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"You see? Never be late for a plane with a girl. 'Cause a girl runs like a girl, with the little steps and the arms flailing out... You wanna make this plane, you gotta run like a man! Get your knees up!"
Jerry Seinfeld to Elaine Benes, Seinfeld, "The Airport"

A gait particular to female characters (and sometimes used to mock effeminate males). The Big Heroic Run is typically done with expert form: long strides, locked viewpoint and consistent arm movement. This is functionally the opposite, a serious attempt at running that lacks any semblance of efficiency and athletic coordination.

Among many possible forms of the Girly Run:

  • Upper arms are kept against the sides in order to control "bounce", with the lower arms flared out, wrists bent and fingers lightly touching each other (rather than the hand being clenched or in a bladed shape). Probably the iconic image of the trope.
  • Lower arms do not swing consistently, acting different from each other with every run cycle whether it be the height of the motion or odd horizontal movement.
  • Legs are held close together but the calves may windmill out slightly, giving her a knock-kneed look, with fairly shorts steps that can be called a "twinkle toes" form.
  • Feet are planted straight down with exaggerated knee lifts, as though she were marching.
  • Her back is carried straight up from the hips to the shoulders, in extreme cases may even lean back slightly.
  • Full on windmill patterns with their arms, as though they are hoping to gain speed like an airplane propeller.
  • Arms kept flat against their body and weight is transferred through their shoulders.
  • Minor variants include running only on the toes (the way a barefoot person runs) or on the heel (as someone wearing running shoes does); and flapping hands.

Obviously, this is not very efficient from a biomechanical perspective. Game characters with girly runs will often seem unreasonably slow. It puts the character at very high risk of breaking a heel.

Any women with athletic training is likely to avoid this but there are a handful out there. It's also not exclusive to women and can be excused through the clothing they are wearing at the time or unusual terrain that prevents a traditional sprinting form.

This is similar to Airplane Arms, but whereas Airplane Arms conveys exuberance and confidence, this conveys exaggerated femininity and lack of confidence. Contrast Ninja Run, The Slow Walk, Silly Walk, Supermodel Strut, Team Power Walk, and Unflinching Walk.


Examples:

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    Advertising 
  • Averted in the Always #LikeAGirl campaign. When asked to run like a girl (fight like a girl, throw like a girl, etc.), the people did something silly... with the exception of the little girls themselves.

