Feminine Mother, Tomboyish Daughter

This trope is a specific variant of Tomboy and Girly Girl applied to a mother/daughter pair. The mother generally ascribes to the feminine norms of the time (such as a Proper Lady in period works or a Housewife from the 20th century onwards) while the daughter is a Tomboy who generally dislikes more girly things. The mother then disdains her daughter's lack of femininity and may take steps to induce a Girliness Upgrade, often with mixed results. More realistically, she might also worry about her daughter's future and maybe even her safety, especially in settings that are very strict about gender roles. Meanwhile, the daughter might be tomboyish in part because she is rebelling against her mother's aspirations for her, especially if she has a girly sister or cousin to whom she is often negatively compared. In period works, the Tomboy Princess and Spirited Young Lady may clash with more traditionally feminine older relatives.

This can be played in several ways. The mother might be a very strict fantasy-forbidding Mother who repeatedly brings up that she Wanted a gender-conforming child, or an open-minded parent who is accepting of her daughter from the get-go — bonus points if she used to be a tomboy (or at least less girly) but settled into a more feminine role in adulthood. She and her daughter may be distant because of their differences or very close despite them. Similarly, the daughter may stand her ground or experience tomboy angst. The important thing is the generational contrast between the two female characters because this trope is often used to show changing gender norms. The mother is usually the embodiment of Acceptable Feminine Goals and Traits, and her treatment of her tomboyish daughter's personality and hobbies is emblematic of the changing times — society is increasingly accepting of women who take up traditionally 'masculine' pursuits, although old-fashioned characters may still be scandalized. For this reason, the daughter is usually the more sympathetic character, or at least the one the audience is expected to root for. (Even if she goes into Jerkass, Jerk Sue or Female Misogynist extremes)

Subtrope of Tomboy and Girly Girl and Like Father, Unlike Son. Compare Jock Dad, Nerd Son for a loose modern gender inversion. See also You Go, Girl! and Stay in the Kitchen for other plots about girls trying masculine activities. Related to Women Are Delicate-the mother may ascribe to the perception, but the daughter challenges it. Will lead to Unfortunate Implications if either mom or daughter are too favored by the narrative, like making either of them a huge bitch and trying to relate that to being a tomboy or a girly girl.

Examples of Feminine Mother, Tomboyish Daughter include:

Anime & Manga

• Bokurano: Played for Drama with Otaku Maki. She wonders if she's afraid of acting girly because she loathes her abusive, neglectful biological mother, who was supposedly feminine.
• Digimon: Sora Takenouchi is a tomboyish soccer player who at first doesn't get along very well with her mother Toshiko, who is a Yamato Nadeshiko who specializes in traditional flower arrangements. However, Sora does experience Girliness Upgrade later in life, switching from soccer to tennis.
  • Also, midway in the series Sora realizes that while Toshiko is very strict, she also genuinely cares for her. The time she scolded her and banned her from joining an important game, only for her to run off? She was worried because Sora had an injured foot. Ans when they two plus Biyomon are attacked by Evil Digimons in Tokyo? Toshiko allows herself to be captured to let her daughter and Biyomon escape.
  • Rika/Ruki is a rough and brash tomboy who rails against her supermodel fashionista mother, though she does respect her Yamato Nadeshiko grandmother. After they make peace, she is depicted as a Tomboy with a Girly Streak, since she secretly loves dressing up.
• Pokémon (anime): Inverted in Pokemon the Series: XY. Grace is a spunky, short-haired woman who is a famous Ryhorn racer. While she wanted Serena to become a Ryhorn racer like her, Serena ended up leaning towards the Idol Singer-esque Pokemon Performer career instead. Serena has a more feminine look than her mother as well, though she did end up with an Important Haircut halfway throughout the series.
• Tweeny Witches: Arusu is a athletic Fiery Redhead who defies the norms of the witches without shame. She also dresses in a tank top and pants before a significant wardrobe shift as part of her Going Native. Her mother, Yoko, is a Housewife with a Motherly Side Plait, though her similar clothes and ineptitude in cooking make her a downplayed example.
• Very cruelly used and deconstructed in Fruits Basket: The Tomboy Daughter is none other than Akito Sohma aka the Big Bad, a girl who has been forcibly Raised as the Opposite Gender per the orders of her horribly abusive and very beautiful and feminine mother Ren. As a result, Akito is a lovely-looking Bifauxnen who LOATHES almost every girl and woman she crosses paths with because Ren's mental abuse led her to believe all women are sneaky bitches.
• Downplayed in Girls Und Panzer, since Hana Isuzu has a tomboy side and rebels against her Yamato Nadeshiko mother Yuri over her desire to be in the Panzer teams... but she is just as much a feminine and elegant Yamato Nadeshiko as her mom. It's just that she shows a different YN side - the one that puts her own goals and her friends over tradition.
• Kagome from Inuyasha Aside from being rather unpleasant occasionally and borderline abusive to her love interest she does have feminine interest in romance and even would forcibly involve herself in other's romance. Kagome's daughter Moroha had to fend for herself since birth (though not her parent's fault directly) and is quite combat aware arguably being stronger than her father was at her age.
  • Also played with Rin and Towa, as while Rin is soft spoken and submissive towards Sesshomaru while often wearing feminine clothing Towa has literally zero feminine outward appearance. Towa while initially being less combat ready than Setsuna she was a bully hunter in her time and even openly admitted to struggle with the concept of femininity.

