History Main / AllWomenArePrudes

A related idea is that on the sliding scale of love versus lust, women are assumed to firmly stand on the "love" side of the spectrum as a whole; any attraction they feel towards someone in a relationship will be far more romantic in nature, preferring the intimacy and emotional attachment that comes with a relationship over the sexual, physical aspects. This is why most examples of the {{Love Freak}} in fiction tend to be female, as well as being one of the factors behind the UglyGuyHotWife trope. In addition, it is also why relationships between two women are often portrayed as being more fulfilling and "wholesome" than those between men and women, especially in the YuriGenre. [[note]] Notice how any time this trope is invoked in a work, it is usually in the context of heterosexual relationships. Very rarely do you see it play out in fiction when lesbians are involved.[[/note]]

A related idea is that on the sliding scale of love versus lust, women are assumed to firmly stand on the "love" side of the spectrum as a whole; any attraction they feel towards someone in a relationship will be far more romantic in nature, preferring the intimacy and emotional attachment that comes with a relationship over the sexual, physical aspects. This is why most examples of the {{Love Freak}} in fiction tend to be female, as well as being one of the factors behind the UglyGuyHotWife trope. In addition, it is also why relationships between two women are often portrayed as being more fulfilling and "wholesome" than those between men and women, especially in the YuriGenre. [[note]] Notice how any time this trope is invoked in a work, it is usually in the context of heterosexual relationships. You almost never see lesbians deny sex to one another in fiction.[[/note]]

Contrast AllWomenAreLustful and CoyGirlishFlirtPose, the other side of the cycle that is slowly becoming more prominent in fiction despite both polarities being equally far away from truth in reality. When a woman internalizes this trope and looks down upon other women who don't, see SourPrudes.

'''Jackie:''' ''[to Donna]'' If men find out we love sex just as much as they do, we'll never get jewelry again!

* Subverted and lampshaded in the ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10745563/1/OTP-Addiction OTP Addiction]]''. Jaune hesitantly tells Pyrrha that her outfit shows cleavage, apparently expecting her to be upset. He's shocked when Pyrrha asks if he [[MaleGaze enjoyed the view]].

* ''Manga/DontMeddleWithMyDaughter'': For the majority of the series, Clara shows no interest in anything having to do with sex, though the matter isn't discussed until "''The Amazing Eighth Wonder no.3"''. During a phone conversation between Hana and Clara's mother, Athena, Hana says Clara is a prude, which is why it upsets her that her mother [[ReallyGetsAround is promiscuous.]] Though the more underlying reason is that [[spoiler: Clara is a lesbian and wants her mother [[ParentalIncest for herself]]]].

In some parts of Fictionland, sex is something women [[LieBackAndThinkOfEngland just give to men to shut them up for a while]]. But women don't ''enjoy'' sex, and they definitely don't desire it. The only reason a fictional woman should ever want sex is if she wants to get [[BabiesMakeEverythingBetter pregnant]] or [[BabyTrap trap her partner in marriage]]. Similarly, if the story involves a teenager who [[ButIWouldReallyEnjoyIt resists having sex]] and prefers to wait until marriage, or just decides that now isn't the right time, you can bet money that the character will be female and that her decision to say no will be seen as a moral victory rather than a personal choice. And many times, it is clearly implied that a desirable woman ''[[MyGirlIsNotASlut shouldn't]]'' want sex in any way, shape or form [[MadonnaWhoreComplex if she wants to be respected]].

Many modern folk believe this to be OlderThanFeudalism. However, it's actually a CyclicTrope. The humor in ''Theatre/{{Lysistrata}}'' in its own time, for example, came from the trope that AllWomenAreLustful and therefore would be incapable of [[LysistrataGambit withholding sex from men]]. The common belief that a woman needs to have an orgasm to get pregnant (putting "pleasing your wife" high on the list of a man's priorities) also precedes this trope. Both this trope ''and'' its inversion, AllWomenAreLustful, can be invoked to support claims for MarsAndVenusGenderContrast. This is also part of the reasoning behind AManIsAlwaysEager.

Contrast AllWomenAreLustful and CoyGirlishFlirtPose, the other side of the cycle that is slowly becoming more prominent in fiction. When a woman internalizes this trope and looks down upon other women who don't, see SourPrudes.

Contrast AllWomenAreLustful and CoyGirlishFlirtPose, the other side of the cycle that is slowly becoming more prominent in fiction.