    Anime & Manga 
  • In Episode 8 of Tenchi Universe, a Mihoshi!Washu Clone does this.
  • Iyami and Nyaa-chan do this in the second opening of Osomatsu-san.
  • Azaka Kokuto from The Garden of Sinners noticeably ran like this when she did a Foe-Tossing Charge, although it might be because she was running on the backs of pews to get directly to her target.
  • The opening credits of Excel♡Saga give Hyatt an exaggerated version of this, alongside a loose-limbed Excel.
  • Mikuru in Haruhi Suzumiya, especially in the student film shown in the first episode. It doesn't control her bouncing, though.
    • Further exemplified in the opening of Haruhi's second season, Super Driver. She clearly stands out from the rest of the SOS Brigade.
  • Momomiya Ichigo from Tokyo Mew Mew. As Mew Ichigo, she seems to lose the reflex completely, her movements visibly shifting from schoolgirl to catgirl.
  • While Naruto is better known for the Ninja Run and Airplane Arms, certain female characters tend to run like this, Sakura being the biggest culprit.
  • During the ending credits of Blue Drop the silhouettes of Hagino and Mari are shown running in this manner. This is a bit weird since in the series they run normally and generally don't behave overly girly.
  • Ryuubi from Ikki Tousen runs like this, when she is not tearing up the place in her dragon form.
  • Lynette does this in episode 12 of Strike Witches. Maybe that's why she was the last one to arrive at the base.
  • For some reason, Nanoha routinely did this in the first season of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Fortunately for anyone taking her seriously, she could and did fly more often than not when in costume. She later grows out of it as an adult, but she is succeeded by her Expy Caro who is even pinker than Nanoha.
    • Again in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 2nd A's as Nanoha reminisces about the importance of meeting Fate and how much she means to her. After a brief stop to catch her breath and continue, Nanoha sees Fate is really there and we get to see a double girly run as Fate also runs to Nanoha's encounter. After six months apart, they end their run in an emotional hug.
  • Casca from Berserk is a Tom Boy Action Girl, but she still has a very girly run with her arms aloft.
  • Gilbert from PandoraHearts does this in the first omake.
  • Kagome of Inuyasha does a bit of this throughout the show.
  • Female characters in Dragon Ball with the exception of Android 18, run like this e.g Maron.
  • Madoka Kaname in Puella Magi Madoka Magica, especially in the opening.
    • Mami does this while leading Madoka through Charlotte's barrier in episode 3.
    • Homura Akemi does this back when she was Moemura in the first timeline, and, recovering from a heart condition, she'd just come from a 6-month long stint in a hospital bed.
  • Nova / Yuki in Star Blazers / Space Battleship Yamato runs this way.
  • Emporio Ivankov's paramilitary legion of crossdressing men in One Piece run like this.
  • Pretty Cure:
  • Izaya from Durarara!! lapses into this occasionally. Also skipping. He's also one of the most dangerous characters in the series.
  • Beelzebub has Furuichi (as well as several other characters as of late) running like a bitch.
  • Little Busters!: Mio and Haruka run like this in the OP.
  • Episode 6 of Attack on Titan features the rather surreal scene of a Titan running this way.
  • In Love Lab, Maki, Suzune, and Eno run this way. The tomboyish Riko and Sayori run normally.
  • Mekakucity Actors: Momo briefly runs this way while fleeing a horde of fans in episode 2.
    • Hiyori also runs this way in episode 4.
  • Cecilia in Infinite Stratos runs like this, most notably in the ending.
  • In Act 1 of Sailor Moon Crystal, Sailor Moon makes her public debut while yelling at Monster of the Week Morga assertively, but then enters the scene with arms upraised and unsteady gait, along with the Slo Mo effect usually reserved for an Unflinching Walk. It underscores that, while Usagi's heart's in the right place, she's really green at the Magical Girl Warrior thing. While her running in-series improves to match her growing up, the opening to Season 3 falls back to this trope.
  • J. Geil from Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders runs in this as he tries to flee from Kakyoin and Polnareff before being killed by them. Mariah runs like this too.
  • In Magic Knight Rayearth, Hikaru and Umi run normally. Fuu, the excessively polite Meganekko, tends to do the "arms pressed to her side with dainty hands" type.
  • Kokona runs like this during the first ending of Encouragement of Climb Season 2. It stands out even more because the other three girls, even the non-athletic Aoi, are all running like pros alongside her.
  • Shinoa of Seraph of the End does this occasionally.
  • New Game!: In "What Happens if I'm Late for Work?", Aoba and Yun bond over their lack of athleticism and "weird" way of running. They challenge themselves to a "weird run" race and sprint from the subway to their office doing full-on Girly Runs. Aoba ends up face-planting, complete with comical slide whistle sound effect.
  • In Your Name, Mitsuha's run is decently feminine: her arms still flail about but not in a too ridiculous kind of way, and she does form fists.

    Comic Books 
  • Wayne Boring, the definitive Superman artist in the early Silver Age, seemed very fond of drawing women with their arms in this position, even when they were just standing around.

