Distaff side - definition of distaff side by The Free Dictionary Distaff side - definition of distaff side by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Thesaurus , Medical , Encyclopedia . distaff side the female side or branch of a family. Compare spear side dis′taff side` the female side of a family. [1885–90] distaff side , spear side - The female side of a family is the distaff side—the distaff being a stick used for holding yarn when spinning; the male side is the spear side. See also related terms for spinning . Translations distaff side [ˈdɪstɑːfˌsaɪd] n on the distaff side → per parte di madre Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us , add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content . Link to this page: Orchestra music to our ears at 16-1; DAVE MITCHELL on Epsom's 4.00 VALUE SCOPE In the distaff side, WWE Divas champion Paige will defend her crown against Tamina Snuka.

BIRDS READY TO FLY; But the hunt is on for more drivers On the distaff side are Alice Coltrane, who melded organ and harp, Eastern religion and Western music, for Universal Consciousness (1972)/Lord Of Lords (1973), and the Shirley Scott Trio, from the Queen of the Organ, with For Members Only (1963)/Great Scott Abdulkarim races to victory It seemed almost stupid as to why the passport was being made such a big issue, since someone like Prakash Amritraj had played for India for years and on the distaff side, Shikha Uberoi and Sunitha Rao were no longer eligible to play for India. Copyright © 2003-2017 Farlex, Inc Disclaimer All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.

Distaff dictionary definition | distaff defined Noun (plural distaffs) a device to which a bundle of natural fibres (often wool, flax, or cotton) are attached for temporary storage, before being drawn off gradually to spin thread. A traditional distaff is a staff with flax fibres tied loosely to it (see Etymology), but modern distaffs are often made of cords weighted with beads, and attached to the wrist. the part of a spinning wheel from which fibre is drawn to be spun anything traditionally done by or considered of importance to women only a woman, or women considered as a group Adjective of, relating to, or characteristic of women referring to the maternal side of a family Antonyms (of, relating to, or characteristic of women): male , paternal Origin From Middle English distaf, from Old English distæf (“distaff”), from Old English *dis (cognate with Middle Low German dise (“bunch of flax”)) + Old English stæf (“staff”). It represented the goddess, standing in the stiff archaic style, holding a spear in her right hand, in her left a distaff and spindle or a shield.

1759), and a descendant on the distaff side from John Welch and John Knox. After the birth of a child, the tonalpouhqui or;sun-calculator drew its horoscope from the signs it was born under, and fixed the time for its solemn lustration or baptism, performed by the nurse with appropriate prayers to the gods, when a toy shield and bow were provided if it was a boy, or a toy spindle and distaff if it was a girl, and the child received its name. Before the introduction of machinery applicable to the spinning of silk waste, the refuse from cocoon reeling, and also from silk winding, which is now used in producing spun silk fabrics, hosiery, &c., was nearly all destroyed as being useless, with the exception of that which could be hand-combed and spun by means of the distaff and spinning wheel, a method which is still practised by some of the peasantry in India and other Eastern countries.

This deputation led to the recall of Narses in 567, accompanied, according to a somewhat late tradition, by an insulting message from the empress Sophia, who sent him a golden distaff, and bade him, as he was not a man, go and spin wool in the apartments of the women. Distaff - Encyclopedia Distaff GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES DISTAFF, in the early forms of spinning, the "rock" or short stick round one end of which the flax, cotton or wool is loosely wound, and from which it is spun off by the spindle. The word is derived from the Old English distaef, the first part of which is connected with dizen, in modern English seen in "bedizen," to deck out or embellish, originally "to equip the distaff with flax, &c.," cf. the German dialectal word Diesse, flax. The last part of the word is "staff." "Distaff" from early times has been used to symbolize woman's work (cf.

the use of "spinster" for an unmarried woman); thus the "distaff" or "spindle" side of a family refers to the female branch, as opposed to the "spear" or male branch. The 7th of January, the day after Epiphany, was formerly known as St Distaff's day, as women then began work again after the Christmas holiday. - Please bookmark this page (add it to your favorites). - If you wish to link to this page, you can do so by referring to the URL address below this line. Copyright © 1995-2011 ITA all rights reserved. Encyclopedia Alphabetically Distaff vs. spear-side? - phrase meaning and origin Distaff vs. spear-side? Posted by R. Berg on November 05, 2002 In Reply to: Distaff vs. spear-side? posted by Bookworm on November 04, 2002 : : : : : What is the term for the male side of the family? Thanks in advance. : : : : Datstaff? : : In heraldry, what is the opposite of distaff, spindle, or female side?

: : SPEAR-SIDE : Distaff can be an adjective as well, so you have distaff side and spear side. What strikes me odd is that distaff is also a noun, but spear is not (at least not one that means "male branch of the family"). I just assumed that there would be an equivalent noun for the male side of the family....my mistake? Apparently there isn't. "The spear side" is definitely the parallel to "the distaff side," but Webster gives "spear" only in attributive use for that sense. Strangely, the OED has no entry at all for "spear" meaning male, as noun or adjective, although "spear side" with that meaning appears in its discussion of "distaff." P.S. R.

Berg 11/05/02 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Distaff - Wikisource, the free online library 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Distaff 800015 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica , Volume 8 — Distaff DISTAFF, in the early forms of spinning, the “rock” or short stick round one end of which the flax, cotton or wool is loosely wound, and from which it is spun off by the spindle. The word is derived from the Old English distaef, the first part of which is connected with dizen, in modern English seen in “bedizen,” to deck out or embellish, originally “to equip the distaff with flax, &c.,” cf. the German dialectal word Diesse, flax. The last part of the word is “staff.” “Distaff” from early times has been used to symbolize woman’s work (cf.

the use of “spinster” for an unmarried woman); thus the “distaff” or “spindle” side of a family refers to the female branch, as opposed to the “spear” or male branch. The 7th of January, the day after Epiphany, was formerly known as St Distaff’s day, as women then began work again after the Christmas holiday. Distaff Day | Article about Distaff Day by The Free Dictionary Distaff Day | Article about Distaff Day by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Dictionary , Wikipedia . Distaff Day Type of Holiday: Folkloric, Calendar/Seasonal Date of Observation: January 7 Where Celebrated: England Symbols and Customs: Distaff ORIGINS The DISTAFF and the spindle were used to spin flax or wool fibers before the invention of the spinning wheel in 1533. The flax was wound around a short staff known as the DISTAFF , which was fastened at the woman's waist by her girdle or tucked under her arm. The flax would be fed from the distaff through the woman's fingers to the spindle, which twisted it into yarn or thread.

