Basic Trope: Choosing a mate based on the genetic fitness of your potential offspring.
- Straight: Alice only seeks men who fit her idea of genetic fitness (Strong, dominant, etc.) and is cold to everyone else.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice enjoys humiliating men that she deems "Unfit" by constantly "Flirting" with them only to ghost them.
- Alice uses her political influence to go out of her way denying men and women she deems genetically unfit the ability to have children, or even have sex.
- When Alice can't decide between two potential partners, she strokes conflict and makes them fight.
- Alice believes if a man doesn't suit her standards, he not only doesn't deserve to have her, but he doesn't deserve to know love at all.
- Downplayed: Alice prefers men who are physically fit and meet all the other "Jocky" stereotypes, but also looks at personality, wealth, general pleasantness, and social status.
- Justified:
- These outdated standards are enforced by law.
- Due to a recent plague, Alice is looking for a partner with resistance so her child is more likely to survive.
- Alice is a non-sapient animal/creature of some sort and thus is more interested in the survival of her offspring than romance.
- Inverted:
- Alice seeks men who are considered by society genetically unfit.
- Alice cares about all qualities in a man except for genetic fitness.
- Subverted: Alice seems to fit this trope, but begins dating Bob, who is not considered genetically fit.
- Double Subverted:
- She does this to test out a new approach: luring people in and using a Super Serum to make Bob fit.
- Or Bob turns out to be genetically fit after all, but he got passed over or didn't put himself out there like other men did.
- Parodied:
- Alice groups a bunch of boys from her middle school class together in a test of fitness. Whoever wins gets to kiss her.
- Alice agrees with everyone else in her society that this is the right way to evaluate prospective partners, except her criteria are the opposite of the majority's.
- Despite events in-story disproving this idea beyond the shadow of a doubt, everyone still believes in it.
- Zig-Zagged:
- Alice is seriously interested in Adam, who's considered genetically fit, then sees something more appealing in Bob despite his not being considered genetically fit. Then she catches the eyes of Betty, who's "unfit", and then Chantal, who is "fit".
- Some people evaluate would-be mates based on their perceived genetic fitness, while others look for them based on their subjective mutual enjoyment of being together.
- Averted: Alice looks for a partner who just likes her back.
- Enforced: It's a Period Piece set during the height of public enthusiasm for eugenics.
- Lampshaded: Alice: "Sorry, Bob, I'm not interested in you because I don't like your DNA."
- Invoked: Alice's mother says, "I Want Grandkids, and as importantly, I want them to survive."
- Exploited: Mike the Mad Scientist recruits Alice for his Super Breeding Program.
- Defied: "You know what Bob, fuck you! You may have what I desire but honestly, you're such an asshole that I wouldn't let me fuck me with that limp dick of yours."
- Discussed: "Is Alice really happy with her relationships? I've noticed she tends to burn them out the moment her kid doesn't have what she's looking for."
- "Survival of the fittest? Is that what Alice calls her sick fetish? Honestly, she'd be so much happier if she actually decided to love someone instead of their genes."
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Alice's habit of judging men based on outdated standards causes her friends to leave her, and her previous partners to think lowly of her. Eventually, other people begin to judge her by these same standards.
- Bob wants a partner to carry his children, believing that only Alice is worthy of bearing them. Alice doesn't take kindly to Bob's misogyny and overrall controlling behavior and it gets to the point where Bob tries to rape Alice so that he can have children that are "fitter" than everyone else's.
- Alice has had multiple abortions due to her various children (from consensual or otherwise circumstances) having defects or other things she can't forgive. Suffice to say, all of this has taken a toll on Alice's body and her mind.
- Due to the genetics of Alice's parents and grandparents reducing her lifespan and increasing the chances of dying painfully, Alice hopes that finding a "fit" man and bearing his child will give her children the fighting chance she never had, fearing that her good genes will die out and she'll never have the chance to prove that she isn't defective.
- Played for Horror: Alice unleashes a virus to kill off everyone with qualities that she deems genetically "Unfit".
- Bob is so pissed off at women being disgusted at his Social Darwinism and rejecting him that he makes it a point to rape every women he finds desirable.
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