    Films — Animation 
  • Deliberately averted for the eponymous heroine of Millennium Actress according to Word of God. Director Satoshi Kon felt it was important that Chiyoko's gait be as elegant as possible (since she spends so much time on-screen — and in a figurative sense, almost the entire movie — just running.)
  • However, in his film Tokyo Godfathers Kon plays this trope for all its worth with Hana the transvestite. Especially effective when Hana girly-runs past a surprised pedestrian while thundering, "She's a baby thief!"
  • Pictured above: Paprika from Paprika breaks into this at multiple points in the film. It makes sense, given her nature as hyper-feminized libido incarnate. And used effectively near the end of the film: when Atsuko transforms in Paprika to fight the dream-creatures intruding into the real world, she starts running like a normal person, then you see her running like Paprika, then you see Paprika.
  • In Turning Red, Mei runs like this as she desperately tries to get home after turning into her giant red panda form at school for the first time.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Final Girl Sally runs like this in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1974, swinging her arms side to side, clearly much too terrified to do anything else.
  • Parodied and lampshaded in the third Austin Powers movie where Scott Evil, who's previously been just an everyday teenager, is suddenly revealed to run in an exceedingly girly fashion. He's also sobbing madly. The below quote, by Dr. Evil, is said immediately after that. What makes this even funnier, is that not even ten minutes later, after formulating a plan with his brother, Austin Powers, he can be seen running like a girl.
    Dr. Evil I'd like to point out that nobody else in my gene pool runs like a girl.
  • The Flash (2023). When the title character is running at Super-Speed his running style is a very distinctive form emulating a gazelle or speed skating. Then he gets Brought Down to Normal and when he tries running, it looks more like this trope.
  • Friday, Red has a very unmanly run.
  • In Stand by Me it was used as an acting technique. Wil Wheaton was required by the plot to lose a foot race to River Phoenix but discovered that he couldn't do it naturally. He found that by flailing his limbs about, it slowed him down enough to lose but at the same time he looked like he was actually trying harder to win.
  • In Independence Day, Marty runs like this in the office.
  • The dressmaker in Kung Fu Hustle runs a bit like this. He's a guy. Not to mention a highly skilled martial artist.
  • Steven Seagal especially in Hard to Kill has the girliest run ever used by an action movie star. He seems to lose control of his arm while sprinting. This is a problem for Seagal in all his films.
  • Likely due to the way it was filmed, a young Clark Kent in Superman: The Movie has a very girly run when he races a train.
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Captain Jack Sparrow uses the "arms flailing wildly" variant of a girly run; see it here. It's particularly noticeable in comparison in Dead Man's Chest to the much more efficient running style of the cannibals. This is eventually lampshaded in the fourth film (it went more or less like this):
    Jack: You run like a girl.
    Angelica: And you don't?
  • Captain Jack's run was inspired by the way Tuco ran through the cemetery in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Tuco's run differed in that he didn't flail his arms, he tended to keep them down and slightly out from his sides. This is amusingly dissonant to his manic, larger-than-life personality.
  • The pilots of Manta Squadron in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow run like girls, for the excellent reason that they are girls.
  • Likewise La Résistance charging in to save the day in Queen of Outer Space, as they're in a Lady Land. It's not like the rest of the movie is any less ridiculous.
  • Demonstrated by Alfred in The Burning as he runs from Cropsy, who just knocked out Todd.
  • Yor: The Hunter from the Future. The manliness of the handsome shirtless Future Primitive is rather impaired by Yor doing this in his introductory scene, as he jogs around the stone towers of Cappadocia, Turkey. As Something Awful put it:
    Filmmaking hint: it's a terrible idea to establish a character by making him run down a steep hill. The human body isn't built for it, and our ill-suited legs can only compensate with flailing, galloping baby steps.
  • Spy: Rayna Boyanova runs this way towards the end of the film to escape the car park. She is also justified because she is wearing high heels and a tight dress
  • MarsAttacks: Cindy Gomez and especially Barbara Land thus run to escape the bombardment of the Martians who attack Las Vegas