When women visited each other, they often carried their distaff and spindle with them to occupy them as they chatted. Sometimes the distaff was called the "rock"-from the German rocken, which described the spinning apparatus. When women gathered together to spin, it was often referred to as "rocking." January 7 was traditionally the day on which women resumed their chores after the twelve-day CHRISTMAS celebration, which ended on EPIPHANY, or January 6. Because spinning was such a basic and essential female activity at one time, it made sense to call the day on which women returned to their normal routine Distaff Day or Rock Day. Some people called it St. Distaff's Day, although the name was a medieval joke. There never was a St. Distaff, nor was Distaff Day really a church festival. But it was widely observed at one time in England. Men apparently didn't feel the same compulsion to get back to work after Christmas. They often made fun of the women by setting fire to their flax, in return for which they had pails of water dumped on their heads.

SYMBOLS AND CUSTOMS Distaff Because it was the women who did most of the spinning, the distaff became a symbol for the female sex. The "distaff side" was a legal term referring to the female branch of the family, while the "spear side" was the male branch. And a "spinster," of course, was an unmarried woman who had nothing better to do than spin all day. The art of spinning was so essential and so completely identified with women that the Three Fates in Greek mythology were depicted as three women spinning the thread of human destiny. FURTHER READING Brewster, H. Pomeroy. Saints and Festivals of the Christian Church. 1904. Reprint. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1990. Chambers, Robert. The Book of Days. 2 vols. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1990. Cirlot, J.E. A Dictionary of Symbols. New York: Philosophical Library, 1962. Dunkling, Leslie. A Dictionary of Days. New York: Facts on File, 1988. Harper, Howard V.

Days and Customs of All Faiths. 1957. Reprint. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1990. Henderson, Helene, ed. Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary. 3rd ed. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 2005. Distaff Day January 7 After the 12-day Christmas celebration ended on Twelfth Night or Epiphany, St. Distaff's Day was traditionally the day on which women resumed their chores, symbolized by the distaff, a tool used in spinning flax or wool. It was also called Rock Day, from the German word rocken —"rock" being another name for the distaff. The "spear side" and the "distaff side" were legal terms used to distinguish the inheritance of male from that of female children, and the distaff eventually became a synonym for the female sex as a whole. Distaff Day was not really a church festival, but it was widely observed at one time in England.

Although the women had to return to work after Twelfth Night was over, the men apparently had plenty of time to amuse themselves by setting the flax on fire, in return for which they would get buckets of water dumped on their heads. SOURCES: Distaff Counterpart - TV Tropes Distaff Counterpart You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account Share YMMV One common method used in creating a Spin-Off is taking the main character of the show, creating an equivalent that's mostly the same except for being the opposite sex, and then packing the new character off to her own series. This allows the station or network to fill up extra space on the schedule with a known quantity, while (in theory) stretching its demographic to female viewers. This method is very popular among action-adventure series, which mostly appeal to young males. However, sometimes it can lead to a Counterpart Comparison . While heroes are usually the ones to get this kind of treatment, it's been happening more and more to villains too.

They're also the third kind of Spin-Off , with a long-lost sister showing up or a new girlfriend brought in, only to repeat whatever circumstances gave the main character his powers/duties/what-have-you. Just like how many female characters are defined by their relationship to the default or already established male character, many distaff counterparts are defined primarily by their relationship to the male counterpart . This can be shown through their visual properties, narrative connection, and occasionally promotional materials. They are often a wife or girlfriend, but can be a sister or friend to the male counterpart. Often, and especially if the characters in question are animals, the female character will have a bow on her head or other Tertiary Sexual Characteristics defining her as female and to set her apart from the "default" male characters. In other words, the male character or characters may have little or no stereotypical masculinizing gender specifiers, but his or their distaff counterpart or counterparts will have stereotypical feminizing gender specifiers to mark them as female. If the distaff counterpart is a girlfriend, she is usually the Love Interest to the male character. A male character who goes through the Gender Bender will find himself turned into his own Distaff Counterpart.

The implications for the character, writers, and audience are left as an exercise for the reader. NOTE: "Distaff" means "female". Therefore, the inverse of this (a male counterpart to an existing female character or Always Female trope) is technically and traditionally a Spear Counterpart (which was named for the spearhead-shaped end of the symbol of Mars that represents males. You may also be thinking the "spear" meant something else). SECOND NOTE: A "distaff" is a spinning device, used with a spinning wheel and, even before that, with a spindle. More here. Textile Work Is Feminine ; that's why it's used to symbolize femininity. Usually tends to wear a Gendered Outfit . Compare Gender Flip , which reverses roles based on gender, rather than cloning them. If a normally gender- specific trope is played on its opposite gender anyway, that's a Gender-Inverted Trope (otherwise known as a rare male/female example). If they're fan-created, it's Rule 63 . If this appeals to a fan fetish, it's a form of Fanservice . When you take this trope to its literal conclusion, you get an Opposite-Sex Clone .

See also Contrasting Sequel Main Character . Contrast with I Just Want to Be Badass . The laws of probability and large numbers will in all likelihood turn this into Truth in Television eventually for most of us. Tropes that have Male - Female Counterparts open/close all folders Advertising Japanese Pepsi mascot Pepsiman has Diet Pepsiwoman, whose only commercial is advertising Diet Pepsi Twist where she was wearing a lemon-themed balaclava, just like Pepsiman was in his commercial for non-diet Pepsi Twist. Anime & Manga In chapter 98 of Ai Kora , Maeda runs into a girl named Chizuru who turns out to be a "parts lover" like him... and happens to think he has really sexy hands. Aoi House = Uri House . Black Jack = Ray, from the manga and anime series of the same name. Captain Harlock has two within the works of creator Leiji Matsumoto . Fellow space pirate Queen Emeraldas has the same scar across her face while Captain Bainas (from Ozuma ) has the messy red hair. Both also happen to be badass captains who have a penchant for badass capes . Cutey Honey was originally created as a distaff counterpart to Warrior of Love Rainbowman .

