17 TV Women Who We Thought Were Great Complex Female Characters, But Looking Back, Give Off Major "Not Like Other Girls" Energy
1.Peyton from One Tree Hill
Peyton is the ULTIMATE “not like other girls” girlie. She spends the whole first season in particular as the edgy popular girl who no one understands. But liking ‘80s bands doesn’t make you better than anyone, Peyton! I honestly hated the way she treated Brooke, especially early on, and the fact that she was a cheerleader, then acted like she hated it.
2.Liz from 30 Rock
The episode where Liz realizes she was the actual bully in high school, and not the popular girls she remembers as the bullies, literally defines this trope. Liz always thought she was better/smarter than people and had a chip on her shoulder that she put there herself.
3.Arya from Game of Thrones
I hate the whole trend of a strong female character having to reject any kind of femininity and put down any woman who does display femininity. It's fine to reject femininity, but when the only strong female characters are ones who do so (and when they simultaneously put down feminine characters), it feels like they're only serving to reinforce misogyny. Luckily, Arya seemed to grow out of this, but it still bothered me earlier on.
4.Alex from Modern Family
I never liked Alex, even though I was very much the bookish, nerdier, more sarcastic member of the family. She was just always putting down her siblings and her family — I know that’s kind of the role of the "straight man," but I feel like she was especially mean about it when it came to Hayley. I feel like she had a chip on her shoulder for being different from her and the only “smart” one who could possibly keep the family on track. I know she was dealing with her own stuff, but she still gave off this energy, and it wasn’t my favorite!
5.Elaine from Seinfeld
Elaine's very much the stereotypical "guy's girl," and while her character did a lot for women in comedy, I hated that they had this whole storyline about how she doesn't have female friends and "hates women." It just serves to reinforce that women are not as interesting as men, except for the Cool Girl who men have deemed worthy of their time and friendship.
6.Daisy from Daisy Jones & the Six
Did anyone else dislike Daisy? I just felt like she was so entitled and full of herself, and thought she was better than others. Not that she owed anything to Camila — it was Billy’s responsibility to stay faithful to her — but I always felt like she didn’t show care for someone who always treated her well.
7.Britta from Community
Britta basically embodies this trope. Her whole thing is that she’s different and unique and not a servant to men’s expectations of her — which is great! But she ends up putting down other people almost as much as Jeff, including women like Annie and Shirley. She also always thinks she knows better (like when it comes to Abed) and wants desperately to be different to the point where she can’t recognize her own privilege. I’ll never forget the episode where she only hangs out with a woman because she thinks the woman is a lesbian, and she wants to prove she's progressive.
8.Wednesday Addams from Wednesday
I know Wednesday’s whole thing is that she isn’t nice to people, which is fine. But the forced romantic drama in Season 1 made it feel like she was friendly to some people — but only guys who were romantically interested in her. She was so mean to Enid despite the fact that Enid consistently helped her. I’m excited to see their friendship develop in Season 2 because the whole “this bubbly girl with her boy problems is stupid and annoying” thing from Season 1 was not my fave.
9.Lexi from Euphoria
Now, I loved the school play episodes, but that was such messed up behavior from Lexi. Yes, she made fun of Nate, but the play was predominately about her sister and friends — including Rue. It felt like she was exploiting their trauma and revealing their secrets even though it seemed like they’d done nothing to her — and then we were supposed to feel for her when Cassie came onstage and started chewing her out? I don’t like Cassie either, but that was her sister, and she humiliated her! I feel like Lexi low-key has this superiority complex about being a wallflower and used it to put everyone publicly on blast, then acted like the victim.
10.Aria from Pretty Little Liars
It’s so weird to me that they positioned Aria as the edgy one just because she sometimes wore out-there clothing like a comic book dress, and also that one time when she was 14, she had pink streaks in her hair? She was otherwise very much a classic teenager that was really into English (and her English teacher). She thought she was just as mature as people Ezra’s age and never understood (even when she became an adult) that he was a major creep (not that I blame Aria for their relationship, Ezra is a monster). Plus, she was a bad friend and slut-shamed Hanna when she was clearly going through a hard time, and overall just treated Hanna like she was stupid. And she wasn’t really a very good friend to Spencer or Emily either!
11.Silver from 90210
Silver always bothered me because she was supposed to be the “different” one when, really, she was just as much of a bully as Naomi. I mean, she posted school gossip about women on her blog in the name of “journalism.” And then she was an awful friend and constantly choosing men over her friends — not even just with what happened with Navid, but with the way she abandoned Annie after Naomi basically excommunicated her for “sleeping with Liam.”
12.And Ivy
I can't believe they didn't learn their lesson with Silver!!! Ivy was "Not Like Other Girls" in a very different way from Silver, but she still was a part of the trope. Unlike Silver, she's a Guy's Girl — she only hangs out with men, and she puts down what she perceives as "girl-like" behavior. Enough of this!!!
13.Vanessa from Gossip Girl
Vanessa was sooo annoying. She always thought she was above the other characters even though she did her fair share of crap, and it felt like she never wanted Dan to actually be happy (not that I care about Dan’s happiness after Season 6).
14.Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
I mean, Faith straight up SAYS they’re better than everyone else because they have superpowers. She never really respects the other characters, even Willow, who literally also has superpowers. It also feels like she thinks she’s the only one who can understand Angel because she’s also done bad things and I’m like…girl, you accidentally killed one guy, Angel brutally massacred and tortured thousands. You’re far more similar to Buffy than Angel. She was also constantly putting down Buffy for being a “good girl,” when Buffy was the ONLY person who was there for her and trying to help her.
15.Tina from Glee
I mean, who fakes a stutter to stand out?? She was also sooo creepy toward Blaine, and was angry he didn’t love her even though she’d known he was gay from the start. She never really befriended many of the other girls, either.
16.Anna from The O.C.
I feel like the show had the opportunity to introduce an interesting outcast (since at that time, they only had popular girls Summer and Marissa), but instead they never committed to making Anna interesting enough and basically just had her serve as a foil to Seth and Summer's relationship, turning her into an insecure anti-Summer who occasionally seemed to put down the "girly" things Summer stood for. I loved that the show ended up making Anna and Summer friends, but then they ruined that again with boy drama.
17.And finally, Hannah from Girls
Hannah's whole thing, especially at the beginning, is that she's different and special. While it seems like she thinks she's different and special compared to everyone, not just other women, I'm still putting her in this trope. She's a horrible friend to the other girls and tends to make more excuses for men.
