Basic Trope: A female is so attractive that no man dares to ask her out.
- Straight: Alice is a strikingly beautiful woman, yet she remains alone because guys are afraid to ask her out.
- Exaggerated: Alice is devastatingly beautiful — to the point where men won't even look at her because they don't have the chance.
- Downplayed: Alice does date frequently, and remains optimistic that she'll find her Mister Right. However, she usually has to do the asking out, and her invitations are often met with surprise or skepticism. Some guys do take the initiative, but they're not the types she likes.
- Justified: Most men are afraid that a gorgeous woman like Alice would reject them immediately. Also, due to social customs, she can't do the asking.
- Inverted: Alice is an unattractive woman who gets more than her fair share of propositions because the guys generally feel like she doesn't really have much of a choice as to who she dates.
- Gender-Inverted: Bob is a breathtakingly handsome man, but he remains alone because women are afraid to ask him out.
- Subverted:
- Alice gets several propositions in one night despite the Attractiveness Isolation.
- Alice isn't alone because she's too attractive. She's alone because she's a total bitch.
- Alice happened to get attracted only to gay or asexual men.
- Double Subverted:
- But those men didn't really mean it — they were just using her as a sounding board so they could ask out a woman more in their league.
- She became bitchy from years of pent-up frustration.
- Even when she finds a bisexual or straight man, he still says, "If anything you're too pretty for me."
- Alternatively, those men were lying about being gay or asexual.
- Parodied: Alice has impeccably high standards; despite hundreds — if not thousands — of potential male suitors asking her out, she rejects them then laments she's all alone because of her beauty.
- Zig-Zagged: Alice is alone because of her bitchiness, which she claims comes from years of pent-up frustration. Thanks to the magic of flashback, we learn she's lying, but the person flashing back is an Unreliable Narrator, only this time they were telling the truth.
- Averted: There are a steady stream of men asking Alice out at all times.
- Enforced: "My totally awesome character needs some sort of flaw. Hmm ... maybe I'll have her be all alone because of her incredible beauty!"
- Lampshaded: When Alice hit puberty and became dating age, one of her friends said, "Good luck getting anyone to ask you out."
- Invoked: Alice wants to avoid male attention, so she casts a spell on herself to become extremely attractive.
- Exploited: Alice goes to a bar with a lot of women much more attractive than herself, on the grounds that this trope will be in effect and lots of men will hit on her.
- Defied: Alice has no problem about making the first move—and since she's beautiful, guys are flattered when she does so.
- Alice puts on makeup to look less beautiful then she is in hopes of avoiding this.
- Discussed: "I wanted to be beautiful as a child." "It just goes to show, Be Careful What You Wish For."
- Conversed: "She's so beautiful ... yet so lonely ..."
- Deconstructed:
- Alice, convinced something must be wrong with her, tries various ways of making herself more attractive. She ends up making herself feel terrible, but this takes her down enough that guys start asking her out ... and stop whenever she gets healthy again.
- Alice has major self-esteem issues due to thinking no one finds her desirable. The only guys who ask her out are perverts and jerks, leading to a string of unhappy (and possibly abusive) relationships. Alice becomes bitter and resentful, either giving up on love entirely or settling for someone she doesn't love out of fear of dying alone.
- Reconstructed:
- Alice is beautiful for herself, not for men. She's happy to wait for someone brave enough.
- Alice works up the courage to ask a guy herself.
- Implied: Alice is attractive, but can't get a date for some mysterious reason.
- Played for Laughs: Alice sees her Ditz and Gonk friend Gabrielle hook up easily at a club. Alice thinks "If Gabrielle can leave with a date, so can I." Cue Cringe Comedy as she approaches every other unattached man at the club, they run away from her one by one, and she has no idea why.
Back to Attractiveness Isolation. I'm so lonely ... if only someone would be brave enough to click that beautiful, beautiful button.
