History Main / ArousedByIdiocy

** [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MjnpWP-AUOY Alex]] cheated on and dumped his fiance Catherine to be with her sister Nicole. His reason for doing so is that he felt pressured by the fact that Catherine was "too perfect", as she went to a better college than him, makes more money than him, and is good at housework on top of that. By contrast, Nicole is less competent and more reliant on him, which makes him feel more manly. His choice soon bites him in the ass, when Nicole's incompetence is too much for him to handle, and he actually has the gall to beg Catherine to get back together with him so he can leech off of her, only to find out too late that Catherine has moved on from him for another man who actually appreciates her intelligence and thinks Alex is an idiot leaving Catherine rather than improve himself.

* ''Series/{{SCTV}}'': The series did an AffectionateParody of the preview for ''Film/BodyHeat'', called "Prickley Heat", starring Edith Prickley (Creator/AndreaMartin) in the role of Matty, and E. Charles Bronson (Creator/JoeFlaherty) in the role of Ned.

** [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MjnpWP-AUOY Alex]] cheated on and dumped his fiance Catherine to be with her sister Nicole. His reason for doing so is that he felt emasculated about the fact that Catherine was "too perfect", as she went to a better college than him, makes more money than him, and is good at housework on top of that. By contrast, Nicole is less competent and more reliant on him, which makes him feel more manly. His choice soon bites him in the ass, when Nicole's incompetence is too much for him to handle, and he actually has the gall to beg Catherine to get back together with him, only to find out too late that Catherine has moved on from him.

** [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MjnpWP-AUOY Alex]] cheated on and dumped his fiance Catherine to be with her sister Nicole. His reason for doing so is that he felt insecure about the fact that Catherine was better than him in a number of ways, as she went to a better college, makes more money, and is good at housework on top of that, which made him feel inferior. By contrast, Nicole is less competent and more reliant on him. His choice soon bites him in the ass, when Nicole's incompetence is too much for him to handle, and he actually has the gall to beg Catherine to get back together with him, only to find out too late that Catherine has moved on from him.

* ''[=MacAir Texts=]'' [[https://youtu.be/goul1_l2H6E?feature=shared Marcus]] downplays this trope; while he does like smart girls, he doesn't want a girl that's smarter than him, and he states that if he had a choice between marrying a girl who's smarter than him, and an airhead, he would choose the latter. It's because of this preference cheats on his intelligent girlfriend Bea with tbe less intelligent Rachel. He's also a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction of this trope]], as Bea's greater intelligence actually helped him on his work, yet rather than appreciating it, [[TheResenter he resented her]] because of his fragile {{pride}}, and when Rachel's stupidity proves to be a liability, he wants to dump her. All-in-all, a person who would date stupid people to stroke their own ego probably isn't too smart themselves.

* ''[=MacAir Texts=]'' [[https://youtu.be/goul1_l2H6E?feature=shared Marcus]] downplays this trope; while he does like smart girls, he doesn't want a girl that's smarter than him, and he states that if he had a choice between marrying a girl who's smarter than him, and an airhead, he would choose the latter. It's because of this preference cheats on his intelligent girlfriend Bea with tbe less intelligent Rachel.

* ''[=MacAir Texts=]'' [[https://youtu.be/goul1_l2H6E?feature=shared Marcus]] plays with this trope a bit; while he does like smart girls, he doesn't want a girl that's smarter than him, and he states that if he had a choice between marrying a girl who's smarter than him, and an airhead, he would choose the latter. It's because of this preference cheats on his intelligent girlfriend Bea with Rachel.

* Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness features a comic where a man and a woman are having sex, and as the woman approaches orgasm, she says "Talk to me like you're a fucking idiot!" When the man responds with a bewildered "Huh?" she screams "That's '''perfect'''!" and climaxes.

For characters who are Aroused by Idiocy, a lack of intelligence is something that they actively seek when looking for relationships. There are numerous reasons for this; perhaps they think stupid people are easy and don't take much effort to seduce or impress. Another reason is {{pride}}; they want to make themselves feel smarter by dating/marrying someone of inferior intelligence and enjoy having someone depend on them. Alternatively, they might not be attracted to low intelligence per se, but turned off by high intelligence; after all, smart people are less likely to fall for TerriblePickupLines, more likely to have high standards, and are willing to challenge and stand up to mistreatment.