Compare and contrast with MyGirlIsASlut, BeAWhoreToGetYourMan, and GoodBadGirl, all of which address women's sexuality on the opposite of the spectrum. Also compare & contrast SourPrudes and VirginShaming.

** Dr. Kelso's wife only lets him have sex with her once a year, which [[YouNeedToGetLaid makes him so happy]] that he turns from a heartless {{Jerkass}} into a BenevolentBoss for a single day. [[spoiler:Except this is all a ruse on Kelso's part so that everybody waits until that one day to ask him for things instead of bothering him all year long. We have no idea how often his wife actually lets him have sex with her]].

-->-- From [[http://depts.washington.edu/psy210/1894.html this]] wedding night guide; it's a joke, although even ''{{Website/Snopes}}'' doesn't [[http://www.snopes.com/weddings/newlywed/advice.asp know where it originated.]]

* Few [[{{Hentai}} H-Doujinshi]] (since most [[AllWomenAreLustful depict]] [[ExaggeratedTrope the opposite]]) seem to have this as the default. Finding one where the girl seems to be enjoying sex is difficult.

[[folder:Fanfic]]

* Part of the premise of Franchise/{{Pokemon}} fanfic ''Fanfic/OlivineRomance''- Jasmine abhors all notions of sexuality and romance, actively condemning all males as nothing more than lust-crazed animals. Her sexually-progressive friends get fed up with her attitude and devise ways to break her of her prudishness. It's only later in the plot when they think to ask the important question as to ''why'' Jasmine is this way.
* Played with in the ''Series/LostGirl''/''[[Series/Merlin2008 Merlin]]'' crossover ''Fanfic/LostInCamelot'', as Bo and Kenzi are fairly casual about their sex appeal after being sent back in time to Camelot, but standards of the time prompt Morgana in particular to be more reticent. Over the course of the story, Morgana and Gwen are shocked to see Bo wearing her 'underwear' (which from Bo's perspective covers more than her usual clothes), Freya is highly uncomfortable at the idea of wearing some of Kenzi’s clothing, and Morgana is slightly awkward [[spoiler:when she goes along with Bo's plan that they both dress seductively for Merlin's birthday]].

[[folder:Films]]
* Sets off the plot of the film ''Film/{{Extract}}'', [[spoiler: then inverted when the wife was entirely willing to have a great deal of sex with the pool boy.]] Lack of sex in the marriage was really the symptom of deeper problems.

-->''Crow'': "So, Mike, I learned from today's movie that Daphne was a slut, and Amy wasn't fun until she ''became'' a slut."
-->''Mike'': "Well, that's the fun message of today's movie."

* An interesting inversion in Series/TheBigBangTheory: Amy seems deeply interested in sex, but is dating [[{{Asexual}} Sheldon]], who is himself an inversion of [[AllMenArePerverts the opposite trope]]. Amy did play it straight when she first appeared on the show, however.

[[folder:Stand-Up Comedy]]
* A very common topic in comedy, to the point where a comedian or comedienne who denies it will usually be working blue.
* In a stand-up routine, Bill Engvall says that women can go without sex "like a camel", much to the frustration of their lovers. Of course, he also says that they don't necessarily ''like'' to do that, and could just as easily be referring to a LysistrataGambit.
* Creator/ChrisRock's stand-up routine claims that women can easily turn down sex because they've been offered it by pretty much [[AllMenArePerverts every male in their life]], implicitly or explicitly, since they were thirteen, on a constant basis.
-->'''Chris:''' It's easy for you to say no! You know why? Every woman in here, ever since you was THIRTEEN, every guy you ever met's been trying to fuck ya! "Can I get that door for you? How about some dick? Do ya need some dick?" Nobody offers us ''shit''! [[MenActWomenAre We have to fend for ourselves]]! We can't believe it when we get an offer! We're like, "Damn! It's my lucky day!"
* ''Creator/LouisCK'' in ''Live at the Beacon Theater'' says that the reason for both this trope and AllMenArePerverts is because women are great at sex while men are terrible at it.
-->'''Louis:''' "Why don't they just want to fuck all the time? I do!" Of course you do! Because when you fuck, you get to fuck a ''woman''! When she fucks, she has to fuck a '''''guy'''''!
* An oft-repeated urban legend (that made it into ''{{Film/Watchmen}}'') holds that Neil Armstrong said "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky!" while on the Moon, the explanation being that as a boy he'd gone into the Gorskys' yard to get back a baseball, and heard Mrs. Gorsky shout "Oral sex?! You want oral sex?! You'll get it the day the neighbor's kid walks on the Moon!".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* [[http://trek-wars.thecomicseries.com/ Trek Wars]] completely gender inverts this, where most of the men in the setting are the ones to have no interest in sexual activities with AllWomenAreLustful being played a lot with parts of the female cast and even the female soldiers, but females of the Pure Knights(Jedi by another name) are the only ones to play this straight by being the followers of the pure path of chastity and other purities, but [[PureIsNotGood pure is not always good]].