    Literature 
  • In the Tom Clancy novel Red Storm Rising, one of the protagonists (an intelligence officer in the US Navy Reserve, at that point), comments that the protagonist character in a Soviet film he's watching runs like a girl when coming ashore from a boat. The other person watching the film with him, a Marine with amphibious landing experience, retorts that the other should try running through the surf to shore, and see how he looks.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Probably not intentional, but Avon from Blake's 7 gets a bit... flaily when he runs. Justified in that he's a computer technician. The same excuse can be used for Blake, an engineer. Travis on the other hand, is occasionally shown virtually skipping due to the small size of the sets, despite his Ax-Crazy tough-guy character.
  • On Burn Notice Michael Westen runs like a girl while posing as a nerdy chemist so that he will be caught by a gang of drug thieves and be forced to infiltrate them.
  • Peter Capaldi in just about anything he's in.
    • Malcolm Tucker from The Thick of It and In the Loop is an aggressive, terrifying, foul-mouthed, violent alpha male... who runs like a girl.
    • He already ran like a girl back when he was Danny in Local Hero. It came across as rather adorable then.
    • Even as the Twelfth Doctor, he still runs like that.
      Bill: Why do you run like that?
      The Doctor: Like what?
      Bill: Like a penguin with its arse on fire.
      The Doctor: ... Ergonomics.
  • When Ken is being chased by Bart in the first episode of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, he demonstrates a decidedly unimpressive running style. It's made all the worse by the fact that Bart, who the name notwithstanding is a girl, runs a lot more skillfully (and quickly catches up with him).
  • GoGo Sentai Boukenger. The DaiBouken does this when Natsuki is behind the wheel.
  • On one episode of NCIS, while investigating a suspicious businesswoman, the team has reason to believe her rather... effeminate assistant is hiding important information for her, and chase him down in the parking lot. The chase scene involves the terrified assistant running like a girl in a B horror movie from DiNozzo until Gibbs cuts them off and catches him. When Gibbs questions his inability to end the chase, a breathless DiNozzo can only defend himself by saying that the assistant's running style was "surprisingly efficient."
  • Lynda Carter in Wonder Woman has a pretty feminine sprint male viewers weren't fussed about it. Gal Gadot has a more dignified run in her film.
  • NewsRadio: At a Halloween party, Dave, dressed like a girl, gets in an argument with Lisa, who runs off. Dave sighs and runs after her, in heels, with no trouble. His The Kids in the Hall background served him well...
  • On Seinfeld, Elaine showed herself to have a girly run criticized by Jerry. Later, Kramer complains George is running the same way.
  • That '70s Show: When Fez encounters racism for the first time (or the first time he noticed, anyway), Kelso sits him down and explains that there will always be people who don't like him because of the color of his skin, or his accent, or "that girly way you run."
  • Married... with Children: The famous Peggy Bundy Run. Any time Peg has to move quickly, it can be best described as a T-Rex in drag. According to Katey Sagal, it was the only way she could walk in the heels she always wore in character.