Daily Lives of High School Boys has an interesting In-Universe use. A series of stinger skits called High School Girls are Funky features Habara, Yanagi and Ikushima, three girls who look, act and talk remarkably like their male counterparts Tadakuni, Hidenori and Yoshitake, respectively. Devilman Lady was spawned from Devilman , although it evolved into its own strange series. Since that name kind of doesn't make much sense, the official English version of the anime is called The Devil Lady. This was at least partially the inspiration for Kinnikuman Lady - though in that case, it's an alternate universe where everyone is gender-flipped except Meat. Instead of being about the world's beefiest buffoon, it's about the world's ditziest bimbo. Joining the "stupid, inherently contradictory name" race is Kinnikuman Lady's bestest pal Terryman Girl. Wizardmon — Witchmon Beelzebumon — BelleStarrmon Eyeshield 21 has The Hero Sena and Action Girl Karin. Both were recruited initially against their will to join a football team.

Both are considered the best in their specialty (running back and quarterback respectively) and both Apologises a Lot with low self-esteem and being the Nice Guy / Nice Girl . The only thing really different about them is their gender and appearance. Getter-1 — Getter Q As well, Getter-2 — Getter Shou/Neo Getter-2 In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's , while Nanoha and Fate get their own rivals in form of Vita and Signum, Yuuno and Arf get Distaff/Spear Counterparts in form of Shamal and Zafira. Both Yuuno and Shamal are passive Barrier Warriors , have similar abilites and similar roles and they have green magic colors. Great Mazinger — Venus A Similarly, in the Mazinger Angels manga (a spoof of Charlie's Angels ) the main characters are Sayaka, Jun, Hikaru and Maria, piloting Aphrodite A, Venus A, Diana A and Minerva X, respectively. It's like your usual Crossover blending Mazinger Z , Great Mazinger and UFO Robo Grendizer , but Gender Flipped : the male pilots and their robots are nowhere to be seen, and the main characters are the female leads and robots.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack has Dark Action Girl Rezun Schneider as the Distaff Counterpart to Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam 's Yazan Gable. Both are thuggish badass normals who joined the military in order to legally kill as many people as possible and have no regard for The Laws and Customs of War . In Please Tell Me! Galko-chan , Charao and Otao are spear counterparts of Galko and Otako, being the stereotypical party-goer and the local nerd respectively. While both are genderless, the Mewtwo in the 16th Pokémon movie is more feminine than the more masculine one seen in the first one . It is also more of a pure hero, while the one in the Kanto movies was more of an Anti-Hero . Flamenco Girl from Samurai Flamenco . In a rare subversion, she's actually far more competent and effective than her male counterpart . Soul Eater (Manga) : The whole Spartoi group.— When the group goes into the Book of Eibon after Noah and Kido-kun, the first chapter, "Lust" turns the males female and vice versa.

They then make comments on how odd they look, until a team of Female Succubus come and try to defeat them. Comic Books Immensely common in comic books. The first one was probably Mary Marvel, spun off from DC's Captain Marvel in the 1940s, and it continues to the present day, with characters like Supergirl , Batgirl , She-Hulk , Spider-Woman and Stargirl (both a female Star-Spangled Kid and a female Starman). Some of these are also Legacy Characters . They can also exist in Alternate Universe Fics that are written by fans or Elseworlds published by the companies themselves, where different female characters receive the Call to Adventure in lieu of their male counterparts in the mainstream universes. In comics, this is necessary for the purposes of trademark and copyright protection, since if the comic companies don't publish the obvious derivative characters then others would be legally able to do so. One well-known example of a company losing a counterpart trademark is how one of DC Comics 's most famous characters is Wonder Woman , but Marvel Comics was able to secure the trademark to Wonder Man .

Stan Lee specifically mentions the Wonder Woman and Wonder Man trademarks as a reason why Marvel created Spider-Woman to secure rights to the Spider-Woman trademark. Dc Supergirl is the Trope Codifier . Although not the first female copy of an established hero (Mary Marvel and Bulletgirl preceded her), she has had the most longevity and the most incarnations, including her own movie and Live-Action show . Power Girl , being originally Supergirl's alternate universe counterpart before Crisis on Infinite Earths brought her to the main DCU, is also a distaff counterpart of Superman. In the New 52, a significant addition to Supergirl's Rogues Gallery has the distinction of being the Distaff Counterpart to two major Superman foes- Reign has a very Doomsday-like originnote a Super Soldier created on Krypton from an alien infant, Gone Horribly Right , and a very Zod-like personalitynote Smug Super conquerer with a personal vendetta against the protagonist's family, deeply driven to make said protagonist submit to them. Incidentally, she basically presents herself as Kara's Evil Counterpart as well. Hawkgirl is a Distaff Counterpart of Hawkman .

Hawkman has had five series, the longest of which ran for 49 issues. Hawkgirl then took over the series for the final 17 issues. Hawk and Dove started out with the protagonists (two brothers) as a Sensitive Guy and Manly Man . They were replaced by a Tomboy and Girly Girl (though the Girly Girl had been teaming up with the Manly Man since Post-Crisis - and, as of Brightest Day , they're back to that situation ). Element Girl, the female Metamorpho . She is mostly known for being saved by Death from a sad and lonely existence in The Sandman . Since then she has made another appearance outside of DC continuity in Wednesday Comics . [1] The concept has since been recycled in the form of Element Woman, a new Korean American successor to Element Girl. Aquagirl, the female equivalent of Aquaman 's sidekick Aqualad. The Joker has Harley Quinn , while the Riddler had a short-lived female counterpart named Quelle. Before Quelle, Riddler had a pair of female associates named Query and Echo.

The DCU now has a whole Alternate Universe (Earth-11) made up of Distaff Counterparts . All the superheroes there are Gender-Flipped , including a berserk-with-testosterone "Wonder Man" who's a dead ringer for King Leonidas of 300 . It gets a bit confusing when you consider that Earth 11 features Gender Flip versions of characters that already HAVE Distaff Counterparts, or who already ARE distaff Counterparts. For example; Superlad. The Ame-Comi Girls universe features most of the primary hero roles in the hands of the usual female distaff counterparts. So Jesse Chambers is The Flash , Carrie Kelly is Robin , Natasha Irons is Steel , etc. Metal Men Issue 32 features a story called "The Metal Women Blues", where the team gets jealous of Tin and Nameless and get their creator, Will Magnus, to create opposite sex counterparts for them. During the subsequent mission, a rift grows between the males (Gold, Iron, Lead, Tin, Mercury, and Platinum Man) and females (Gold Girl, Iron Girl, Lead Girl, Nameless, Mercury Girl, and Platinum). Zatanna , the daughter of Zatara.

