History Main / NoGuyWantsToBeChased

->''"Lookit, the only thing men actually care about as far as dating is concerned is "The Chase". If you want that guy to look your way, listen to me carefully,'' ignore the living hell out of him."

This trope may be the reason why the guy will ''not'' be afflicted with TheDulcineaEffect towards this girl. To contrast, he will instead be shown to be afflicted with it towards a girl who is more passive. It doesn't matter whether the girl is (or isn't) an ActionGirl - even if she's strong in combat, as long as she's shy romance-wise, she'll still be more desirable compared with a DamselInDistress who is too eager. Compare MyGirlIsNotASlut; the logic may be that a woman so eager to pursue one man will be just as eager to pursue another man. (As if it had nothing to do with her crush on one particular man.)

!!Examples

* In ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', Ranma expresses little to no interest in every girl that aggressively chases him (100% of his suitors). This is played with in an arc where a reversal jewel made Shampoo give up on him and act aloof; he starts ''pursuing'' her. This was due to his ego rather than any desire to 'catch her'. He never chases anyone.
* Ataru from ''Anime/UruseiYatsura'' will not give up any opportunity to go out with, ogle, or feel up a girl...except for his hot alien princess fiancee, Lum, who's the ''only'' female who'd be happy to get his attentions. Her tendency to [[ShockAndAwe shock]] him whenever she gets excited and [[TheGlomp glomps]] when happy drives him further away.

* In one ''Comicbook/{{WITCH}}'' comic book storyline, a bunch of kids from the girls' school are away on an exchange student program, including three of the girls from the team. One day they run into Martin Tubbs from school, who begs them to hide him from his StalkerWithACrush, a chubby local girl named Mathilda. Since Martin himself is a StalkerWithACrush who has been making moves on Irma since issue one, the irony is obvious.
* In ''Comicbook/AstroCity'', Irene Merriweather's fanatical obsession with proving her coworker Adam Peterson is Atomicus (due to being under the impression that this was a game that she was supposed to win and prove herself to him) drove Atomicus to leave Earth forever, because "if this is humanity, I don't want any part in it!" Of course, Atomicus was technically a child in a man's body, born just a year or so before; the glint in his eye that she interpreted as a dare was actually him trying to communicate fear of a world that he doesn't understand. As she would later put it, "I chased him, so he ran."

* Discussed and played with in the ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' fic ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/7568518/chapters/17218156 Pick-Up and Chase]]''. It's subverted in the opening conversation between Chat Noir and Ladybug:
-->'''Chat''': You ladies may roll your eyes at our lame lines, but, at the end of the day, at least we're putting in the work.
-->'''Ladybug''': (''chuckles'') Excuse me?
-->'''Chat''': You laugh, but it's not always easy for a guy to get up the guts to use one of what you consider to be silly pick-up lines. Not everyone is as smooth as I am. It'd probably be a nice surprise, a guy getting a cheesy pick-up line from a girl. We like to be romanced too, you know.
-->'''Ladybug''': Stupid pick-up lines aren't exactly my definition of romance.
-->'''Chat''': Don't hate 'til you try it. Funny romance might be what does it for some guys. Don't judge.
-->'''Ladybug''': Guys like you?
-->'''Chat''': Maybe.
-->'''Ladybug''': I bet if some girl came up to you and said she wanted to spend all nine of her lives with you, you'd just… collapse into a puddle of goo on the floor.
-->'''Chat''': You're speaking my love language, My Lady.

* The fact that Mitsuki Bakugou was the one who did the pursuing of Masaru lowers Hisashi Midoriya's already low opinion of the Bakugous in ''FanFic/ConversationsWithACryptid.'' Although its less out of gender stereotype and more out of disgust for Masaru's general spinelessness.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

--> “Their last excursion was made by moonlight, and after that evening Claude avoided Miss Millmore when he could do so without being rude. She was attractive to him no more. It was her way to subdue by clinging contact. One could scarcely call it design; it was a degree less subtle than that. She had already thus subdued a pale cousin in Atlanta, and it was on this account that she had been sent North. She had, Claude angrily admitted, no reserve,—though when one first met her she seemed to have so much. Her eager susceptibility presented not the slightest temptation to him. He was a boy with strong impulses, and he detested the idea of trifling with them.”

