Humanoid Female Animal/Analysis

One Reason for This Trope

One reason for this trope is that Men Are Generic, Women Are Special. Indeed, as we are a species largely used to seeing our fellows clothed, it is only logical that we would come to see masculinity as an absence of feminine traits.

After all, while the physical attributes that most obviously designate one as male are completely rendered veiled by socially normal attire, a woman under normal circumstances would have to put particular effort into disguising the presence of her breasts, the shape of which are generally obvious even when they are concealed. Consider also how many distinct styles of clothing are considered "male", how many are "female", and how many can easily be worn by either side; we may be pinning much of our ability to distinguish between sexes strictly on the presence or absence of a feminine figure.

How Media Tend to Proportion Anthropomorphic Female Animal Characters, and Its Effects

The tendency for media to sexualize women more than men does not apply only to human and Demi Human characters. This tendency also extends to alien, monster, and animal characters (fictional or nonfictional species). With all three, the females are usually made more anthropomorphic than the males as well.

The media tends to depict bipedal or anthropomorphic female animal characters with largely or completely humanoid body proportions and human-like breasts rather than as a run-of-the-mill Funny Animal or Civilized Animal. They tend to be sexualized as well. Due to this, it is now natural for a naked or even partly dressed female animal character to seem awkward to the viewer unless she is a Nearly-Normal Animal, Talking Animal or Partially-Civilized Animal.

By contrast, the designs of male and prepubescent female animal characters are usually composed of basic shapes that remain faithful to their species rather than having a humanoid body shape.

Even though there are a lot of anthropomorphic female animals that are Petting Zoo People, there are still some female Funny Animals and Civilized Animals. For example, Mrs. Brisby and Penelope Pussycat may be anthropomorphic female animals, but they don’t have a busting chest, long human-like legs, or a human-shaped butt.

Comicbooks

• Magicia De Spell from the Disney Ducks Comic Universe and DuckTales.

Film

• Mrs. Brisby from The Secret of NIMH
• Gloria the hippo from Madagascar
• Tigress from Kung Fu Panda doesn't have human-like breasts or Hartman Hips. Instead, she looks lean, sleek, feminine and sexy without abusing feline anatomy.
• Kitty Softpaws from Puss in Boots
• Abby Mallard from Chicken Little
• Olivia Flaversham from The Great Mouse Detective
• Miss Bianca from The Rescuers

Newspaper Comics

• Arlene from the Garfield comics, shows, and specials

Video Games

• Dixie Kong and Wrinkly Kong from the Donkey Kong Country games

Western Animation

• Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck from the Classic Disney Shorts
• Penelope Pussycat and Miss Prissy the hen from Looney Tunes
• Babs Bunny, Fifi La Fume, Sweetie and Shirley the Loon from Tiny Toon Adventures
• Dot Warner, Slappy Squirrel, Candie Chipmunk and Rita the cat from Animaniacs
• Marlene the otter from The Penguins of Madagascar
• Heathcliff's girlfriend, Sonja, has the same round body type that he has.
• Cindy Bear from Yogi Bear
• The female animals in Father of the Pride.
• Bessie and Abby in Back at the Barnyard.
• Bear, Sheep, and Kangaroo from Word World.
• Gosalyn from Darkwing Duck