Rare case where the distaff counterpart completely overshadowed the original in terms of popularity. Carrie Kelly, the Robin from The Dark Knight Returns . Stephanie "Spoiler" Brown's brief run as Robin may also count. Tallulah Black from Jonah Hex . Like Hex, she's a physically and mentally scarred individual with absolutely nothing to lose. Miss Martian to Martian Manhunter . Notable in being one of the few superheroine distaff counterparts whose costume covers more than the male version; Miss Martian wears a Sailor Moon style outfit, which covers quite a bit more than "two leather straps and a speedo." In personality she started as pretty much an Expy of the animated Teen Titans Starfire. On the subject of distaff counterparts with a more concealing costume: Bombshell to Captain Atom . Bombshell wears a t-shirt and trousers, while Captain Atom is effectively naked. Natasha Irons started off as the replacement Steel when her uncle John took a break from his Powered Armor . She ended up changing her Code Name to Vaporlock after gaining her own powers.

Batwoman was introduced as a distaff for Batman back in 1956 (as well as to quell some vicious rumors circulating about Batman and his young ward ), serving as a feminine counterpart to his crime-fighting adventures (using "feminine intuition" and having cosmetic-themed gadgetry, for example). When she was re-introduced in 2007's 52 and given the lead role in Detective Comics her personality and history were updated. The Cutter arc of Detective Comics goes into an explicit examination of the parallels between the two characters, with alternating pages (And sometimes even alternating panels) following both characters as they each tracked a separate criminal (eventually revealed to be the same criminal, but the Batman scenes were about five years earlier), each one going through the same motions, victories and setbacks as the other. Spygirl is this to Spy Boy . Strontium Dog -> Durham Red (whose first solo story was called "Strontium Bitch"). The Terminator comic "End Game" has Jane Connor, which is apparently what you get if Sarah Connor gives birth in a hospital. The birth of Jane Connor apparently cuts the war against Skynet's timeline in half, with the humans winning earlier.

In the '90s , the producers of the Zorro comics introduced spin-off character Lady Rawhide, who, although sharing his quest for justice, was otherwise decidedly not a distaff counterpart. In the interest of being accurate to the Wild West setting, she was rather plain and wore a demure, tasteful costume . Or not. Comic Strips From The Beano , Dennis The Menace -> Minnie The Minx. Mandrake the Magician has Master of Disguise The Clay Camel. His modus operandi (perfect disguises and a namesake Calling Card ) was later co-opted by The Brass Monkey... who turned out to be his daughter. '' Dykes to Watch Out For : The Indelible Alison Bechdel included a strip called "Guys to Watch Out For" which showed each character's Spear Counterpart. In particular, Mo is being inaugurated as president of the United States. Fan Works After repeatedly feeding on his emotions and gaining his powers, Aria Blaze starts mentally and physically turning into a female version of Kaizer Ghidorah. The Mirror Universe 's version of Princess Cadance is basically its version of King Sombra.

The main character of Bugged Run , Chrys, is a Gender Flip of the classic Always Male Bug Catcher NPC trainers. Films — Animation Balto II, a direct-to-video sequel, has Balto's daughter fulfilling this role. Jessie is Woody's distaff counterpart in Toy Story 2 . Justified in that "Woody's Round-Up" , which was the show that their toy line was based on, was a show from around The '50s , just before it became common to have a distaff counterpart. Brother Bear 2 has Anda and Kata, two "moosettes" that are distaff counterparts / love interests for Rutt and Tuke. This works especially well since their voice actors were on SCTV (respectively, Rutt and Tuke were voiced by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, while Andrea Martin and Catherine O'Hara voiced Anda and Kata). The Lion King 's Scar has one in Zira from The Lion King II: Simba's Pride . She is presumed to have been his mate at one point and has a similar personality to him, but is more hands-on and violent. Space Jam introduced a Distaff Counterpart for Bugs Bunny , Lola Bunny.

Films — Live-Action Hal Roach created the Double Act of Cloud Cuckoo Lander ZaSu Pitts and Only Sane Man Thelma Todd to be this to Laurel and Hardy . They made a bunch of short films together for MGM, then Pitts demanded a pay rise and Roach replaced her with Deadpan Snarker Patsy Kelly for another run of films which was ended by Todd's tragically early death. Kelly was then paired up with, in turn, Pert Kelton and Lydia Roberti, before finally making a feature film with Pitts. The Pitts and Todd Reservoir Cats (Not to be confused with the The Itchy & Scratchy Show parody of the same name) is a remake of Reservoir Dogs with all the male characters replaced with female ones. Superman II used Superman's mother Lara as a Suspiciously Similar Substitute to his father Jor-El in Superman: The Movie because the producers didn't want to pay Marlon Brando the amount of money he was asking for to use footage that had already been filmed since Superman I and Superman II were originally filmed back-to-back.

Lady Deathstrike to Wolverine in X2: X-Men United , having an adamantium skeleton like he does and showing what he could have been if he hadn't escaped from Stryker. A handful of James Bond movies have presented the Bond Girl as this, with some very significant characteristics in common— Anya Amasova is introduced snuggling in bed with her lover, much like Bond frequently is, Pam Bouvier and Wai Lin are Action Girls who can kick ass just as well as him, if not better, and Jinx pulls a Not Staying for Breakfast on him. Rey turns out to be this for Luke in The Force Awakens ; they both grew up on a desert planet without their biological parents (Tatooine with Luke, Jakku with Rey), both are mechanically savvy pilots, and they're both destined to be Jedi. Literature The Hunger Games : President Alma Coin to President Snow. Greyfriars — Cliff House. The adventures of Billy Bunter's sister Bessie and her friends at Cliff House School for Girls were written by Hilda Richards, supposedly Frank Richards's sister (but actually, both Richardses were pseudonyms used by Charles Hamilton and others) and appeared in The Schoolgirl magazine.

