History Main / WeaknessTurnsHerOn

Compare AllGirlsWantBadBoys, which shares similarities to this trope except that personality failings and anti-social behaviour as[=/=]rather than weaknesses are what attracts the woman to the man. EndearinglyDorky might come into play if social awkwardness or a similar trait overlaps with perceived weakness. See also {{Beastess}} and AmazonianBeauty, for the type of woman whom an AmazonChaser in this scenario is likely to be attracted to. Also compare PowerDynamicsKink.

** Deconstructed in [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Vriska]], resident [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder backstabbing]] [[AntiHero antiheroine]] is attracted to ShrinkingViolet [[TheWoobie Tavros]]...''and it freaks her out.'' Most of the time, Vriska actively denies/[[SelectiveObliviousness represses]] it because even ''thinking'' Tavros might have any [[LoveIsAWeakness power]] over her disturbs her ego greatly. Even worse, she has no ability to express these feelings in a positive way, so her relationship to Tavros is less 'caring partner' and more [[{{Yandere}} 'abusive spouse'.]] (And Tavros isn't even aware that Vriska ''feels'' affection for him, given that she's the PoisonousFriend who once [[spoiler:threw him off a cliff]].)
** Played straight with Vriska's other possible love interest, [[TheHero John Egbert]], a cute, [[TheMovieBuff nerdy]] [[IdiotHero space case]] who is quite possibly the only person who is [[MoralityPet capable of making Vriska feel guilty about any of the things she does]]. [[spoiler:Subverted when it's revealed that John doesn't return her feelings and Vriska lets go of them, although after some rocky first impressions, John is happy to just be her friend]].

Compare AllGirlsWantBadBoys, which shares similarities to this trope except that personality failings and anti-social behaviour as[=/=]rather than weaknesses are what attracts the woman to the man. EndearinglyDorky might come into play if social awkwardness or a similar trait overlaps with perceived weakness. See also {{Beastess}} and AmazonianBeauty, for the type of woman whom an AmazonChaser in this scenario is likely to be attracted to.

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': [[BlindJustice Matt Murdock]] is a bit of a ladies' man. In a flashback to their college days, Foggy Nelson speculates that women must love the "wounded duck" aspect of him being handsome and blind, and in the pilot episode Foggy is shown rolling his eyes as Matt gets an attractive realtor to lead him by hand around the office they're planning to buy for their law firm.

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': [[BlindJustice Matt Murdock]] is a bit of a ladies' man. In a flashback to their college days, Foggy Nelson speculates that women must love the "wounded duck" aspect of him being handsome and blind, and in the pilot episode he's shown rolling his eyes as Matt gets an attractive realtor to lead him by hand around the office they're planning to buy for their law firm.

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': [[BlindJustice Matt Murdock]] is a bit of a ladies' man. In a flashback to their college days, Foggy speculates that women must love the "wounded duck" aspect of him being handsome and blind. It's a RunningGag for Foggy to express annoyance whenever Matt effortlessly flirts with attractive women in front of him, with [[SexySecretary Karen]] being immediately smitten with Matt from the get-go, constantly casting starry-eyed looks at him or fawning about him when she's not preoccupied with work.

** A more straight version of this trope is actually Scarlet Witch and The Vision. Scarlet Witch is the only person who can "kill" Vision (by destroying the stone in his forehead)...so naturally she's the one he falls in love with. It doesn't hurt that Wanda is a superpowered MammaBear who will wreck your face if you touch her precious boys (the Avengers).

** A more straight version of this trope is actually Scarlett Witch and The Vision. Scarlett Witch is the only person who can "kill" Vision (by destroying the stone in his forehead)...so naturally she's the one he falls in love with. It doesn't hurt that Wanda is a superpowered MammaBear who will wreck your face if you touch her precious boys (the Avengers).
** Also played straight when Steve Rodgers first meets Peggy Carter. She's above him in rank, level-headed and tougher than your average girl (she IS in the military). Steve meanwhile is technically physically unfit for the military, and hot-headed. Peggy is also the one who notices Steve's moral courage first, and brings it to the attention of the doctor who is running the super-soldier program.
** Played completely straight in Black Panther, where Shuri nurses a (white) CIA agent back to health. TheFlorenceNightingaleEffect ensues, despite (or perhaps because of) how frequently Shuri insults him. She doesn't realize he's in love with her though, until after his HeroicSacrifice.

Compare AllGirlsWantBadBoys, which shares similarities to this trope except that personality failings and anti-social behaviour as[=/=]rather than weaknesses are what attracts the woman to the man. EndearinglyDorky might come into play if social awkwardness or a similar trait overlaps with perceived weakness. See also {{Beastess}} and AmazonianBeauty, for the type of woman whom an AmazonChaser in this scenario is likely to be attracted to. May also overlap with PowerDynamicsKink.

* In ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'', Hungary seems very happy with NonActionGuy Austria. When his "vital regions" are being seized by Prussia, and he comes back beaten up, she jumps at the chance to fight Prussia off.

* Fanfic/NeonMetathesisEvangelion: Well, maybe not ''weakness''. But as Asuka notes after having fallen in love with both Shinji and Rei:

Compare AllGirlsWantBadBoys, which shares similarities to this trope except that personality failings and anti-social behaviour as[=/=]rather than weaknesses are what attracts the woman to the man. EndearinglyDorky might come into play if social awkwardness or a similar trait overlaps with perceived weakness. See also {{Beastess}} and AmazonianBeauty, for the type of woman whom an AmazonChaser in this scenario is likely to be attracted to.

