Theoden was back to normal, she pulls away from Aragorn to catch her uncle.