This troper can count on one hand the number of time he has seen his (female) best friend in a dress.

This Troper's cousin. She never wears skirts(except for school, but that's because it's part of her uniform).She pretty much hates skirts and prefers wearing jeans.

This troper doesn't like skirts or dresses. But nowadays she's blaming it on low self-esteem (doesn't feel she's feminine or pretty enough to wear the same skirts and dresses everyone else does).

@/{{Rebochan}} only wears dresses when she has to - because she hates not having pockets.

This Troper owns one dress, and has worn it twice in 10 years (once to prom, and once at a NYE party... and in the latter case, she wore it with combat boots). She doesn't own a single skirt. She owns more power tools than makeup, and never goes anywhere without a maglite and a multi-tool.

This troper doesn't own a single skirt either for comfort issues (and because her legs are a bit short). She still likes to use frilly blouses if she can. also, she doesn't like make-up aside of the basic things (mascara, base, etc.) but adores perfumes. So a bit of this, another of this... She tries to balance her boyish need for comfy clothes and her girly liking for pretty things and use it to her advantage. Everybody wins, and specially the troper!

The last time this troper wore a dress was at her prom. And it was a black flapper-style dress which she wore with control briefs and boots.

This Troper's (female) Tae Kwon Do instructor motivated the (mix of females and males) class with "Ballet dancers work harder than you!" as if something was inherently wrong with ballet dancing.

This troper (@/{{Dark Lady Celebrian}}) stopped wearing dresses when she was eight because at that age she said "only sissies wear dresses." I do not believe that anymore, but I still refuse to wear a dress (I will buy dresses to wear as tunics) though. Lately I've been going through a huge tomboy phase...I threw out all my ruffly miniskirts in favor of battle skirts from the sporting goods store, am favoring army-and-combat-style clothes as everyday wear, and went from wearing ballet flats all the time to wearing mostly high tops and boots. All this being said, the "girly-girl" style of clothing has been disgusting me recently.

This troper's ex, while they were together, only ever wore a dress one single time in the entire five years they were together: It was his birthday, he'd been having a particularly shitty day, and she looked "damn good" in that dress...Squeaky Bedsprings Ensued.

This Troper hated dresses even when she was a "baby", according to her parents. Even today, in a formal situation, she wears either "skorts" (if you live under a rock, that's a skirt with shorts beneath it) or a better pair of jeans, usually black.

People just looove to apply this to this troper. Yes, she wears skirts. Yes, she likes pink. No, she is not a doormat, oppressed, or submitting to the "patriarchy;" she genuinely likes it, so STFU and get off her arse, lest you have your foot stomped by her devushka boots.

This troper's sister is pretty tomboyish and almost never wears dresses she even sleeps in a shirt and boxers, even when she was little she didn't wear them much, the only time she will is at weddings.

This troper, while not a fan of super girly flowery frilly stuff, wears whatever she wants, whether that be jeans and a t-shirt or a dress. And while I'm at it... I feel like girls reach new levels of badass when they kick butt in a frilly pink dress. That's gotta be hard to maneuver in!

When this troper wears a dress, she feels like she's in drag. This is not entirely an unpleasant state of mind, however, given that she's already Ambiguously Queer. Real Women Never Wear Dresses Unless They're Being A Bit Boyish And Recursively Crossdressing?

I think I'm a healthy mix, but the main reason why I refuse to wear skirts is simply because it gets chilly down there. And the fact that the way I sit comfortably would reveal my panties.

This troper doesn't mind wearing dresses only if it's for a short while or for a VERY formal occasion, same with make-up. Otherwise, she avoids skirts and dresses in general, also same with make-up. She always felt uncomfortable with her legs or ankles showing (but this roots back into slight insecurities about her own appearance, of which I won't go further into on this page).

This troper regularly handles animals that weigh ten times what she does, spends most of her life in jeans and boots, is a miserable failure at most things "girly" and avoids makeup like the plague unless she's in a play. She also glories in Renaissance bodices and full skirts and thoroughly enjoys dressing up for special occasions, provided her dress fits properly.

Unless I am absolutely, borderline-abuse forced to, I will never wear I dress. I used to have to wear skirts at my sports club as they enforced it as part of their uniform, which wasn't SO bad, but a dress? No way. For this reason, I am absolutely dreading my highschool formal in two years. I'm actually considering traveling to Europe just to avoid that, but that's another story. I think it's safe to say that this, and my tomboyish behaviour, has to do with being raised with two brothers in the house.