-->'''Manjula:''' (''upon learning the pregnancy test is negative'') All that sex for nothing!\\
'''Apu:''' (''reluctantly'') Y-yeaaah...

* Parodied in [[http://www.stickydillybuns.com/strips-sdb/meow_like_a_kitty this]] ''Webcomic/StickyDillyBuns'' strip. Ruby, who ''is'' a prude at this point in the story (having a pretty good FreudianExcuse for the fact), really wants to believe that most women are the same, aside from her ex-porn star sister Amber. However, not only does she think that cats also mostly avoid sex (which would be news to a lot of cat owners), she keeps involuntarily imagining [[GuyOnGuyIsHot cute guys making out]], which rather [[CovertPervert calls into question even her own prudishness]].

* ''Manga/UchiNoMusumeNiTeODasuNa'': For the majority of the series, Clara shows no interest in anything having to do with sex, though the matter isn't discussed until "''The Amazing Eighth Wonder no.3"''. During a phone conversation between Hana and Clara's mother, Athena, Hana says Clara is a prude, which is why it upsets her that her mother [[ReallyGetsAround is promiscuous.]] Though the more underlying reason is that [[spoiler: Clara is a lesbian and wants her mother [[ParentalIncest for herself]]]].

In some parts of Fictionland, sex is something women [[LieBackAndThinkOfEngland just give to men to shut them up for a while]]. But women don't ''enjoy'' sex, and they definitely don't desire it. The only reason a fictional woman should ever want sex is if she wants to get [[BabiesMakeEverythingBetter pregnant]] or [[BabyTrap trap her partner in marriage]]. Similarly, if the story involves a teenager who [[ButIWouldReallyEnjoyIt resists having sex]] and prefers to wait until marriage, or just decides that now isn't the right time, you can bet money that the character will be female, and that her decision to say no will be seen as a moral victory rather than a personal choice. And many times, it is clearly implied that a desirable woman ''[[MyGirlIsNotASlut shouldn't]]'' want sex in any way, shape or form [[MadonnaWhoreComplex if she wants to be respected]].

* ''Manga/UchiNoMusumeNiTeODasuNa'': For the majority of the series, Clara shows no interest in anything having to do with sex, though the matter isn't discussed until "''The Amazing Eighth Wonder no.3"''. During a phone conversation between Hana and Clara's mother, Athena, Hana says Clara is a prude, which is why it upsets her that her mother [[ReallyGetsAround is promiscuous.]] Though the more underlying reason is because [[spoiler: Clara is a lesbian and wants her mother [[ParentalIncest for herself]]]].

* PlayedStraight in the film ''Film/{{Mr and Mrs Smith|1941}}'', where a married couple find out their marriage is invalid, and so the former wife is astonished that her husband thinks they still can have sex.
* The 1961 film ''Film/SplendorInTheGrass'' (set in 1928), is a {{Deconstruction}} of this trope. When teenager Deanie asks her mother if she ever felt "that way" about her husband, she explains that that no nice girl has sexual desires, and she never enjoyed sex with her him: "I just gave in because a wife has to. A woman doesn't enjoy those things the way a man does. She just lets her husband come near her in order to have children." The rest of the movie deals with [[SexIsEvil sexual liberation]], and ends on quite a [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet note]].

* This trope is {{invoked|Trope}} by the Party in ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''. Goldstein's book specifies that the Party ideal is that sex should only be carried out for purposes of procreation, and that in the course of the act there should be no pleasure on the part of the woman. They would ideally prefer if men didn't enjoy it either ([[spoiler:O'Brien]] at one point proclaims that the Party's neurosurgeons are currently working on abolishing the orgasm), but at that point an ejaculation is a necessity for procreation.

* ''Literature/SomewhereInFrance'': The book is set at the beginning of the 20th century. Lily comes from an upper-class English family, where women are expected to get married well and give birth to another generation of their families. Her two older sisters generally dislike their marital duties and speak of them in hushed tones as something disgusting and unpleasant. {{Subverted}} with Lily herself, who falls in love below her station, gets disinherited and goes on to enjoy sex very much.

