Only men may wear a Carpet of Virility.
"Oh, poppycock! Female bandits? What next? Rubbish!"
— Prince John, Disney's Robin Hood (1973)
Much like roles that are Always Female, there are many roles largely (and often solely) designated to males. The name of the trope, however, is a bit of a misnomer, as some of these tropes can be subverted by making them female. In many cases, however, this doesn't work, especially for those involving love, sex or facial hair.
If a trope that's always male is applied to a female anyway, that's a Gender-Inverted Trope (a.k.a. "rare female example"). Again, this is not possible for many of these tropes, and is often done for comedic effect.
Compare Always Female.
See also Unisex Tropes.
Tropes
Categories:
- Absent-Minded Professor: A forgetful, oblivious scientist.
- Accidental Pervert: A man accidentally stumbles upon one or more women who are bathing, changing, using the bathroom, etc. who then mistake him for a pervert.
- Accidental Pornomancer: Someone, usually a man, keeps getting lots of sex even when he wasn't looking for it.
- Action Dad: A father who's an action hero.
- Action-Hero Babysitter: A macho guy needs to babysit kids.
- The All-American Boy: A usually-white, blue-eyed, American boy who has stereotypical American interests like baseball and apple pie.
- Always Camp: Certain professions are associated with being showy and/or dramatic.
- Amazon Chaser: A man who's attracted to Action Girls.
- Agent Peacock: A sensitive guy who is cool and Badass.
- "Angry Black Man" Stereotype: The stereotype about black men being loud and indignant.
- Angry White Man: A white man who's angry because he thinks white people are being discriminated against.
- Arab Oil Sheikh: A wealthy Arab man in the oil business.
- Archnemesis Dad: Someone's archenemy is their father.
- Armoured Closet Gay: A vocally homophobic man turns out to be gay and in the closet.
- Badass and Child Duo: An older tough guy acts like a surrogate father-figure to a weaker and "purer" female child. He protects her from harm while his healthy cynicism wizens her up to the ways of the world; meanwhile, her idealism and innocence humanizes him and brings out his better side, turning him into a better man than he was at the start of the story. Traditional gender roles between men and women are a lot of what makes this dynamic work. Variations and inversions of the pairing exist but this is the classic setup.
- Baldness Mockery: Insulting a man for being bald or starting to bald.
- Barbaric Bully: A (usually male) schoolyard bully who's very aggressive and evil.
- Barbarian Longhair: A man with long hair is a rugged fighter.
- Basement-Dweller: A geeky man who lives with his parents because he's lazy, childish, socially awkward, or unlucky in love.
- Bastard Bastard: A man who's a bastard by both definitions of the word, i.e. both a jerk and born out of wedlock.
- Battle Butler: A (usually male) servant who fights.
- The Bear: A hairy, gay man.
- Beardness Protection Program: Growing a beard, or shaving one's beard, as a disguise.
- Beard of Barbarism: A barbarian with a huge beard.
- Beard of Evil: A bearded villain.
- Beard of Sorrow: A man grows a beard to signify that he's very sad, sometimes even depressed.
- Big Beautiful Man: A fat man is portrayed as attractive.
- Bigger Is Better in Bed: Larger penises are seen as more attractive.
- Big Prick, Big Problems: A man suffers due to his larger-than-average penis.
- Big Man on Campus: The most popular guy and biggest Nice Guy in a High School setting.
- Big Jerk on Campus: The most popular guy and biggest Jerkass in a High School setting.
- Billionaire Wristband: An unnecessarily fancy men's watch.
- Bishōnen: An androgynous-looking, attractive man.
- Black Is Bigger in Bed: Black men have bigger penises.
- Blaming the Cuckold: The cuckold in question will almost always be male.
- The Bluebeard: A man who murders his wives.
- Boy Band: A five-man singing group, all-male and usually all teens.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: A man who doesn't want his daughter to get a boyfriend, often due to thinking the boyfriend is dangerous.