This troper is her Deep South school's only self-identified feminist, and has as one of her professed life goals to not own a pair of pants. I identify as femme, being bisexual, and this has been commented on by many of my friends.

This troper is this in most senses of the word. I don't own a dress (and never wear the only skirt I own), avoid makeup like the plague, practically live in jeans and sneakers, and love belching (currently perfecting the alphabet...backwards). This may have less to do with being a tomboy and more to do with being a Girl}} laid-back neo-hippie, but still.

In addition, I had this attitude a lot more back when I was younger and still learning about what it was to be a feminist. I had a time when I didn't think that girly girls could be smart and capable, and thought that all housewives were doormats who didn't want "real jobs." Of course, now that I'm older, I respect that feminine women can be intelligent and capable (though that's still not who I am), and that choosing to be a housewife/stay-at-home mom is just as valid a choice as being a career woman.

This troper is very much like this partly out of pure laziness and partly out of peer pressure: she owns no skirts (except for her school skirt, which she has worn precisely once), only a few dresses, and too many pairs of black dance trousers. She also looks down on being obsessed with fashion, make-up and boys, and the one time she wore a skirt to school her (male) friend laughed his arse off.

This troper kind of subverts it--Nearly all of her friends thinks she is this trope while she is actually a figure skater who likes reading, baking and dancing. A lot. It's ballet, ballroom, latin and hip hop, at that. She also actually reallyreallyreally likes dresses, just not on herself.

As the son of a feminist, I used to hold this vision that most "girly" women were "weak", but with a little help of some friends, I changed that idea

This troper's older sister was like this at one point. She tried to avoid wearing a dress as much as possible, liked keeping her hair cut in a boyish way, and much preferred going out into the backyard to hunt for bugs and frogs than having tea parties.

This troper went through a phase where she never wore dresses or skirts because a) she thought they were demeaning and B) she had self esteem issues. She now wears cardigans, skirts and dresses all the time and is forever complimented for it. Played straight by her sister who always wears shorts and guy shirts and is still far more feminine than TT.

In France, several junior and high schools have implemented "Skirt Days" to encourage teenagers to wear skirts at an age where pressure from young males can make it hard to express your femininity. In a display of solidarity, some male teens show up in skirts too.

This Troper refuses to wear a dress unless she absolutely has to, and frequently laments about it when she DOES wear one.

This troper is embarrassed by how strongly she gets affected by CutenessProximity, she adores cats and dogs. And if she ever met certain Pokemon in real life she would take them home and snuggle them (Whosa little Vulpix? You are, yes you are!). She's also a very intelligent, PluckyGirl and a bit of a KickChick in a fight.

This troper grew up in an Elementary School where it was absolutely uncool to be a Girly Girl and even girls who occasionally wore skirts to school professed to be tom boys. That said, this troper used to lie to the other students, saying that her mom was making her wear the frilly cupcake dresses. Really, this troper's mother had wished she would wear a nice polo shirt. Later, this troper got so frustrated with the 'real women never wear dresses' attitude of her classmates that she decided to "Rebel against the conformity of Jeans" and only wore dresses for an entire year. In the coming years, said classmates began to change their attitudes due to the fashions that changed that, and she once again accepted pants into her wardrobe... occasionally. This troper also has noticed that the only time she can run faster than all her athletic friends is when they are all wearing high heels.

This troper back in middle school used to ''hate'' pink and refuse to wear skirts. I got better though. (I now dress in Quaintrelle but can still punch your face in if I need to. I just don't like to. ^__^)

I do sometimes where a dress, but only when forced to. Most of the time, it's just bog standard jeans and t-shirt. Someone at my school is ADAMANT about me becoming a girly girl, and just *shudders* . Do girly girls play explosive video games and practice karate every week?

This troper remembers reading a lament from a high school teacher that out of 400 girls in the year group he teaches, only one regularly wore a dress/skirt. Troper is British and doesn't know a lot about how the US school system works, but for some reason, the words stuck with her.

I mourn the death (or at least critical condition) of the dress, particularly the flowy ones that fall to the ankle and make a woman's movements look all that much more graceful. High heels, on the other hand, are instruments of torment that I would not wish on anyone. The physics are all wrong! Further, pink is hard to pull off. Eye-hurting neon is hard to look at, & the color we usually associate with "pink" TastesLikeDiabetes, but a nice understated rose pink can be quite lovely. All that said, I'd like to see someone make a dress that converts to pants when needed. That would be cool.