** Averted in a funny way , the men are in a tailor's when Marshall urges Ted not to attempt a LongDistanceRelationship with Victoria, saying "long distance was invented by women. All talking and no sex? Kill me now". In a scene which is shown later but took place around the same time, Lily (Marshall's fiance) urges Victoria not to attempt a long distance relationship with Ted, saying "all talking and no sex? Kill me now". Lily has also been shown in other episodes to have a fairly high sex drive.

* An interesting inversion in Series/TheBigBangTheory: Amy seems deeply interested in sex, but is dating [[{{Asexual}} Sheldon]], who is himself a inversion of [[AllMenArePerverts the opposite trope]]. Amy did play it straight when she first appeared on the show, however.

* Liz Lemon of ''Series/ThirtyRock'' started off as disinterested in sex and this was later {{Flanderized}} into an ParalyzingFearOfSexuality. Subverted, in that her attitude is portrayed as being unusual and part of her geekiness. The season-five episode "Reaganing" provides a FreudianExcuse for her fear of sex.

* On Creator/MargaretCho's short-lived sitcom ''Series/AllAmericanGirl'', her teenage character was written to ''always'' turn down sex from her love interests, even though the show is based on Cho's real life and she has stated that she personally would have said yes in many of the scenes where her character said no. This was one of her biggest gripes with the producers, since she is a proud EthicalSlut who has always advocated for healthy sexual practices and reproductive choice.

* Clay teaches this trope to Orel by in "The Blessed Union" episode of ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' when after Clay catches him leaving the sex shop. Clay tells Orel that women don't need fancy bells and whistles like genital piercings in order to be happy. He continues by saying that Bloberta doesn't care one lick about the sex part of their relationship. Clay then tells Orel that the reason why women are smarter than men is that they found the simple way to be happy is by cooking, cleaning and bearing children and not by having sex.

'''House:''' Just because everybody in this room[[labelnote:*]]Everybody in the room is a man except for Thirteen, a bisexual woman.[[/labelnote]] wishes that all women were horny all the time, doesn't make it so.

Teru thinks this about Mob in the ''Manga/MobPsycho100'' genderswap fanfic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/20672948/chapters/49096982 Playing Games]]'' and can't seem to let go of this idea no matter how enthusiastically Mob consents.

* On Creator/MargaretCho's short-lived sitcom ''All-American Girl'', her teenage character was written to ''always'' turn down sex from her love interests, even though the show is based on Cho's real life and she has stated that she personally would have said yes in many of the scenes where her character said no. This was one of her biggest gripes with the producers, since she is a proud EthicalSlut who has always advocated for healthy sexual practices and reproductive choice.
* Series/LittleMosqueOnThePrairie played a LysistrataGambit that averted this. Sarah banishes Yasir from the bedroom and they both become frustrated and distracted.

* A split-screen conversation between Eric/Hyde and Donna/Jackie in ''Series/That70sShow'', about Eric and Donna having cut each other off from sex:
-->'''Hyde''': Secretly, I think women love sex just as much as we do.
-->'''Eric''': Yeah, right!
-->'''Jackie''' (to '''Donna'''): If men find out we love sex just as much as they do, we'll never get jewelry again!
** In the end that episode showed both Donna and Eric were equally interested in sex, though Donna was able to hold out a microsecond longer.

-->"It's easy for you to say no! You know why? Every woman in here, ever since you was THIRTEEN, every guy you ever met's been trying to fuck ya!"
-->"Can I get that for you? How about some dick? Do ya need some dick??"
-->"Nobody offers us ''shit''! [[MenActWomenAre We have to fend for ourselves]]! We can't believe it when we get an offer! We're like, ''Damn! It's my lucky day!''"

--> "Why don't they just want to fuck all the time? I do!" Of course you do! Because when you fuck, you get to fuck a ''woman''! When she fucks, she has to fuck a '''''guy'''''!

* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'''s famous line, "How can [men] possibly [[LysistrataGambit use sex to]] [[SexForServices get what we want]]? Sex ''is'' what we want!" ...implying that it isn't what women want. Or, in a more nuanced view, that women can want many things, but [[AllMenArePerverts sex is all that men want]].

** Dr. Kelso's wife only lets him have sex with her once a year, which makes him so happy that he turns from a heartless {{Jerkass}} into a BenevolentBoss for a single day.