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

--->'''Joshua:''' How do I look?
--->'''Rachel:''' Well, speaking as a ''single woman'', who ''is'' available, I have to say you look really good.

* ''Series/{{MASH}}'': Hawkeye meets a lovely young Swedish doctor. He does his Hawkeye thing and tries to seduce her. But he is instantly put off when, over a drink, ''she'' makes a move and kisses him.
** Margaret Houlihan later calls him on this, which results in a positive moment for her.

** Bud doesn't like it either, mostly because the women (and one man) who hit on him are usually {{Abhorrent Admirer}}s. A possible subversion exists when you consider that Bud probably ''would'' like to be chased by attractive girls...but being a Bundy he rarely is.

-->'''Joe:''' ''(trying to get information on a missing girl)'' Can I talk to you for a second?
-->'''Bernie:''' Suuuurrre!!! ''(sitting down eagerly)'' You've got beautiful eyes. Has anyone ever told you that?
-->'''Joe:''' ''(uncomfortable)'' Not today.
-->'''Bernie:''' They're kinda melty...so warm and green. You're so nice and handsome...
-->'''Joe:''' ''(seriously at a loss for words, visibly backing away in his chair)'': Ah...

-->'''Leighton:''' ''It was amazing! I mean the kiss was amazingly perfect. I mean it was our lips were so compatible. It was breathtaking. We're making out and it leads to her grabbin' my hand and we go into a closet. [[KissingDiscretionShot I shut the door]]. Our bodies are flowin' together. [[ShirtlessScene My shirt came off]]. I don't know how that happened. I pick her up and I'm makin' out with her against the wall. It was amazing!''
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. Harry Kim realises he's fallen for their latest crewmember, [[RaisedByOrcs ex-Borg drone]] Seven of Nine, and suggests a NotADate on the holodeck. Seven [[MySensorsIndicateYouWantToTapThat sees through his intentions]] and bluntly asks DoYouWantToCopulate causing Harry to retreat in flustered confusion.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* Daisy Mae's relentless pursuit of ''ComicStrip/LilAbner''.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' has two examples. Lucy was attracted to piano player Schroeder. He was more annoyed by her constant desire for attention and how it disrupted his piano playing.
** Another example would be Sally and Linus, though Linus just seems to get annoyed whenever Sally calls him her 'sweet babboo.'
[[/folder]]

* Inverted in the Union society in ''VisualNovel/CulpaInnata'', which is built entirely on "scientific principles". It's the women who are expected to chase men, but only for the same purpose as Hollywood assumes men chase women in RealLife: sex and brief relationships. Long-term attachment is frowned upon in the Union and marriage... sorry, "[[InsistentTerminology nuptual agreements]]" are against the law. This is problematic for immigrants from so-called "rogue states" (e.g. Russia, China, India), which have more traditional values. A couple of Russian "primary sexual partners" is present in the game who were married back in Russia. Many women interviewed by the protagonist claim to have been hit on by the Russian man, only to feel disgusted. The Russian woman, in contrast to the Union women, is shown to be fairly passive and appears to be unlikely to engage in "the Chase".