    Video Games 
  • Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean: Downplayed with Xelha, who properly leans forward while running, but still keeps her arms at chest level.
  • Princess Zelda has a pretty damn girly run, especially in Super Smash Bros., though at least that version of Zelda is wearing a dress, what's the pant-wearing Zelda from Breath of the Wild's excuse?
    • The Smash Ultimate version of Zelda has her own more down-to-earth version of the girly run. She even runs faster than her two predecessors.
    • The carpenters got a very girly run in the 3DS remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. And it was already extremely girly in the N64 original!
  • Princess Peach and, surprisingly, Ganondorf in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
  • Namine from Kingdom Hearts. Xion and Aqua have normal-looking runs, which might have something to do with the fact that they're playable characters. Kairi has a normal-looking run for most of Kingdom Hearts II, but when she gets a girly run with Namine in one scene, let's just say the animators didn't do things by halves.
  • All living characters in the Fatal Frame games run slowly and in the girliest, most delicate manner possible. Even the males.note  Special mention goes to Miku Hinasaki, the de facto Player Character from the first game, who becomes even girlier in the third one, complete with flailing arms. The "unreasonably slow" part is subverted in Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water, where if the player characters are outdoors where there's actual room to run around like a street or forest trail, they will book it.
  • The main character of Shadow of the Colossus, even though he's a guy who kills 50 foot stone monsters by stabbing them all for love. Although he is holding stuff.
    • To clarify, Wander doesn't do a "dainty" girly run — he's more of the "wild arm-swinging" variety of girly run. Of course, this could be perceived as clumsiness rather than effeminacy.
  • Shows up frequently in Bethesda RPGs such as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4. The female characters have a very noticeably girly run.
  • The Final Fantasy series is fond of this trope
    • Aerith in Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, though she moves with a lot more ladylike dignity when she's older. This gets amusing in the 'escape from Shinra tower' cutscene in the original game, where (likely due to the graphical hurdles posed by her long dress) everyone else is running out of the tower, while Aerith is simply daintily walking at the same speed.
    • Zigzagged with Tifa in the Final Fantasy VII Remake in the casual non-fighting gameplay sections and quite a few cutscenes she has a fairly girly running animation with her arms swinging. When it comes to fighting however she switches to a decidedly more badass sprint.
    • Selphie of Final Fantasy VIII does this, which makes her stick out a bit when she's disguised as a male Galbadian soldier...
    • Rinoa walks normally, but while running has a subdued version of a girly run.
    • Princess Garnet in IX goes all out with this, especially when you control her. But then again, she is a princess.
    • Rikku and Yuna in Final Fantasy X. Lulu holds up her skirt just a little bit.
    • Particularly noticeable in Final Fantasy X-2 where Yuna is your controllable character and seems to put so much extra movement into running that she should be dead tired after five minutes.
    • Vanille in Final Fantasy XIII
    • Serah in Final Fantasy XIII-2 runs with an exaggerated prance with arms swinging at her side.
    • Female Midlander Hyurs' running animation in Final Fantasy XIV running animation is noticeably girly, especially compared to the females of other races that have more standard running animations.
    • Terra Branford in Dissidia Final Fantasy
  • Silent Hill:
    • Heather, the protagonist of Silent Hill 3, has a rather girly run.
    • Henry, from Silent Hill 4: The Room runs almost exactly like Heather whenever he's holding a weapon he needs to carry with both hands.
  • Ash from Streets of Rage 3. He's an evil transvestite.
  • Colette from Tales of Symphonia.
  • Atelier Totori's titular main character has a particularly blatant example. The huge trails from the bow she wears doesn't help, nor does the fact that she's the on-screen character.
  • The default female walking/running animation in Second Life is a sort of mincing waddle with the forearms flailing stiffly at the sides. (Well, the male default animation isn't really any better.) It looks frankly ridiculous; getting an animation override for this at the earliest opportunity is strongly recommended.
  • Most characters in Eternal Sonata run this way if they have long sleeves or a big skirt/dress to avoid the models touching. This gets to the point where characters continually are holding their arms out to the side.
    • Polka not only runs like this - she stands still like this; her arms never rest against her body but are held out in a feminine way.
  • The protagonist of Des Blood 4, Esk Anderson, does this as well.
  • Hinako from The King of Fighters runs almost exactly as it's mentioned in the trope description.
  • In My World, My Way, the princess does this whenever she's walking through a dungeon.