• Videl from Dragon Ball Z after her Girliness Upgrade became a rather feminine and proper house wife while her daughter Pan became a bully hunter and was the least feminine of the daughters the Z era characters had. Though to be fair after the time skip it is shown Pan had a similar personality change as her mother once she was an elderly woman.

Comic Books

• Astro City: Tomboyish superheroine Flying Fox's mother is a more traditionally feminine mother, albeit one who spent much of her career in politics.
• Black Canary: Downplayed with Dinah Drake and Dinah Lance, but some comics show Dinah Sr as a florist and who purposely wore a Stripperific cocktail waitress-styled getup as her hero costume, and while her daughter followed suit on both those fronts, she was shown to dress more casually and comfortably outside of her hero getup with interest in flowers and gardening becoming a Tomboy with a Girly Streak quirk, and she tinkered in a costume to make it more punk-leaning (and more revealing, as she became more sexually liberated.)
• The Flash: There's tomboy Jesse Chambers a.k.a Jesse Quick, and her feminine mother, Libby Lawrence a.k.a Liberty Belle, even though Libby was actually tomboyish herself at youth (being that she was a gold medalist swimmer and WW2 hero who fought in a man's soldier uniform), but became more feminine as she grew up.
• Wonder Woman: Helena Sandsmark is the prim and proper mother to her brash and tomboyish daughter, Cassie Sandsmark.

Films- Animation

• Pictured above, discussed and eventually deconstructed in Brave: As a Rebellious Princess, Merida is a Fiery Redhead, wears her hair messy and wild, gets along well with her father, and has hobbies involving archery, horse archery, sword fighting, and rock climbing. On the other hand, her mother Queen Elinor has brown hair and has been pressing weaving, manners, and other elegant pursuits on Merida to little avail. They really don't see eye-to-eye as the film starts, but when Merida has to be diplomatic with three angry clans of warriors that Elinor has been shown to perfectly deal with and Elinor herself has to help her daughter fight off a supernatural threat because Merida's careless wish to "change my mom" accidentally turned her AND her other kids in bears, they start to understand their viewpoints and open up to each other.
• The Lion King: In the original movie, Nala is spunky and tomboyish while her mother, Sarafina, is more regal and reserved.
  • In the sequel, The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Nala is grown up and has a Girliness Upgrade and is as regal and reserved as Sarafina used to be, while her daughter, Kiara, is adventurous and is a Tomboy Princess.
• The Little Mermaid: In the sequel, The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea, Ariel is a proper queen who is protective of her adventurous and outgoing Tomboy Princess daughter, Melody, who is outgoing, adventurous, is a skilled swimmer, and wishes to be a mermaid.
• Mulan: Downplayed for Mulan herself and her mother, Fa Li. Mulan is fairly feminine, but often questions her destiny of ending up in an Arranged Marriage, and often fails to do well during tea lessons and other feminine activities during her time, but has interests of both "feminine" and "masculine" activities (she did like the makeover she got at first, after all), while Fa Li is a fully feminine Housewife and Proper Lady.
• Peter Pan (Disney film): In the sequel, Peter Pan: Return to Neverland, Wendy Darling is all grown-up but is as feminine as she was in the original movie, while her daughter Jane is a Little Miss Badass and Little Miss Snarker.