This troper, as a female, once received makeup as a birthday gift. Although she doesn't usually wear makeup, she one day put some on out of boredom, saw that it looked horrid and, in her own words "like she had two black eyes". After washing it off, she then made a thread on a forum she used to go to, laughing about it and poking fun at myself. Some people laughed with her, while others gave her hints. One person, however, immediately launched into a essay-style rant that could easily be summed up as "you deserve to be hit on because ANY makeup makes you look whorish". Nevermind that this troper SPECIFICALLY said that she did not usually wear makeup, and that she was bored that day! Looking back, this troper chuckles.

This troper's friends look at her funny when she wears pink. She wore a reasonably low-cut pink shirt once and one friend laughed at her because it was apparently just that weird.

Subverted by two of my friends, one very girly and feminine, the other a tomboy, and here's the thing: the girly one is very athletic and good at sports, and very self-confident, while the other one is clumsy, with a lot of self-confidence issues: the latter still holds a vision that if a girl wears skirts and make up, she MUST be weak and oppressed (not even other feminists I've met like this girl) and she just keeps denying the idea that a girly woman can be strong, intelligent and confident (she has LOTS of daddy issues, let me tell you...)

Depends. If I feel like wearing something... "girly" (I gotta ask why skirts and dresses are even associated with femininity in the first place. They're fucking articles of clothing.), then I wear something "girly" and feel awesome about it. If I feel like wearing something "boyish" (the same question applies to masculinity and clothing as does femininity and clothing...), then I wear something boyish and also feel awesome about it. I have a REALLY wide spectrum of fashion.

ThisTroper practically ''lives'' in several outfits consisting of a frilly top, a miniskirt, high heels, a lacy bra, and a cute flimsy thong. She loves looking cute, desperately wants to be a wife and mother, and mostly does housework for her large extended family. She also has a 161 IQ and is on track to graduate summa cum laude from Brandeis with a degree in German literature.

This Troper absolutely refused to wear anything other than dresses and skirts when she was a kid because she didn't want to be mistaken for a boy. On the other hand she mostly hung out with boys at that age and loved to climb trees and have mock swordfights. She just did that stuff in a skirt.

How on Earth would wearing things other than dresses and skirts get you mistaken for a boy? I thought jeans and t-shirts were common attire among girls these days...

Little kids believe a lot of strange things.

It's not skirts and dresses that this troper has an aversion to (although she doesn't wear them, but this is mostly because she has confidence issues with her legs), it's makeup. Seriously, I don't want that stuff anywhere near me. Granted, it's not because she thinks it's a symbol of "feminine oppression" or anything like that, it's just because she just doesn't like it. Oddly enough, she's gotten flak for not wearing make-up.

This troper prefers jeans, but is personally fine with dresses - maybe because she has a twin brother, maybe because she finds it fun to dress up. Real women wear whatever the heck they want, and don't care what others have to say. So there.(This troper would like to point out that even in floor length skirts, she can beat any of her cousins in a sword fight. She also took karate.)

This troper despises skirts of any type, preferring trousers or jeans, but she doesn't see skirts as degrading in any way. She just doesn't like wearing them.

Much like many of the above examples, this tropette doesn't enjoy frilly things or makeup, mainly just because she's not too fond of the way they look on her (and she hates makeup because she thinks it makes society even more obsessed with image over substance). On a more minor note, she thinks people might take her a little more seriously when she's yelling away like she usually does when wearing jeans instead of a skirt. But that might just be with the reputation that she's managed to build up.

The strongest person that this troper knows is her mother. Her stay-at-home mother. Who delights in dressing up in skirts and frilly tops, finds baking relaxing, and has been in charge of all household tasks all my life. She's also the sharpest person I know, refuses to take crap from anyone, had the headmaster of my high school - not to mention some of the tougher guys in my year - point blank terrified of her. It's generally agreed you do not mess with her. She's the most kick-arse person I know.

Wait, is my eight-year-old brother on TVTropes? Or do I have a sibling I don't know about?

This troper saw a deviantart drawing wherein the person who created it claimed to be ashamed of writing love poetry for a guy she was in love with, because it diverged from her tomboy nature. Wait a minute, who says guys don't write love poetry anyway?

They used to, but nowadays MenAreUncultured.

That's not the sole reason. Maybe they don't have faith in their writing abilities?

Some still do.

This tropers got a friend who was called a slut before because she wears makeup every day (like I do).

