Annoying Plot Conventions, Devices, Contrivances

Plot Devices that Make You Roll Your Eyes

• a woman character is raped or is in danger of being raped -- the eternal rapability of female characters

• a female character dies in childbirth

• "convenient" circumstances prevent a female character from going through with her decision to have an abortion (cf. Robin in V, whose alien hybrid fetus's invasive vascularisation made it impossible to remove without killing her; spontaneous miscarriages and so forth) -- therefore rendering women's reproductive choices inconsequent when that oh-so-controversial subject is broached

• using female characters to voice misogynistic and/or patriarchal ideas because it would be "too obvious" to use male characters -- victim-blaming, in short

• using evolutionary biology or the selfish gene theory as the primary reason a male and female character are drawn together sexually (Darwin's Radio by Bear), or why a female character cannot possibly resist the man's man that will make the best sire of her children (Lucifer's Hammer by Niven)

• the competent female needs rescuing by the man
• damsel in distress / perils of Pauline - women set up merely to be rescued
• women in refrigerators (see http://violetcorona.blogspot.com/2006/10/women-in-refrigerators.html ) - female characters of whatever level of characterization depicted as more apt to be rescued, more in need of rescuing, more often in physical danger
• innocent and universally loveable female characters that do not develop a sex drive or sex appeal until they turn evil (Doppleganger Willow from earlier in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Fred from Angel) - correlated with the amount of cleavage/leg shown.

• alien women of ANY species will inevitably be irresistably attracted to the only mid-30s male on a particular starship (Star Trek, I'm looking at YOU) - even if it causes an interstellar incident
  • related: females of alien species always have extremely large breasts, located in the exact same location as those of human females (i.e. they look exactly like human women except for a charming set of pointy ears, forhead ridges or swirly haircut that serves only to make them more exotic to the male characters)

• a man's casual slap (or threatened slap) of a woman that is scarcely worth mentioning again in the story and apparently does not actually bother the woman; or maybe she likes it because he has now shown himself to be a real man. Seen in Frank Miller's "Sin City" (she liked it); Rob Reiner's "The Princess Bride" (He raises the back of his hand threateningly; she flinches. "That was a warning, Highness. The next time, my hand flies on its own, for where I come from, there are penalties when a woman lies."). This is entirely distinguishable from a man and a woman involved in a physical fight, as in Joss Whedon's "Firefly" between Mal and Saffron, or Buffy and Spike, or any slayer and various villains. "The Slap" is often stated plainly as a representation of patriarchy, as when the woman has crossed a boundary; the man may say he doesn't like to hit women but he'll make an exception, or she's crossed a line, etc. An obvious use of gendered violence to police patriarchal rules, present in both representations of the protagonists and villains.

Contiguous lists and related rants

• "The Clichés from Outer Space" (1984), by Joanna Russ.

• See also Clichés, Archetypes, Stereotypes of Female Characters in SF
• See also Gendered plot devices