While this trope is sometimes portrayed as a humorous quirk, some works portray this sort of attraction as predatory; since less intelligent people are easier to manipulate and abuse, it only makes sense that they would be easy prey for potential predators. Characters portrayed in this light tend to not see the targets of their affections as actual people but as [[TrophyWife trophies]] and/or playthings.

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': The women in Motoyasu's party mix this trope with GoldDigger and PrettyFreeloaders; part of the reason why they join him is that he's an [[IdiotHero idiot]] who [[HandsomeLech thinks with his libido]], which makes him easy to leech off of and manipulate. [[BrainlessBeauty Motoyasu]] is so blind to the fact that the women in his party are manipulating him [[spoiler:that he doesn't realize it until they ''say so directly'' to his face once he's [[YouHaveOutLivedYourUsefulness become too much of a liability]] that they couldn't stand him.]]
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': {{Discussed|Trope}}; In "[[Recap/FamilyGuy8E7JeromeIsTheNewBlack Jerome Is the New Black]]", Quagmire accuses Brian of the manipulative version of this during his ReasonYouSuckSpeech:

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': {{Downplayed|Trope}}; in "[[Recap/TheOwlHouseS1E17WingItLikeWitches Wing It Like Witches]]" where Amity has a FreudianSlip and admits that she finds [[spoiler:Luz]]'s reckless stupidity attractive, though it's clear that her being a nice person plays a much bigger role in Amity's crush.

[[folder:Web Video]]
* ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged'': [[PlayedForLaughs Played For]] BlackComedy with Nobuyuki Sugou, who plans to brainwash his future wife/SexSlave Asuna, who while not brilliant is certainly not a BrainlessBeauty in addition to [[DefiantCaptive being extremely strong-willed]], and rewrite her personality to a mixture of "''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'' and hardcore porn." Naturally, this is played as a predatory act and drives in how [[HateSink despicable]] Sugou is.
[[/folder]]

* In ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'', [[ManicPixieDreamGirl Ramona Flowers]] is explicitly noted in the early volumes to be attracted to Scott because of his "simple-mindedness." Later, as both of their {{Character Development}}s begin to take hold, it turns into genuine affection and love because of his willingness to fight for her and his growing self-awareness and self-improvement.

* ''Series/{{SCTV}}'' did an AffectionateParody of the preview for ''Film/BodyHeat'', called "Prickley Heat", starring Edith Prickley (Creator/AndreaMartin) in the role of Matty, and E. Charles Bronson (Creator/JoeFlaherty) in the role of Ned.

-->'''me, already taking off my clothes:''' Benjamin, you're so fucking stupid.

* A ''Website/{{Tumblr}} [[https://i.redd.it/0yhsio3yn7621.jpg post]] explains how a user started dreaming of kissing a person after they asked them what the Spanish word for "tortilla" was. The same person then asked the user what kind of animal Franchise/ThePinkPanther is.

* A [[https://i.redd.it/0yhsio3yn7621.jpg tumblr post]] explains how a user started dreaming of kissing a person after they asked them what the Spanish word for "tortilla" was. The same person then asked the user what kind of animal Franchise/ThePinkPanther is.

* ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged'': [[PlayedForLaughs Played For]] BlackComedy with Nobuyuki Sugou, who plans to brainwash his future wife Asuna, who while not brilliant is certainly not a BrainlessBeauty in addition to [[DefiantCaptive being extremely strong-willed]], and rewrite her personality to a mixture of "''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'' and hardcore porn."

For characters who are Aroused By Idiocy, a lack of intelligence is something that they actively seek when looking for relationships. There are numerous reasons for this; perhaps they think stupid people are easy and don't take much effort to seduce or impress. Another reason is {{pride}}; they want to make themselves feel smarter by dating/marrying someone of inferior intelligence and enjoy having someone depend on them. Alternatively, they might not be attracted to low intelligence per se, but turned off by high intelligence; after all, smart people are less likely to fall for TerriblePickupLines, more likely to have high standards, and are willing to challenge and stand up to mistreatment.