This troper had this mindset in her early teens, but has grown out of it by the age of seventeen. I still feel uncomfortable in extremely "girly" clothing (pink and frills are still not my thing), but I'm perfectly fine with feminine clothes. Longer skirts and simple dresses are my favorites, though I don't usually wear make-up or high heels. I put empashis on my femininity, but my interests on the other hand are rather tomboy-ish. It's just that I've discovered that gaming is still as fun whether you wear a LittleBlackDress or not.

This tropette thinks she subverts this trope pretty well. She sleeps with a stuffed toy penguin, lives in her skirts, camisoles and dresses, adores makeup, and has been in and won 10 fights with guys. She's also very interested in weaponry of all kinds, and is working on a very violent video game she hopes to someday make. She also has sadistic tendencies. We won't talk about those.

ThisTroper is some weird inverted version of this trope. She dresses like a boy about 95% of the time, loves baseball, plays video games, and likes to play the drums. However, she loves cute cuddly things, enjoys baking, wears pink socks and girly scarves a lot.

This Troper's mother wears dresses, likes casual make-up... and she is a BadassTeacher that will kick any smartass's balls till they can sing I Will Survive with the singer's voice. And often she tells the amusing stories of crushing bottles in this troper's father's head during a fight. And she loves Slasher and Vampire Movies; the bloodier, the better. When I say Vampires, I mean Queen of Damned, Dracula, Blade, 30 Days of Night, Fear Itself, Van Hellsing and Buffy, not Twilight-esque films, cause me and she both don't think of Twilight as a vampire tale.

This troper went through that phase in middle and (the first half of) high school. Being raised by a single father, I wasn't really exposed to a whole lot of "girly" things, and got into the mindset that the only girls who wear makeup, dresses, etc were looking for the wrong kind of attention. I focused too much time on trying to set myself apart as an individual by wearing boyish clothing and lots of black (a men's XXL shirt with Jack Skellington on it? Sure you can wear it to school!), while still keeping my long and wavy hair. Suddenly making the switch to skirts, dresses, and makeup from one school year to another rendered me practically unrecognizable to some, but I've never looked back. My wardrobe and room are totally awash in pink and sparkles, and I'm minoring in fashion design. I never leave the house without heels and a fresh coat of lip gloss. On the other hand, I can still totally hold my own against my guy friends at most any video game, and read comic books like it's going out of style. Shh!

This troper would be much more comfortable with girly clothes if real men wore them too.

This troper roleplayed in WorldOfWarcraft as a deeply feminine mage. She did it all, from always wearing dresses to sewing and cooking for her guild, to letting her husband be the leader of the two. She acquired aggro from a very nasty fellow roleplayer who was playing a sexually-aggressive butt-kicking amazon who always portrayed herself as perfect. Said amazon went to a great deal of trouble to try to prove that femininity and strength cannot coexist--by totally ignoring the feminine mage's pvp-demonstrated ability to kick anyone's ass if her friends or family were in danger. The roleplayer in question also hated this troper IRL because this troper's husband showed no interest in cybersex with the amazon. Suffice it to say that the person arguing RealWomenNeverWearDresses eventually alienated the entire server and had to leave.

Side note: What made this amusing is that this troper, who holds a law license and actually knowing what the hell she's talking about 98% of the time, aspires to be a YamatoNadeshiko in real life. Troper's husband's approval is welcome, but this troper would do it anyway.

This troper used to dislike wearing anything feminine... until I got it through my head that I was at my most confident when wearing unique, feminine clothing. I think I used to feel self-conscious when I wore girly tops or skirts. Now I'm a lot happier acknowledging my feminine side, because it feels true to who I am. I especially love vintage-inspired outfits. But I still wear jeans more often than not. The book Whipping Girl by Julia Serano was particularly helpful in helping this troper embrace her feminine side. It's a mistake to think that women can only be strong in a certain way (a masculine way).

This troper recall someone having drawn a comic for DeviantArt that expressed regret at doing something "girly" like writing love poems for her boyfriend. Wait... would a guy writing love poems for his girlfriend be thought of as girly?

This troper hates wearing skirts or dresses because she finds them highly uncomfortable, largely because I'm double-jointed and prefer sitting with my legs crossed and folded up against my chest (it makes for an excellent chin rest). I also can't be bothered with any kind of make-up and or doing anything more complex than a ponytail with my hair, though I still love pink and am somewhat of a hopeless romantic.