  • Pyra, one of the main blades that accompanies The Hero Rex in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, moves noticeably like this for her running animation to emphasize her femininity. It's especially obvious compared to her Alternate Self and sister Mythra, who while still very feminine in her appearance, runs in a more neutral manner to reflect her more brash personality.
  • Resident Evil
  • Subverted and then played straight in the form of a Girly WALK in Bayonetta. She runs in a somewhat feminized version of the normal action-hero run, but when she walks... wow. Her pelvis basically dislodges with each step.
  • Edge Maverick from Star Ocean: The Last Hope runs like this in the scene when you have to save Sarah from Tamiel and his gang.
  • Roger Wilco starts running like this when he crossdresses in Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers.
  • Many female civilians will flee from a gun-wielding player in Saints Row 2 in a very exaggerated Girly Run.
  • In Neo Steam, female characters that aren't of the Pom race tend to do the lower body half of this when they're not carrying a two-handed weapon. It's somewhat jarring out of elves and lyell (catgirls) since you would associate such races with gracefulness.
  • Leanne from Resonance of Fate runs this way when carrying a single handgun or dual-wielded guns. When running with healing items, grenades, or a single machine gun her run looks much more natural.
  • Marion Wolfe of Outcast does not run. She flounces.
  • Thomas Maclaine of Deadly Premonition has one, as befitting his naturally timid nature. It also become something of Foreshadowing to his status as a Depraved Homosexual.
  • Zhen Ji of Dynasty Warriors runs like this, except one hand is held slightly lower to carry her flute. So do the Qiao Sisters.
    • Enterprising fans have hacked at least one version of the game to swap out character models while retaining the same animation, so any of the characters can be given girly runs.
  • In the first Baten Kaitos game, the party's White Magician Girl, Xelha, has a downright hilarious run.
  • During Triss' brief appearance in the prologue of The Witcher she has this in place of the normal run animation most people use.
  • This trope is somewhat present in Dragon Age - females of all races hold their arms up close to the body with minimal swing and loose hands as they appear to hop-jog in their intended direction, whereas males pump their arms and run like, you know, normal people do.
  • In Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel, fem!PCs move their hips overmuch when they run. Like, really overmuch.
  • Tsuruhime from Sengoku Basara runs like this, holding her bow in one hand. It's a wonder how anyone can run so fast with their knees bent at such an angle. Her Idle Animation also has her sway mincingly from side to side for no apparent reason other than to look girly.
  • Jennifer from Rule of Rose runs like this. She also fights in an extremely stereotypical girly manner - she covers her eyes while she stabs the enemies!
  • Chie despite being a Tom Boy still has a slightly more girlish running animation in Persona 4: Arena compared to the males.
  • Florian, Niko's Camp Gay former Army buddy, runs like this in Grand Theft Auto IV.
  • Rain from the Fear Effect series definitely runs like this. Hana does not. This serves as a contrast between the two characters, with Hana being more masculine and Rain being more feminine.
  • BlazBlue: Amane Nishiki doesn't just look like a girl. He runs like a girl too.
  • Alice from Shadow Hearts keeps her body straight and wildly flails her arms while running, which you can see when you briefly take control of her in several sections.
  • Mother 3:
  • If you put your player character in a dress or skirt in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, they do this. Yes, even if you're using a male character that you put a dress on.
  • Every female wrestler does in WWF No Mercy.
  • Spyro's walk cycle in Spyro: A Hero's Tail looks a lot like prancing honestly.
  • The female protagonist of Yo-kai Watch, Katie, runs like this.
  • Nanashi can be customized to run like this in Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed once he's unlocked the ability to wear women's clothes.
  • Female Inklings and Octolings in Splatoon have the "arms slightly down and out at the sides" variation when in the Hub World. Averted when in the midst of a fight, where gender is purely aesthetic.
  • In the Sonic the Hedgehog game series, Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit, and Rouge the Bat will start off running like this, though they'll stop once they reach full speed. Hilariously, in Sonic Advance 2, Amy will Girly Spin Dash.
  • Street Fighter's ninja girl Ibuki does this in Shadow Falls. In-game she has a more practical run.
  • Lilith's walking animation in Darkstalkers is more or less a hopping-on-tiptoes variation of this, reflecting her more playful and childish nature compared to Morrigan. She does it both forward and backwards.
  • Yandere Simulator: Otohiko Meichi is ridiculed for his feminine mannerisms. He is notably the only character, male or female, who runs with his arms kept high.
  • Lolo from Klonoa has this gait, at least in her debut game Lunatea's Veil during cutscenes, going quite well with her kind-hearted but shy personality, which contrasts with Leorina's more tomboyish personality.
  • Agnea from Octopath Traveler II has this run cycle, fitting her upbeat nature and dreams of becoming a worldwide star.

