http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FoxyVixen

Advertisement:

As we all know, cunning, wiles, and craftiness have been the fox's bread and butter in most fiction. Being the guileful tricksters they are, foxes have been portrayed as having a talent for conning and outsmarting others for their own ends throughout history, to the point that the word "fox" today is basically synonymous with slyness.

But when they aren't being stereotyped as sneaky, thieving scoundrels, vulpines have a noticeable tendency to appear as the saucy head-turning beauties of the animal kingdom.

In public consciousness and media, foxes have a consistent association with attractiveness and sexuality considerably on par with that of felines, most likely due to the same reasons; the former possess a similar degree of beauty and elegance that make them unique from most other members of the canine family, and it's not at all difficult to imagine beautiful women wearing luxurious coats or scarves made of the fur of one. The association is also present in the English language, as you'll often hear words such as "foxy" or "vixen" used to describe someone — women in case of the latter term — who is especially attractive or sexy.

Advertisement:

While slightly less known than the image of the cunning fox, this trope is still pervasive enough that many works can't seem to resist going for the obvious Visual Pun. There is a certain specificity to the portrayal of fox or fox-themed characters coupled with a significant amount of grace and sex appeal — usually of the feminine kind — even compared to other animals, likely along with a flirtatious, seductive, or promiscuous demeanor. (Though male examples of this trope aren't exactly uncommon, either). When paired with the foxes' stereotypical cunning, the combination will usually result in a Femme Fatale of sorts, and since most fictional foxes are red foxes, Heroes Want Redheads can come into play.

This trope is especially prominent in Asian cultures and folklore: the Kitsune and its cultural counterparts are known for shapeshifting into beautiful women, and women with pointed chins and slanted eyes forming a "V" are often called "vixens" in Japan, sometimes mistaken for a transforming kitsune. Even if they do assume a male human form, they will likely be at least Bishōnen.

Advertisement:

See also Sexy Cat Person and Snakes Are Sexy, for the feline and reptilian ends of the spectrum respectively. Not related to Silver Fox, which is about good-looking old people, although that trope's name also comes from the association between foxes and attractiveness. A subtrope of Fox Folk.

Examples:

open/close all folders

Anime and Manga

Asian Animation

The North Korean propaganda cartoon Squirrel and Hedgehog features the American Lt. Fox Vixen as one of the antagonists. She's a combination of Foreign Fanservice, Sexy Spectacles, and Evil Is Sexy, symbolizing American women as being sly and too sexual.

In Pakistani film The Donkey King, Evil Chancellor Fitna note an Arabic word that can mean "temptation", "trial", or "captivation" is a vixen who favors tight-fitting clothes.

Comic Books

Fan Works

Born to Be Wilde: Pearl, Opal, and Crystal are a trio of very flirty artic foxes dressed in skimpy outfits who also happen to be skilled assassins/masseuses, and their looks attract the attention of just about every mammal present (even the gals). Don't reject their advances if you value your life, though.

Aurora appears in the third part of To Belong. She's introduced as a vixen who catches Sinbad's eye, only for her boyfriend Dimitri to knock Sinbad out. Aurora and her boyfriend are thieves.

Film — Animation

Rango: Angelique the fox is the Sexy Secretary of Mayor Tortoise John. Compared to Bean, she is noticeably curvier in appearance, even boasting Hartman Hips.

The Elm-Chanted Forest: French-accented lounge singer Fifi, the object of both J. Edgar Bevear's and Bud E. Bear's affections.

Film — Live Action

The ABCs of Death: In the "H" segment, Frau Scheisse is a sexy Nazi fox woman posing as burlesque dancer, spending most of the segment in boots, shorts, a swastika armband, and nothing else.

Literature

Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio includes more than 80 stories of fox spirits in the form of beautiful women seducing men, most of which were left out of the first English translation from the Victorian era. The tale "Cut Sleeve" note a Chinese euphemism for homosexuality features a rare male fox.

Mythology & Religion

Older Than They Think: The Chinese huli jing and its Japanese and Korean counterparts, the kitsune and kumiho respectively, are fox spirits known for being classic Tricksters who mess with mortals For the Lulz, including disguising themselves as human women to seduce men and young boys. In fact, calling a woman "kitsune-faced" (a face shaped like a heart/inverted triangle) in Japan is considered a very sultry compliment, as this kind of face is generally considered more attractive than those with "Tanuki-faces" (square/round-faced). Tamamo-no-Mae is a famous kitsune appearing in diverse texts who is probably one of the most powerful youkai known to legend. Her story is long and varies between works, but in general is about a powerful kyuubi (a nine-tailed kitsune) from China who would constantly take the form of a beautiful young woman in order to seduce emperors and make them to commit terrible atrocities (ranging from torturing loyal subjects to devouring children) until their subjects would inevitably revolt and drive her out. This pattern continued sporadically for about two thousand years, until she was slain in Japan after being caught draining the life of Emperor Toba. As a side note, her legend seems to have been based on transmitted Chinese tales claiming that the infamous Shang Dynasty concubine Daji was actually possessed by a huli jing.

Scandinavian folklore has the hulder (aka "huldra" in Norway, "skogsrå" in Sweden, and "ulda" among the Sami), a seductive forest spirit that usually takes the form of a beautiful Little Bit Beastly woman with red hair and a fox tail, with only her hollow back giving away her monstrous nature. She seduces men who wander through the forest and steals their souls. If you figure out that a woman is a hulder, and then politely point out what gave her away, she will instead reward you.

Tabletop Games

In Golden Sky Stories, the fox/kitsune henge (animal spirits who can take on human or near-human shapes) have a special ability that makes them supernaturally attractive to humans, foxes, and other fox henge of the opposite sex. No other species of henge has any similar abilities.

Kitsune: Of Foxes and Fools has the players as fox spirits playing tricks on humans guilty of one or another of the Seven Deadly Sins, including Lust. Saski and Sareiko in particular get bonuses for tricks on Lusty fools, while their son Kenji has to go for Lust if possible (regardless of their target's gender).

In Transhuman Space, one of the Martian Triads' more popular Eros bioroid variants is the "Huli" model, which come with fur, tail, ears, and pheromones, but no claws or sharp teeth, because they're illegal sex slaves.

Video Games

Visual Novels

The Pirate's Fate, being set in a World of Funny Animals, features a number of beautiful fox women. Notably, whenever someone is transformed into one it usually features a certain type of beauty upgrade that is sometimes commented on. Queen Nakhta is one already, particularly with her borderline Cleavage Window.

Webcomics

Web Original

Western Animation

Other