My best friend is a shopaholic, obsesses over boys, loves cooking and needlework, usually dresses Galinda-style, loves girly movies like Bride Wars and Wild Child, reads chick-lit... Also, she's always fighting with the guys, being wild at parties, doing "manly" sports like wrestling or football, and generally kicking your sorry arse. Yeah, she's an extreme subversion.

I think getting a boyfriend and moving in with him is the bravest thing my best friend has ever done, considering the fact that her mom is an over-domineering abusive bitch. I can't wait to for them to officially tie the knot, which, of course, I will be the witness of. I love watching them being together and all romantic and stuff, especially since she had self-esteem issues that nobody loved her.

When trying to promote a free salsa dance class once, this male troper had a woman tell me that she would ''never'' learn a partner dance, because, according to convention, men lead and women follow. The phrase "Male Penis Creatures" was used several times.

Somewhat Zig Zagged by me. I hate wearing skirts and dresses(though mostly for practical reasons such as if not sitting in a particular way, you risk flashing your panties), as so she only wears them when forced to(or as part of cosplay). I far prefers comfier jeans and T-shirts(often of the FunTShirt variety) Heels are just uncomfortable, and I has never worn more than half-heels ONCE.(I think they're called). Pink is not a color I really like(but shares this spot with several other colors). I stay away from makeup apart from cosplay purposes, mostly because it's too much work to put on every day. I'm a gamer, and I also love lots of various anime, including those with a small female fanbase. Even as a little girl, I hated the "fluffy sparkly pink princess Barbie pony" stuff girls my age were "supposed" to like. I also dislike most "romantic" stories/movies. However, I love cute little animals and creatures(I dislike babies, though). Physically weak? Probably so, but this is more to my habit of just slacking around all day eating candy and not exercising. I also love cooking, and I'm especially good with snacks and desserts.

This troper hates wearing dresses or skirts. She's worn a dress only once this year, and that was only because a friend forced her into goth loli for a performance.

This Trope is what made me hate most feminists, because their definition of "equal" seems to be putting down males and putting down all girls who love dresses. So I started wearing them just to piss some feminist teachers off- and came to love them. Most friends are amazed to see how many dresses I own.

When I was younger, thirteen or so, I got very poisoned by this trope. A mix of bullying from the libbies in my school and a desire to be "respected" by my boy friends made me to despise everything girly, dress almost like a boy, acting like a jerk and stopping all my artistic endeavours (writing and drawing), fearing to be considered a sissy. I also overemphazided my studies on "hard" sciences and technical fields. Got into Computer Science college. I am almost graduated, but I hate this course and I don't want to work in this field. Re-discovered my affinity to writing too late. About clothes, as right now I use slacks in winter and dresses in summer; the color pink is just another color to me. About cooking and cleaning, I never was very domestic anyway. But, yeah, this trope completely fucked up my teenage years.

How is writing a girly endeavor?

OP here. At time (2002-2006 or so), I thought writing (and art in general) was less manly than hard sciences. Now this line of thinking is my OldShame.

This troper loves her short dresses and skirts and her long skirts and her tops and her high heels... and have I mentioned I love shopping and sewing? And that I really like wearing my black mini skirt? And that said mini skirt is my default outfit when doing sword fighting? (since you know - non tight mini skirts are not as impractical for fighting as you would believe. I can do better with them than with pants.) Also that sweet, cute ElegantGothicLolita like girl sitting there in history lecture. The one with the red ribbon in her hair? You'd NEVER expect her to snark down her teachers, huh?

This troper gets accusations of this from her mother from time to time. I don't like generally ''hate'' wearing skirts and prefer wearing jeans. What's worse, I belong to a rather orthodox Catholic sect that enforces (well, the "rules" enforce it - most of the people, not quite as much) wearing dresses. I express my disdain for skirts, and she retorts that my "I am woman hear me roar" is the reason for it. I hate pink, hate shopping, can count how many pairs of shoes I own on one hand, and have no desire to be married. But in all honesty, I'm not an actual {{tomboy}}, but I perhaps would call myself a "wannabe" in some ways. I don't think there's anything wrong with being girly, it's just not what I like.

Played with regarding this troper. She harbors a secret love of pink and girly things of nearly every stripe (except makeup), but is far too lazy to put any actual work into her appearance or spend more than five minutes getting dressed in the morning. She has nothing against wearing skirts or dresses, though, other than the fact that she wishes more of them had pockets. But high heels are hell.