** Subverted in ''Discworld/MenAtArms'' and other books following the Watch; Angua likes sex, engages in sex early in a relationship or sometimes in outright casual sex (being a werewolf, relationships rarely last more than a month for her), and at the same time doesn't use sex to string men along or manipulate them. The women of the Disc in general are hardly prudish; [[CoolOldlady Nanny Ogg is a prominent example.]]

In some parts of Fictionland, sex is something women [[LieBackAndThinkOfEngland just give to men to shut them up for a while]]. But women don't ''enjoy'' sex, and they definitely don't desire it. The only reason a fictional woman should ever want sex is if she wants to get [[BabiesMakeEverythingBetter pregnant]] or [[BabyTrap trap her partner in marriage]]. Similarly, if the story involves a teenager who [[ButIWouldReallyEnjoyIt resists having sex]] and prefers to wait until marriage, or just decides that now isn't the right time, you can bet money that the character will be female, and that her decision to say no will be seen as a moral victory rather than a personal choice. And many times, it is clearly implied that a desirable woman ''[[MyGirlIsNotASlut shouldn't]]'' [[MadonnaWhoreComplex want sex in any way, shape or form]] if she wants to be respected.

* Parodied in [[http://www.stickydillybuns.com/strips-sdb/meow_like_a_kitty this]] ''Webcomic/StickyDillyBuns'' strip. Ruby, who ''is'' a prude at this point in the story (having a pretty good FreudianExcuse for the fact), really wants to believe that most women are the same, aside from her ex-porn star sister Amber. However, not only does she think that cats also mostly avoid sex (which would be news to a lot of cat owners), she keeps involuntarily imagining cute guys making out, which rather calls into question even her own prudishness.

In some parts of Fictionland, sex is something women [[LieBackAndThinkOfEngland just give to men to shut them up for a while]]. But women don't ''enjoy'' sex, and they definitely don't desire it. The only reason a fictional woman should ever want sex is if she wants to get [[BabiesMakeEverythingBetter pregnant]]. Similarly, if the story involves a teenager who resists having sex and prefers to wait until marriage, or just decides that now isn't the right time, you can bet money that the character will be female, and that her decision to say no will be seen as a moral victory rather than a personal choice. And many times, it is clearly implied that a desirable woman ''[[MyGirlIsNotASlut shouldn't]]'' [[MadonnaWhoreComplex want sex in any way, shape or form]] if she wants to be respected.

* The protagonist's female friend Honey in Creator/LurleneMcDaniel's ''Prey'' comes off as this, chastising their attractive female teacher for not covering herself more, and tells the protagonist she doesn't approve of him having sex with anyone. Part of this may come from [[GreenEyedMonster Honey having feeling for Ryan]] and [[EntitledToHaveYou being upset that he doesn't return them]].
* [[TheProtagonist Lily]] from ''Somewhere in France'' (set at the beginning of the 20th century) comes from an upper-class English family, where women are expected to get married well and give birth to another generation of their families. Her two older sisters generally dislike their maritial duties and speak of them in hushed tones as something disgusting and unpleasant. {{Subverted}} with Lily herself, who falls in love below her station, gets disinherited and goes on to enjoy sex very much.

* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'':

* {{Inverted}} in Literature/{{Kazohinia}}, where the MainCharacter approaches a Hin woman expecting this and trying to act all sensitive. The woman's reaction? Asking him is he's "interested in providing her with sexual service". She even remarks that woman from the main character's homeland must be very unfortunate if all they get is 'romance' when they ask a man to satisfy them. TheHero even takes note of how indecent Hin women can sometimes act.

** Dr. Kelso's wife only lets him have sex with her once a year, which makes him so happy that he turns from a heartless {{Jerkass}} into a BenevolentBoss for a single day. [[spoiler:In reality, this is all just part of his JerkassFacade and the part about his wife isn't true]].

In some parts of Fictionland, sex is something women just give to men to shut them up for a while. But women don't ''enjoy'' sex, and they definitely don't desire it. The only reason a fictional woman should ever want sex is if she wants to get [[BabiesMakeEverythingBetter pregnant]]. Similarly, if the story involves a teenager who resists having sex and prefers to wait until marriage, or just decides that now isn't the right time, you can bet money that the character will be female, and that her decision to say no will be seen as a moral victory rather than a personal choice. And many times, it is clearly implied that a desirable woman ''[[MyGirlIsNotASlut shouldn't]]'' [[MadonnaWhoreComplex want sex in any way, shape or form]] if she wants to be respected.