- Boyish Shorts: Wearing shorts is associated with little boys.
- Briefs Boasting: Men showing off by posing in their underwear.
- Bromantic Foil: In a romance story, a loudmouth guy who's the best friend of the male lead.
- The Bully (Alpha Bitch is the Distaff Counterpart): A boy who gives his schoolmates a hard time.
- Bumbling Dad: The male parent is an idiot.
- The Butcher: A dangerous man with "Butcher" in his name.
- The Cabin Boy: A boy or young man who works as a servant on a ship.
- Camp Gay: A homosexual, feminine male.
- Camp Straight: A heterosexual, feminine male.
- Campy Combat: When campy men fight.
- Carpet of Virility: A hairy man; usually emphasises manliness.
- The Casanova: A man who tends to succeed in having intimate relations with every woman he meets.
- Casanova Wannabe: A man who wants to have sex with every female he meets, but is too tacky and/or unattractive to actually succeed.
- The Charmer: A man who's cocky and romantic, but kinder and less horny than The Casanova.
- Chick Magnet: A man who always gets attention from the ladies.
- Chippendales Dancers: Muscular male strippers who performed for women.
- Chivalrous Pervert: A straight man who's horny, but respects the women at the same time.
- Circumcision Angst: Penises are male sexual organs, so all examples of a character upset about being circumcised will be male.
- Cigar Chomper: A tough guy who's always smoking cigars.
- Cock Fight: Men fight over a shared, female love interest.
- Cool Old Guy: An old man who's portrayed as cool.
- Crazy Jealous Guy
- Creepy Crossdresser: Crossdressing being Played for Horror.
- Crippling Castration
- Crusty Caretaker
- Cultured Badass
- Dads Can't Cook: The father is a Lethal Chef.
- Dad the Veteran
- The Dandy: A man who likes clothes; the Distaff Counterpart is The Fashionista.
- Dastardly Whiplash
- Depraved Homosexual: A gay man who is unsavory in one way or another, often by being so sex-crazed that they have no qualms over raping straight men.
- Directionless Driver: A driver, usually a man, who refuses to ask for directions.
- Dirty Old Man: An elderly man who is perverted.
- Disappeared Dad: A character's mother is present and accounted for, but not their father.
- Disguised in Drag: A man disguises himself as a woman.
- Distressed Dude: A man in need of rescue; the female version is Damsel in Distress.
- Dogged Nice Guy: A man who relentlessly tries to make his female love interest return his affections.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: A mean guy whose job is training military cadets.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: A feminine-looking man is mistaken for a woman.
- Dumbass Teenage Son: A stupid teenage boy.
- Dumb Muscle: A dumb, brawny guy.
- Dynamic Akimbo: An action pose involving the hands on the hips and a confident expression.
- Effeminate Misogynistic Guy: A male who has a negative perspective about women despite being feminine himself.
- Effeminate Voice: A high voice on a man hints that he's stereotypically feminine.
- Emasculated Cuckold: A man whose wife cheats on him and is unmanly or insecure about his manliness as a result.
- Eunuchs Are Evil: A castrated male villain.
- The Evil Prince: A prince who does evil in his attempts to become king.
- Family Man: A guy who's very loyal to his spouse and kids.
- A Father to His Men: A commander who cares deeply about their (usually his) underlings.
- Fat, Sweaty Southerner in a White Suit: A shady, fat, Southern-American man who wears a white suit.
- Father Neptune: An old, experienced sailor.
- Father's Quest: When the plot centres around a father trying to protect or find their child, usually their daughter.
- Favors for the Sexy: All the men hurry to do favours for a woman they find hot to impress her.
- Fiendish Fraternity: A fraternity full of bullying and/or sexual assault. The female equivalent is Sinister Sorority Sisters.
- The Fighting Narcissist: A (usually male) fighter who's extremely vain.
- Final Battle-Induced Shirt Loss: The protagonist loses his shirt in an epic battle with the villain.