In The Maze Runner series, most of Group B (introduced in The Scorch Trials) are the Distaff Counterparts to most of Group A. Specific examples include: Harriet to Minho as of the point where the two groups meet up in the Scorch. It is not known if Group B had any leaders prior to Harriet, but Group A have been through two leaders by the time Minho assumes the role. Rachel to Thomas. However, since the former is a Posthumous Character , she doesn't appear directly until The Fever Code (the fifth book in the series in order of publication, but the second in order of chronology) apart from in one of Thomas's memory dreams. Beth to Gally. Both go missing in their groups' respective Mazes days before each group launches their escape attempt, only to turn up in the final chamber, at which point they are manipulated into killing one of the survivors. Live-Action TV The Bachelor — The Bachelorette . The Big Bang Theory has Sheldon — Amy Farrah Fowler. And before Amy's indroduction there was Sheldon — Mrs. Hofstadter.

While the latter acted almost exactly like Sheldon in every way, the former started off as such but the character grew to have her own personality and quirks to differentiate herself from Sheldon. Hannibal : Hannibal Lecter and Bedelia Du Maurier. Ted and the Mother in How I Met Your Mother share a similar appearance, being the Nice Guy / Team Dad and Nice Gal / Team Mom of the group and having several quirks such as loving road side detours to unusual landmarks and wearing driving gloves. NCIS : Recurring character CGIS Agent Abigail Borin is a Hero of Another Story Distaff Counterpart of Agent Gibbs. They have many of the same mannerisms. It's Lampshaded several times. Person of Interest has Sameen Shaw as this to John Reese. Bosom Buddies subverted the trope. Kip and Henry appeared as their "female" alter-egos, Buffy and Hildegarde, but their neighbours also knew them as Kip and Henry, Buffy and Hildy's brothers. House had Amber, a smug know-it-all who has no problem lying, cheating, and manipulating people to get what she wants. Of course Wilson, House's only friend, is in love with her.

In 2003, ESPN 's Cold Pizza was an attempt to create a more female-friendly version of SportsCenter , to compete with network morning shows like Good Morning America . The original format lasted little more than a year before a revamp removed most of the non-sports content and added more Pardon The Interruption "hot take" debates. The show was cancelled in 2007 and immediately replaced with First Take , which was basically the "1st and 10" debate segments spun off to show length. Music The Primettes were conceived by Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. as the distaff counterpart to The Primes. The bands were later renamed The Supremes and The Temptations. "The Boy is Mine" (1998, Monica ft. Brandy) and "Same Girl" (2007, R. Kelly ft. Usher) are R&B songs about Love Triangles . Or Misstallica . The Bangles have said in many interviews that their original goal was to be this to The Beatles . Of course they didn't make nearly the same impact. The Three Tenors had distaff counterparts, The Three Sopranos.

Lady Gaga and Adam Lambert are both incredibly talented (and incredibly campy) singers who make heavy use of synthesizers and (at least partly) go for shock value with performances. Not surprisingly both are known to be bisexual. The female alternative quartet Drain STH was very much this to Alice In Chains when they first debuted in 1993. K-pop has a few. Typically they will be from the same company as their counterpart and said company or fans of the company will hype them up by using this trope. Examples include: 2NE1 to Big Bang - both have edgy music perceived to have the most Western influence. Girls' Generation to Super Junior , due to the many members and similar pop sound. The former were even originally going to be called the Super Girls. Fx to SHINee for their focus on impressive and flashy choreographies. AOA Black, the band part of AOA , to well-known Korean bands FT Island or CN Blue , depending on which fan you ask. Their company FNC seem to agree to either. Examples from the '70ï¿½'80s funk scene: Parliament/Funkadelic begat the Brides of Funkenstein. Rick James begat the Mary Jane Girls.

Prince 's music factory cranked out a whole series of distaff Prince bands: Vanity 6, Apollonia 6, Wendy and Lisa, Sheila E... Fifth Harmony - One Direction , since they both have 5 members and they both started out on The X Factor (the former in the US version, the latter in the UK version). That's not all, they both consisted of five solo artists who were put into a group after getting rejected, they both finished third, became the most successful act from their respective country's show, and they have similar shorthand names (5H and 1D). Little Mix to One Direction : Both are British pop groups formed on The X Factor as solo before turning into a group, both have 4 members (although 1D started out with 5), and Perrie Edwards was engaged to former member Zayn Malik. The difference is in their musical styles as Little Mix prefer R&B-tinged pop, and Little Mix won their season, while 1D finished in third; on the other hand, One Direction have been far more popular and successful ( especially in the US ) than Little Mix.

Quite surprisingly, Chris Boltendahl of Grave Digger has one in Federica de Boni of White Skull, despite his voice being about as gruff as you can get without edging into death growl territory. Chris has even done guest vocals on a couple of White Skull songs, seemingly just to demonstrate how uncannily similar their vocal styles are. Critic Robert Christgau referred to R.E.M. and 10,000 Maniacs as musical "kissing cousins". Michael Stipe performed some guest vocals on the latter's In My Tribe album, making this one more or less official. German song and cellphone company Jamster/JAMBA created a female counterpart to Schnuffel (Snuggle) named Schnufflienchen (Snuggelina) in 2011 who is also Snuggle's girlfriend due to the popularity of Snuggle in Germany. Both have there own songs, but most of Snuggelina's songs are her referring to her boyfriend except for the song "Butterfly". In the early '00s, Linkin Park — Evanescence . Both Nu Metal bands that took on pop sensibilities and saw massive success in doing so.

They even have similar sounding Signature Songs with "In the End" and "Bring Me to Life" respectively, though the latter is more of Black Sheep Hit in their case. They are also the two most likely bands you'll hear an anime Fan Vid on Youtube. Five Finger Death Punch has one with the female-fronted In This Moment . Both are groovy alt-metal bands with hard-hitting yet radio friendly sounds, frequently subject to Narm Charm with how over-the-top their music is, and have received a very divisive reception by metalheads. Fittingly. they've toured together and frontwoman Maria Brink appeared in their song "Anywhere But Here". In Metalcore , Issues has one with Conquer Divide . Both are eclectic takes on the genre, with Soprano and Gravel dynamics between a harsh vocalist and one that sounds like a Top 40 pop star. The comparison has been drawn quite a few times by listeners. Pinball The Magic Flute : Birdman Papageno gets his birdwoman Papagena. Myths and Legends The Egyptian goddess Anput is largely a female aspect of her husband Anubis.

