History Main / TheILoveYouStigma

* In ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', it takes Marinette almost five whole seasons to tell her crush Adrien that she loves him, even as nearly every other person in Paris becomes aware that she's in love with him. "Derision" reveals the origins of her neurosis: [[spoiler:The last time she tried to confess her love to a boy, the boy happened to have a crush on Chloe, which Chloe exploited in order to convince him to play an extremely cruel prank on Marinette that not only humiliated her but also led to her best friend Socqueline being effectively expelled from their school.]]

* Elphaba has difficulties admitting her love for Glinda in ''Fanfic/NotCompletelyAltogetherHere'', even after they begin dating. Love, platonic or romantic, is a foreign feeling for her. She has a subpar relationship with her sister Nessarose, has an abusive relationship with her father, and her mother (the only person who openly loved her) died when she was very young. That neglect combined with the FantasticRacism she receives for being green-skinned has led to Elphaba being very wary of admitting her affections towards others.
* ''Fanfic/TheManyDatesOfDannyFenton'': After [[spoiler:Danny]] reluctantly kisses [[WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}} Katie Kaboom]] to keep her from losing her temper and going on a rampage, Katie says she loves him after forcefully kisses him back for THREE MINUTES! It's no wonder he fainted after all of that.
* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AAPessimal, [[FieryRedhead Mariella Smith-Rhodes]] spent seven years as a student Assassin actively despising her [[AmoralAfrikaner compatriot]] Horst Lensen and being barely civil to somebody she regarded as an utter asshole. [[Fanfic/GapYearAdventures A series of accidents after graduating]] has their crossing paths frequently. After they fight a battle or two side-by-side, she is forced to admit he might not be as bad as all that. Two sets of parents are also meddling to get them together. Fighting it all the way, five years and another long [[RoadTripPlot road trip]] later, she marries him. Her Witch niece notes that Aunt Mariella ''still'' cannot bring herself to say "I love you" in public to Uncle Horst. Mariella makes "YouBastard" do the job as a stand-in, however, and can make "jy bliksem!" sound like a profession of undying love.
* ''Fanfic/NeonGenesisEvangelionGenocide'': Even after getting together, Asuka is wary of saying to Shinji she loves him due to her emotional hangups, hoping instead that her actions speak louder than words.
-->"I never said thank you, did I?" Asuka said after nearly a full minute of silence, her voice so soft she hardly sounded like herself. A tone almost nobody ever heard her use. "I never said I loved you. Those things just aren't me. But you know, right?"
* In ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'', Misty seemed to have a mild case of this, having difficulty saying out loud that she loved Ash until Anabel and Iris assured her she shouldn't feel ashamed to say it.
* ''Webcomic/NaruHinaChronicles'': Initially, Naruto had trouble saying "I love you" to Hinata, even after an entire year of dating her. Hinata thought it was because he was alone for so long that it was hard for him to really give his love to anyone. It's only immediately after she says that she can wait forever to hear him say those three words that he's finally able to do so.

* In ''TheresNoOneLikeYou'', Luz has difficulty saying or hearing the words "I love you" after [[RapeAsBackstory her experience]] at Camp Reality Check, even from her family and close friends. They resort to saying it in Spanish- "Te amo"- instead. Hearing it over the music at the school dance sends Luz into a panic attack. [[spoiler:She eventually manages to bring herself to tell Amity she loves her after allowing Amity to take control when they were having sex]].

This depends on the language; a direct translation of "I love you" can be a stronger or weaker statement in other languages. A {{Woolseyism}} may be needed in translation to get the proper tone. [[note]]In [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench French]] "''aimer''" means "like" as much as "love". Spanish has "Te quiero" and "Te amo", which both mean I Love You, but the latter is MUCH more serious. "Te quiero" implies a more general, platonic love than "Te amo", and is used more typically between friends and family. In German the literal translation of "I love you" -- ''Ich liebe dich'' -- implies a romantic meaning much more than in English, while the phrase ''Ich hab dich lieb'' (English equivalent: "I have/feel love for you") is used to express love in the non-romantic sense, such as that between parents and their children. 我愛你 in [[UsefulNotes/ChineseDialectsAndAccents Chinese]] is usually a serious declaration of romantic love -- considered particularly formal in Cantonese. 我鍾意你 (Cantonese) and 我喜歡你 (Mandarin) are equivalents of "I like you", but a bit more romantic than English. Cantonese word for "kiss" (錫) can be used as a protective, cutesy sense of romantic love, but is also often used as the familial love, especially of parents towards children, just to [[RelativeError muddy the waters further]].[[/note]] And even in English [[TheFourLoves the term can be used casually and in a wide variety of ways]], and [[CultureClash dating works differently in different cultures]].

Compare the LoveConfession, BaitAndSwitchSentiment, CommitmentIssues, CannotSpitItOut, and TheFourLoves. The recipient (or the one who'd said it, but wishes to cover up) might use IUhYouToo in response.

* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' had Arnold trying to attract Lila and get upgraded from an "I like you" to an "I ''like you'' like you." Still not quite using the term (they ''are'' only 8-9), but the implications behind it are the same.

* ''Film/{{Ghost}}'': Sam's inability to say "I love you" to Molly, his wife, is a major plot point; whenever she says it to him, he always replies with "Ditto." He finally manages to get over his fear of the words at the end of the movie; [[spoiler: sadly, he's about to AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence and leave her forever, but it's clear that Molly is ecstatic that she finally gets to hear him say the words before he goes.]]

** A lighter example in the episode "Women in Garbage": Ron lets slip that he loves his new girlfriend Diane, causing Ann, Jerry, and Diane's young daughters into fits of laughter due to the usually [[TheStoic stoic]] RatedMForManly Ron expressing emotions of this kind (with Ann herself finding it the cutest thing ever).

** Daniel Craig's Bond adds two more exceptions. He tells Vesper Lynd he loves her in ''Film/CasinoRoyale'' and Madeleine Swann in ''Film/NoTimeToDie'' [[spoiler:moments before he dies]].