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Basic Trope: Characters have sex in a setting without real life birth control and don't get pregnant.

  • Straight: Characters use a fictional form of birth control.
  • Exaggerated: Characters can render themselves infertile at will or through Applied Phlebotinum.
  • Downplayed: Characters use some ambiguously fictional herbs which mostly prevent pregnancy, except when they don't.
  • Justified:
  • Inverted: Characters make themselves more fertile with fictional method, instead of less fertile.
  • Subverted: Characters use a fictional form of birth control and pregnancy results anyway.
  • Double Subverted: Turns out it is a case of false pregnancy (all the symptoms, but no child).
  • Parodied: Clap Your Hands If You Believe used as birth control... And it works!
  • Zig Zagged: Sometimes the characters use realistic birth control, other times fantasy birth control, and other times no birth control.
  • Averted:
  • Enforced: The setting of the story is obviously a fantasy one, where everything is different than Real Life.
  • Lampshaded: "But what if I/you get pregnant?" "Don't worry about that, we have these very convenient contraceptive spells."
  • Invoked: A magic-user sets out to invent a birth control spell.
  • Exploited: A character sets out to sleep with as many people as possible, without having to worry about pregnancies.
  • Defied: "In the wizarding world, we have spells for that." "Spells, schmells. I'd rather stick with what I know."
  • Discussed: "I recently heard Merlin has developed a new, very reliable contraceptive."
  • Conversed: "Writers are so used to modern contraceptives that they can't help but backport them into fantasy settings. Unimaginative hacks."
  • Deconstructed:
    • It doesn't work that way... and may the audience's Willing Suspension of Disbelief depending on the context of the story. And there may be people stupid enough to believe it actually works in the audience.
    • Due to availability of cheap, super-reliable contraceptives, everyone starts sleeping around, which hurts morals and society as a whole; and since even these kinds of contraceptives are likely not perfect (or people just forget using them), unwanted pregnancies still happen and indeed happen more often than before simply by amount of acts happening.
    • While improving individual welfare the contraception proves to be a societal detriment due to brutal realities of demographics in preindustrial societies. Neighbors which lack the contraceptive or ban it wind up outnumbering users. At best it winds up being allowed only in some limited circumstances such as during famines, for royal dynasties after heirs are produced, and for prostitutes.
  • Reconstructed: People realize that sleeping around all the time and blindly trusting the contraceptives isn't the best course of action and start becoming more responsible.
  • Implied: Aerith and Bob have lots of sex, but never worry about pregnancy and indeed none happens.
  • Played For Laughs: The form of contraceptive is silly and unpleasant to use like shoving a special turnip up your butt.
  • Played For Drama: An Evil Overlord who may not like abortions (or plain killing partners/victims) instead uses these to have their way with as many people as possible as a show of might and cruelty, knowing no offspring will come out of it.

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