The incubus (a male demon which lies upon sleepers, in order to have sexual intercourse with them) has the succubus as a female counterpart. Freyr and Freyja in Norse Mythology . Their names are even the masculine and feminine form of the norse word for "lord". New Media For April Fools' Day 2009, everyone at OAFEnet was replaced by their distaff counterpart — except Artemis, whose male equivalent was "Apollo". The entire site was turned from blue to pink, and even one of their running jokes got gender-flipped for this cartoon. ItsJustSomeRandomGuy, creator of the I'm a Marvel... and I'm a DC series, has one in the form of his girlfriend, ItsJustSomeRandomGal. Rule 63 is an internet phenomenon in the vein of Rule 34 that any sufficiently popular male will be drawn as a hot female. Including some characters, mostly Superheroes, who don't need to be drawn as such because, as mentioned earlier in comics, they already have a Distaff or Spear (yes, it's done to female characters as well) Counterpart.

Pinball Gottlieb 's Raven was intended to be a Distaff Counterpart to Rambo . Professional Wrestling In the 1980s Rock n Wrestling Connection, Wendi Richter was the female version of Hulk Hogan . GLOW could be argued to have many distaff counterparts to male wrestlers (Big Bad Mamma to Papa Shango perhaps) but the standout example was Justice, who was a distaff counterpart to Shaft ! The New World Order was so popular that copycat organizations couldn't pop up fast enough, including distaff counterparts such as the fWo in the NWA and the pWo in Women's Extreme Wrestling. Lita was this to the Hardy Boyz (bonus points for being like this before they were teamed together, though they had offered to train her back when she was with Christopher Daniels ). Sara Del Rey in her initial face persona was this to Bryan Danielson (she was trained by him). She used his LeBell Lock finisher, used "The Final Countdown" as her entrance music and called herself "The American Angel" (he was "The American Dragon"). Tiger Mask, specifically Satoru Sayama , gave his blessing to a Joshi who became Tiger Dream Candy Okutsu.

World Wonder Ring STARDOM had a parody in Yuzupon Mask Yuzuki Aikawa, which wasn't even a spoiler to most Japanese fans. AAA gave one to La Parka , La Novia De La Parka Sahori. Lucha Libre USA gave him one to in Rosetta Par-K. Tracy Taylor, in case you're wondering Delirious unveiled one to aid him in his " feud " with CM Punk ...Shelirious...who was his long term nemesis turned translator , Daizee Haze . Chikara shot for its own distaff counterpart in Kiryoku Pro, which also failed to catch on. The work of one Mercedes Martinez caught the eye of Dave Prazak though, leading to a SHIMMER invite. IWA Mid-South owner Ian Rotten helped train one for his promotion, Mickie Knuckles. The 2005 LLF rookie of the year Tsunami was called "La Chica" Kane because it was obvious she was a big fan of USA style pro wrestling, seemingly appeared out of nowhere to destroy people and used a choke slam. On a promotional level, Pro Wrestling SUN was one to Pro Wrestling Zero 1 .

Sadly, it did not last but lived on in some of its wrestlers continuing to compete for Zero 1 as Team SUN. While Aja Kong had long been called a distaff counterpart to Big Van Vader , WSU gave him an official one in Big Van Missy. Mask, squash match , Vader Bomb and all.(and in Aja Kong's case, an equal case could be made for EMLL luchador Kung Fu during the later stages of his career) Irregular WCW wrestler Shark Boy was so unexpectedly popular he managed to get two distaff counterparts. Shark Girl and Shark Solo . Starting in 2009, Michelle McCool became this to AJ Styles when she started using the Styles Clash, which she renamed the Faith Breaker, as her finishing move. Later became more apparent when she and Layla started wearing hooded robes as part of their LayCool entrance. Oddly extends to Real Life as well, since both are devout Christians from the Deep South . The Original Baka Gaijin of Big Japan Pro Wrestling, Mad Man Pondo, got one in REINA in the form of Crazy Mary Dobson, Miss Baka Gaijin.

The Chick Busters ( AJ Lee and Kaitlyn ) were this to the Dudebusters (Trent Barreta and Caylen Croft, occasionally joined by Curt Hawkins). AJ Lee eventually became one to CM Punk , especially after AJ delivered a blistering Worked Shoot promo against the rest of the WWE Diva roster, with worked shoots in WWE's "Reality Era" being the wheelhouse of CM Punk. It's no surprise that the two end up together in real life, and are now married. In 1984, South African wrestler Steve Simpson came to the USA and formed the S&S Express with Joe Savoldi. In 2012 Nevaeh formed an alliance with Sassy Stephie and later Jessie Bell Smothers, which came to be known as the SNS Express. After the SNS Express forced the breakup of the American Sweethearts on the WWN, Amber O'Neal claimed to have joined Bullet Club and set out to be one to Doc Gallows. Emma is not the distaff counterpart to Santino Marella , but she did debut one to his cobra finishing move, Ven-Emma .

In the early nineteen nineties, the Montreal based International Championship Wrestling promotion had Sexy Team #1 and Sexy Team #2, who teamed up as the imaginatively named "Sexy Team". In 2014, Canadian Dark Angel formed "El Sexy Team" in CMLL with Estrellita and Goya Kong. Trent Baretta and Chuck Taylor formed a tag team called "Best Friends" in Pro Wrestling Guerilla during 2013. In 2015, Arisa Nakajima and Tsukasa Fujimoto formed team of the same name in Ice Ribbon during 2015. In WWE, Charlotte is one to Ric Flair minus the party lifestyle. She's called the Nature Girl, her entrance theme includes the famous intro of his, and she has adopted several of his moves and mannerisms (Figure 4, knee drop, strut, WOOOO, etc). This is not lost on people; in fact the sheer number of borrowed aspects from her father has been openly criticized both in-universe by her rivals and by a growing list of detractors amongst the fans.

Sports The Women's National Basketball Association, which even started with a copycat logo (now updated to change ) and has several teams with names inspired by the city's NBA one - helped by them usually sharing the same owner: Current team pairs: Washington Wizards/Mystics, Minnesota Timberwolves/Lynx, Phoenix Suns/Mercury, San Antonio Spurs/Stars (Silver Stars before 2014). Plus a coincidental: Dallas Mavericks/Wings; the Wings relocated from Tulsa after the 2015 season, and are owned separately from the Mavericks.note The Wings also play in Arlington, unlike the Mavericks, who play just outside downtown Dallas. Current NBA team, moved WNBA team: Utah Jazz/Utah Starzz; the Starzz relocated to San Antonio (see above). Orlando Magic/Miracle; the Miracle are now known as the Connecticut Sun. Detroit Pistons/Shock (both named after car parts). When the Shock moved to Tulsa after the 2009 season, it created a coincidental example; as the Oklahoma City Thunder had moved from Seattle to OKC a year earlier. As noted above, the Shock moved yet again after the 2015 season to become the Dallas Wings.