Films- Live-Action

• Bend It Like Beckham: Jess is a Passionate Sports Girl who plays soccer, but has a family (including her mother, of course) who forbids her from playing soccer since they don't think it's appropriate for a woman to do so.
  • Jess' teammate, Jules, has a complicated relationship with her own mother too, who wants her to be interesting into shopping and boys.
• Freaky Friday: In the original movie, skateboarder girl Annabel and her housewife mother, Ellen, swap bodies to learn about each others' lives.
  • In the 2003 movie adaption, rock music loving Anna and her phychologist mother, Tess, are the ones swapping bodies this time.
• The Help: Skeeter is a wannabe journalist and writer who doesn't care much about fashion, while her mother, Charlotte, is a former beauty contestant who is concerned about her daughters' lack of femininity and single status.
• Mulan: In the 2020 live action film, Mulan herself is way more tomboyish than in the original 1998 animated film. She has been a budding warrior ever since her childhood, and her more traditionally feminine mother, Fa Li, does not approve of it.
• She's the Man: Viola loves playing soccer and resents her mother's attempts to push her into attending the debutante ball.

Literature

• American Girls Collection: Kit Kittredge is a girl growing up during The Great Depression dislikes the color pink, prefers pants and overalls over flouncy dresses, and enjoys playing baseball, making newspapers, and idolizes women with tough and strong roles like Amelia Earhart, while her Housewife mother, Margaret Kittredge, enjoys hosting garden parties and wants to give Kit a pink-filled bedroom (which Kit obviously dislikes even though her best friend, Ruthie Smithens, adores it.)
  • Felicity Merriman is a Spirited Young Lady growing up during the American Revolution who would rather do horseback riding, take long walks, and spend time outdoors than stay indoors to sit still and do embroidery. On the other hand, Felicity's mother, Martha Merriman, is a Proper Lady who is raising her daughter to be "ladylike."
  • Julie Albright is a Passionate Sports Girl and a Lovable Jock who is growing up during the 1970s and has a strong passion for basketball, while her mother, Joyce Albright, is a more fashionable woman who owns a secondhand clothing shop. Although, Joyce is very supportive of Julie and her passion and goals, and she agrees that women have every right to do whatever men do. In fact, she refuses to be the traditional stay-at-home mother her husband wanted, hence the divorce.
  • Molly McIntire is a Genki Girl who is perky, active, and energetic, while her mother, Helen McIntire, is a fashionable housewife and a volunteering nurse who helps with the war effort during World War II.
  • Caroline Abbott is an adventurous and outspoken sailor growing up during the British-American war, and she has a very close relationship with her father, has hobbies of sailing, fishing, and ice skating, and dreams of being the captain of her own ship when she grows up. Meanwhile, her mother keep the home and is concerned with the domestic sphere. That being said, Caroline's mother is just as brave as Caroline herself, and she uses a pistol during the war to protect her husband's shipyard.
  • Maryellen Larkin is a 1950s child who is energetic and doesn't mind getting dirty when playing with her friends, and her mother, Kaye Larkin, is a traditional feminine housewife.
• The Baby Sitters Club: Kristy Thomas is a rough and brash tomboy who mostly wears caps, jeans, and sneakers, plays baseball, mostly dislikes fashion, and grew up with her three brothers, while her mother, Elizabeth, is a traditional mother and housewife who always takes care of her children and the house.
  • Abby Stevenson is a soccer player and the Class Clown of the BSC, and her mother, Rachel, works as an executive editor of a publishing house in NYC.
  • Dawn Schafer is an environmental Outdoorsy Gal who enjoys surfing, camping, and hiking, wears casual clothing, and enjoys ghost stories, and her mother, Sharon, is more feminine and works as an interior designer.
• Honor Harrington: Honor is a naval officer who sometimes envies her mother, Allison, for her beauty.
• Lensman: Clarissa Kinnison is a womanly woman who tried to make her daughters grow up feminine too...and failed. They would not play house, or play with dolls, but with atomic engines, flitters, and speedsters, and they also roughhoused with their older brother, Kit.
• Little Women: Josephine "Jo" March is the most tomboyish out of her sisters. She balks at romance and has an outspoken and rebellious personality. Meanwhile Margaret aka Marmee, the mother of the March sisters, is a Housewife and a Proper Lady, but she once tells Jo that she used to have a bad temper at her age, but she soon learned how to control it, which causes Jo to mature into a more feminine Spirited Young Lady.
  • Downplayed in that Jo and Marmee actually get along pretty well, rather than having conflicts over Jo's lack of girliness.
• Magic Attic Club: Alison McCan is a tomboy who is athletic, plays several sports, is mostly seen wearing her default vest and jeans, and is One of the Boys in her family, while her mother is more feminine and ladylike.
• A Song of Ice and Fire: Catelyn is a Proper Lady who is critical of her youngest daughter, Arya, a wild and rambunctious tomboy who has lack in femininity and has skills of sword fighting and horseback riding.
• Stardust Classics: Tomboy Princess Alissa has bad manners, is often stubborn and impatient, and has hobbies of outdoor activities, such as archery, playing in the haystack, and going to the stables with the dogs, which pretty much makes her a pretty Rebellious Princess. Meanwhile, her late mother, Queen Elizabeth, was a more elegant royalty and a Proper Lady.