[[folder: Web Original]]

** It's interesting to note that he frequently chases ''any'' animal he perceives to be a female skunk - [[HoYay even if they're not]] - but most often he pursues a shy female cat named Penelope Pussycat. Generally, everyone runs off at the mere smell of a skunk nearby, but his overly affectionate, [[CuddleBug touchy-feely]] style is often another turn-off - and then sometimes the odor is the only thing keeping Penelope away. Occasionally she's turned the tables on him by not only demonstrating that she likes him at least as much as he likes her, but also chasing ''him'' down to smother him in [[TheGlomp suffocating]] amounts of affection - and all it took was removing her sense of smell (usually by her nose getting stuffy). Pepe, meanwhile, seems to prefer being the one who gives chase, and when he finds ''himself'' as the one being pursued, he'll run just as she ran from him. Only once did he run because of an odor; [[spoiler:at one point, Penelope - under the name Fabrette - exposed herself to limburger cheese fumes so that no smell would be too much for her so she could be with Pepe, but by then he'd realized his own noxious smell and got it removed via perfume, and when she came back she refused to accept he couldn't stand her smell]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'':

---> '''Timmy''': Great, the crazy one likes me.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':

* Yuya, the protagonist of ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'', is chased by a fortune teller girl named Mieru after he beat her in a duel and she declared him to be her "chosen one". To be fair to him, pretty much anyone would be creeped out ''when a twelve-year-old girl you never met before asks how many children you want to have with her.'' (For the record, Yuya himself is fourteen years old.)

* Ethel from ''Franchise/ArchieComics''. She was always after Jughead who was continually running away from her.
** Likewise many girls who go after Jughead - one new girl in town was duped by Betty and Veronica into thinking he was a great catch (to divert her away from Archie).
*** Averted by Archie himself in one story where he and the other characters go on strike and talk directly to [[NoFourthWall the actual editors of the comics]]. Instead of him constantly chasing girls, Archie demands that the script be changed so that the girls chase ''him.'' On the other hand, it's played straight in some of the early stories from the 1950s and 1960s, where Archie tends to be put off by Betty when she comes on too strong.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}''. Rachel is attracted to a cute guy but he's not asking her out. Pheobe suggests that she simply ask him out instead, but Rachel can't do it because she has ''never'' asked anyone out in her entire life; all her relationships having been initiated by guys. So she decides it would make her sound "too desperate" and instead resorts to dropping hint after hint, trying to get the guy to chase her.
-->'''Joshua:''' How do I look?
-->'''Rachel:''' Well, speaking as a ''single woman'', who ''is'' available, I have to say you look really good.

* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'': Al Bundy does ''not'' like it when his wife comes on to him.

* The bonnet-wearing triplets sing about this and their frustrations with it in the [[Rise/DisneyThemeParks Disney]] animatronic stage show Ride/CountryBearJamboree.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' is turned off by [[ClingyJealousGirl Amy's]] constant advances.(Admittedly, she ''is'' a bit young for him, being 12 to his 15.) In one game he [[CelibateHero complains]] about so many girls being attracted to him. Since it's Sonic, who's always been known for his ego, it's unclear as to why he's complaining. Either he doesn't [[ChasteHero understand romance]], [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies avoids it on purpose]], or is annoyed by all the flirting.
** In ''VideoGame/SonicChronicles'', you can unlock a romance subplot with her depending on how nice the player acts towards her. Most of the time, she's so obsessed with the idea of him - not just going out with him, but with ''marrying'' him - that it's off-putting, verging on [[{{Yandere}} creepy]] in some games.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': While the base game paints Wrex as something of a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Krogan]] Casanova, and he discusses how much he's looking forward to making babies again after the [[SterilityPlague Genophage]] is cured... the Citadel DLC reveals that, being the krogan leader (And thus, clearly the [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority strongest]] of the krogan), an awful lot of krogan women want him to be the father of their firstborn, and Wrex is less than happy about this. Of course, Wrex probably might not have minded so much if he was actually able to get a break from the whole thing and give his poor [[ExoticEquipment quad]] a rest. The fact that Eve/[[spoiler: Urdnot Bakara]] is encouraging it doesn't help the matter.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents''

--> ''Timmy'': "Great, the crazy one likes me."

