History Main / BestHerToBedHer

* ''Marvel Treasury Edition'' #12 features a team-up between Comicbook/TheDefenders and Comicbook/HowardTheDuck against a group of nonentity villains called the Band of the Bland. BrawnHilda Tillie the Hun informs the Hulk that she's made such a vow, and is rather annoyed that his response is that he CannotHitAGirl.

* Very much subverted in ''Webcomic/TheChallengesOfZona''. Yatta-Ta is entirely convinced this is the case with the titular heroine and challenges her at every opportunity in order to win her hand. In actuality, Zona is an EthicalSlut (although devoted to her boyfriend, the QuirkyBard Mentl) and her culture is ''very'' big on FreeLove - Yatta-Ta would have gotten much farther by just asking nicely. [[spoiler:He does eventually learn and accept the truth, and they reconcile as friends - and then he discovers that there are plenty of other, just as attractive and friendly Erogenian women to go after, and being a handsome and skilled swordsman makes him quite sought-after.]]

** On the second visit [[spoiler:to Earth]], Granart decides to settle her feeling for Satou by dueling him again. [[spoiler:She wins... which she decides means that in the spirit of gender equality, ''she'' won the right to bed ''him''. She drags him to a love hotel and they consummate their relationship]].

** Deconstructed pretty hard with Granart's parents, and implicitly all previous generations. Granart's father saw his wife as little more than a pretty trophy that came with the kingdom; Granart's mother never touched a sword again after losing that final fight, and after Granart's training was complete [[ParentalAbandonment she simply walked away and never looked back]]. Part of the reason Granart was so powerful is that she thought the tradition was stupid and refused to show mercy to any opponent.

* ''WebAnimation/PokemonGoldFanmade'': Gold suffers a ''long'' streak of defeats against [[ThatOneBoss Whitney]], who seems quite [[UnsportstmanlikeGloating delighted every time she crushes him and every opponent]]. His determination and eventual success in defeating her makes her fall for him.

** ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'': ''The Power of Shazam'' had an inversion: Billy Batson has a dream about arm-wrestling Wonder Woman in which he throws the match because the Wisdom of Solomon tells him ''she'' needs to defeat ''him'' before they can "get together".

* Very much subverted in ''Webcomic/TheChallengesOfZona''. Yatta-Ta is entirely convinced this is the case with the titular heroine and challenges her at every opportunity in order to win her hand. In actuality, Zona is an EthicalSlut (although devoted to her boyfriend, the SpoonyBard Mentl) and her culture is ''very'' big on FreeLove - Yatta-Ta would have gotten much farther by just asking nicely. [[spoiler:He does eventually learn and accept the truth, and they reconcile as friends - and then he discovers that there are plenty of other, just as attractive and friendly Erogenian women to go after, and being a handsome and skilled swordsman makes him quite sought-after.]]

* Parodied in ''ComicBook/CerebusTheAardvark'' as Red Sophia. Her father hires Cerebus to torture the man who besmirched her honor. During the journey her logorrhea is too much, they fight, he wins, she pledges service. (He refused to demand sexual favors from her at that point, trying to teach her a lesson by using her as a pack mule. She didn't learn; Sophia is simply TooKinkyToTorture.) The eventual torture is forcing the blackguard (who saw her naked) to marry Sophia. Years later she marries Cerebus.
* In ''Comicbook/GoldDigger'', Julia was cursed with this by a rebuffed suitor who happened to be a wizard. This put her in a really bad mood, so she started shoving people out of her way while walking through town. One of those people was Theodore Diggers, who instinctively flipped her over with his martial arts. She then became fixated on figuring out how he beat her. After spending a long time following him and beating him in a rematch with his own techniques, she realized that she had fallen for him.
* The ''former'' Trope Namer here is ''ComicBook/RedSonja'', originally(-ish) from the ''ComicBook/ConanTheBarbarian'' comics. Red Sonja lived with her family in a humble house in the Western Hyrkanian steppes (modern Ukraine/Russia). When she had just turned 17 years old, a group of mercenaries killed her family and burned down their house. Sonja survived but she had been raped by the leader of the group, leaving her in shame. Answering her cry for revenge, the red goddess Scathach appeared to her and instilled in her incredible skill in the handling of swords and other weapons on the condition that she would never lie with a man unless he defeated her in fair combat. Creator/PeterDavid commented that [[FridgeHorror this essentially means that the only man she can ever love is one capable of replicating the most traumatic experience of her life]].

* This is [[InvokedTrope invoked]] and [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] in ''ComicBook/RoadqueenEternalRoadtripToLove'': when Leo turned down Boots' LoveConfession in their freshman year, she challenged Boots to beat her in a race if she wanted to win a date with her. Leo didn't really mean it, but tons of other girls in school took her seriously and spent every morning for the next several years challenging her, much to Leo's annoyance.
* She-Beard from ''ComicBook/{{Seaguy}}''; a female warrior who vowed to give herself to the hero who proves his courage.

* Brought up, generally to be parodied or mocked, on occasion in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'':
** Viciously parodied in [[ComicBook/WonderWoman2006 vol.3]] #24, where the producers of a ''Wonder Woman'' movie have her make this vow and get defeated by Hercules. The ''real'' Wonder Woman is ''not'' impressed. In the DCU, ComicBook/{{Hercules|Unbound}} raped Wonder Woman's mother.
** ''ComicBook/WonderWomanWarbringer'': Diana tells Jason the tale of a heroine who took such an oath, and ended up being [[MutualKill killed by and killing a man]] she grew to love during the fight so was never with anyone in life.
** ''[[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Power of Shazam]]'' had an inversion: Billy Batson has a dream about arm-wrestling Wonder Woman in which he throws the match because the Wisdom of Solomon tells him ''she'' needs to defeat ''him'' before they can "get together".