Live-Action TV

• Cold Case: Season 4 mentions a case of a conservative mother who accidentally kills her eighteen year old socialite daughter.
• Hawkeye: Masculine-dressed martial arts loving Kate and feminine and ladylike Eleanor.
• Mad Men: Sally Draper is a tomboy who enjoys handiwork who gets shamed by her housewife mother, Betty Draper.
• Never Have I Ever: Elise Torres wears skirts and dresses, enjoys manicures, and runs a school bake sale. Meanwhile, Fabiola Torres dresses like "the janitor's nephew," has interests in technology and mechanical work.
• Willow: Queen Sorsha has long hair, wears a elegant gown, and is a Proper Lady, while Tomboy Princess Kit has Boyish Short Hair, wears masculine clothing, is an Action Girl, and balks at the things that proper princesses do.
• Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: in season 3 Ashley's grandmother was shown during the Hatemaster episodes and her grandmother was gentle and soft spoken while Ashley was the tomboy of the Ranger team.

Video Games

• Art of Fighting 3 features Kasumi Todoh (Ryuhako's daughter) is traditional fighting skill while her mother Shizuko is a full-blown Yamato Nadeshiko.
  • Possible with Yuri Sakazaki and her mother Ronnet, as all known material of Ronnet shows her being a traditional woman Yuri after being kidnapped insist on fighting despite others not wanting her to and was even begrudgingly taught basic self defense.

• In Fire Emblem Awakening, while Princess Lucina can have different moms depending on who her father Chrom marries, she plays this more or less straight if her mother is the White Mage Ojou Maribelle.
  • To a smaller degree, there's the Cute Bruiser Severa and her Lady of War mom Cordelia.

• Applies with the first playable girl of Pokemon Kris, where she is adventurous and outgoing compared to her stay at home mother who enjoys shopping. Averted with Lyra who is notably more feminine.
  • This is also becoming a little more loose with Kris as she was given a bit of a Girliness Upgrade being given some of the traits of her more girly counterpart Marina from Chronicles. Not only that, but while Kris is by no means unattractive she was given a "Sygna Suit" in Masters which has her wearing a dress and sandals and a modified hairstyle which she wears nicely.