    Web Animation 
  • Helluva Boss: Stolas had this run in his younger years. Justified, seeing how he was (and still is) much more of a bookworm than an athlete.

    Web Original 
  • The Nostalgia Critic does it while freaking out about Linkara in his review of Star Trek: Insurrection. And it's adorable.
  • In a video on his second channel where various canned foods were heated in a campfire until they exploded, Lauri of Hydraulic Press Channel fame left in footage of himself adding the final can of food to the fire, a can of surströmming, and then flailing his arms as he ran away.

    Western Animation 
  • In the final few moments of a flashback sequence in The Simpsons season 9 episode "The City of New York Versus Homer Simpson" that explains Homer's undying hatred of and why he took an oath never to go back to New York City, we see him, through a series of cosmic circumstances, cross ill paths with a pimp, who chases young Homer for miles out of the city. The pimp, due to his elongated limbs and flowing attire at first seems to have only a slightly exaggerated walking pattern. But a closer examination of the pimp's arms and elbows reveals that it's an exaggerated version of this gait.
  • In the Danny Phantom episode "Forever Phantom", the title character is physically unable to resume his secret identity as a human. He has his friends Sam and Tucker cover for him by dressing up in his clothes, and when it is Sam's turn to distract Danny's parents she runs off in plain sight of them, at which point Danny's father comments that Danny "runs like a girl". Curiously, Sam does not do a girly run — she runs "normally", and is actually quite athletic and fast.
  • Ed, Edd n Eddy. Edd runs like this. Sorta. No wonder some fans thought he was a girl at first.
  • Larry 3000 from Time Squad started doing this in season 2, when his effeminate gestures became exaggerated.
  • Velma and Daphne in Scooby-Doo would both run like this in the original series.
  • Something of a weird inversion in Family Guy, when Stewie states he hates Meg's "manly walk". Played straight, however, by Peter when he thought Dr. Hartman sexually violated him (the doc really was trying to give Peter a prostate exam).
  • In The Adventures of Blinky Bill, resident feminine boy Shifty Dingo is shown skipping like this and holding a flower in the Mother's Day episode.
  • In The Legend of Korra episode "The Spirit of Competition", Bolin, of all characters, does this with bonus Inelegant Blubbering while fleeing the deeply hurtful sight of his friend Korra (who he'd taken on a date the night before) kissing his brother Mako. Mako's run as he goes after Bolin to calm him down, while less exaggerated, isn't as macho as you might expect either.
  • The Venture Bros.: Hank and Dean each have a very... peculiar running style, as seen during the opening credits. The opening credits of episode 2x01 shows that their father has a third one.
  • In the Transformers: Prime episode Thirst, Knock Out tends to keep his arms raised up for no particular reason when running from zombie Terrorcons, and leans back a bit. Starscream, despite the heels, leans forward when running and his gait is more of a panicked flailing than anything really girly.

    Real Life 
  • You have a good chance of breaking into a girly run every time you try to run down some stairs (holding your limbs close to your body makes it less likely to lose balance).
  • Adrian Sutil pulled this trope off in the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix.
  • AJ Jacobs describes barefoot running in his book Drop Dead Healthy as having a "prancing tenor" to it.
  • Peter Capaldi, as noted elsewhere on this page, does this. Given who he used to play, and how much running that character does every single episode, Whovians get to enjoy seeing this frequently.
  • The late Eli Wallach didn't just run in his younger days, he frolicked daintily.
  • Dutch pop singer José Hoebee runs like this in her music video for "I Will Follow Him".

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