- Firemen Are Hot: Male firefighters are portrayed as attractive.
- Fratbro: A male college student who's dopey, horny, and a party animal.
- Fundoshi: A type of Japanese loincloth generally worn by men.
- Furry Baldness: A male Funny Animal who's bald in the sense that he's lost his "human hair" but still has fur or feathers.
- Gag Penis: The penis is a male sexual organ, so all examples of a character with a comically large penis can be assumed to be male, or on rare occasions, transgender.
- The Gambler: A character whose shtick is being a gambler.
- Gay Bravado: A straight guy who acts gay just to prove how macho he is.
- Gay Cowboy: A cowboy, or cowboy cosplayer, who is gay.
- Gayngster: A gay gangster.
- The Generalissimo: An evil military leader of a (usually fictional) third-world country.
- Gentleman Adventurer: A wealthy, usually British, man, who likes to go on adventures for fun.
- Gentleman Detective: A wealthy, educated, male detective.
- Gentleman Thief: A classy male burglar.
- Gentleman Wizard: An aristocratic man who does magic, or at least something similar to magic.
- G.I.R.L.: The belief that women on the Internet are actually men pretending to be women.
- The Good King: A virtuous king.
- Good Ol' Boy: A Southern-American, right-wing man.
- Gorgeous George: An effeminate wrestling villain.
- Grease Monkey: A grungy mechanic.
- Great White Hunter: A heroic, usually male, hunter.
- Groin Attack: Those on the receiving end of this are almost always male. Exceptions are extremely rare.
- The Grunting Orgasm: Men grunt when they have orgasms.
- Gym Bunny: A gay man who exercises profusely due to wanting a toned body.
- Handsome Heroic Caveman: A caveman who's oddly well-groomed for a caveman.
- Handsome Lech: An attractive Casanova Wannabe whose personality hinders his sexual conquests.
- Handy Man: A friendly repairman.
- He-Man Woman Hater: A man who is openly misogynistic.
- Henpecked Husband: A husband who submissively does whatever his wife tells him to without even trying to object.
- High-School Hustler: A rebellious, scheming high school student, usually a boy.
- Hobos: Homeless people, usually men, who travel a lot, usually by train, and make money through odd-jobs, deliberately avoiding hard work.
- Hollywood Action Hero: The stereotypical protagonist of a campy action flick, who possesses most or all of these traits: male, either stoic or mouthy, Book Dumb but practical, heroic, rugged-looking, and a fighter.
- Hot Men at Work: Workmen portrayed for fanservice, usually due to shirtlessness.
- House Husband: A husband who stays at home and does housework while his wife goes to work.
- Howard Hughes Homage: A parody of Howard Hughes.
- Hunk: A man who's very conventionally handsome.
- Husky Russkie: A big, beefy, Russian guy.
- Incredibly Conspicuous Drag: A drag queen who doesn't look anything like a woman.
- Instant Soprano: Getting hit in the groin causes a man to have a high-pitched, feminine-sounding voice.
- Jaded Washout: Someone, usually a man, who was popular in high school, but is now cynical and downtrodden.
- Jerk Jock: A brutish high school boy.
- Kavorka Man: A man is successful with women in spite of being ugly or unpleasant.
- Keet: A small, energetic guy.
- KidAnova: A little boy who's already a serial dater.
- Knight Errant: A travelling knight.
- Knight in Shining Armor: A heroic knight.
- Ladykiller in Love: A playboy who falls genuinely in love for once.
- A Lady on Each Arm: A man shows up with two girlfriends to show he's attractive.
- Lawman Gone Bad: A law enforcement guy who turns evil.
- Lazy Husband: A husband who lounges around while his wife does all the work.
- Leatherman: A gay man who wears leather.
- Leg Cling: A hunky man with a woman holding onto his leg.
- The Loins Sleep Tonight: A man can't get it up.
- Long John Shout-Out: A (usually male) pirate whose name puns on Long John Silver.
- Looks Like Jesus: A guy with Jesus-y hair.