• This is possible as an inversion in Rumble Roses with Reiko Hinomoto and her mother Kamikaze Rose as while Kamikaze Rose is labeled as a legendary wrestler who was undefeatable and died in the ring and Reiko while also willingly a wrestler she is willingly also a race queen and upkeeps her looks while hating that she needs to become heavier to continue wrestling.
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time presents an interesting case, that Zelda is rather feminine acting while she is Zelda but she is also very tomboyish when she is Sheik, considering that this is where the split timeline takes place all Zeldas afterwards from any of the three created timelines if they are feminine they in theory invert this as tomboyish grandmother and feminine granddaughter and vice versa if they are tomboys such as Tetra.
• More of a case of Feminine Aunt, Tomboyish Niece with Jun and Asuka Kazama from Tekken where Jun is rather soft and tries to help Kazuya Mishima with the Devil Gene while Asuka is loudmouth bully hunts and seeks fights... until she loses then it is suddenly not ok to hit a girl.
• Very loose but still applicable with Saffir and her daughter Braith from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim where Saffir is just interested in staying home and reading books while Braith tries to stay away from home and picks fights though it is later shown she specifically picks on Lars-Battle Born because she wants him to kiss her.
  • Another factor that makes this more loose is with the addition of Hearthfire the Dragonborn could now adopt children with parents provided they die from someone else or the Dragonborn kills the parents without getting caught and Braith once adopted will act no different than the other female adoptable children and have just as much feminine interest as them.

Visual Novels

• Clannad: Nagisa Furukawa (later, Okazaki) is a soft-spoken and nurturing Yamato Nadeshiko who is obsessed with Dango plushies. Meanwhile, her daughter, Ushio Okazaki, is more spunky, plays with robots, and is a Passionate Sports Girl for baseball. Toyed in that the Ill Girl Nagisa died giving birth to Ushio, so she's been raised by her also very nurturing and sweet grandmother Sanae instead. But in both game and anime, Nagisa's death can be reversed.
• Umineko: When They Cry: Natsuhi Ushiromiya is a very strict and conflicted lady who wishes her feisty and tomboyish child, Jessica, would be more "ladylike."

Web Animation

• Hazbin Hotel: Charlie is more comfortable in wearing tuxedos and is a skilled fighter, and her mother, Lillith, wears more dresses and is proper.

Western Animation

• American Dad!: Francine is a bubbly housewife who wears a default pink dress, and Hayley is a confrontational and rebellious tomboy who wears a default tank top and jeans.
• Amphibia: Felicia is a feminine long-haired tea shop owner who wants to teach her daughter, Ivy, how to run a shop, even though she has no problem with her daughter's interests of roughhousing.
• Atomic Betty is quite a tomboy herself, with her love for sports and comics. Meanwhile, her mother likes to get her into more "girly" activities.
• Bionic Six: Meg is a short-haired speedster who is skilled at battle while he mother Helen prefers using telekinesis to conquer her foes.
• Danny Phantom: Sam is a tomboy who has a toxic relationship with both of her parents, especially with her mother, who forces her to wear pink dresses.
• Detention: Shareena Wickett is a goth girl who likes dark things and is forced into being into pink and fashion by her mother.
• Disenchantment: Bean is a hard-drinking tomboy who favors breeches and tunics, and Dagmar is a proper queen.
• Harriet the Spy (2021): Mrs. Welsch is a Proper Lady who values decorum and elegance, always dressing in stylish attire. In contrast, Harriet is an adventurous, messy tomboy who rejects traditional societal norms, opting instead for hoodies, jeans, and sneakers. This sometimes creates tension between them, particularly in "Cross My Heart and Hope Not to Dance" and "The Rarest Bird".
• The Loud House: Traditional housewife Rita Loud has three tomboyish daughters, rockstar Luna, football lover Lynn, and mud lover Lana.
• My Little Pony:
  • In G4, Rainbow Dash is a sarcastic and snarky Passionate Sports Girl who has messy hair, and her mother, Windy Whistles, has more proper hair and is bubbly and giddy.
  • There's also Applejack, a farmer girl, who often feels sad about her late mother, Pear Butter, who was more feminine and romantic.
• Recess: Ashley Spinelli is a tomboy who is rough and sarcastic, while her mother likes ballet, makeup, and shopping.
• The Simpsons (animation): Episodes set in the future of Marge as a cookie-cutter housewife and Maggie as a punk rockstar.
• Star vs. the Forces of Evil: Downplayed with Star and Queen Moon. Star is a feminine character, but she pretty much has a tomboyish streak and is a Girly Bruiser, and she often clashes Queen Moon, who is usually more proper than her.
• Tangled: Downplayed with Rapunzel and her mom in the series. Rapunzel is a Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak who is feminine but also adventurous and tough whenever she has to be, while her mother was more proper but also had an adventurous streak when she was younger.