17 Most Glaring Traits of a Female Narcissist

Ever met a woman who's self-centered, jealous, critical, and often cruel? She might be a narcissist. Female narcissists are often dismissed as “mean girls,” but when gossiping, exclusion, and sabotage continue into adulthood, it points to something deeper.

Though they hide behind the masks of being “sweet” or “nurturing,” their behavior can be just as ruthless, even toward their own children. While male narcissists use charm, female narcissists compete for dominance—and they don’t outgrow their manipulative ways; they perfect them.

Female narcissists gain pleasure and joy when they bring other people down. She often makes jabs at people to simply hurt them or make them feel inferior. She has no empathy when people are talking about serious things or emotions. She also chooses to only provide shallow responses or voices cruel reprimands to invalidate other people's feelings.

She has a strong ability to first glorify, then devalue and dump her victims without thinking twice. Once she gets what she needs out of a relationship, she is done with it.

Because she is unable to have healthy and fulfilling relationships of her own, she finds it fun to sabotage the relationships of others for her own personal entertainment.

In her group of female friends, the narcissist figures out who is a threat and who is just following along with the rest of the group.

Those who threaten the narcissist through their success, appearance, personality, status, or all of the above are targeted for removal, while the obedient people can be kept around until they can no longer benefit the narcissist in any way.

In order to feel superior to the people in her life, the narcissist will pit her friends against each other by saying that they are gossiping about each other when the truth is that her own fabrications are creating tension or conflict within the group.

Female narcissists may be conventionally attractive, but regardless, they use their sexuality to help them get what they want. Female narcissists put a heavy focus on their physical appearance, and often overestimate their attractiveness and display or flaunt their physical attributes.

Because females in today's society are socialized to objectify themselves, a narcissistic woman uses this social norm to try to assert her power.

While males are more likely to be focused on making money, female narcissists enjoy spending it. She usually enjoys treating herself with the most expensive designer clothes, revels in luxuries at the expense of her loved ones, or allows herself be spoiled by a wealthy significant other for whom she hardly has feelings. Her outward image is more important than her inner reality.

Female narcissists tend to have a group of admirers, such as exes that stay in the picture or even admirers who tend to lurk in the background. She will use these people to disregard the boundaries of her relationships and try to make other people jealous.

She often creates love triangles and loves the drama of the conflict and the excessive male attention. You may ask her to respect your feelings, time, money, or material things, but she will find a way to thwart your boundaries and make you feel bad about setting them.

Not only does she seek favorable treatment, but she expects it. She also believes that people should automatically comply with her.

She assumes that she is special and therefore deserves fame, wealth, success, and satisfaction, even if that results in a cost to others.

She is often envious, even though she appears to be very confident.

She looks for opportunities to undercut other people, and often buddies up to a friend to discuss how the two of them are superior to others in some way.

While she feels jealousy on the inside, she also truly believes that other people are jealous of her, and she uses this excuse to explain her lack of close, intimate friendships.

If her friends are experiencing accomplishments of their own, she will find a way to downplay their achievements.

Female narcissists blame other people for their problems.

They believe they could never make a mistake, so anything that goes wrong must be the fault of someone else.

They never feel ashamed because they believe they can do no wrong.

Female narcissists typically engage in risky behaviors, have addictive personalities, and are prone to becoming aggressive if and when they are rejected by others.

They are often either very happy or very upset without much of a middle ground, which leads others to think they are unstable.

If she thinks that someone is doubting her or speaking negatively of her, she is quick to react and fight back.

This often happens in a manner that is out of proportion to whatever she thinks someone is saying about her.

She will make a huge mountain out of a molehill.

Female narcissists believe they can do no wrong, so they are never in a position to offer an apology to someone.

If she does do something wrong, she is quick to blame it on someone else rather than taking responsibility.

Two of the most noticeable signs of female narcissists include their feelings of entitlement and their belief they are more important than the people around them.

They will brag about their accomplishments and fish for compliments from other people.

A narcissistic woman does not exhibit the socially normal behaviors of courtesy to other people.

She firmly believes that she exists in order to make the world complete, and therefore she sees no reason to acknowledge the needs of others.

Her mere presence is a gift to those around her.

Her behavior is unpredictable and her reactions are often excessive.

An angry narcissist is able to continuously shock people with her rage and punishing ways towards other people.

She loves to stir the pot and watch other people scramble or react to her dramatic outbursts or behaviors.