Current NBA team, defunct WNBA team: Houston Rockets/Comets, Miami Heat/Solnote Spanish for "sun", Portland Trail Blazers/Fire, Sacramento Kings/Monarchs. Continuity Snarl : Charlotte Hornets/Sting. The snarl involves the Hornetsï¿½that was the original version of the Hornets, which moved to New Orleans and eventually became the Pelicans. The expansion team that Charlotte later got, originally known as the Bobcats, eventually got the Hornets name back. The Sting folded in 2007. Also relevant to basketball, netball was originally derived as a variant of early basketballnote which, it might be noted, didn't originally have things like backboards or dribbling, as netball still doesn't deemed suitable or women to play (according to the accepted standards of the time)- though actual women's basketball in the modern sense evolved in parallel, itself having little variation in the men's game other than the size of the regulation ball. In football/soccer , countless top-level men's clubs have counterpart women's clubs, usually wearing very similar kit. Sometimes, both clubs are merely sections within a much larger multi-sport club.note One example is FC Barcelona.

In other cases, the women's club is underneath the umbrella of the men's club.note Three teams in the National Women's Soccer League in the States are run by Major League Soccer teams ï¿½ the Portland Thorns FC (Portland Timbers), Houston Dash (Houston Dynamo), and Orlando Pride (Orlando City SC; new for 2016). In still others, the women's club is technically independent, but has agreements to use the facilities and (often) trademarks of the men's club.note Examples include Arsenal in England and FC Kansas City (linked with MLS team Sporting Kansas City) in the States. Golf has a few of its own (men's competitions listed first). When it comes to major championships, all four of the men's majors have a direct women's counterpart: Masters/ANA Inspirationnote Founded by entertainer Dinah Shore and originally bearing her name; most recently known as the Kraft Nabisco Championship ï¿½ The tournaments are not run by the same body, but they are de facto counterparts.

Both are the first majors of their respective seasons, and are held at the same course every year.note (The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, the Inspiration at Mission Hills Country Club in Palm Springs, California.) Most notably, both have a unique tradition surrounding the winner. The Masters winner is fitted with a special green jacket that identifies members of Augusta National, the club that runs the tournament. The winner of the Inspiration traditionally jumps into a pond behind the 18th green. U.S. Open/U.S. Women's Open ï¿½ Both are operated by the United States Golf Association, the governing body for golf in the U.S. The Open Championship/Women's British Open ï¿½ Both are held in the UK, although they are not run by the same body.note The Open Championship is run by The R&A, which along with the USGA sets the rules of golf. The Women's British Open is run by the Ladies' Golf Union, the governing body for women's golf in Great Britain and Ireland. PGA Championship/Women's PGA Championship ï¿½ Both are run by the PGA of America, the trade association for U.S. club professionals (which has been separate from the PGA Tour since 1968).

Before the 2015 season, the Women's PGA Championship was known as the LPGA Championship and run by the (U.S.) LPGA, a trade association for women golf professionals (both club and touring). The Tour Championship/CME Group Tour Championship (season-ending events, both with limited fields, on the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour) Ryder Cup/Solheim Cup (USA vs. Europe professional team competitions held every two years) Walker Cup/Curtis Cup (USA vs. Great Britain & Ireland amateur team competitions held every two years) In ice hockey, the Canadian Women's Hockey League have the Calgary Inferno, a counterpart of the NHL's Calgary Flames. In tennis : The WTA Tour to the ATP World Tour. There are several sub-examples within these tours: The WTA Premier Mandatory and Premier Five events, collectively, to the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 ï¿½ the top events on the tour, apart from the four Grand Slam events. The WTA Tour Championships to the ATP World Tour Finals ï¿½ season-ending events for the very top players. The Fed Cupnote originally Federation Cup to the Davis Cup ï¿½ annual events for national teams.

Toys Fire Emblem Awakening : Lucina is deliberately this to the original game 's Marth, including going by his name early on in the game. Morgan from the same game also counts. Morgan can be male or female, but they serve the same purpose: in this case, female Morgan is a perfect mirror of her father, the male Avatar. Both wear the same robe, have the same backstory (they were stricken with amnesia and discovered and recruited by Chrom's Shepherds), and in-game they share the Tactician and Grandmaster classes, which are exclusive to the Avatar and his/her children (and Streetpass/Einherjar characters, but they're non-canon), and have the unique capacity to reclass into any other class in the game (except the female-exclusive Pegasus Rider line for males and the male-exclusive Barbarian line for females). For the 3DS edition of Hyrule Warriors , Link receives one in the form of Linkle. It has been joked about for the longest time that Link was fairly androgynous, so it's a marvel that Nintendo waited this long to acknowledge it.

Web Animation The eponymous character from Homestar Runner was going to have one of these, but the creators decided against it. She can be seen in the background of at least one cartoon, though. Girlchan in Paradise!! does this with maytag, a complete duplicate of Kenstar in appearance except obviously female (while still humorously poorly voiced by a man). Despite this, nobody except the viewer can make the appearance connection. Kenstar: Wow she's so pretty Yusuke: You're just saying that because she looks like (brief pause) a pretty girl! Kenstar: That would be why i said that. In RWBY , villain Roman Torchwick eventually gains a sidekick named Neo, who wears a feminized version of his outfit with softer colors and wields a Parasol of Pain compared to his Gun Cane . According to Monty Oum , Neo's design was based on a female friend of his cosplaying as Roman. Webcomics Several non-canon MegaTokyo omake feature Piroko and m0h, gender-swapped versions of Piro and Miho based on their in-canon Cross Player game avatars.