* Parodied by the character Blue Opal in the Phil Foglio comic ''ComicBook/XXXenophile'', for whom this was more a curse than an oath. After the sexually frustrated warrior out-drinks and out-fights every man in the bar, the only one left is a meek man who invites her to play a strategy game with him. The curse is lifted after he beats her at the game--which, as they realize later, has a name that [[ProphecyTwist translates as "Battle"]]. Joyful sex ensues. This pisses off the goddess who put that rule in place royally, but the guy's patron deity calms her down by teaching her "Battle", implying it's about to go the same way it did downstairs.

* In ''Webcomic/WhatsNewWithPhilAndDixie'''s "Sex and D&D" strip, after stating that elves are [[SuperiorSpecies far too superior]] to even ''have'' sex, it then says that this only applies when around other elves, and their attitude amongst other races is ''[[CovertPervert very]]'' different. The female elf is shown in a mud-wrestling pit with a sign reading "Pin 'er to win 'er!"

* ''Literature/VillainessLevel99IMayBeTheHiddenBossButImNotTheDemonLord'': Downplayed. This is what Yumiella claims, but it's mostly to avoid would-be suitors who would love to get a PersonOfMassDestruction on their side in order to push their political and territorial goals. Since she's the strongest person in recorded history by a wide margin, this is a good deterrent. [[spoiler:Patrick, her best friend and crush]], hides his own feelings towards her for most of their time at the academy, believing she'd never give him a chance unless he's even in the ballpark. He does start training to reach Level 99 in service of this (which pleases her greatly), but by the time he reaches it, [[spoiler:both have confessed their feelings for one another and have been dating for years.]]

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'': Curiously, completing the Handmaiden's romance sidequest requires defeating her in three unarmed duels. Where both participants are wearing [[BlackBraAndPanties underwear]] (the player's covers more than the Handmaiden's does, though).

* Inverted in YuGiOhGx where an amazon shadowrider duels Bastian but changing the condition from the usual losing his soul if he lost the duel seen in the previous shadowrider duels to having to marry her.

** Shampoo and the rest of her Amazon tribe. If an outsider male defeats a female Amazon, then she has to marry him (the outsider male has no say in the matter). Subverted if the victorious outsider is female, because then the Amazon is obligated to ''[[LoonyLaws kill]]'' her.

* In episode 5 of ''Manga/GoldenBoy'', Reiko promises to screw Kintaro if he (on his bicycle) can beat her (on her motorcycle) in a street race. He wins, leading to her chasing after him and begging him to screw her.

* Whilst [[{{Bifauxnen}} Ryunosuke Fujinami]] in ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'' is more known for her [[DoesNotLikeMen aversion to guys]] (in fairness, she's surrended by perverts) and for [[ChickMagnet attracting swarms of enamored girls]], she actually ''does'' want a boyfriend. The problem is [[AllAmazonsWantHercules she wants a guy stronger than herself]]. So, she decides to hold a competition, where she'll go out with whichever boy can beat her in a fight. She then proceeds to mop the floor with the entire male student body; the only boy who comes close to winning is the [[{{Determinator}} legendarily stubborn]] and [[LoveableSexManiac perverse]] Ataru Moroboshi, who sticks her with anaesthetic whilst she's distracted. She's almost grateful when her father saves her by beating up Ataru... until he runs his mouth off about not letting his "son" be molested by another guy.

** Shampoo and the rest of her Amazon tribe. If an outsider male defeats a female Amazon, then she has to marry him (the outsider male has no say in the matter).

** Amusingly, Kunō reverses this and applies this trope to himself, claiming that if the Pigtailed Girl (Ranma) can defeat him, he shall allow her to date with him. Since this isn't such a hard feat for Ranma, HilarityEnsues. Parodied when Kuno warns his opponent he is prepared to lose.

** Wildling women won't accept husbands who aren't tough enough to kidnap them. When Qhorin Halfhand and [[HeroicBastard Jon Snow]] capture a group of wildlings and Jon refuses to execute the woman Ygritte and saves her life, letting her go, Ygritte mistakenly assumes that this is his intention (though Jon had no idea of this custom) and is more than willing to sleep with him. However, she is [[ArentYouGoingToRavishMe very confused]] when Jon refuses Ygritte's sexual advances and ''won't'' sleep with her -- even after she's dropped what seems to her to be very unsubtle hints that she wants him. [[CatchPhrase He knows nothing]], at least until she teaches him. [[spoiler:[[StarCrossedLovers And they do fall in love]].]] How much effort a wildling woman will put into fighting off her would-be paramour tends to vary: if she is captured by someone she wants or doesn't mind being captured by, she might not fight back very hard (Tormund mentions his daughter let her suitor off with a few love bites and a cut to his earlobe). On the other hand, if her captor is cruel and brutalizes her, it is acceptable for the wildling woman to slit his throat.

* Inverted in YuGiOhGx where an amazon shadowrider duels Bastian but changing the condition from the usual losing his soul if he lost the duel in previous shadowrided duels to having to marry her.

* Inverted in Yu-Gi-OhGx where an amazon shadowrider duels Bastian but changing the condition from the usual losing his soul if he lost the duel in previous shadowrided duels to having to marry her.