Basic Trope: Multiple men or boys lavish gifts, favors, compliments, and attention on one particular girl or woman in hopes of currying favor with her.
- Straight: Rumor has it that Alice, the most popular girl in school, broke up with her boyfriend over the summer. When school starts again, all the boys in her homeroom period start doing things like walking with her to class, carrying her books, buying her lunch, leaving gifts and love letters in her locker, etc.
- Exaggerated: It isn't just the boys in her homeroom, or even the boys in her grade, but all the boys in the whole school! Oh, and it's not just boys, either. Hell, even her math teacher is vying for her affections!
- Downplayed: Alice gets attention from just one particular Dogged Nice Guy, not every boy in school.
- Justified: Each boy is hoping that Alice will want to be with him, if he can show her how "nice" he is or how much he "cares about her."
- Inverted: The boys in the class try to get Alice to not be interested in them, by acting in a repulsive manner.
- Gender Inverted: Rumor has it that Bob, the most popular boy in school, broke up with his girlfriend over the summer. When school starts again, all the girls in his homeroom period start doing things like walking with him to class, carrying his books, buying him lunch, leaving gifts and love letters in his locker, etc.
- Subverted:
- Alice already has a new boyfriend by the time school starts, or never actually broke up with her old boyfriend in the first place, or did but got back together with him.
- Alice is a lesbian and has a girlfriend.
- One of the boys actually asks her out, rather than simply showing her how "nice" he supposedly is.
- The boys eventually stop because they found out that Alice has webbed toes, or isn't a virgin anymore, or has/has developed an abrasive personality, or whatever.
- Rather than being a large-scale Cock Fight, the boys showering Alice with attention are all her boyfriends and comprise a Balanced Harem.
- Double Subverted:
- But that doesn't stop the other boys from surrounding her and vying for her affections in this way, especially if it's a Long-Distance Relationship. They're all hoping she'll change her mind by homecoming.
- They're hoping she'll change her mind, or that it's "just a phase," saying that there's no way she could be a lesbian.
- But when she turns him down, he starts trying that much harder to "win" her affections.
- All the boys have been asking her out, and she's booked every weekend, vacation, and holiday until prom...at least!
- But then when they see her with Bob, they get jealous and try this tactic again.
- They're competing to be her prom date, or her date for the homecoming dance, or the Sadie Hawkins dance, or some other such event to which she can only bring one date.
- Parodied:
- An Imagine Spot shows Alice as a queen with a Royal Harem of boys.
- Alice is a total Gonk.
- It's been 40 years, High School is long since over...and these guys are still competing over Alice.
- Zig Zagged: The competition over Alice is a Yo Yo Plot Point.
- Averted:
- Alice does not attract attention in this way.
- Alice goes to a One-Gender School, has no male friends (unless brothers count), and does not attract attention from her classmates (even those that identify as lesbian or bisexual.)
- Enforced: Harem Genre, Cock Fight
- Lampshaded: "Oh, boys! These expensive and unnecessary gifts really make me want to kiss you!"
- Invoked: Rumor has it that the most popular girl in school, Alice, is newly single, and the Sadie Hawkins dance is coming up.
- Exploited:
- Alice starts acting Hotter and Sexier (but keeps the boys guessing which one, if any, she likes best), because she wants to keep getting gifts, favors, compliments, and attention.
- Alice uses this as a Secret Test of Character; she's hoping that one of these boys will (intuitively) actually ask her out, or otherwise show that he cares about her as a person instead of just Loving a Shadow.
- Alice knows that all the boys find her attractive, and so she does what she can to keep them objectifying her and giving her gifts, sexually manipulating them all the while.
- Defied: Alice refuses the gifts and favors.
- Discussed: "Who knew being sexy meant getting free jewelry? Maybe I should get plastic surgery so I can get rich at the pawnshop."
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: The attention is fleeting and fickle, and Alice knows they don't actually care about her, just her looks or status. Furthermore, Alice may become the victim of Slut-Shaming from other girls, or from the boys themselves if she (in their eyes) falls off the proverbial pedestal they've placed her on.
- Reconstructed: Alice knows the boys are objectifying her, but she enjoys the attention anyway.
- Implied: Alice talks about how being attractive has a lot of side benefits. Someone asks her what she means, and she gestures to a hopeful-looking guy.
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