From Netflix shows to the big screen, women are still being put into positions made by and for men. Even though things have progressed over the years, misogynistic tropes still exist, some of which are camouflaged as nostalgia and others as empowerment.

These aren’t just tired clichés; they’re harmful. They shape how society sees women and how women learn to see themselves.

Here are six misogynistic tropes that should be written out of storylines for good.

The Girl Who’s “Saved by Love“

She’s broken. He fixes her. From Twilight to Fifty Shades of Grey. People often perceive women as the quintessential helpless victim.

For example, Bella Swan’s existence revolves around Edward Cullen’s protection and love. She frequently finds herself in constant danger from which she must be rescued.

Similar to the Fifty Shades of Grey saga, Anastasia Steele is depicted as an aspiring writer needing to be “saved” or transformed by Christian Grey’s love and dominant nature.

When we first met Ana, she was an intelligent English literature student. However, this promising intellectual foundation rapidly diminishes as Christian is introduced into her life.

This misogynistic trope needs to go as women should no longer be viewed as “damsels in distress” awaiting rescue from their “knights in shining armour”.

The Girl Who Always Dies First

You’ve seen her murdered, assaulted, or go missing in the opening scene, existing only to fuel a male protagonist’s emotional arc.

From Pretty Little Liars to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a woman’s trauma becomes the designated plot engine.

In Pretty Little Liars, Alison DiLaurentis’s disappearance in the pilot episode becomes the inciting incident that binds the remaining “liars” together and fuels the show’s entire mystery.

Alison is a complex and manipulative character, but her vanishing act becomes the puzzle for the others to solve.

In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Harriet Vanger’s disappearance is a driving force in the story, presenting her as a long-lost puzzle to be solved, even though Lisbeth Salander emerges as the more prominent female character.

So why does this trope need to go? Women’s pain and trauma should not be a backdrop. It should be at the core of the story, not exploited.

The Sexbot / AI Dream Girl

She’s perfect, submissive, and built to serve. Films like Ex Machina and Subservience reduce AI women to passive objects of male desire.

The protagonist of Ex Machina, Nathan, explicitly designs Ava to fulfil sexual and romantic fantasies, reducing them to products of male consumption rather than autonomous beings.

Like in Subservience, people constantly view Megan Fox’s character, Alice, as a sexual object. She is seen as the “AI Dream Girl,” as she embodies the fantasy of a perfectly submissive, tireless, and sexually available female partner who can also manage the household without complaints.

This attitude reinforces unrealistic expectations of women, suggesting that an ideal female flawlessly caters to male needs across all domains.

So why is it necessary for this trope to be eliminated? It reinforces the idea that the perfect woman is submissive, compliant, and does not say no.

Read more about the objectification of women AI characters in film and TV series here

The Caring Housewife

She’s supportive, conventionally beautiful, and always just there for her husband. Whether she’s cooking dinner, holding his hand at the awards shows, or silently enduring infidelity, she exists to support the male lead’s journey.

Think Bohemian Rhapsody and Don’t Worry Darling; the women are just there to be an addition to the male protagonists. Mary Austin in Bohemian Rhapsody serves as a static support system for Freddie Mercury. The film reduces her to a consistently supportive and long-suffering character.

Like Don’t Worry Darling, Alice (Florence Pugh) is the stereotypical housewife and housekeeper in one, while Jack (Harry Styles) is the breadwinner, providing for his wife’s needs.

This overused trope of the stay-at-home wife needs to go, as women should not be considered props in men’s legacies; we should have our own stories to tell.

The Token Feminist

She’s sassy, angry, and she only ever talks about “girl power”. However, she lacks depth and backstory and is often sidelined by the end of the story.

Think about the Transformers franchise or Pirates of the Caribbean. The female leads in the Transformers franchise project a “girl boss” energy.

However, they are highly objectified, sexualised and exist primarily as eye candy or as romantic interests for the male leads, with minimal agency or contribution to the plot.

Like Elizabeth Swann in Pirates of the Caribbean, she initially possesses a certain amount of feistiness, but she frequently finds herself reduced to the role of a love interest or a helpless figure.

Why does this trope need to go? Feminism and women’s empowerment are not merely quirks; they represent a struggle, and we’re tired of seeing them reduced to a joke.

The Psycho Ex

When she’s frustrated, she must be crazy. She’s the ex who lashes out, the “psycho” who couldn’t take her lover’s rejection.

Think Gone Girl and You on Netflix. Gone Girl presents Amy Dunne as the quintessential “psycho ex-wife”. After discovering her husband’s infidelity, she orchestrates an elaborate scheme to frame her husband for her murder.

At the same time, the film consistently portrays him trying to convince everyone she’s the “psycho ex-wife” determined to ruin his life, despite his own betrayal.

Similar to You, the series initially focuses on Joe Goldberg as a male “psycho stalker”. The introduction of Love Quinn in Season 2 fully embraces the “crazy psycho girl” trope by revealing her to be just as, if not more, violent than Joe.

The “psycho ex-girlfriend” trope is problematic because it simplifies women’s emotional experiences into a mere plot gimmick. Demonising a woman as “crazy” due to her partner’s actions, such as infidelity, can be harmful, as it unfairly blames her for a situation she did not create.

So, when will films and TV shows move past using these common tropes? We must move beyond narratives that use female emotion as a cheap way to generate conflict.

Misogynistic tropes aren’t just lazy ways to characterise women; they’re reflective of a system that still sees women as inferior to men.

So the next time you watch a TV show or film, ask: Is she portrayed as an actual person or just a prop?