* In the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, this is strongly implied to be the basis of Natasha's attraction to Bruce.

* Deconstructed in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}''. [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Vriska]], resident [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder backstabbing]] [[AntiHero antiheroine]] is attracted to ShrinkingViolet [[TheWoobie Tavros]]...''and it freaks her out.'' Most of the time, Vriska actively denies/[[SelectiveObliviousness represses]] it because even ''thinking'' Tavros might have any [[LoveIsAWeakness power]] over her disturbs her ego greatly. Even worse, she has no ability to express these feelings in a positive way, so her relationship to Tavros is less 'caring partner' and more [[{{Yandere}} 'abusive spouse'.]] (And Tavros isn't even aware that Vriska ''feels'' affection for him, given that she's the PoisonousFriend who once [[spoiler:threw him off a cliff]].)
** Played straight with Vriska's other possible love interest, [[TheHero John Egbert]], a [[{{Adorkable}} cute]], [[TheMovieBuff nerdy]] [[IdiotHero space case]] who is quite possibly the only person who is [[MoralityPet capable of making Vriska feel guilty about any of the things she does]]. [[spoiler:Subverted when it's revealed that John doesn't return her feelings and Vriska lets go of them, although after some rocky first impressions, John is happy to just be her friend]].

* In the MarvelCinematicUniverse, this is strongly implied to be the basis of Natasha's attraction to Bruce.

Compare AllGirlsWantBadBoys, which shares similarities to this trope except that personality failings and anti-social behaviour as[=/=]rather than weaknesses are what attracts the woman to the man. See also {{Beastess}} and AmazonianBeauty, for the type of woman whom an AmazonChaser in this scenario is likely to be attracted to.

* Bones, the female bodybuilder in ''CoolCatStudios'', ends up dating the small, slender, and shy Michael.

-->--'''Mai Valentine''', ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries''

* Brutally used in ''Anime/WelcomeToTheNHK''. Misaki selects Sato for her "project" of curing him from being a {{hikikomori}}, and the time they spend together eventually leads to there being quite a bit of romantic tension between the pair. It's later revealed that [[spoiler:Misaki chose Sato, because she wanted to find someone who was even more "worthless" than she was and prove she could fix them because of her abusive stepfather telling her that she was a useless human being]]. As a broken recluse, Sato fit the bill.

* ''Manga/Classi9'' plays this trope completely straight, but with a bisexual man with a weakness fetish: Tchaikovsky doesn't care about genders once someone has piqued his interest. It may be physical, emotional or social, in any way Tchaiko is attracted to people weaker than him and likes to dote on them - and maybe watch them struggle. He also subjected all of his classmates to a test of strength to see who was weaker than him.

* When an alien queen comes to earth to court {{Superman}}, she ultimately decides she had really fallen in love with Clark, and found a gentle, weak man for her husband.

* TruthInTelevision in ''Film/MurderBall'', a documentary that stars a team of [[HandicappedBadass paraplegics]] who plays wheelchair rugby in the paralympics. Really more of a subversion. The guys may be shameless about playing this card when they're trying to chat women up, but the footage of the rugby matches shows they're anything but weak, and a couple (especially Zupan) are downright scary.
* In ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'', Witchita actually commented that Colombus is like a scared bunny, or something along the lines. But he doesn't really get the girl until he goes all [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail KILLER BUNNY]] on some zombies for her.

* [[Literature/VorkosiganSaga Miles Vorkosigan]] once lampshaded this trope himself. Being under five feet tall and, even after getting his bones replaced, delicate enough for most grown woman to readily overpower, he noted that he was singularly unthreatening and "it made them bold."

* Britta Perry on ''{{Series/Community}}'' is a self-admitted example. In her case it's usually played to reflect her ''own'' weaknesses, however, since it's suggested she only initiates relationships with deadbeats and losers in order to validate her own lack of self-worth.

* In ''VisualNovel/TheFruitOfGrisaia'', [[CoolBigSis Amane]] claims that this is the reason she fell in love with Yuuji - that he seemed 'sort of hopeless'. Though unusually, Yuuji is neither feminine in appearance or behaviour - in fact, he's a badass with a military background. What Amane's referring to is his lack of common sense when it comes to the ordinary world and his coinciding lack of social skills. When he declines being her boyfriend, she suggests that he let her be his older sister instead.

* Kim's attraction to Ron in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' since she is much stronger then him. Though she might be turned on in [[PowerIsSexy quite the opposite way]] after he TookALevelInBadass in the GrandFinale.

* The basis of ''Franchise/WonderWoman'''s attraction to ComicBook/SteveTrevor, in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks. Although Trevor's hardly a 98-pound weakling -- he's an Army pilot, after all -- all men seem fragile to Diana, who can bench press jeeps. In one story where Steve experiments with an electronic device that "releases brain energy into the muscles", he gets to have SuperStrength and bosses Diana around a bit, but she muses "Some girls like to have a man stronger than they are make them do things. Do I -- like it? I don't know -- it's sort of thrilling. But isn't it more fun to make the man obey?"