damsel in distress

A stereotype of portraying an unmarried female who needs to be saved.

Snow White(Show White and the seven Dwarfs), Sleeping Beauty(Sleeping Beauty), Princess Zelda(The Legend of Zelda, The Adventures of Link, A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, the Oracle Series, Four Swords), Princess Peach Toadstoal(some of the Mario games) and etc.

damsel in distress by MoonGirl July 29, 2004

damsel in distress

A usually beautiful, virginal, virtuous, and hopelessly passive young woman constantly in need of rescue by the dashing hero. She is portrayed as rather asexual and usually a foil for the assertive but dangerously seductive femme fatale.

While the damsel in distress makes appearances in many folk stories dating back to Antiquity and features in a few fairy tales, this passive heroine does not seem to make regular appearances until the Victorian era; the Middle Ages were idealized as a time of pre-industrial innocence and the Victorians projected their ideals of men and women onto their Medieval ancestors; the Industrial Revolution was in full swing and women, displaced from farms and entering the middle class, lost some autonomy over their lives and became more ornamental, more dependent on their husbands.
Damsels in distress are often shown tied to railroad tracks, to sawmill conveyor belts, or offered as sacrifice to a dragon (or King Kong) until her knight in shining armor arrives to save her in the nick of time.

A damsel in distress would not have fared well in Medieval Europe. Generally, European women in the Middle Ages were not expected to be these timid shrinking violets; Christina of Markyate (who resisted a forced marriage and followed her dream of becoming a holy woman), Marjorie of Carrick, Christine de Pisan (a proto-feminist of sorts), Margery Kempe (another mystic), and Nicola de la Haye (led her castle against a siege in her 60s) are just a few of examples of women who took the reins in their own lives.

Women of that time and place were in danger of abduction, especially if they were wealthy... but it was preferable to a loveless marriage. The average "knight in shining armor" was a mix of professional assassin and local rapist, so the damsel often arranged to be kidnapped by her preferred suitor or even do the abducting herself:
Marjorie of Carrick (c. 1253-1292) was a countess in her own right, but was married young to an older husband who died in the Crusades in 1271; she was informed of this by her husband's handsome young companion, Robert de Brus. Marjorie, out hunting at the time and far from upset by the news, was so taken by his beauty that she took him back to her castle and held him captive until he agreed to marry her; she must have done something right, because they were married within days. The second of their eleven children was Robert the Bruce himself.

damsel in distress by Lorelili October 10, 2011

damsel in distress

any female in need of aid

princess zelda is a damsel in distress along with most of the disney princesses

damsel in distress by Quackalishus March 22, 2004

damsel in distress

whininy bitch in need of a smacking.

damn that damsel in distress needs to stfu.

damsel in distress by jf1288 August 30, 2004

Damsel-In-Distress 

She wants you to bail her out of every situation. You may offer her advice instead, but she'd rather just have your money. She is never satisfied with any situation, and usually nitpicks until the situation is ridiculously out-of-control.

Person A: Dude, ______ is having a really rough time. Maybe we should help her out.

Person B: <SMACK> Bitch! Don't fall for that #$*^T! She's just pulling a "Damsel-in-distress!"

Damsel-In-Distress by Crackerpants October 19, 2011

Demanding damsel in distress 

The attractive woman at work who plays the coquette and victim when it suits her but also demands respect and advancement. Coworkers either hate her or swoon over her. No one is neutral in their opinions of her.

"Can you believe that Stacey charged her supervisor with harassment? He just asked her to do her job."

"Yeah and now she got a promotion on top of it!"

"She's a demanding damsel in distress."

Demanding damsel in distress by Cirdellin January 13, 2010

Borderline Personality Damsel in Distress 

An individual who exhibits traits of BPD as described by the DSM V however has not been officially diagnosed with said condition. Is usually stigmatized for “dramatic” and “histrionic” behavior.

David rolled his eyes at dinner when Jordan drunkenly lashed out at his Christian mother for misgendering them on the first meeting and called him out for being a borderline personality damsel in distress.

Borderline Personality Damsel in Distress by jkbbrbrg September 2, 2021