main index Narrative
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Because Most Writers Are Male and No Guy Wants To Be Chased, there is a double standard at work in dealing with one-sided attraction.
If a male character wants to be in a relationship with a seemingly unattainable female, he will eventually win her over if she is at all a sympathetic character. And even if she is clearly bad for him, she will often end up falling for him anyway just so the writers can have a scene of him triumphantly dumping her later.
When a female character takes interest in a guy, though, it rarely ends well: she picks a jerk rather than a decent guy, or she needs to learn a lesson about Loving a Shadow, or she is portrayed as being silly, flighty, slutty, too nice, too available, and generally more "desperate" than a guy in the same situation. In more forgiving scenarios, she might end up being consoled and won over by another guy or accepting that she needs to move on.
When this is what happens 90% of the time, the Unfortunate Implications are that women don't know what's good for them and should only fall in love on cue.
This trope is subversion of all this – the female half of the Official Couple is the first to fall in love. The character in question does not even have to be a seductress, a Stalker with a Crush, or a female version of the Dogged Nice Guy who actively tries to get a guy to like her back. Even if she is a Shrinking Violet or Proper Lady who passively waits for the guy to notice her – the fact that her initial feelings for a guy actually end up being reciprocated in a healthy relationship is already outside what is expected.
Compare Victorious Childhood Friend and Female Gaze; contrast No Guy Wants To Be Chased
Examples
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