* In ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'', the Kanker Sisters seem to inspire abject terror in the Eds due to their constant romantic pursuits, though they seem to inspire non-romantic terror in pretty much everyone else.
** Inverted in one episode where Double D believes that if they act the same toward them, they will react similarly. It works, [[spoiler: but Eddy's overall doubt over the plan tipped the Kankers on and turned the tables on them in the end. Nearly worked though.]]

* A few ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' Creator/PepeLePew cartoons, starting with "WesternAnimation/ForScentimentalReasons", end with a reversal where the object of Pepe's affections no longer sees him as an AbhorrentAdmirer and begins to chase ''him''. No matter how hard Pepe pursued the poor girl before hand, Pepe is universally horrified by aggressive women and the cartoon ends with him running away from her.

It's prevalent in anime, as the Japanese have [[ValuesDissonance different]] ideas of gender roles relative to the Anglosphere and Europe. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement Let's leave it at that]].

* ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'': Kaneki has feelings for unassuming, shy, and kind girls like Rize and Eto. They're both attractive and like books like he does with Eto actually being his favorite author. At least before he finds out they're ghouls with homicidal crushes on him who simultaneously flirt with him while trying to kill/eat him.

* ''Vengeance'' by George Jonas. The protagonist, an Israeli Mossad agent, is turned off when a woman in a hotel bar invites him up to her room before he has a chance to ask her. This saves his life, as she turns out to be a ProfessionalKiller sent to assassinate them (one of his colleagues takes up the offer and is found dead the next day).

* ''Series/{{Rome}}''. Cleopatra plans to seduce Julius Caesar and have a son with him. To hedge her bets she decides to [[MamasBabyPapasMaybe seduce one of the Roman soldiers]] escorting her to Caesar. Lucius Vorenus however is a traditionally-minded Roman who refuses to sleep with a woman at her command. Cleopatra is outraged, so Vorenus sends in Titus Pullo to placate her, [[TheHedonist who has no such scruples]]. Cleopatra learns from this mistake and adopts a more submissive attitude when meeting Caesar, allowing him to seduce her.

* ''LightNovel/HaiyoreNyarkoSan'' presents this trope mostly for comedy, but with a bit of sad irony behind it. Nyarko's [[ClingyJealousGirl clingy]], [[ManicPixieDreamGirl manic]], and [[LovableSexManiac horny]] way of expressing her feelings for Mahiro puts him off and makes him respond with {{Slapstick}}, which only makes Nyarko redouble her efforts, meaning she's only sabotaging herself. In one episode he openly admits that if Nyarko were less aggressive he'd probably have returned her feelings by now[[note]]sadly, he says this too quietly for her to hear and refuses to repeat himself[[/note]], and in another he outright tells her that her zaniness isn't just bothersome, but makes her declarations of love hard to believe (especially since she's fond of telling fibs for humorous effect). After he tells her as much in one episode, Nyarko responds that she has a hard time expressing herself ''without'' being goofy, but promises to keep saying it until he believes her -- [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming and then says "I love you" in a sweet, heartfelt, and honest manner]].

** Margaret Houlihan later calls him on this, which results in a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for her.

** Inverted in one episode where Edd believes that if they act the same toward them, they will react similarly. It works, [[spoiler: but Eddy's overall doubt over the plan tipped the Kankers on and turned the tables on them in the end. Nearly worked though.]]

* In ''Manga/SoulHunter'', [[Dokuson]] show [[ChivalrousPervert clear interest]] in women, and his even trying to seduce one in his first appearance. However, he is really put off by Tou Sengyoku agressive affection. He did say that he find her actractive, and actually even tried to hit on her before she start hogging him and he decide to try to run away.

* ''Film/{{Female}}'': "I'm a man, and I prefer to do my own hunting."

