I'd guess its because in general a girl in a jungle is more likely to be a Nubile Savage than a Jungle Princess.
She can't be "a" Nubile Savage, because Nubile Savage is an appearance trope (which is usually applicable to Jungle Princess). E.g. the description of Jungle Princess states: "See Nubile Savage, which is her default appearance."
And "jungle girl" isn't just "any girl in a jungle", it's a commonly used specific term for the stock character type that is called Jungle Princess on this wiki. See here, for example: (link)
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edited 22nd Aug '15 4:39:09 AM by Rjinswand
Jungle Princess is still the definitive superior term IMO. The term jungle girl, though usually referring to the jungle princess still just means girl in the jungle. Ask Chat GPT to write a story about one and you can get a story about a regular indigenous girl with heavy Green Aesop.
The term “jungle queen” has uncomfortable connotations of her ruling over indigenous people. Additionally, thanks to Disney, the Good Princess, Evil Queen is heavily engrained into pop culture. Thus, “jungle princess” is the perfect term for any Tarzanesque heroines.
Not only does she earn her Honorary Princess title for her heroics and how the indigenous people generally respect her, but also her animal sidekicks, per Maui’s Princess qualifications. They sometimes also wear a fur Minidress of Power instead of a Fur Bikini, which also fits Maui’s qualifications for a princess. However due to the practicality for mobility and the look other Action girls, we’re willing to let the more sporty Fur Bikini slide.
At the end of the day, princess still gives her authority without making her sound dominant. Even as a term young boys hate, I feel it follows Rule of Cool whilst avoiding the problematic elements of the “queen”
Edited by JonT on Aug 17th 2024 at 8:31:12 AM
It was not until I saw Shimaspawn that I realised how old this thread was...
Looking at Jungle Princess, I feel the name is misleading. I was expecting an actual scion of royalty from some kingdom in the jungle, herself and her people being natives, to be either rescued by or fight alongside a Tarzan-expy or a white man coming to the jungle. But I agree that "Jungle girl" would be no more indicative, and is better used as an appearance trope.
You say that "queen" would be bad, but nobody suggested that, it was just an epithet used in an early work. And how does "princess" avoid any of the problems? A princess also implies some form of royalty ruling over natives.
"Princess" implies being royalty, with the respect and grandeur that entails, but not actually holding a position of power - if a princess were in charge, they'd no longer be a princess; they'd be a queen.
(Yes, yes, principalities are a thing, where the head of state is a prince/princess, but most people are unaware of/just don't think about those.)
Fiction, though, generally adheres to Princesses Rule and God Save Us from the Queen!.

Why does Jungle Girl redirect to Nubile Savage (an appearance trope), instead of redirecting to Jungle Princess (a character trope)?
A Nubile Savage look isn't restricted to Jungle Princesses, it could also be a cavewoman, etc. And there's also a pulp literature and comic book genre that is commonly called "jungle girl" (e.g. Sheena Queen Of The Jungle) that features characters that are described by Jungle Princess.
To clarify:
edited 22nd Aug '15 3:30:59 AM by Rjinswand