In-case you don't know what these are:

T1, Manic pixie dream girl- link

T2, Women in refrigerators- link

T3, the smurfette principle- link

T4, evil demon seductress- link

T5, mystical pregnancy- link

T6, straw feminism- link

For me no.5 is the worst because it has basically the same dimensions as rape, yet in 9/10 of the cases it is shown without the emotional consequences or without showing this is violation. It's treated as (usually) a laid back, unimportant episode-filling one shot, when in reality the mental gravity of it all is horrible.

I'll admit, i'm not too bothered by the first. I don't think theres anything wrong with having some cheery female characters, so long as they are shown realistically and not all female characters in that show are.

I agree with you, but I'm more irritated by the lack of interesting female characters in tv shows, films and most popular culture. Especially when it is sci-fi or crime related. Have you noticed that, even if it's not the smurfette principle, many female characters in popular tv series or blockbuster films are usually boring or irritating and nowhere near as likeable, smart and interesting as the main male characters? You most probably have, it's hard not to. :/ Sometimes it makes me see red, because I would like to "fangirl over" female characters as well, but there are hardly any characters worth "fangirling over".

Moreover, many tropes are combined in one film i.e. the only "powerful" or independent female character is most likely to be an evil demon seductress while the good, likeable woman is usually defenceless and needs to be saved (literally or metaphorically) by her knight in a shining armour. The second common scheme is one where there are a few female characters, but somehow all them are wishy-washy, ordinary and altogether dull.

This makes it hard to support feminist issues at all because the well is poisoned with these characters.

^ All of the above. ;)

(Changed my mind, for reasons I'll explain when i'm feeling less lazy ;) )

It was a toss up between Smurfette Principle and this. Hate that it's considered normal to have all men with the one token female (especially in cartoons for kids. If you've ever seen the old Warner Bros cartoons with Bugs Bunny and the gang, there are NO females except when Bugs is dressed in drag to fool Elmer Fudd, LOL). I think it reflects the idea that if males don't have total control of everything, anything more then maybe 1-2% females represented is then considered a "matriarchy".

Matriarchy? No, just boring and to be ignored. Female characters are considered only interesting to a female audience, while male characters are considered interesting across the board.

This is a huge problem trope. This is the epitome of false facts and myths about feminism.

They are stupid, but I think that the main problem is the last one. The last one is not only being sexist, but is preventing us from solving sexism. The other ones are all problems, but they are problems that don't attempt to demonise anything that will try and solve them.

Like a lot of other "straw" character tropes, this one's dangerous because it promotes false assumptions that a lot of people are gullible enough to believe. The straw feminist trope is played when a female character disrespects male characters for being male. The male equivalent (as in, when a male character is disrespectful to females) is called the straw misogynist. This adds to the danger, because it tricks people into thinking that feminism is the female version of misogyny.

Instead, I think they should combine both tropes and rename it "straw chauvinist". If such characters have to exist in media, fine. But make it clear to the audience what they really are.