- Lovable Jock: A Nice Guy who's athletic.
- Macho Camp: A beefy guy who acts campy.
- Macho Masochism: A man injures himself to prove he's tough.
- Magical Seventh Son: The seventh son of a seventh son has magical powers.
- Manchild (The Ingenue is the Distaff Counterpart): A childish man.
- Man in a Bikini: Men in bikinis played for laughs.
- Man in a Kilt: Men in kilts are attractive.
- Manly Gay: A homosexual, masculine male.
- Manly Man: A man who's very stereotypically masculine.
- Marty Stu: A male Mary Sue.
- Men Can't Keep House: Men are bad at chores.
- Mighty Lumberjack: Lumberjacks are associated with toughness.
- Miles Gloriosus: A guy who pretends he's done amazing things.
- Millionaire Playboy: A lustful, wealthy guy.
- Mister Seahorse: A man gets pregnant.
- Momma's Boy: A man or boy who's very close to his mother.
- Morally Bankrupt Banker: An evil, greedy banker.
- Mountain Man: A man who lives rough in the North American mountains.
- Mr. Fanservice: A male character who tends to provide fanservice.
- Mr. Fixit: Someone, usually a man, who's very good at repair work.
- Mysterious Protector: An enigmatic man who aids the heroine and disappears.
- Neet: An unemployed man; usually stereotyped as lazy.
- Nice Jewish Boy: A Nice Guy who's Jewish.
- Noble Male, Roguish Male: A sophisticated man is paired with a boorish man.
- Nocturnal Emission: Ejaculating in one's sleep. Also known as a wet dream.
- Non-Action Guy: A man who's cowardly and/or bad at fighting.
- Non-Action Snarker: Subtrope of Non-Action Guy, for when he's got a sharp tongue as well.
- No Shirt, Long Jacket: A brave, shirtless man in a longcoat.
- No Woman's Land: A place that's terrible for a woman to live.
- Officer and a Gentleman: A high-class, gentlemanly officer.
- Old Man Conversation Song: A country song about talking to an old man.
- Old-School Chivalry: A man with outdated ideas of how to be polite to women.
- The Old Convict: A guy who's been in prison for ages.
- The One Guy: The singular male character in a group of female characters.
- One-Man Song: A song named after a man.
- One of the Girls: A man whose friends are all or mostly women.
- Overlord Jr.: The son or nephew of the villain.
- Papa Wolf: A man who gets very angry if someone wrongs his child(ren). The equivalent for women is Mama Bear.
- The Patriarch: An old, or sometimes middle-aged, man who leads a family.
- Pec Flex: A man shows off by flexing his pecs.
- Perma-Shave: A guy who never grows facial hair despite supposedly being too busy to shave.
- Perma-Stubble: Unshaven men are action heroes.
- Pervert Dad: A man with an incestuous interest in his own daughter.
- Playboy Has a Daughter: A guy who was once a Casanova now has a little girl to raise.
- Pretty Boy: A man who's pretty.
- Prince Charming: A noble prince.
- Prince Charming Wannabe: A man who wants to be a dashing, romantic hero to a woman, but she's just not interested.
- Prince Charmless: A nobleman who's boring or mean.
- Princely Young Man: A man who behaves like a prince but isn't one.
- Puddle-Covering Chivalry: A man who covers a puddle with his jacket so a woman can cross it.
- The Quarterback: A teen boy who's the captain of his high school sports team.
- Quintessential British Gentleman: A stereotypical fancy British guy.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Inverts the belief that anything feminine has to be avoided; a guy who's normally a stereotypical Manly Man, but has one or two interests associated with women.
- Rebel Prince: A prince who doesn't want to do princely things.
- Right-Hand Hottie: A male secretary or similar played for fanservice.
- Right Through His Pants: Men have sex while still wearing pants.
- Samurai: Almost any fictional depiction will have men. It's somewhat of a subversion since female samurai known as onna-musha or onna-bugeisha did exist for much of Feudal Japan's history.