-->'''me, already taking off my clothes:''' benjamin you're so fucking stupid

* ''Series/{{SCTV}}'' did an AffectionateParody of the preview for ''Film/BodyHeat'', called "Prickley Heat", starring Edith Prickley (Andrea Martin) in the role of Matty, and E. Charles Bronson (Joe Flaherty) in the role of Ned.

* ''Series/{{SCTV}}'' did an AffectionateParody of ''Film/BodyHeat'', starring Edith Prickley (Andrea Martin) in the role of Matty, and E. Charles Bronson (Joe Flaherty) in the role of Ned.

!!Examples

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': Kamoshida is a PlayedForHorror example; he's a CreepyGymCoach who sexually harasses his female students, and his [[MentalWorld Palace]] shows that he views them as nothing but mindless bimbos who exist solely to satisfy his urges. It's also played with a bit as two of the girls he lusts after, Ann and Shiho, are reasonably intelligent and repulsed by him, but Kamoshida's cognitions (clones that represent how a Palace ruler views a person) of them show that he simply thinks of them this way.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': {{Downplayed|Trope}}; in "[[Recap/TheOwlHouseS1E17WingItLikeWitches Wing It Like Witches]]" where Amity has a FreudianSlip and admits that she finds [[spoiler:Luz's]] reckless stupidity attractive, though it's clear that her being a nice person plays a much bigger role in Amity's crush.

For characters who are Aroused By Idiocy, a lack of intelligence is something that they actively seek for when looking for relationships. There are numerous reasons for this; perhaps they think stupid people are easy and don't take much effort to seduce or impress. Another reason is {{pride}}; they want to make themselves feel smarter by dating/marrying someone of inferior intelligence and enjoy having someone depend on them. Alternatively, they might not be attracted to low intelligence per se, but turned off by high intelligence; after all, smart people are less likely to fall for TerriblePickupLines, more likely to have high standards, and are willing to challenge and stand up to mistreatment.

While this trope is sometimes portrayed as a humorous quirk, some works portray this sort of attraction as predatory; since less intelligent people are easier to manipulate and abuse, it only makes sense that they would be easy prey for potential predators. Characters portrayed in this light tend to not see the targets of their affections as actual people, but as [[TrophyWife trophies]] and/or playthings.

* ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': The women in Motoyasu's party mix this trope with GoldDigger and PrettyFreeloaders; part of the reason why they join him is because he's an [[IdiotHero idiot]] who [[HandsomeLech thinks with his libido]], which makes him easy to leech off of and manipulate. [[BrainlessBeauty Motoyasu]] is so blind to the fact that the women in his party are manipulating him [[spoiler:that he doesn't realize it until they ''say so directly'' to his face once he's [[YouHaveOutLivedYourUsefulness become too much of a liability]] that they couldn't stand him.]]

* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': Kamoshida is a PlayedForHorror example; he's a CreepyGymCoach who sexually harasses his female students, and his [[MentalWorld Palace]] shows that he views them as nothing but mindless bimbos who exist to solely to satisfy his urges. It's also played with a bit as two of the girls he lusts after, Ann and Shiho, are reasonably intelligent and repulsed by him, but Kamoshida's cognitions (clones that represent how a Palace ruler views a person) of them show that he simply thinks of them this way.

* ''WebAnimation/EtraChanSawIt'': [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SRZj-O05cRU&pp=ygUZaHVzYmFuZCBjaGVhdGVkIGV0cmEgY2hhIA%3D%3D Akamatsu]] cheats on and later divorces Karin to be with Akane because Karin isn't reliant on him in regards to household tasks, while Akane is. [[LaserGuidedKarma Karma soon bites him]] when Akane's [[MsRedInk wasteful spending]] and inability to do household chores causes him to regret his decision, and he's unable to divorce Akane without having to pay a huge settlement fee to Karin.

[[/folder]]

[[/folder]]
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'''Indices:'''
* HasAType
* AttractionTropes
* AttractionToOutliers
* StupidityTropes
* AntiIntellectualism