I thought the examples on this got cut a while back, actually. If not, they should be, but I'm more concerned about whether this is a trope at all - the most commonly used meaning, Sexy Villains, certainly isn't, and I think the more general Evil Is Sexualized trope is already covered elsewhere.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Where? The idea that villains tend to be more overtly sexualized than heroes is a trope and I'm not sure where else it would be covered.
All the stuff the OP listed, particularly Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains.
I suppose an Evil Is Sexualized supertrope could work, though, but this trope is little more then villains someone finds sexy.
What happened? We just had a thread on this and decided to make this an index and remove all examples.
It seems like there was a yes on the index, and no concrete decision on what to do with the examples - do I have that right?
I thought getting rid of the examples was a given since we're turning this into an index.
I don't know - that discussion left it really ambiguous. If it's supposed to be a trope+index like it is now, examples are allowed.
It's a Trope By Contrast, I think - villains are usually evil, we aren't supposed to be attracted to them.
edited 16th Mar '13 7:22:38 AM by SeptimusHeap
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
That One Troper
This seems to me like the fetishization of evil. It represents how tempting wrongdoing and immorality can be.
On a less symbolic level, it's Fanservice applied to the villains, so in a way, you are right, but it's common, recurring and consistent enough that it can't just be People Sit On Chairs.
I think it might also be a sort of reverse Power Fantasy. If a powerful, sexy female (or male, as the case may be) is understandably Fetish Fuel for a lot of people.
Evil is my favorite color.
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
Trope Eater has it - it's a very obvious bit of visual symbolism in regards to evil being a tempting, seductive force.
It's essentially the inverse of Beauty Equals Goodness, which was quite a healthy trope when I last checked (not that I'm saying Evil Is Sexy is a healthy trope at present, just that it might, theoretically, be made into one).
edited 20th Oct '12 5:51:52 AM by Iaculus
What's precedent ever done for us?
As I've said before, I can definitely see there being an Evil Is Sexualized trope. We can even use this name for it. But Evil Is Sexy as it currently stands is not a trope.
I see the Awesomeness.
Evil Is Seductive might be better. Instead of trying to tempt the hero with power or money, they use sex. Or possibly, some form of Sex Is Evil?
Fight smart, not fair.
Hurler of Swine
Honestly, I don't really care what this is reworked into as long as it stops being Sexy Villains.
I don't really see how this is any different from The Vamp.
I think Evil Is Seductive is way better than the current name. At the same time, I worry that it would be mistaken for people being seduced by evil, rather than evil characters being seductive.
The Vamp uses the power of seduction for evil purposes. It's deliberate. Not what Evil Is Sexy is about.
I like Seductive Villain or something to that effect.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they)
If this is a counterpart trope to Beauty Equals Goodness that should be reflected in the name.
'Seductive' sounds pretty active or deliberate to me.
Hurler of Swine
Also, just found this and thought it relevant: Hot Guys Are Bastards
Beauty Equals Goodness is about using attractiveness to indicate that a character is good - I don't think any of the proposed redefinitions is about using attractiveness to indicate that a character is evil.
Edit: Plus, there's already at least two separate tropes for it: Beauty Is Bad and Ugly Hero, Good-Looking Villain.
edited 22nd Oct '12 7:21:28 PM by nrjxll
Hurler of Swine
Beauty Is Bad is the other way around, where people are evil/bad because they're beautiful, while Evil Is Sexy is where people are beautiful because they're evil. Beauty Is Bad is usually accompanied by/part of This Loser Is You, to make an antagonist higher on the social pecking order than the protagonist and thus create conflict. Evil Is Sexy is. . . different, although I'm not sure how to articulately quantify it.
edited 22nd Oct '12 11:19:23 PM by Pig_catapult
Anyone else noticed that on most pages the villian ALWAYS gets listed under this? It's starting to get ridiclous to see every bad guy/gal getting this.
Any trope for attractiveness, fanservice etc. will be misused for "person I find hot". That is the issue.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
I'm just going to say what I said before: I don't really care what trope this is turned into, as long as it actually is a trope and not what it is now.
This is just Fetish Fuel Station Attendant but for villians. I don't think we need examples on this page, especially when most of them fit other tropes like Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains, The Vamp, Femme Fatale etc...