Problem Sleuth features Distaff Counterparts / Opposite Sex Clones of the three protagonists, Problem Sleuth, Pickle Inspector, and Ace Dick, who live in the imaginary universe and which each briefly becomes during a "spiritual journey". Problem Sleuth gets Hysterical Dame, Pickle Inspector matches up to Nervous Broad, and Ace Dick gets... Ace Dick in a wig, because Ace's imagination isn't good enough to have an actual female alter-ego. Nerf NOW!! has female counterparts to every playable character in Team Fortress 2 . In Scandinavia and the World , most of the characters have sisters who (except the Swedens and the Americas) are basically the same as their brothers. The only notable exception is France, where the default representative is female, and Brother France is officially her spear. In El Goonish Shive , due to the existence of alternate universes, Elliot's counterpart in the Beta Universe is a female version of himself named Ellen (who is not Main Universe Ellen's counterpart), and Grace has a counterpart in the Alpha Universe named General Shade Tail. In the non-canon universes of the side strips, Tedd has a counterpart in Tess.

Web Original SheZow has DudePow, his gender-flipped alternate dimension counterpart who dons a male costume instead. In the Rick and Morty Mobile Phone Game Pocket Mortys, one of the Alternate Universe version of Morty is a female version named Morticia. According to the in-game description, she is the result of her motherï¿½s womb being 32.54 degrees Fahrenheit degrees warmer during the early stages of gastrulation. The moon was also 384,900km away. Real Life Yes, there once was a YWCA (as well as an Alternate Religion Equivalent , the YMHAnote Hebrew, and its Distaff Counterpart the YWHA). Eventually, as the meaning behind the acronym was forgotten , the other versions were folded into the YMCA, which then dropped the obsolete parts of their name and became the Y. Not entirely true for the YMHA and YWHAï¿½they merged with one another, but not with the YMCA/YWCA. Most locations of those groups now call themselves Jewish Community Centers .

However, some locations under the JCC umbrella still call themselves the Y (or formally, "YM-YWHA"), with perhaps the most notable example being the famous 92nd Street Y in Manhattan. According to The Other Wiki , the YWCA organization is now called "World YWCA", it is independent from the YMCA and focuses more of its time now on social-services and mission-type work. The merging occurred at the local level: many local YWCAs are now affiliated with both YWCA USA (the American wing of World YWCA) and YMCA at the same time. The above does not apply to Canada where YMCA and YWCA remain separate organizations and while they both offer programming for men and women, Canadian YWC As continue to offer a large amount of female-centric programming related to health as well as social issues. The Statue of Liberty was based on what the Colossus of Rhodes might have looked like as a woman, albeit much more modestly dressed. She is approximately the same height and wears a very similar crown to popular depictions of the Colossus. The Girl Guides/Girl Scouts was set up as this for the Boy Scouts, after many girls expressed interest in joining the movement.

Though (at least in the UK) the Scouts now accept girl members as well as boys, the Guides still remain as a distinct entity aimed at girls. Spear Counterparts Buffy the Vampire Slayer (majority female cast) — Angel (majority male cast) Sex and the City — Big Shots, rare case where a show with a female cast gets a male version. Entourage has also been referred to as the male counterpart, with the martinis switched out for joints. As indicated above, Doctor Who has established that Time Lords can change gender when they regenerate, making it possible for them to have their own distaff and spear counterparts. At least one "spear counterpart" is known as a result: the Time Lord General first seen as male in "The Day of the Doctor" who later regenerates into a female in "Hell Bent". Dialogue after the change establishes that the character is actually female, but was saddled with a male body for the first time in her previous incarnation, therefore retroactively making the male General seen previously her own spear counterpart.

Myths and Legends Madonna — Mandonna Pro Wrestling As Josie Wahlford was the first known "World Champion" recognized by any significant part of the pro wrestling industry, the wrestler to be recognized as a World Champion among male wrestlers, George Hackenschmidt , was her spear counterpart. While in TNA , James Storm has basically been a spear counterpart to Jacqueline , specifically when she was Miss Tennessee but also her own role during her TNA runs to a lesser extent. On the flip side. Jacqueline and ODB together are almost a distaff counterpart to James Storm's team, America's Most Wanted. Los Spice Boys of AAA weren't spear counterparts to any lucha libre\pro wrestling group but were instead male knockoffs of a UK female music group known as The Spice Girls. After Cody Rhodes was "disfigured" by Rey Mysterio (it was Cody's own fault and he looked exactly the same afterwards), he began forcing all the ugly people (anyone he could get his hands on) to wear paper bag masks, making him a one man spear counterpart to TNA 's The Beautiful People .

No Bella Twins have worked for the NWA as far as we know, however, Vendetta Pro and Ultra Championship Wrestling Zero have had matches featuring the Fella Twins. Though mostly subverted in that Tommy Puur and Chip are generally baby faces and thus don't switch. After their breakup "Boy Diva" Rick Cataldo and Eddy McQueen were quick to appropriate the gimmick in NWCY and WSU. Toys The Mighty Max toyline was created in 1992 as a Spear Counterpart of the Polly Pocket toyline, which was introduced in 1989. The G.I. Joe toyline (which started in 1964) is often considered as an Spear Counterpart for the Barbie toyline which was available since 1959). The Easy Bake Oven is usually aimed at girls , though in the 2010s they revamped it for an unisex audience. Another company has the "Creepy Crawlers" oven aimed at boys. It creates candy versions of "gross" or "scary" animals like spiders or scorpions. Video Games In-Universe for Lunar : Nall is Team Pet in Lunar: The Silver Star .

Ruby fills the same role in the sequel Lunar: Eternal Blue , but now with femininity, pinkness, and a big yellow bow on her her head. and anorexia nervosa in an attempt to lose weight because they think they are too fat . Less commonly known is that the opposite generally holds true for guys, who try to get bigger instead. In the belief that they are too skinny or scrawny some will almost obsessively work out and eat a lot of food in order to put on more weight (in the form of muscle mass). This tends to happen more often to those who are already perceived as being very physically fit or muscular, and is known as muscle dysmorphia or, appropriately, reverse anorexia. Both are essentially nasty side-effects of the way our modern media portrays the ideal body figure for both women and men. Since so many of Disney's holdings, such as Disney Fairies and Princesses , appeal so much more easily to girls, Disney found that their market share in young children's entertainment was lopsided, so Disney XD was specifically created in order to cater to boys. Spike TV can be seen as the Spear Counterpart to Lifetime , having been conceived as a television network geared toward men.

Alternative Title(s): Spear Counterpart

Question: Distaff is the female side or branch of a family – what is the male?
Answer: Spear