* Yuya, the protagonist of ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'', is chased by a girl named Mieru after he beat her in a duel and she declared him to be her "chosen one". To be fair to him, pretty much anyone would be creeped out ''when a twelve-year-old girl you never met before asks how many children you want to have with her.'' (For the record, Yuya himself is fourteen years old.)

* ''SonicTheHedgehog'' is turned off by [[ClingyJealousGirl Amy's]] constant advances.(Admittedly, she ''is'' a bit young for him, being 12 to his 15.) In one game he [[CelibateHero complains]] about so many girls being attracted to him. Since it's Sonic, who's always been known for his ego, it's unclear as to why he's complaining. Either he doesn't [[ChasteHero understand romance]], [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies avoids it on purpose]], or is annoyed by all the flirting.
** In SonicChronicles, you can unlock a romance subplot with her depending on how nice the player acts towards her. Most of the time, she's so obsessed with the idea of him - not just going out with him, but with ''marrying'' him - that it's off-putting, verging on [[{{Yandere}} creepy]] in some games.

** In SonicChronicles, you can unlock a romance subplot with her depending on how nice the player acts towards her. Most of the time, she's so obsessed with the idea of him not just going out with him, but with ''marrying'' him, that it's off-putting, verging on [[{{Yandere}} creepy]] in some games.

* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' this is [[ShelteredAristocrat Luke]]'s reaction to his fiancee [[BadassPrincess Natalia]] and "admirer" [[CuteBruiser Anise]]. Considering one is a RoyalBrat who is LovingAShadow and rather he just regain all his [[IdentityAmnesia memories]] right now (specifically of their ChildhoodMarriagePromise), and the other is a very flirty ''thirteen year old'' GoldDigger who invokes in-universe {{Squick}} from Luke through her antics, it's understandable. In regards to his LoveInterest though, he implies he likes the idea of her pursuing him, though that's in part [[HeroicSelfDeprecation low self esteem]].

* ''SonicTheHedgehog'' is turned off by [[ClingyJealousGirl Amy's]] constant advances.(Admittedly, she ''is'' a bit young for him, being 12 to his 16.) In one game he [[CelibateHero complains]] about so many girls being attracted to him. Since it's Sonic, who's always been known for his ego, it's unclear as to why he's complaining. Either he doesn't [[ChasteHero understand romance]], [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies avoids it on purpose]], or is annoyed by all the flirting.

This is routinely {{Gender Flip}}ped where the girl is the one who's put off by a guy who continually hits on her; [[DoubleStandard note that in that case, it can be considered stalkerish on the guy's part]], or lead into a DoggedNiceGuy plot where he eventually "wins her over."

* Gender Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug''. Marinette at first doesn't find Chat Noir's constant flirting to be attractive, but she is crushing on his alter ego, the more sweet and shy Adrien Agreste. Funnily enough, the original idea for Ladybug and Chat Noir's dynamic plays it straight; where Chat Noir's advances aren't welcome to Ladybug, Marinette's constant pursuit of Felix is not appreciated by him.

* Gender Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug''. Marinette at first doesn't find Chat Noir's constant flirting to be attractive, but she is crushung on his alter ego, the more sweet and shy Adrien Agreste. Funnily enough, the original idea for Ladybug and Chat Noir's dynamic plays it straight; where Chat Noir's advances aren't welcome to Ladybug, Marinette's constant pursuit of Felix is not appreciated by him.

* The modern version of this advice is usually justified by saying AllMenArePerverts (thus ignoring the fact that it is ''not the case'') and they prefer to be asked out ''too much'' and won't say no often enough. So supposedly a man saying yes doesn't really tell a woman if he really likes her or just didn't have anything better to do at the time.

-->'''Joshua :''' How do I look?
-->'''Rachel :''' Well, speaking as a ''single woman'', who ''is'' available, I have to say you look really good.

--->'''Joshua :''' How do I look?
--->'''Rachel :''' Well, speaking as a ''single woman'', who ''is'' available, I have to say you look really good.