- Scary Black Man: A large, intimidating, black guy.
- Schlubby, Scummy Security Guard:
- Screams Like a Little Girl: A man does a high-pitched scream.
- Senior Sleep-Cycle: Seniors, usually old men, are sleepyheads.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: One man is feminine, and the other is masculine.
- Sex Is Evil, and I Am Horny: A horny guy who nevertheless believes Sex Is Evil.
- Sexist Used Car Salesman: A used car salesman who always sells the cruddiest cars to the women because he expects them to know nothing about cars.
- Sexy Man, Instant Harem: Women always swarm the Casanova.
- Sexy Priest: A priest, usually young, portrayed as sexy.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: A well-dressed guy.
- Shirtless Captives: Male prisoners are stripped of their shirts.
- Shirtless Scene: Shirtlessness portrayed for fanservice.
- Sissy Villain: A villain who dresses effeminately.
- The Slacker: A character, usually a man, who doesn't like making efforts.
- Small-Town Tyrant: A tyrannical hillbilly who runs a small town.
- Southern Gentleman: A charming (with the possible exception of being racist) Southern-American guy.
- Standard '50s Father: A reliable father in the '50s.
- Stout Strength: A strong, fat man.
- Straw Misogynist: A guy whose extreme sexism makes him a Straw Character.
- Stumbling Upon the Lost Wizard: Lost characters happen upon a mysterious, helpful guy who's either a wizard or an eccentric scientist.
- Surfer Dude: A guy who behaves like a stereotypical surfer, without necessarily actually surfing.
- Tarzan Boy: A white man who lives in the jungle.
- Teeny Weenie: Jokes about men with small penises.
- Tenor Boy: Male musical protagonists are usually tenors.
- Testes Test: A man feels his gonads to make sure they're uninjured and/or still there.
- Testosterone Brigade: A work generally seen as being for women has a group of men in the fanbase anyway.
- Testosterone Poisoning: Highly exaggerated depictions of "manliness."
- The Three Faces of Adam: Three men who represent the stages of a man's life: the Hunter who represents youthful ambition, the Lord who represents adulthood and balance, and the Prophet, who represents elderly wisdom.
- Time-Passage Beard: Men tend to grow beards, so a character growing a long beard to signify that a long amount of time has passed can be expected to be male.
- Tiny Schoolboy: A short teenage boy, who's insecure about his height.
- Top-Heavy Guy: A man with a huge torso and arms, but skinny legs.
- Troubled, but Cute: Someone who's rough-around-the-edges, but attractive to peers. Usually a teenage boy.
- Trumplica: Parodies of Donald Trump.
- Tunnel King: A guy who's an expert on burrowing.
- Turn Your Head and Cough: Instructions given to a male patient during a physical examination.
- Understanding Boyfriend: A boyfriend who's perfectly okay with his girlfriend (or, more rarely, boyfriend) being supernatural.
- Unlucky Everydude: A generic, unlucky guy.
- Useless Boyfriend: A guy who's normally competent, but when his action heroine girlfriend shows up, he's useless and always needs her help.
- Very Punchable Man: A jerkish guy whose only role in the story is being beaten up.
- Waistcoat of Style: Men in waistcoats are stylish and/or quirky.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Someone who never wears a shirt. Almost always a man due to the taboo surrounding women's nipples.
- Weird Beard: A male hairless creature or robot has something beard-like.
- White Bread and Black Brotha: An uptight white man is paired with a black man who's street-smart and a stereotypical Soul Brotha.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: A man who likes to dress in women's clothing.
- The Wise Prince: An honorable, but often cynical, nobleman.
- Wizard Beard: Wizards have long, usually white, beards.
- World's Strongest Man: A man known for being the strongest person, or at least the strongest man, in the world.
- Would Hit a Girl: Men attacking women is portrayed as a particularly bad thing.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: A man who refuses to attack women.
- Young Gun: A young man who carries a gun.
